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katytheinspiredworkaholic · 3 years

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I’ve been rewatching CM and god, what I wouldn’t give for them to bring TG back for this revival. I haven’t even watched seasons 12-15 yet because I’m in denial about him being gone 😭😭😩

omg I haven't watched it either xD I've been holding off watching s11e22, The Storm, for like a month I swear. Which, I know is going to be amazing but I also have heard it's the beginning of the end and I'm not readyyyyyyy.

I would give anything for TG to come back. A n y t h i n g. But idk what CBS feels is the appropriate amount of time to be blacklisted or whatever the hell they did 🤷‍♀️ despite how it would be so easy to write him back in, and the missed opportunities is already making my skin crawl.

Okay. This was going to be a quick answer, but I've been THINKING about this way more than I should lately, without ever having watched 12-15 but I feel like I know enough, and with all the projects I'm going to be finishing/starting soon I know I won’t have time to do anything with my ideas. So I'm just going to type this little beginning I have plotted out and maybe one day I'll make it into the fic I want it to be:

(I know you didn't ask for a hc/blurb thing but surprise you get one xD)

CW: Spoilers for season 11-15 that are probably inaccurate af, fighting, violence, bit of blood and injuries talk, some profanity.

((I legit have this all plotted out like a full season, and picture everything as shots and scenes and I know exactly how I would want to bring Hotch back.))

It would start in a small suburban town in Indiana, legit white-picket fence, middle of nowhere, off the grid town. With the most pedestrian name ever, we might as well call it Mayberry. Typical weekend morning, bright green grass and trees and summer sunshine lighting it all up, they still get papers delivered it’s that picturesque. And it’ll pan to all sorts of people on this street of nice, two-story houses, and finally zero in on not the man picking up his paper from his front porch, but the jogger slowing down that the man calls to next door, calling him a name we’ve never heard before -- but the jogger answers with that dark eyed squint and a nod... and it is Aaron Hotchner. Or the man who used to be Aaron Hotchner. He hasn’t gone by that name in years, WITSEC provided him and Jack with new ones.

His house isn’t even really decorated like a home, he’s been in enough over the years to know tell-tale signs of what a happy home should entail. Photographs, memorabilia, nostalgia tucked away in corners -- they don’t have that. He has a couple of photographs he keeps in his office, the only two in inconspicuous view being a photo of Haley and Jack when he was two years old, and a photo of his team the day he completed the FBI triathlon and they all showed up to support him. Everything else of their old life is in boxes in a storage facility in downtown D.C., under another false name that can never be linked back to them.

Mr. Scratch was a poor excuse for why he and Jack were still under WITSEC, but he hopes near daily that it was enough of a reason that no one would question why he didn’t return once that monster was dead. That no one smart enough to read between the lines would go digging for more reasons, or worse -- try to find him -- and they pictured him living a happy retirement very similar to the charade he is living now.

But Aaron Hotchner was never meant for retirement. No matter how easy and simple his days have been the past few years. It was only a matter of time.

He walks through his home that looks more like the insides of a Home Living magazine, to his kitchen which is bright and spacious and tiled white that he knows Haley would have loved, getting a glass of water from the sink and chugging it all in one go. It isn’t until he’s getting a second glass that he hears it. The faucet was supposed to have masked any disturbance, they were careful in when they moved, how they placed their feet, the slowness of the their approach -- but not enough.

Hotch keeps his shoulders relaxed, his spine still ram-rod straight but that’s just how he stands and it keeps tension ready at a moment’s notice. Keeps him on alert, which he needs as he takes slower sips of water and lets all his other sense shift to a heightened awareness. Knows this house like the back of his hand, even if he’s never allowed himself to consider it home, so he knows which floorboards creak and where all the furniture is strategically placed. Always prepared for something like this to happen, even if he never imagined someone would be so bold.

Their mistake.

With a careful tick of his head, peripherals his only guidance, he strikes before the intruder gets to. An iron grip and momentum that propels their face into the metal of the sink basin, shocking them that what their file was so misleading about their target. Retired FBI agent, almost 60 years old, living in Pleasantville with a picket fence and a vegetable garden. This should have been easy. The intruder is stunned by the blow, attempts a quick recovery where they lash out and get a few good body shots into the older man -- but he’s built like a brick wall, can take a blow and give it back twice as hard -- a few more precise hits and another crack of their face to the sink that shatters the bridge of their nose leaves the attacker slumping to the floor.

“You didn’t do your research,” Hotch tells them, breathing a little heavy, opening up a drawer usually deemed for junk and pulls out zipties and an ancient looking cell phone buried deep at the back. “Sloppy. I expected more from him.”

The attacker kicks out Hotch’s knees in a fit of rage (at having his skill set insulted so), leaving them both crashing to the floor. They grapple and fight a bit more, knocking dishes from the counters and pots and pans to the floor from the grill top island, but Hotch is so well-trained in take downs he gets the slighter man pinned with only a split lip and a single hitch in breath. He barely broke a sweat. Knocks the guy out clean, two solid punches to his face, and he stops because he knows better. Has been there before, and they need to question whoever was sent to his house to kill him.

He’s barely off the floor, the intruder binded and stuck in a corner when Jack walks in from early morning soccer practice. Takes one look at the kitchen, his dad with blood in the corner of his mouth, and the guy all in black bound by zipties and already knows what happened. Sixteen, nearly as tall as his father now, he looks only mildly worried for all of two seconds until he sees that his dad has an old flip cell phone held up to his good ear, awaiting a connection with their handler in Indianapolis.

“... Does this mean we get to go home?”

The shot would pan back to Hotch, and he wouldn’t answer him, just tells the person on the phone to ‘patch him through, they have a situation’, and there would be no very obvious look in answer to Jack’s question. But all of us who know him, know the subtle changes in expression and the slight softening to that stern frown, knows what his reply would have been.

The very next scene would be the BAU. JJ and Emily walking at a brisk pace covering a debrief, since they basically run the department now. Everyone has been called in, everyone, retired and moved away and even the ones who cut all ties have been contacted. JJ has just gotten off the phone with Elle, who is working as a liaison in Rome and assured her that if anyone showed up in her home to attack her that they would be leaving in a body bag. But she appreciated the heads up.

In the bullpen it’s more like a family reunion than anything. Garcia has just gotten off the elevators, a flurry of color and blonde curls and bright as ever, Morgan and Savannah are trying to corral Hank and the twins (both girls and pure chaos now that they can walk) while still making introductions with the new team and their families, and asking if Reid or Rossi know anything about what’s going on as JJ gets there and asks for everyone’s attention.

“Not everyone is here yet, Kate and her family are on their way from upstate, Will’s getting the boys from school, and Alex and her husband are on a plane, but we need to get started as soon as possible.”

“What’s is going on, JJ?” Morgan asks, passing off one of the twins to Penelope who is in full baby fever mode despite what is obviously a very bad circumstance that has brought them all together. It’s a juxtaposition that has put everyone on edge. It doesn’t help when JJ and Emily look at each other as if in confirmation, trying to decide who is going to tell them.

“Okay, that doesn’t inspire confidence,” Rossi points out. “What happened?”

Emily sighs and makes a gesture for JJ to take the floor, since she has been on point for most of this.

The bull pen is silent in anticipation.

“Earlier this morning, Hotch was attacked in his home in Indiana,” she says, and whatever anyone thought was going on -- that wasn’t it. The shock across the room is like a bomb has detonated.

Rossi curses something out in Italian, looking down, and JJ immediately realizes how this all sounds. But doesn’t even get to backtrack as Reid looks completely devastated and Garcia like she’s about to cry and everyone else starts shouting questions at her.

“What happened to Jack?”

“How did they even find him? What the fuck is wrong with WITSEC?!”

“Is he okay?” asks Tara, the only intellectual who can see the panic now blooming on JJ’s face.

“Yes, yes! He’s okay, sorry, no -- Hotch is fine. The guy who tried to kill him... not so much, but he should be conscious soon so they can question him.”

“Jesus Christ, JJ,” Morgan says looking like he just aged ten years in the past 30 seconds. “Lead with that.”

“Sorry, I’m sorry. He’s okay, Jack is okay, they’ve been picked up. But... there’s a lot we need to be filled in on,” she admits, which quiets the room once more. “Apparently, the WITSEC had nothing to do with Mr. Scratch. There’s something much bigger and more dangerous going on, and he went under to keep us all safe. As well as himself, and Jack.”

“What is it?”

JJ makes a gesture with her hands splayed as she looks a little lost. “I only know bare bones, we have to wait to hear the specifics and get everyone somewhere safe.”

“You think we’re going to trust WICSEC after this?!”

Emily intervenes this time, “We have a plan, or... Hotch has a plan, I think. We’re just learning about everything as we go, he’s really the one that knows the most about it.”

“Then where is he?” Morgan speaks up again. “If he’s been pulled out, and we’re all in danger, why isn’t he here explaining this to us himself?”

It’s a good question, and everyone looks expectantly at the two women leading the informal briefing.

“Will he come back at all?” Reid asks, speaking up for the first time. It’s been years, that’s a long time to rethink a life like the BAU, and everything it entails.

JJ takes a deep breath. “He’s... in--”

“Out-processing.”

Hotch is at the back of the room. Everyone turns to him, even JJ and Emily look surprised to see him so soon. ((But we all know the CM cinematography love that kind of return shot, so I’m catering to it. For situational parallels if nothing else. Imagine the gif sets.))

“I pushed it as fast as they could go, but WITSEC always drags their feet.” The familiar drone, dry barely-there-humor, breaks whatever spell that had been over the room at the sight of the old Unit Chief. Disbelief and relief and stunned surprise litter every expression, and although Penelope looks like the first to say something, her words change course just as she opens her mouth. Because Hotch is still in civilian clothes, a duffle-bag over his shoulder he used as a go-bag for decades, and beside him with a bag of his own with messy dirty blonde hair is--

“Oh my God, is that Jack!?” she near sobs, the teenager smiling at her in a way that looks so much like Haley, and she goes to hug him first with the boy meeting her halfway. “You’re so tall! And so grown up, look at you!” There’s definitely tears and the team converges on the Hotchners all at once. Reid hugs Hotch first, as tight and bone-crushing as that night in Atlanta all those years ago, followed soon after by Rossi who looks like he might shake the man but just hugs him tight and plants an absurdly embarrassing kiss on his cheek that finally cracks Hotch’s expression into something like a smile. Everyone hugs, everyone, Savannah calls him Aaron instead of Hotch because that was how he’d introduced himself all those years ago, the twins wave shyly and he shakes hands with the newer members that never got to meet him but have heard very tall tales about him for years and years.

(And y’all, it would be the best damn scene and I would sob like a baby watching it.)

Morgan would be the one that would hold back and let the others go first, but it would also be the most profound when Hotch goes to shake his hand and the other man uses that to pull him into a tight hug of his own.

“I’m glad you can still hold your own,” he’ll tease with nearly no heat behind it. Hotch hears it for the caring that it is.

“Like hell I would let that happen twice in my own home,” he assures him.

Everyone settles down, and Emily leads some finer points of what’s going to happen with everyone in the next few hours. Days. Weeks, even, because there’s no knowing what is going to happen next. Hotch observes her, and there HAS to be a shot where she glances over to him and they share a look of understanding -- because she is Unit Chief now, and he approves of what he sees.

But she turns the floor over to him, and Hotch explains what’s going on.

((I’m going to leave the finer points out about the case and the unsub, mostly because I haven’t finished ironing them out yet and I hope once I watch the remaining season I will be able to much more easily))

But at SOME POINT in the briefing, when Hotch is explaining what happened with the assassin in his home and how he apprehended him, and Emily maybe interjects with the injuries sustained and that they are still waiting for the man to regain consciousness. Penelope will 100% lean over to where Jack is sitting beside her and say without flinching, “Your dad is such a bad ass.”

((I also plan on bringing up Reid was in prison in this scene but it will be more humorous than anything because of Hotch’s reaction, stay tuned on that one. Again I’m not there yet))

((and where I’m taking them is also a secret because I need to do research and it will be so damn cool, but Hotch has everything completely planned out -- like he does. Goes as far as asking the few who question him “Secure enough for you?” when he drops where they will be staying and the protection they will have. Full blown mic drop moment.))

“So gather all of your belongings that you have here. Secure pets and homes, call the kid’s schools, whatever you need to do,” Hotch informs them, stepping back into his old shoes as team leader without even meaning to. But no one tells him to stop. “We need to be in the air ASAP, the jet is being prepped as we speak so we need to move on this.”

He leaves it at that, and everyone doesn’t move. Watching, waiting, smirking a little bit (Penelope, maybe even Reid), until he gives in.

“Wheels up in 30.”

Garcia giggles so much she near cackles with it. “Oh, I just got goosebumps!” And by Emily’s smirk and Morgan’s shared grin with Reid, a million watts between them, everyone is up and moving and pulling out cell phones to get their affairs in order.

Rossi sidles up to Hotch at that point, also openly smirking that they got him to say those four time-honored words. “Welcome back, Aaron.”

And Hotch, well -- he looks around the room at the family he had to leave behind without any hope of seeing them again, and feels every hardened edge in his face and demeanor soften. Before he looks to Dave and tells him what’s been going through his head ever since he walked back through the doors of the BAU.

“It’s good to be home.”

((END SCENE))

#CM SPOILERS #If only I could write fic full time xD #GOD I've been dying to write all that down for weeks #and then you my beautiful anon sent that ask and I jumped at the opportunity #sorry I used you for this but I'm so glad I did #I hope you enjoy it if you don't mind all the spoilers #also if anything doesn't line up with canon I am SO SORRY I legit haven't finished season 11 #and I haven't met any of the new team. Not even Luke #But they would all be there #full cast. chaos. It would be awesome #katyswriting #criminal minds fanfiction #no pairings #Aaron Hotchner

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calpalirwin · 3 years

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Adventurous Spirit

Summary: Ashton becomes more and more of a (lovestruck) hippie.

Word Count: 1.6k

And away, and away we go!

Ashton’s adventurous spirit was what had drawn you to him in the first place. Sometimes you weren’t sure what he loved more: being a drummer or being able to travel the world as a result. All you knew was Ashton seemed most at home when he was on the road, making the most of every moment, and you were an absolute sucker for someone who loved life with that much fierceness.

With tour dates lined up, and studio time charted out, life at home buzzed with the excitement of what was to come. Then, the world shut down.

The first week, you watched anxiously as Ashton paced about the house, phone glued to his ear as plans B through Z were discussed and refined, tension slowly building up in his neck and shoulders. But with an album release so close, the feeling of restlessness didn’t get a chance to settle in, and for that you were grateful.

About a month and a half into lockdown, you found him sitting on the couch, staring blankly into space. “Hey,” you said softly, sitting down next to him, and pulling him out of his trance. “You good?” you asked, your fingers dragging slowly up and down his arm.

“Hmm?” he questioned, giving a small shake of his head. “Oh… Yeah, I’m good, I guess.”

“You guess?”

Ashton shrugged. “It’s hard to put into words. Like, I’m thankful for the time to slow down. Because I know I sometimes worry you with how much I work. And my body could probably use the rest. But not knowing how long this lasts is… It fuckin’ sucks. Because there were a lot of things I always said I’d do if I just had the time. And now I do. But how much time? How long am I stuck here?”

“Well” you started with a slight teasing tone, “I’m pretty sure you have time to make a garden, and get some chickens if you’re really dedicated to that.”

He giggled lightly, then sighed. “I just hate not knowing. I don’t want to lose myself.”

“Oh, I don’t think you need to worry about that. Just take it one day at a time, and go from there.”

“I suppose that’s true. And hey, I got you, right?”

“Of course,” you smiled at him. “I’m not going anywhere.”

“Good. Cuz I need you more than I can put into words.”

“I love you too, Ash.”

~~~

You both stared at the box of Superbloom merch, you in awe, and Ashton somewhat dejectedly. “Oh, c’mon!” you urged, nudging into his shoulder. “You could be a little excited. You worked hard for this.”

“I am…” he defended. “But I want to do more.”

“More with the release? Or more solo stuff?”

“More with the release. I want to celebrate. I want a chance to play it live. I want everything the guys and I wanted with Calm, and this shit,” he thrust an angry finger in the direction of the window, “won’t go away!”

“So let’s celebrate.”

“How?!”

“We get tested, and we get out here for a bit. Camp in the desert under the stars for a few nights. I dunno. We’ll figure it out.”

“That… is not half bad. But that only solves one of my problems. I miss performing, babe.”

“Virtual concerts are a thing, you know.”

His eyes lit up in a way you hadn’t really seen for months, before he was kissing you passionately. “You! You’re a fuckin’ genius!”

You laughed against his mouth. “Thanks, I try.”

His forehead knocked against yours, his eyes holding yours steadily. “You are everything to me.”

~~~

If there was a downside to suggesting a weekend getaway for the Ashton’s album release, it was that it revived his desire to travel, and the desire was now stronger than you ever remembered it being.

“You’re becoming a hippie,” you joked as you guys woke up in the back of a pick up truck in the middle of nowhere.

“Becoming?” he laughed. “Thought I always was.”

“Well, it’s becoming more prominent now,” you laughed with him, running your hands through his hair. “I don’t think you’ve let your hair get this long since 2016.”

“Ah yes, the first hippie Ash stage. I’ve learned a lot since then.”

“So this is Hippie Ash 2.0?”

“The new and improved hippie.”

You both broke out in a fit of giggles, before you sighed in content, curling yourself into his side. “So where to next?”

“Anywhere we fuckin’ want to. Well… within reason. The guys and I are discussing the next album.”

“Shit, already?”

He shrugged. “Might as well. Gotta be prepared for when the world opens up again. Wanna hit the ground running. Make up for lost time.”

“Well, fuck. Let’s go somewhere with the guys then. A working vacation.”

“Working vacations are my favorite types of vacation. But after the holidays. I’m getting used to lazy vacations where it’s just me and you, and I’m not ready to give that up just yet.”

“Oh, some place with snow would be cool. Maybe a cabin so we don’t freeze to death.”

He took the hint, pulling you into him with the blanket. “Sounds perfect.”

~~~

You awoke to an empty bed, sunlight, light laughter, and weed smoke filtering in from the open window.

“Morning, Luke,” you greeted as you found the blonde in the kitchen, leaning against the counter with his hands wrapped around a coffee mug.

“Mornin’,” he nodded, side stepping out of the way of the coffee machine. “Still practically a full pot if you want a cup.”

“Nah, I’m good for now. Ash?”

“Outside getting high with Cal.”

“Fuckin’ hippie…” you chuckled, headed for the front door of the cabin, Luke’s own laughter following you out.

Calum had a camera in his hand, pointed at Ashton who sat on a couch in his robe, a random disarray of items scattered nearby on the ledge of a firepit. “Oh, hey, Y/N!” Calum said, noticing you first, as Ashton looked over his shoulder at you.

“Hey guys,” you smiled, taking a seat next to Ashton on the couch and leaning into him. “Starting the morning off on the right foot?” you asked with a pointed glance at the ashtray with the cigarettes and blunts.

“Oh, yeah,” Ashton drawled, shifting to wrap his arm around your shoulders.

“Ever think you lean into the hippie stereotype a lil too much?”

“Nah. Haven’t gone completely off the grid.”

“Yet,” Calum snickered. “There’s still time. Luke kinda did, and I’ve never seen him happier.”

“I dunno. I’m already pretty fuckin’ happy.”

“That’s true,” Calum nodded, then clapped a hand against his leg. “I’mma head back in. Maybe shower. Maybe get another cup. You guys good?”

“Yeah, we’re good, mate.”

“You know,” you spoke up as Calum headed back inside, “when this first started last year, I was really worried about you.”

“Worried about me? Why?”

“You said it yourself back then. You’ve always pushed yourself harder than you probably should. I mean, face it, Ash, you’re restless. I was worried about all the things you were worried about. That you’d get stuck, or lose yourself. But then, I dunno. I guess I stopped because I realized how silly it was to worry about you. I mean, you’re you. You’re always gonna make the most of whatever you’ve got. Even if what you got was a year that wasn’t anything like you originally expected it to be.”

“This year was harder than I anticipated. And I did get stuck, and I did get lost. Like those moments did happen. Because you’re right. I’m restless. I’m at my most relaxed when I’m constantly on the move, either doing something or working towards something. So, yeah. This past year fuckin’ sucked. But it was also everything I needed at the same time.”

“Sometimes you gotta lose yourself to find yourself?”

“Something like that, yeah. So, while this past year has taught me a lot, it’s also solidified a lot of things I already knew to be true. Like how I couldn’t have done any of this without you. More than that, I don’t want to do any of this without you. And I wasted too much time trying to reconcile how both you and the band can be the adventures I want to spend my whole life chasing before realizing that I don’t have to.”

“Ash…” you cut in softly. “I’d never make you choose between me and the band. Or me and anything, for that matter. I’m always going to support whatever makes you happiest.”

“No, I know. That’s what I’m trying to say. My life with you in it is what makes me happiest, because you are what makes me happiest. In a year where I didn’t know which way my life was going from one day to the next, the one thing I knew for certain was that I’d have you. It made the dark moments bearable, and the light moments much brighter. That’s not something I want to give up. You’re what I want, now and always. So,” he got up from the couch, reaching into the pocket of his robe as he sank to his knees in front of you. “Marry me.”

You gasped as he snapped open the little box and cool metal slid across your left ring finger, your mind in a whirlwind of both his sentiment, and the fact that he said “Marry me,” more as a direct statement. “Mrs. Hippie does have a nice ring to it.”

“So, that’s a ‘yes’?”

“It’s a million ‘yes’s, Ash. You’re the love of my life.”

“And you’re mine.”

Tag List

@aquarius-hood1996 @creator-appreciator @philthepegacorn @myfavfanficsever @cxddlyash @youngblood199456 @stormrider505 @iknowyouthinkimbulletproof @hoodhoran @metalandboybands @maybeememez @major5sosstan @kaitieskidmore1

#adventurous spirit #ashton irwin #ashton irwin fic #ashton irwin x reader #5sos #calpal irwin

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freudensteins-monster · 3 years

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You Say “Mad Scientist” Like It’s A Bad Thing

Based on my own tumblr post: 3am thoughts… Has anyone written Jane Foster as a mad scientist, I mean like a villain?

Chaotic neutral Darcy and Jane featuring modern/human SHIELD Agent Bucky.

Available on AO3.

Content Warnings: Implied/Referenced Torture, Aftermath of Torture, Amnesia, Memory Suppressing Machine | The Chair (Marvel), Dark, Sort Of, Ambiguous/Open Ending...

In a world full of megalomaniacs, straight up supervillains, and fricking aliens, mad scientists were a dime a dozen. Dr Foster was one such scientist who was quickly moving from mildly irritating to SHIELD’s Most Wanted.

Dr Foster’s gimmick was portals. She first gained international attention when she claimed responsibility (via an untraceable Instagram account, @dr-mthrfckng-foster) for diverting LA’s 405 to a dirt road in rural Australia. Then came a string of impossible robberies – bank vaults and the private collections of the world's richest assholes stripped bare in seconds. Then she created a portal that caused an Indonesian typhoon to bear down on Wall Street, flooding the trading floor. And then she robbed a top secret government black site of some classified technology.

And that’s when Director Nick Fury made finding and stopping Dr Foster SHIELD’s number one priority.

Agent James Barnes had been stuck on suspension for two weeks, with two more to go, and was itching to get back into the field. He had way too much free time on his hands: he’d caught up on his sleep and everything in his Netflix queue. He’d cleaned out his refrigerator, done laundry and enough meal prep to last him until next month. He’d caught up with his family, cleaned his whole goddamn apartment twice, and now he was well and truly bored.

He was out for his fifth run of the week (and it wasn’t even Wednesday) when his work phone rang.

“Thank Christ,” he muttered before answering.

“Barnes.”

“It’s Hill. How’s the arm?”

“Fine,” Barnes grunted, rotating his metal shoulder irritably. “You got something for me?”

“Are you up for a recon mission?”

Usually he would have protested. He headed tactical units. He was an elite ‘first through the door’ kind of field agent. Not that he couldn’t be stealthy and patient - he’d been a sniper in the army for christ's sake - but going unnoticed in public was kind of a problem for him these days; he’d have to wear jackets and gloves in the middle of August to hide his prosthetic for starters.

On the other hand, his mother had been calling him every second day to feed him carb-heavy meals in exchange for help around the house, all while dropping not-so-subtle hints that he should start dating again. Requests for more grandchildren couldn’t be far behind.

“I’ll be there in thirty.”

Thirty-five minutes later Agent Barnes was back at his desk at SHIELD HQ perusing through the increasingly large file of one Dr Jane Foster.

She had been a brilliant student and had earned a PhD in Astrophysics from Culver University by the age of 25. By all accounts she should have been one of the leading researchers in her field, and if doctoral programs handed out superlatives Dr Foster’s would have been “Most Likely To Win a Nobel Prize By 30”.

Unfortunately for Dr Foster, and the rest of the world, she had been forced from that path by a sexist tenured professor who publicly denounced her theories, and the woman herself, as crazy, discredited her published work, and used his influence to ensure she was denied all of the more lucrative research grants.

When federal agents went to interview him after the 405 incident they found his office looking like a tornado had gone through it and the professor himself was nowhere to be found. A few weeks later he stumbled into a US Embassy in Russia after being found wandering in from the forests outside Vladivostok, half mad and still decrying the evils of allowing women into scientific fields.

He had been placed into witness protection and promptly admitted into a psychiatric facility under his new name, and was being monitored by several undercover agents in case Dr Foster felt like punishing him some more.

Anyone else who had a part in ruining Dr Foster’s legitimate career was also under surveillance, as was her mother in London, a terrified ex-boyfriend in Boston, and a handful of known associates, though Dr Foster hadn’t been in contact with any of them in years.

SHIELD and other federal agencies had tried the usual methods of tracking down a rogue mad scientist. They tried to find out where her base of operations was, firstly by looking for any properties in her name, but Dr Foster had been a broke student with an impressive amount of debt (until the day she decided to wipe it, and the rest of Culver’s student debt, out). So if she had property it would definitely not be in her legal name and all but impossible to trace back to her. Then they tried to look for drains on the powergrid. However she managed to generate her portals - SHIELD scientists still hadn’t figured that out - it surely had to be using huge amounts of electricity. So far they’d found six grow labs and two server rooms running illegal god-knows-what, but no Dr Foster.

Agent Barnes read the file twice, reviewed all the transcripts of the interviews with her known associates, and came to one very important conclusion: she had an accomplice.

As smart as Dr Foster was there was nothing in her academic history to suggest that she had a background in computer science that would account for the notable hacks and the untraceable nature of her activities. To add to that several interviewees had made passing remarks about her not having a cell phone for most of her academic career, and how she had zero interest in social media.

Two days later, after getting the okay for a field trip from Hill, Agent Barnes made his way to Culver University to speak to anyone who had even the vaguest recollection of Dr Foster. And that’s how he learnt about the intern.

He’d started by dropping by one of the physics labs where Dr Foster had spent most of her time, and by pure chance met a doctoral candidate who remembered her, and her intern.

“I think her name was Darlene. Glasses. Always on her phone.”

…which led him to the academic advisor who put the two of them together...

“Darcy. Darcy Lewis. She was actually a PoliSci major but left it too late and Dr Foster’s internship was the only one available. She had only been working with her for a few weeks before… before Dr Foster’s funding was revoked and she was asked to leave.”

...who pointed him to one of Darcy’s former professors…

“Average student. Good debater. Often late, and always had a coffee in her hand.”

...who gave him a few names of some former classmates who might remember her…

“Not the worst person to be stuck with on a group assignment. Pulled her weight. Obsessed with her stupid iPod.”

“I swear she lived off pop tarts and coffee. And not Starbucks either. Some stupid hipster chain.”

“Deja Brew. Serious problem. Went through one of those loyalty punch cards every week. Always complained about having to go home for the holidays and resort to big chain coffee shops.”

...which had him driving out to Darcy Lewis’ hometown, located a few hours south of Roanoke, Virginia, stopping first at the local high school to speak to the school principal…

“She’d always been good with computers but wasn’t allowed to use them at home for some reason so she spent a lot of time at the local library using theirs. We had to suspend her once. One of her classmates accused her of accepting payment from other students to hack the school’s records and alter their grades. Their grades were definitely getting altered, but we couldn’t get any concrete proof it was her.”

...who was able to find a photo of 16 year old Darcy in an old yearbook and told him what bar he could find Darcy’s mother in.

“She knows not to come to me if she’s in the shit, because I would call the cops in a heartbeat. Especially after that stunt she pulled before she went off to college…”

“What stunt was that, Ms Bennett?” Agent Barnes asked patiently, hoping he wouldn’t have to enable her alcoholism to get some useful information.

“I made some mistakes, okay,” she slurred defensively. “I was having an affair with my boss. Don’t know how Darcy knew. She told her stepfather but he didn’t believe her. Then a few weeks later we went out to dinner for my boss’s birthday... all the tv’s in the bar start showing security camera footage of us falling into offices and motel rooms. Took her all of a minute to ruin two marriages and a law firm.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” he replied diplomatically. “Is there anyone she could turn to for help? Her father, perhaps.”

“He died when she was about twelve. They were as thick as thieves,” she recalled with a tinge of bitterness.

“Was there any place that was special to them? Someone she might go to ground?”

She shook her head. “He used to rent this old cabin near the Catskills off a buddy of his every other year. Winter or summer, Darcy loved it. But it's long gone. Forest fire, I think, the year before his accident.”

Back in his car Agent Barnes reviewed the data points.

Dr Foster had a base of operations somewhere. Had to be private, and as best SHIELD could guess it must be off the grid and Dr Foster must be generating her own power.

Dr Foster was a space nut at heart, and while an abandoned observatory might be too much to ask for, she’d probably want somewhere with minimal light pollution.

And while they could portal anywhere, neither of them spoke any other languages and had no familiarity with any international locations, so they were most likely still State-side. (Dr Foster’s mother had moved to London when Jane was twenty-three, but she’d never found the time to visit.)

Miss Lewis was familiar with the Catskills area. A base of operations there could be very isolated.

Dr Foster was most likely building and modifying her own own equipment so she had to be able to access materials. Sure, she could portal to her local hardware store, but having Darcy drive into the nearest town for supplies would attract less attention.

Miss Lewis had an addiction to coffee procured from Deja Brew, a small hipster chain with only a handful of locations along on the east coast. While she could have found another way to get her caffeine fix, people were creatures of habit.

Miss Lewis was also known for stocking up on poptarts. In one of the only images of the other side of one of Dr Foster’s portals there was what appeared to be, if one squinted, a box of limited edition pop tarts on a counter.

He plugged it all into SHIELD fancy search engines and got a few results back. The most promising was an abandoned ski chalet turned abandoned research station halfway up a mountain, an hour drive away from an up and coming tourist town, whose main street hosted a Deja Brew cafe. They also had a small mom and pop hardware store, as well as a post office, and a grocery store that had still been selling pumpkin pie pop tarts around the time Dr Foster’s portal had been caught on camera.

Agent Barnes came to with a groan. The flesh of his shoulder where it met his prosthetic felt like it was on fire, and he was pretty sure he could smell fried wiring.

The research station had come up in SHIELD’s initial search for a potential mad scientist's lair, but had been dismissed for not using any power and for not sending back any heat signature readings. Perhaps they’d found a way to fool the scanners. Or maybe they just weren’t in the day the readings were taken. Whatever the reason, Agent Barnes had a good feeling about it. He filled his tank up at the nearest gas station and got on the highway, forgoing checking in at the Triskelion on his way past in favour of driving all night. He’d call Hill when he had something solid.

** *** **

“Fuck…”

He willed his eyes open and came face to face with Darth Vader.

Barnes reeled back at the sound of the synthesized voice. “Who sent you? Who do you work for?! The Rebellion?”

“What the fuck!”

It took him until his eyes adjusted to the fluorescent lighting to realise that Darth Vader was wearing a grey knit dress and black tights. Darth Vader laughed and ripped off his mask to reveal a smiling bespectacled brunette underneath. The accomplice. Darcy Lewis.

“Sorry, I was just messing with you, dude,” she teased, tossing the mask over her shoulder. “I’ve always wanted to do that. But seriously, who do you work for? Who knows you’re here?”

“I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about,” he lied. “I was just camping in the woods, man. I saw the lights and decided to check it out,” he rambled in a lazy Canadian accent. “How the hell did I get here? Did you electrocute me?”

He used his not-quite fake panic to test the limits of his restraints. He’d been strapped into some sort of junkstore barber chair, with thick metal shackles locked around his wrists, ankles, and chest. His metal arm could probably make quick work of them but the damn thing was not responding. His panic became a little less fake.

“Just camping, huh?” she echoed back with a raised eyebrow, leaning forward to the point where Barnes couldn’t avoid getting a good look down her top and the 15-carat pink diamond (worth about 40mil and reported stolen in one of Dr Foster’s vault heists two months ago) hanging around her neck. “So that wasn’t you poking around town this morning?” she asked pointedly, drawing his attention to the wall of monitors he hadn’t noticed showing various street cameras around the town. “I’ve got eyes and ears everywhere, dude. You got into town bright and early in a beat up looking truck with plates that didn’t exist two weeks ago and started flashing my yearbook photo around. So, who do you work for?”

He levelled his best steely-eyed agent stare at her and switched back to his native pissed-off Brooklynite accent. “I ain’t tellin you shit, sweetheart.”

“C’mon now,” she cooed, taking a seat on his lap. “Who do you work for? FBI? Interpol? SHIELD? Crawford County Library Services? Listen, I was totally going to return Eat Pray Love, but we had to skip town in a hurry and it got lost in the move. I will totally pay to replace it.”

Years of training (and regular poker games with the Black Widow) had taught him to school his features, even if that last one threw him for a loop.

“Nothing? You sure you don’t want to talk to me? Fine,” she whined. “Jane!”

It was only then that Barnes switched his focus from his captor to his surroundings and realised that there was another occupant puttering about on the other side of the large telescope that took pride of place on a hydraulic platform underneath the research station's retractable roof. The infamous Dr Foster.

“Jane!”

“What?” came the irritated reply.

“Come over here and practise your monologue. Look! You’ve got a captive audience and everything!” she announced, laughing at her own joke.

“I don’t have time, Darcy,” the disgruntled voice argued.

“Hey! I spent two days writing up that monologue, the least you can do is spend twenty-five minutes reading it out loud so I can make sure it doesn’t make you sound too much like a cartoon villain.”

“Twenty-five minutes?! Are you kidding me?” Dr Foster stormed out from behind the telescope to wave a wrench at her assistant. She looked less put together than her ID photo, appearing to be long overdue for both a shower and a nap. “I’m in the middle of something. I’ve almost figured the problem with the mobile portal generator, and… Darcy, why is there a man tied to a chair in my lab?”

“This man?” Darcy snorted, taking Barnes’s chin in her hands and wiggling it about. “This is the intruder. You remember the intruder alert, like fifteen minutes ago? Lots of flashing lights and alarms? Well, I found this guy passed out on the lawn. For most people, hitting my force field would be like getting lightly tased, but this bad boy,” she continued, tapping a fingernail against his dead metal arm, “meant you ended up getting the full 50,000 volts to your heart. Thanks for letting me practice my CPR by the way,” she added with a wink.

“It’s not a force field, Darcy. It’s a glorified invisible pet fence, upsized and modified so it reacts to the electrical impulses in the human body.”

“It keeps people out; I’m calling it a force field.”

This was definitely the weirdest interrogation he had endured by a large margin, Barnes mused as he followed their bickering like a pingpong game.

“Who is he, Darcy?” Jane sighed wearily. “What is he doing here?”

“Fiiiine. Janey, meet Agent James Barnes of SHIELD.”

“What?! SHIELD?!!”Jane screeched. “Why did you bring him here?”

“He found us, Jane. What was I supposed to do?”

“Something other than bringing him inside our secret hideout.”

“I am not killing him and burying him in the woods; I just did my nails.”

Jane scowled, turning the full force of her overtired fury on James. “Why can’t you SHIELD issue jackbooted thugs just leave me alone? Can’t you understand how important my work is? I am challenging the very foundations of modern science - of the laws of the universe! I am on the verge of a breakthrough! And if you or Nick Fury think you can stop me, you’ve got another thing coming!”

Before his mouth could betray him and ask how the hell they knew his boss Darcy spoke up.

“A little off script, but I like the energy, Jane. Very much the mad scientist vibe we’re going for. But next time, try not to make it so personal – we’ve got to hide the target of our frustrations, remember? Instead of saying “SHIELD” say “government”, instead of saying “Nick Fury” say “president”.”

“Right, right,” Jane nodded absently, tapping the side of her head with the wrench she had just been waving around like a weapon.

“Now, go back to work. I’ll handle this.”

“Okay, thanks Darce. Oh, have you seen my soldering iron around?”

“It’s in the locked cabinet because you’re not allowed to use it unsupervised, you know that. Gimme ten minutes, I’ll bring it to you.”

Jane wandered back to her side of the observatory, muttering under her breath, leaving Barnes at Darcy’s mercy.

“She’s not the criminal mastermind here, is she?” he wondered, his eyes roaming over the strange cupcake of a woman in his lap.

“Not exactly,” Darcy admitted. “I mean, it’s not like she set out to be a mad scientist. I kind of rebranded her after that little freeway incident.”

“Rebranded?”

“Yeah. She was in a bad way after New Mexico and then when the first live test of her portal engine went a little sideways I didn’t want dudebros on the internet coming after her, so I changed the narrative. Instead of ‘girl scientist makes mistake, should stick to making sandwiches’ I changed it to ‘Dr Foster, genius astrophysicist, causes chaos, totally on purpose.’”

“And all those robberies?”

“I may have encouraged that. I’m all for sticking it to the one percenters, and Jane needed to fund her experiments somehow,” she added with a shrug.

“So Jane’s the absent-minded professor and you’re the brains behind this operation, huh?”

Darcy laughed and slid out of his lap causing a distracting amount of friction. “I’m really not. So you, Coulson, and Fury should be really, really scared.”

“How do you know those names?” he had to know, cover be damned.

“You don’t know? Of course you don’t,” she huffed. “Fury and his clearance levels. I’d tell you to ask him about New Mexico sometime, but you’re not going to be able to.”

“Why not? What are you going to do to me?” Barnes fretted, unable to ignore the sinking feeling that he was in big trouble; she wouldn’t have told him anything if she intended on letting him walk out of here.

“Oh, relax. I’m not going to kill you. I’m just gonna scramble your brain a little.”

She circled his chair, flipping switches as she went, and something behind him started humming ominously.

“So, admittedly I didn’t major in hard sciences. I had an ex who did, but he also fancied himself something of a cat burglar, so when he went to jail I liberated all his college textbooks and gave myself a crash course in electrical engineering. And it helped that those HYDRA designs were really easy to follow.”

“HYDRA?” Barnes cursed.

HYDRA had been the scientific branch of the Nazi regime and believed that discovery required (human) experimentation. They were supposedly eradicated at the end of WWII but Project Paperclip saved some of HYDRA’s greatest minds, giving them immunity in exchange for their genius. If Foster or, more worryingly, Darcy had aligned themselves with some surviving HYDRA faction the results could be catastrophic.

“Yeah, I found them in that SHIELD warehouse when we recovered Jane’s stolen research.”

“What are you talking about?”

“They just call it ‘The Chair’, which is totally not creepy at all,” she continued as if he hadn’t spoken. “And this is the Halo,” she added, drawing Barnes’s attention to the whirring circle of metal that was lowering itself over his head.

“What the hell are you doing?” he shouted, renewing his efforts to break free of his restraints. “Get that piece of scrap metal the fuck away from me!”

“Hey! Don’t mock my work. It may look like I raided a junkyard for the components - and I did - but my welding game is on point. It’s totally safe. Mostly safe. It’s just going to send focused electrical pulses to your…” she paused to consult some smudged writing on her hand, “hippocampus and prefrontal cortex.”

The Halo stopped moving and two metal plates extended, pressing against the sides of his head, holding it like a vice.

“Please… don’t do this,” he begged as she approached him with a rubber mouthguard.

“C’mon, open wide. You don’t want to end up braindead and unable to chew your food,” she jested, waving the thing in front of him. “Oh, just one question before I fry your brain,” she added just when he was about to give in. “How did you find us? I was so careful,” she whined.

Agent Barnes, terrified as he was, still managed to look smug at his small, short lived success. “Deja Brew coffee.”

“Curses!” she wailed theatrically. “Betrayed by my one true love!”

Darcy huffed and quickly returned her attention to the matter at hand.

“Thanks for that,” she said with a smile as she forced him to bite down on the mouthguard. “I’ll know better for next time. Start making my own coffee at home… but it never tastes as good,” she muttered to herself.

She stepped away from him and bent down to pick up a similarly frankensteined industrial remote with long wires snaking back to the chair and a clichéd big red button at its centre. He began struggling anew, screaming around the foul tasting rubber, begging for mercy.

She took great delight in his terrified expression and put on her best supervillain voice, “Give my regards to Nick Fury.”

Nick Fury observed his agent from behind a two way mirror as he sat behind a table in an interrogation room. Barnes had been sitting there for the past hour as still as a statue, except for his unfocused eyes which flitted about the room.

In true horror movie fashion, Agent Barnes’ screams echoed down the mountainside like an avalanche, sending animals fleeing in terror for miles around.

** *** **

Local LEO’s had found him wandering aimlessly down a stretch of highway just outside the ruins of what had previously been Puente Antiguo, New Mexico, and ten minutes after they ran his prints Agent Romanoff had been on a quinjet to collect him. She’d been directed to the nearest hospital and found him sitting up on a bed but not responding or reacting to any of the medical staff as they buzzed around him. Agent Romanoff took a cautious step forward and held her breath as his unfocused eyes settled on her.

“Hello James...”

An excruciating minute later the veil lifted and he attempted a smile.

“Hey Tasha.”

She’d brought him back to base and dragged him to SHIELD’s medical bay for more tests - not that Barnes put up much of a fight, in fact he was terrifyingly compliant. The SHIELD doctors confirmed what the New Mexico doctors suspected: the bruising and electrical burns around his temples and his memory loss were indicative of some back alley version of electroshock therapy. His memories should come back in time - how long was anybody’s guess - but for the moment Agent James Barnes had no memory of the last four weeks.

Fury picked up a tablet with depressingly little information on its screen and stepped into the room, waiting for Barnes eyes to focus on him before taking a seat.

“Agent Barnes.”

“Director.”

“I know you’re probably sick of questions by now, but I have a few more for you, if that’s alright.”

“Yeah, sure…”

It rankled Fury to no end how meak and passive Barnes seemed. Heaven help him, he missed the argumentative sonofabitch.

“What’s the last thing you remember?”

“Being called into your office.”

“What for?”

“I punched Rumlow.”

“Why?”

“He was bragging about taking advantage of a drunk woman at a club when he was last on leave. He didn’t like me calling out his shitty behaviour. He punched me, I punched him back.”

Fury sighed. He hadn't gotten a straight answer out of Barnes at the time of the incident and he couldn’t feel happy about getting one now.

“Do you remember what happened once I called you into my office?”

His brow creased and his eyes zipped back and forth like the carriage of a printer as his mind searched for the elusive memory.

“You suspended me?”

“I did,” Fury confirmed. “For a whole month. But two weeks into it I pulled you in for a special assignment.”

Barnes tensed, shrinking in on himself. The confusion about his lost time seemed to be the only thing that got under his skin, but only when someone brought it up. Once the moment passed he forgot to be concerned about it.

Fury took pity on him. “For the past two weeks I had you running down leads on the whereabouts of Dr Jane Foster.”

“The scientist with the portals? Did she do this to me?”

“It’s not exactly her MO, but then again no law enforcement agency’s ever managed to have a confrontation with her. Never had the chance. Those portals of hers let her keep at a distance. You might have been the first person to have a face to face with her, but I can’t confirm it because I don’t know where the hell you were when this happened,” he grumbled, letting a little more of his usual exasperated tone filter through. “You missed check in by two days. The last we heard from you, you were at Culver running down leads on what you said was a potential accomplice. We found your car in Tromso, Norway, a day after you were found on the side of a road in New Mexico. You don’t appear on any security footage or speed cameras in the area. There’s no activity on your work or personal credit cards. Your activity logs on our highly secure system for the last two weeks are nonexistent, as are your call logs on your work phone. Even the messages you sent Romanoff from your personal phone complaining about your assignment have since been deleted - from her phone too. She’s real pissed about it. As far as your digital footprint is concerned you disappeared from a gas station outside Roanoke, Virginia, last week - do you know how weird it is to know you were headed out towards a place called Roanoke only to up and vanish?” He sighed at Barnes’ painful silence. “Is there anything you can remember, anything at all about Dr Foster or her accomplice? Anything that will help us catch up to you without talking to everyone on campus to figure out what you discovered?”

Barnes’ brow creased in painful confusion.

“I think… I think I saw Darth Vadar.”

Director Fury blinked. “Right…” He took a deep breath to stop himself from venting his frustrations at Barnes, the sorry bastard looked like a kicked puppy as it was. Instead he got up and tapped the tablet against the metal tabletop harder than strictly necessary. “Well, I’ll just go put out a BOLO out for Darth Vadar then.”

“Okay,” Barnes murmured, and promptly zoned out again.

Agent Romanoff exited the viewing room looking uncharacteristically unsettled.

“I want a full detail on him at all times,” Fury ordered as he stormed off towards the elevators. Hill had just stepped off and was looking even more grim than usual. “Until his memories come back he’s vulnerable, and once they do he’ll be a target.”

“I’ll get a STRIKE team on it. Not Rumlow’s.”

“Get another one along with any assets currently not on assignment. Flood that campus, interrogate everybody. I wanna know who the hell Dr Foster’s accomplice is, and I wanna know yesterday. Understood?”

“I think we might have more pressing concerns, sir,” Hill reported, tapping at her tablet as it beeped erratically. “Coulson’s said there’s an issue with the Tesseract. Dr. Selvig read an energy surge from it fifteen minutes ago.”

“NASA didn't authorise Selvig to test phase,” he grunted, taking the tablet from Hill.

“He wasn't testing it, he wasn't even in the room. Spontaneous advancement.”

“Motherfucker.”

#you say mad scientist like it's a bad thing #freudensteins-fics #mad scientist jane foster #competent assistant darcy lewis #shield agent bucky barnes #torture #aftermath of torture #amnesia #winter soldier memory wipe chair #darcy lewis #jane foster #bucky barnes #natasha romanoff #nick fury #maria hill

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apocalypseornaw · 3 years

Text

Always be Yours-3

Word Count :4,844

Story Summary: Inspired by the 2 part i did of the same title. Follows Dean and the reader through season 9 into season 10

Chapter Summary: When Ezekiel reveals the angels are organizing it becomes a race to find Cas before they do. Dean starts to let you see another side of himself.

Warnings: Cursing, fights, brief character death

You could vaguely hear someone knocking at your door and groaned trying to pull your pillow over your head to stifle the noise until the thought occurred to you yet again you weren’t at some shitty motel ducking housekeeping if someone was knocking it was Sam, Dean or Kev.

“Yeah c’mon in” you hollered pushing the blanket off as you sat up running a hand over your face in an attempt to wake up. When the door opened it was Sam on the other side fully dressed in running clothes “Good morning Y/N” you looked at the time then yawned “Morning? Are you going for a run this early?” he laughed and it was then you noticed how sweaty he was “No I actually just got back. Want to go with me to grab some breakfast?” any other time you would’ve turned down the offer but the thought of Abaddon’s flunkies mixed with every pissed off angel that fell pulled you to your feet “Yeah I’ll be dressed by the time you get out the shower. We can take my jeep” He smiled “Sounds like a plan” then shut your door behind himself.

You hadn’t exactly unpacked yet so you were still pretty much living out of your bags. You’d never really felt settled anywhere and didn’t want to get to the point of seeming like you were making yourself too at home even though you knew Sam and Dean had both meant it when they said that you were welcome to stay as long as you wanted. You dug out some clean jeans, a black t-shirt and a red flannel then started to get changed.

You were just pulling your boots on when Sam knocked at the door again. “All dressed Sammy” you called out with a smile knowing he was rolling his eyes even before you glanced up at him standing in your doorway. “Ready?” you grabbed your keys,phone and jacket “Let’s go”

------

You had come through a few times but had never really stopped in Lebanon so you followed Sam’s direction to the diner. When you parked and climbed out you noticed he kept looking your way so you said “Spill it” as the two of you walked into the door of the diner and headed for a booth in the corner. Once you were both seated and the waitress had went to place your orders along with the to-go one for Dean, Sam finally looked back at you then shrugged “It’s nice having you at the bunker. I know Dean likes having you around too” You shook your head and reached for the sugar to add to your coffee “Dean likes me being around because he worries about you slightly less and I am almost as much of a smartass as he is” “Yeah that’s the only reason why” he muttered and you knew that tone but chose not to humor him. He was on a fishing expedition and you weren’t about to help. Instead you turned it around to ask how he was feeling.

“I feel great Y/N, honestly I do” you studied him for a second and briefly wondered if Ezekiel was also looking back at you but shook your head to clear those thoughts “I’m glad. It scared the hell out of me when Dean said you collapsed outside that church” “Yeah then when Dean told me you were running solo after so many angels were let loose I wasn’t exactly happy to hear it” he replied with that damn smirk him and Dean both seemed to have. “Yeah well like I said I’m not going anywhere for a while even if someone calls me for backup on a hunt I’ll come back to the bunker. I promise” he nodded then by that time the waitress was bringing your food back over. You both leaned back so she could put the plates down then when she walked away you checked your phone and let out a breath “Where’s Cas?” he shook his head sadly “Hopefully he’ll make it soon but after you getting your head bashed in I don’t think we should be asking on his trail too much without all of us being there” you touched the spot in your head and scoffed “That was just a scratch Sam don’t be dramatic besides Cas is actually worse off than we are. We’ve been hunters and human our entire lives. Up until recent he’s had his grace to aid him in pretty much everything” “We’ll find him but first let’s finish breakfast and get back before Dean sends out a hunter bolo on the two of us” That thought alone made you laugh.

------

You pulled up to a stop outside the bunker and looked over at Sam “Think he’s up yet?” he waved towards the door “One way to find out”

You walked in behind Sam and heard him say morning. When you walked further in you saw that Dean was standing on the lower floor in his robe. You followed Sam down the stairs then shot Dean a smile “Love the bedhead” he smirked at you then checked his watch “You two been outside already?” You pointed a finger at Sam “He woke me after he went on a run to see if I wanted to do a breakfast run. We did bring you food”

"Real bacon and eggs extra grease” Sam offered holding the container out. “Perfect” it wasn’t until all three of you were sitting around the map table that it really hit Dean that Sam had went running.”Why do you look worried?” Sam asked and you tried to throw a look to say drop it but he said “Well there’s Cas we haven’t heard anything from then there’s you Sam” “Me? I feel great” you spoke up trying to be the neutral party “I’m sure you do Sam but you went through the trials, that put a strain on you” Dean nodded “We just think it’s better if you take it easy and didn’t act like”

You clocked it when Sam’s posture changed a half second before his eyes glowed blue “Possessed by an angel?” when you and Dean both looked at Ezekiel he added “and he does feel better. A work in progress of course but I am slowly healing him” “That’s great” Dean started but Ezekiel cut him off “I have news. I picked up chatter among the angels. Not all are wandering around in confusion” “Yeah some are after Cas” you blurted and Ezekiel nodded “There is a faction that is rapidly organizing and finding human vessels to contain them” “Lead by Naomi?” Dean questioned but Ezekiel shook his head “I have not heard that name but it is this faction’s leadership who want Castiel found. You see Dean I can be useful”

You almost felt bad for Ezekiel but you didn’t like the idea of him taking the reigns from Sam at random so you were glad when Dean spoke first “Yeah well so can my brother, So why don’t you go check your email and if we need your help we’ll let you know” Ezekiel looked at you “Y/N” but you agreed with Dean “He said we’ll let you know”

His eyes glowed again then you knew Sam was back by the relaxed posture even before he said “I mean Cas is human now. It’s gonna take him a lot longer to travel now” Dean shook his head “I’m gonna get whiplash” “Glad I’m not the only one” you muttered leaving Sam looking rather confused “What?” You met Dean’s eyes as both of you said “Nothing”

Dean cleared his throat then said “Me and Y/N were thinking if the angels are organizing then that makes them a lot more dangerous than we thought” Sam looked at you “Why do you think they’re organizing?” “It makes sense” you offered trying to get Dean to help you so he cut in “The point is that the more of them that are after Cas, the worse it is so we got to find him”

------

Dean headed to get dressed while Sam went to locate a map of Colorado so you followed Dean down the hall and stopped him just shy of his room. “Dean we need to talk” he turned around and crossed his arms over his chest before tilting his head slightly “about what?” you looked over your shoulder to make sure Sam was nowhere around before saying “You’ve got to back off some. I know you’re worried about Sam, believe me I am too but if he gets suspicious and kicks out Ezekiel before he’s healed we’ll lose him” you saw the moment he let those careful walls he kept up slide just slightly “There’s just still so much we don’t know about Zeke. I mean what if he has enemies and an angel decides to take out old issues on Sam” you reached out and laid one hand on top of his arms “I’ll make sure he doesn’t go out alone anymore I promise. You know I’ll kill for him or you but we’ve got to keep our heads on straight especially now that we know both sides of the playing field are organizing” you felt when his arms relax just a bit under your touch. He nodded and slowly uncrossed his arms so you pulled your hand back and smiled “I’ve got your back Dean if you’ll just let me” “Thank you Y/N” you nodded then heard Sam call your name “Go get dressed I’ll start marking out Cas’s possible paths here. We’ll find him”

Dean watched you walk away and reminded himself you were in his life because you were Sam’s friend. He’d just come along as part of a package deal. There were times though it felt too damn natural to relax around you.

------

You were standing at the table in the library marking off the map in grids around Longmont. There was only so far Cas could’ve traveled and the current hope was that if angels were in fact hunting him they would lead the three of you to him.

Dean walked in and looked over your shoulder so you pointed at the dot in the middle “That’s Longmont, each circle shows how far he might have gotten one, two then three days out” he looked across the names of the towns then glanced at Sam who was pouring over recent unsolved murders along that same path “Ok here we go same day he called from Longmont . Weird murder same town. Cops said it was like the girl was blasted from the inside out” Dean glanced at the screen and shrugged “Angel kill. They might have just missed Can unless they got him” “They didn’t get him” you argued and Dean cut his eyes at you before Sam clicked on another article and glanced over at the map “Y/N, you got an Emory Park, Iowa?” You and Dean both leaned across the map and you tapped the name “There, a couple days outside of Longmont” you knew Cas wasn’t dead. Hell human or not he was too smart for that. Sam looked back at the screen then said “Ok, two priests were murdered there thursday. Eyes blown out, evidence of torture. They were impaled on posts” “Torture?” Dean asked and Sam nodded “Yeah” “Angels are looking for info” you guessed and Dean let out a breath “If they get to him before we do” “They won’t” you pushed looking back at the map.

------

All of you were on the road to Emory park within the next hour. When you rolled up the church the priests had belonged to Dean nodded at you “You go with Sam” you met his eyes for just a second then followed Sam across the parking lot. The officials couldn’t really tell you any more than the news articles or the local sheriff’s department had so Sam decided on a gut instinct to check and see if any more angel kills had happened.

You were checking in with other hunters to see if they had heard anything angelic or demonic since Abaddon was still a worry for another day when Dean climbed back in the car “All right. Well he’s definitely been here. Good news is he’s getting cagey” “Cagey?” you asked and he nodded “He’s using a fake name Clarence” Sam scoffed with a smile “That’s what Meg used to call him. Of course he doesn’t get that’s the name of a pretty famous angel” “What?” Dean asked so you glanced up from your phone “Seriously? It’s a wonderful life?”

Dean was still clueless so you said “We so need a movie night” then tapped Sam on the shoulder “What’d you come up with because the hunters network is dry at the moment” Sam hit a few more keys then said “Another angel kill, outside a town called Lafayette. About a day’s travel east of here” “What is that Indiana?” Dean asked so you leaned up to read over Sam’s shoulder “Says body was found in a homeless camp, Insides barbequed the whole nine”

“Homeless guy?” Dean asked but Sam shook his head “No a pharmacist from Dayton” “Well looks like we’re headed to Indiana boys”

------

You knew that some locals didn’t take kindly to women poking around their investigations. You’d gotten used to it so you simply fell back and let the boys take the lead. There was nothing special about the vic or his possessions except for the fact that he had dozens of episodes of the same religious podcast downloaded “Reverend Buddy Boyle’s Goin for Glory hour” “Cops said he was religious?” you offered glancing through the man’s wallet.

Dean clicked an episode then leaned over so you and Sam both could watch. The Reverend started speaking “Join me in a heapin helpin of glory friends. When you’re in the presence of the divine, you’ll know it and if you let yourself, you’ll hear it” dude was really giving you a bad vibe even before Dean fast forwarded it to the point that the good reverend said “So, remember when angels come a knocking, let em on in” “Angels cant possess a human without permission right?” Sam spoke causing you and Dean to pass a guilty look which thankfully Sam didn’t notice “Yup but I think they’re using this guy to find vessels” you reasoned and Dean added “It’s a willing audience. They’re all religious types like our pharmacist here. Buddy Boyle’s telling them to let the angels take them over” “Like body snatchers” Sam bite out and you felt a twinge of guilt again before asking “How big a reach does this Boyle guy got?” the thought of what Ezekiel said flashing through your mind again. A quick internet search showed the worst possibility Buddy’s podcast reached pretty much the entire planet.

------

With no other option you headed to the homeless camp in hope someone would tell you something. You felt your heart drop when Dean parked baby and you saw just how many people were there “Dean don’t be as rough as you normally are” he looked at you as the three of you climbed out and said “I’m not rough”

You followed them over to where the largest group of people were and watched Dean strike out twice with trying to get information “We’re just looking for some information. We’re not cops. Do we look like cops?” and had to back bite a laugh at how offended him and Sam both were when one of the men pointed at you “She doesn’t but you two do” you winked at Dean then stepped up to speak “We’re just looking for a friend. He’s gotten himself in a bad spot. He may have been here the night the man was killed. Were any of you here then?”

A man stepped around the corner “Maybe” you shrugged at Dean who gave a description of Cas then Sam added “He may be calling himself Clarence?” the man smiled “Clarence yeah” “Did you two talk?” Sam asked but the man shook his head “Not much” “And?” Dean questioned but the man brushed it off “I think he was on the run”

“You see him with the vic,uh the victim?” Sam asked and you shot him a glare for using vic at first. After a bit of tooth pulling the man finally told you Cas had hailed a truck marked motor city meats down and that meant he was headed to Detroit.

------

You needed to stop for gas and snacks on the road and you found yourself not for the first time caught between the boys arguing. “Look at these chemicals. Do you even read the label?” Sam asked holding a piece of pie Dean had bought in the store. You laughed into your coffee when Dean said “No, I read pie. The rest is blah,blah,blah” “Remind me when we ever get downtime to make you a real apple pie” you told Dean who raised both eyebrows and gave you a grin “I’ll hold you to that” then looked at Sam “When we hit Detroit we start with the homeless shelters” “Then the encampments, soup kitchens” Sam agreed and you added “We also need to check out the places he might have gone looking for work”

“I can check for vagrancy arrests and odd deaths” you offered as the three of you rounded a corner. You knew what was coming so you simply stepped back when Sam and Dean both grabbed the guy who had been trailing all of you and slammed him to the chain link fence “Who are you?” Sam asked and Dean added “And why the hell are you trailing us?”

------

A small part of you registered that you along with two of the most important people in your life were torturing someone and that it should bother you but it didn’t. Whether it was that Cas was at stake or that you simply had gotten to a them or us mindset he was an angel and working to hunt down Cas and the boys which made him a bad guy in your book..

You were in an abandoned warehouse where they had chained Maurice to the roof and were working to get information out of him. So far they’d gotten that he was a bounty hunter which was the equivalent of delta force reapers. “Why’d they sic you on Cas?” you asked the bloodied angel who glared at you “He warded himself” “Naomi hire you?” Dean asked but Maruice laughed “Oh you really are out of the loop. Naomi’s dead, resting in pieces” “So who’s running things now?” Sam demanded and when Maurice didn’t answer Dean nearly growled “Answer” and stepped towards him again gripping the angel blade the energy rolling off of Dean was pure aggression in that moment and you were glad you landed on protect side of his scale.

Maurice must have sensed that as well because he finally answered “Her protege, Bartholomew. He’s an up and comer” “So he figured we’d lead you to Cas?” Sam guessed. “This Bartholomew, He’s organizing the angels?” you asked and when no answer came Dean slashed him across the chest “She’s speaking to you” “That’s all I know” Maurice finally spat out.

Dean tilted Maurice’s head up with the angel blade and Maurice glared at him “Kill me if you want. It won’t do any good. If I don’t find Castiel there’s others who will” Dean’s eyes barely flicked towards you so you said “Well at least we know you wont” before Dean stabbed the blade in right under Maurice’s neck.

------

You drove through the night to get to Detroit but ended up chasing your tails all night. Dean pulled over and looked back at you “I don’t want to do this but Y/N if we have any hope of finding Cas alive we need plan b” “Plan b?” Sam asked but you knew what Dean was telling you so you nodded then looked at Sam “We’re letting you know” he was clearly confused when he asked “Letting me know?” So Dean sighed and repeated slowly “We’re letting you know”

You saw his posture change right before his eyes glowed blue “What is it Dean?” “We need your help” you answered. Ezekiel replied “That is flattering. We’ve been through this. I can not be making public appearances” “We get that. We’re not asking you to walk the red carpet Zeke. We just need help finding Cas” “It can not be done. He is warded” Ezekiel reasoned so you spoke up “Yeah but maybe you can use your intergalactic, hyperspace xray eyeballs here” Dean clarified “There might be a reaper for rent on his ass, can you find them?” “I could try” Ezekiel offered and closed his eyes. Dean shot you a look in the mirror so you shrugged helplessly. When Ezekiel opened his eyes again he had a place to look.

------

You ran in the door behind Sam about the time the reaper stabbed Cas. Before either of you could do anything with a wave of her hand she’d sent you flying across the apartment. You ended up nearly underneath Sam in the closet and both of you were getting to your feet as the reaper stalked towards you. You saw Dean move out the corner of your eye as she said “This girl’s popular with all the boys” She punched Sam first then looked at you “And girls” Dean was behind her so you nodded “I’d worry about him” and she turned into the blade as Dean buried it home.

“Check on Cas” you hollered and went to your knees next to Sam “C’mon wake up! Sammy? Zeke? Please wake up” you glanced over your shoulder and Dean shook his head “He’s gone” “Like hell” “Sorry Sam” you muttered then slapped him hard across the face.When his eyes opened you knew it wasn’t Sam looking back at you so you begged “Help Cas please”

You watched holding your breath while Ezekiel healed Cas. About the time he collapsed Cas opened his eyes so you helped to ease Sam’s body down then glanced up “Welcome back Cas”

------

You and Cas ended up falling asleep in the backseat leaned against each other. When Dean pulled up in front of the bunker he turned around to wake the two of you and smiled at the sight. Cas was leaned back against the seat and your head was over on his shoulder. "Take a picture it'd last longer" Sam teased and climbed out to head to the door.

You woke when Dean gently shook your shoulder "C'mon sleeping beauties we're home" you smiled sheepishly at Cas "Sorry about falling asleep on you" he smiled in return "Don't apologize Y/N" then climbed out the door behind you.

Dean grinned and motioned towards the door "Sam has the food. You two didn't even stir when we stopped" you joked "Human Cas is very comfortable I guess" "That makes yet another person you've slept on besides me" Dean teased as the two of you followed Cas into the bunker. You shrugged "Maybe because you've never offered me your shoulder Dean"

-------

All of you were in the map room talking about humanity of all things. “It aint all burritos and strippers my friend” Dean said causing you to roll your eyes and add “Naw sometimes it’s cowboys and pizza or maybe that’s just my taste” Cas half smiled “I understand what you’re saying. There’s more to humanity than survival. You look for purpose, and you must not be defeated by anger or despair or hedonism for that matter” that made you look up “Where’s hedonism come into it?” “My time with April was very educational” “Yeah I think getting killed is something” you offered and laughed from shock alone when he added “and having sex”

“You had sex with April?” Dean asked so you laughed “Yeah that’d be where the hedonism comes in. I mean I can’t blame her. Cas is attractive and know he’s all scruffy to boot” Dean shot you a look so you shrugged as he turned back to ask Cas if he had protection “Well I had my angel blade” Dean smirked at Sam “He had the angel blade””Shut up you heathens” you scolded them and winked at Cas who smiled “In any event I do now see how difficult life can be and how well the three of you have led it and I think you’ll be great teachers”

“Thanks Cas” Dean said and Cas smiled again “Y/N are there any more burritos?” you grabbed his hand “Cmon” and lead him into the library.

-------

You sat down with Cas and he was asking you questions about being human so you were trying to answer them as best as possible when Dean walked in “Y/N I um need a minute with Cas” you could tell something was wrong but you stood up “Um sure” and patted Cas on the shoulder on the way by.

-------

“What do you mean Cas just left?” you asked Dean stepping in front of him so he couldn't retreat to his room to avoid your questions the way he had Sam’s. “Look Y/N, Ezekiel said if Cas stayed he had to leave” the weight of that implication hit you hard but you had to say “Dean, this is Cas.He’s had your back and mine and Sam’s so many times. How do we kick him out with nowhere to go?”

He ran his hand over his face “I don’t like it anymore than you do. I gave him some money and the location of a few of Bobby and Rufus’s cabins” You could tell how much the decision was weighing on Dean so you reached out and gently touched the arm closest to you and was surprised when he didn’t pull away but rather seemed to lean into your touch. “Y/N I’m barely holding it together here sweetheart so if you wanna yell at me please wait until morning”

You let the anger you’d been feeling seep out of you and pulled him into a hug. He was rigid at first then slowly relaxed against you even slipping his arms around you to hold you closer “We’ll fix it. Somehow we’ll fix it Dean” you could feel his breath on top of your head when he said “I hope you’re right Y/N”

You stood there for a few moments before Dean pulled away first. You were expecting a joke or something to play off the fact that he was showing emotion but he just stared at you for a second then said “How did you ever get tangled up in our mess of a life? Hunter or not” you shrugged “Pure luck” and that caused a small smile to tug at his lips. Yeah everything was a shit show but you had to hold onto some sort of belief that all of you could figure it out. The angels, the demons, helping Cas and even healing Sam. You weren’t naive no you knew shit could get even worse but you also knew you’d stay swinging until your last breath and so would they. That’s all the faith you needed to have. “Your bad luck, our good luck” he breathed and you couldn’t resist the urge to tease him by saying “Oh so now I’m a piece of good luck?” He nodded “You always have been” the two of you stared at each other for a moment and it looked like he wanted to say something else but Sam calling his name broke both of you out of it. You scratched at the back of your neck then nodded down the hall towards your room “I’m gonna head to bed” he pointed towards the kitchen where Sam was “And I’m gonna go see what Sammy wants”

You glanced back over your shoulder and Dean winked at you before turning to walk towards the kitchen. What exactly had just happened between you and Dean?

Tags: @facadeformyrealblog @akshi8278

*If anyone wants to be tagged/no longer tagged just let me know*

#spn fanfiction #supernatural fanfiction #dean winchester x reader #dean winchester fanfiction #dean winchester x female!reader #supernatural fic #always be yours

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calligraphist-artemisia · 3 years

Text

Soul of a Lion

Sequel to The Smallest Blade.

Summary: After the Red Lion steals them away from the Marmora base and takes them through a wormhole, Shiro, Keith, Katla, and Lance find themselves in front of a majestic castle with nowhere to go but inside. The events that unfold while they're there will change the fate of the universe.

Also posted on AO3 under the username “kishirokitsune”.

Happy New Year, everyone! I figured there was no better way to start out 2021 than by posting the first chapter of a new fic! I hope everyone enjoys it.

☆ - ☆ - ☆ - ☆ - ☆

1 | The Red Lion

Keith tightly gripped the controls, trying his best to redirect the Red Lion away from the glowing vortex, but she didn't respond no matter what he tried. He sent up a silent prayer that they weren't being dragged into immediate danger and then had to tightly shut his eyes against the intensity of the light. It only took a second and then they broke through the other side and he was able to open his eyes again.

“Where are we?” Katla asked, her voice close to him. He glanced to his left as she released her grasp on the back of his seat so she could step forward and get a better look at the navigation system. “Wait... but this is the Javeeno Star System. It should have taken us movements to get here!”

“Instantaneous transport. I know some of our brightest scientists and engineers have been working on it, but none of them have even come close. Not even the empire has been able to replicate the technology that allowed Alteans to travel so quickly, so how did we manage it?” Shiro asked, mostly to himself.

Katla was quick with a suggestion. “The Lion?”

“You think it could have been storing the energy until the right moment?”

While Shiro and Katla debated exactly how they were able to travel so quickly, Keith took his hands off of the controls and turned his attention to Lance instead. The Altean stood off by himself, his arms crossed over his chest as he stared at the floor, clearly upset about something. Keith assumed it had something to do with the fact that he tried to take off with the Lion on his own.

He wanted to be angry. Furious. But the fire in his veins ebbed away the longer Keith watched Lance. Even after the years the Altean had spent with them, there were still times when he didn't know what to make of Lance. There was something about him that rubbed Keith the wrong way. He was just... obnoxious.

But Keith couldn't deny that he was a good friend and whatever was happening with the Red Lion wasn't his fault, no matter how much Keith wanted to place the blame on him.

“What do you think about all of this, Lance?” he asked.

Lance looked surprised to be addressed, especially by Keith. “Me? I- I don't know about any of this! I swear, Keith!”

“I wasn't accusing you of anything, I just wanted to know what you think!” Keith snapped back.

“Well, you're the one who bonded with this thing! You'd know better than any of us!” Lance exclaimed.

“Forget it!” Keith grit his teeth and turned away from the Altean. Why did he even bother? He focused instead on the screen and the readouts the Lion was giving them. They were rapidly approaching a small, blue-and-green planet which had breathable air and a plethora of plant and animal life. According to what he read, the name of the planet was Arus and the beings who lived there were simply known as the Arusians.

The only thing that made him worry was the fact that the Javeeno Star System was the territory of a fearsome Galra general named Sendak, who was as ruthless as he was loyal to Emperor Zarkon. If they were caught by him or any of his men, he wasn't sure they would make it out alive.

They would have to tread carefully.

“Why have you brought us here?” Keith quietly asked the Lion.

The Red Lion answered with a roar as they broke the atmosphere, rapidly coming in for a landing on top of some cliffs bordering one of the oceans. As they grew closer, the air rippled in front of them and Keith could make out a grid-like pattern resembling a particle barrier. Before he could shout a warning, the barrier split open and revealed a massive white castle perched on the highest plateau. They easily passed through and it closed behind them.

“They've reworked their particle barrier into adaptive camouflage! How cool is that!” Katla squealed in excitement. “I've always wondered if it would be possible to use the electromagnetic radiation emitted by a barrier in conjunction with metamaterials built into the foundation of a ship in order to achieve some sort of invisibility in flight and this might prove that theory! I have to know how it works!”

“You just might get that chance,” Shiro told her as they landed just outside the massive main door.

The lighting in the cockpit went dim as the Red Lion landed and then went perfectly still, clearly indicating that they should all disembark and go into the castle. Shiro reached out and grabbed Katla's arm when she attempted to be the first one off, gently guiding her back into Keith's arms so he could take her place and lead the younger cubs (plus Lance) out of the Lion and into unfamiliar territory.

Katla calmed once they were on solid ground, her excitement over new tech tempered by the fact that they had no idea what they were about to face once they were inside. She easily fell into step alongside Keith, one hand in his while the other was loose at her side, ready to grab her blade if the situation called for it. Keith was much the same, though he was less subtle about the way his hand kept straying towards his knife.

Lance fell somewhere in the middle of their group, weaponless but no less alert to the potential of danger. He stuck a little closer to Shiro as they walked towards the massive main door. They all slowed as they drew close, unsure of how they would get in.

The Red Lion let out a roar that shook the ground with its intensity, which caused all of them to flinch and look around in suspicion. The only thing that happened was that the door opened to allow them inside.

“What is this place?” Katla wondered out loud, craning her head back to try and take in the entire structure. “The architecture... I've never seen anything like it! I wonder who built it.”

“Alteans,” Lance muttered in a surprisingly bitter tone. As if in response to his emotions, the purple of his disguised appearance shifted to a shade closer to blue, serving to better hide the markings high on his cheeks.

Shiro chanced one curious glance back at the only non-Galra of their group. “Anything we need to worry about?”

Lance shrugged.

“Maybe the Lion disabled any sort of security when it brought us here?” Katla suggested.

“Stay alert anyway,” Shiro instructed. “Basic infiltration protocol. Anything happens, find your way back to the Lion. Lance, stay with me.”

Everyone agreed to his commands and then they walked inside. The tick they stepped through the door, the lights of the grand entryway lit up around them, illuminating white floors and walls, all of which had a thin layer of dust coating it and turning it gray. As they walked farther into the castle, the blue lights of a hallway to the left began to flicker to life as though the castle was trying to guide them to where they were needed.

Shiro followed the lights.

There was no sign of life that any of them could tell, though they passed by a number of closed doors along the way.

“It's strange that there isn't more security,” Keith mentioned.

“I guess they're counting on the barrier to keep out any intruders. And like I said before, it could be that the Lion was able to disable whatever security they did have in place,” Katla said.

Keith vaguely gestured down the long hallway with his free hand. “There aren't any cameras. Nothing to suggest any type of surveillance or space for drones to hide until they're activated. None of the doors are reinforced with pin codes. If we wanted to detour, I bet they'd open just by one of us pressing our hands to the panel.”

“I'd rather not test that theory,” Shiro spoke up.

Keith dropped his hand back to his side. “My point is this ship isn't fortified for battle. I'd argue that the barrier is its sole defense.”

“It must have a way of quickly getting out of range of any attack. Maybe it's really fast?” Katla suggested. “Or... Well, the Red Lion brought us here. Maybe that's part of the castle defense as well.”

“If that were the case, then she should have been here and not back on Venadh,” Keith argued.

Katla inclined her head, conceding to his point. “Okay, so the barrier is the primary defense and there doesn't appear to be any internal security. This definitely isn't an Altean warship, which means it must have been used for exploration or maybe as a headquarters of some sort? I just don't see why the Red Lion brought us here if it wasn't important.”

Lance kept his silence throughout their discussion, adding none of his own thoughts or opinions. No one tried to force him to speak when it was clear there was something about the castle that was bothering him.

The debate ended abruptly when they arrived at the end of the hall and the doors slid open to admit them into a strange round room. There was a podium near the center and six circular indents in the ground.

Shiro took a single step into the room and there was a hissing sound as three of the indents cracked down the middle and then opened. Slowly, three cylindrical pods rose from their hiding spot in the floor until they clicked into place. Through the semi-translucent glass, they could make out three bipedal figures.

“Healing pods,” Keith murmured in recognition. “They're different from the ones back on base.”

Katla tried to walk closer to the pods for a better look, but Keith tugged her back to his side.

“We don't know who's in there,” he admonished.

Katla rolled her eyes but didn't make a second attempt. “We won't find out anything if we don't investigate. Besides, this is an Altean castle which means they're probably Altean.” She paused a moment as her brain caught up with her mouth and she quickly turned to Lance, a new question poised on her lips.

Her words died as Lance stepped forward with an unreadable expression on his face and pressed one palm against the tank.

There was a hissing sound as the pod farthest from them suddenly released a frigid fog, the doors peeling open to reveal a young woman with silvery-white hair. She remained upright for a moment before she lurched forward with a harsh gasp.

“Father!”

She stretched out one hand and stepped down jarringly hard with her right leg, managing to stand for less than a tick before her knees gave out and she folded weakly to the floor.

Shiro, despite all of his warnings of caution to the others, was unable to resist walking over to help someone who was in need of it. He stopped a short distance away from her and held out his hand. “Miss, are you alright?”

The Altean woman tensed and slowly turned to face Shiro, her apparent shock rapidly giving way to fear and then anger. Shiro barely had time to react before she was on her feet and unsheathing a small dagger from the folds of her dress, which she held protectively in front of her.

“Who are you?” she demanded. “How did you get on this ship? What have you done with my father?”

Shiro held up both hands placatingly and took a step back, doing his best to appear as non-threatening as possible. “I'm Shiro and we were all brought here by a Red Lion. We haven't seen anyone else on your ship, but your father could be in one of these pods.”

She didn't take her eyes off of Shiro. “Why should I trust a word that you say? You're Galra!”

“You asked,” Keith muttered barely loud enough for Katla to hear.

And then a second pod cracked open and released a cloud of freezing fog and the mustachioed Altean who sprang forth only added to the tension by attempting to attack Shiro with a loud battle-cry. Shiro side-stepped him with a bemused expression.

When Keith tried to jump in and help, it was Katla's turn to hold him back and stop him from getting into trouble.

“Enough!” Shiro commanded. “We're not any happier to be here than you are in having us here, so if you could stop for a tick maybe we can figure out why the Red Lion brought us here and how we're meant to leave.”

The male Altean froze in the middle of preparing for another attack, his face rapidly paling. “The Red...? You're lying!”

Keith bristled in Shiro's defense. “Why would we lie about that?”

“You're trying to trick us into letting our guard down! Well, I won't fall for it this time!”

“No one is trying to trick anyone,” Shiro loudly cut in, giving Keith a look warning him not to speak again. “Just calm down so we can talk this through. No more arguing. No trying to attack one another. None of us are happy about this situation, so lets take a moment to calm down and try to tackle this reasonably.”

Silence followed in the wake of Shiro's words.

The Altean woman glared at him for a moment, conveying her continued anger without saying a word, before turning so quickly on her heel that her hair fanned out around her and brushed against Shiro's closest arm. She strode over to a podium and began pressing keys on the surface, causing a holographic screen to rise up and illuminate with data in an unfamiliar script.

Shiro could see Katla trying to move so she could get a better look at the tech and was relieved when Keith kept her in place. A quick glanced at Lance let him know that their disguised Altean was behaving himself and appeared to be doing whatever he could to avoid drawing unwanted attention.

The less they aggravated theirs hosts, the better.

It was as the Altean woman let out a loud gasp of shock that the third and final pod opened. The Altean within was heavyset, with dark skin and nearly golden markings painting his upper cheeks. He lurched forward and caught himself on the sides of the pod, closing his eyes as he took a moment to reorient himself.

“...Princess, what is it?” asked the mustachioed Altean after a moment of hesitation, his attention torn between his two companions.

“Coran, I...” She trailed off, her voice trembling as she stared in horror at the screen. “We've been in there for nearly ten-thousand decaphoebs. We've missed so much! Everything... everything is gone! I don't understand how this is possible. What happened to the fail-safes? How were we in the cryo-pods for that long?”

Coran looked uneasy as he joined her at the podium, sharp blue eyes scanning the screen. “I wish I could say, Princess.” He turned his head towards the Altean who was still standing in one of the pods. “Hunk, could you take a look?”

Shiro recognized the exact moment the Altean – evidently named “Hunk” – fully took note of the people around him. Eyes widened, his grip tightened, and breathing quickened.

And then, miraculously, he visibily relaxed.

“You found a Lion?” Hunk asked, his voice a curious whisper.

The Princess whipped her head up. “Impossible. They must be lying.”

“We're not-!” Keith's heated words came to a swift end thanks to Katla's elbow to his side.

Hunk seemed perfectly okay with ignoring his princess and instead continued to speak to Shiro, who was the closest to him. “We wouldn't be awake if you weren't brought here by one of the Lions. It's the only possible way you could have gotten through the barrier without breaking it and setting off a full lockdown. His Majesty made sure of that.”

It was a simple explanation, but more importantly it told Shiro that there was at least one of them who would be willing to hear them out instead of outright dismissing their words.

Shiro figured the best place to start was with introductions.

“I'm Shirotak,” he said, giving Hunk a slight bow. “Those two are Katla and Keith. Behind me is Lance.”

Hunk offered up a tremulous smile and a bow in return, quickly stumbling through his own introductions and finally giving up the name of the princess, who was called Allura. It was to her that he turned when he finished speaking. “Princess, maybe we should go somewhere and talk about this?”

“Yes...” she agreed, clearly reluctant. “I think that would be for the best.”

#voltron #fanfiction #kidge #kidgemas #half galra pidge #half galra keith #galra shiro #altean lance #altean hunk #Soul of a Lion

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jarienn972 · 3 years

Text

Weathering the Storm - Part Three

When I started writing this story months ago, I had the events all plotted out and honestly planned to finish writing it over the course of a few weeks. Unfortunately, the stresses of real life got in the way and I all but abandoned writing for a while. I'm finally getting back to a place where I can form complete, coherent sentences again so I'm getting a few new chapters out for my WIP stories. In this chapter, we're picking up from Emma's POV again as she tries to figure out why Killian has yet to return or contact her amidst the severe thunderstorms pounding Storybrooke.

Since it’s been quite a while since the last chapter was posted, you can catch up here on Tumblr - Part 1 Part 2 All 3 parts are also available on AO3 and FF.net

Was this storm ever going to end? Emma found herself wondering as she silently cursed the rain that continued to pelt Main Street. The typically bustling street itself was already looking more akin to a swollen creek than a roadway as the storm drains overflowed. Mini rivers of rainwater gushed along the curbs in search of an outlet while they flowed towards the harbor.

The power had flickered a few times but still wasn't coming back on. She figured there were likely some lines down around town due to the strong wind gusts or maybe even a blown transformer somewhere that overloaded the grid. Anything was possible with the severely outdated infrastructure around here. They really needed to conjure some upgraded utility systems in Storybrooke but no one ever seemed to get around to it.

A thought crossed her mind about the possibility of controlling the weather with her magic before she sighed somberly and closed the blinds covering the station's front window. No use sitting out here watching the rain falling, she thought as she made the short stroll back to her office determined to try reaching Killian, either by phone or over the radio. Maybe it wasn't raining as bad on the other side of town…?

Her backside had barely settled onto her chair when the vibration of her cell phone on the desktop startled her. She spun about and snatched it up in hopes that she'd see her husband's name on the screen. Her excitement immediately diminished when she noticed that it was her father calling instead.

"Hi, Dad," she answered, trying to disguise the disappointment in her voice. "What's up? Are you staying dry out there on the farm?"

"Very funny…," he groaned over the crackling connection. "We've got more than an inch of water in the barn and a lake where the garden should be, but that's not why I'm calling. Were either of you out patrolling on County Highway 2?"

"Killian was headed out to Zelena's place earlier. Somebody threw a brick through her living room window so he went out to get her statement and see if it might have been related to the recent string of vandalism around town. He left here about two hours or so ago, maybe a little longer… Why do you ask?"

"Because our favorite melodramatic dwarf just stopped by here to say that he drove by the cruiser out there while on his way into town. He said it was parked on the side of the highway and appeared to be running, but he didn't see anyone in it. Of course, we are talking about Leroy so he could have been exaggerating... But since this seemed to have bothered him enough to stop here and tell me about it - although not enough to get out and take an actual look at the cruiser - it got me a little concerned, so I figured I should check with you…" David knew he was rambling but he also noticed Emma's hesitation before replying.

"I've been trying to reach Killian but he hasn't answered. I was actually hoping it was him when you called…"

"You've tried the radio?"

"Of course, I have," she snapped back in frustration, but she tempered her ire before continuing. "I figured he got stuck out at Zelena's. With the power out all over town and the already crappy cell phone service out there, he might not have been able to call…" But then why would the cruiser be out on the side of the highway running? "Did Leroy happen to say how long ago he saw the car?"

"Just a few minutes ago. Maybe ten? Fifteen?" David replied. "Look, I can drive out there and see what's going on if you'd like…"

"No, Dad. I'll go check it out."

"Emma, my truck will handle these flooded roads better than that little Bug of yours."

"I wasn't planning on driving," she informed him as she hurried to collect her still-damp leather jacket. "I'll poof out there and take a look. Hopefully I'll be able to see what's going on but I could still use your help. Could you come here to the station? Henry's here with me waiting out the storm since the station generator at least gives us some lights. He might need a ride home…"

"Why don't I just stay there at the station? I could help field any calls that might come in…"

"Dad…"

"No arguments. I'm volunteering," he insisted.

"Okay, okay… I'll let Henry know you're coming. Thanks for the help."

"That's what family is for. Now get out there and see what's going on with the cruiser and that husband of yours."

David disconnected the call as Emma tugged on her jacket. She pocketed her phone, not particularly keen on going back out into this lousy storm but she had to find out why Leroy saw the cruiser parked on the side of the road but no Killian inside it. First though, she needed to tell Henry she was leaving and before she could even take a step towards the break room, she spied her son rounding the corner.

Sometimes this kid really did have a sixth sense she didn't fully understand.

"Who was that you were talking to? Was it Killian?" he asked as he approached.

"No, it was David. I have to head out to investigate something that just came up. He's coming here to help man the office until either Killian or I get back."

"Must be something pretty serious for you to go out again in this weather…"

"I honestly don't know yet," she answered, trying to be as vague as possible so the boy wouldn't worry. "That's why I'm going to go check it out. Just stay here and stay inside, even if the rain lets up."

"The only place I'd even think about going right now would be Granny's. I'm getting pretty hungry and at least she could throw together a sandwich…"

"You can raid my snack drawer," she chuckled. "I'm not going to worry about you spoiling your dinner tonight."

"Okay! Good luck with your investigation."

"Thanks, kid. I've got a feeling I'm going to need it…" she lamented as she gave a slight flick of her wrist and vanished in a puff of grey smoke.

**********

Brow knitted in a blend of confusion and apprehension, she approached the vehicle with caution. It might be the middle of nowhere, in the middle of a thunderstorm, but this was still Storybrooke. She'd learned the hard way that anything could happen here at any time so a Savior-Sheriff had to be prepared. While she didn't see anything out of the ordinary through the rear window, aside from the fact there were no visible heads above the seats, she wasn't going to rush.

"Killian?" she called out as she inched towards the car, sloshing through puddles that were soaking through her boots. If she'd come all the way out here to find him curled up sleeping in the back seat of the cruiser…

Only she found the back seat empty once she finally had a view through the side window and the front seat was unoccupied as well. A quick glance through the driver's side window revealed the keys in the ignition as expected but it also appeared that the dash camera had been turned on. So, this was a traffic stop? Then where in the hell was her husband?

Her first instinct was to yank open the driver's side door and climb inside but her instincts led her to take a moment and do a precursory inspection of the scene first. While the rain would have washed away any tire tracks or footprints, her gut told her that there might be other clues and it didn't take long for her to locate the first one when the toe of her boot kicked something out of a puddle next to the front tire.

Something that looked strangely like a cell phone.

She discarded the currently useless umbrella as she stooped to retrieve the phone and winced as she sliced open the pad of her thumb on a sliver of shattered glass. She wasn't surprised to find that the device was dead, which could have resulted from it hitting the ground, but the damage was definitely hastened by the rain. Killian must have dropped it. That's why he wasn't answering the calls. It just didn't explain his disappearance.

Placing the useless phone onto the hood of the cruiser, she continued her survey of the area and walked around to the front of the car. She noted that the passenger side tire was flat which provided another small clue. Trying to change a flat tire during a thunderstorm with one hand and a hook wouldn't have been a safe thing to do, but this small fact raised as many questions as it answered. She lifted her head and stared out at the expanse of dense forest that extended for miles on either side of the highway although she couldn't imagine that Killian would have been crazy enough to venture out there in this weather, even if it was in pursuit of a suspect.

No, there had to be some other explanation. Some important piece of this puzzle was missing, she thought as she tugged open the passenger side door of the car and flopped onto the seat, thankful to be out of the rain for even just a little while. Her eyes immediately went to the dashcam that, from outside of the car, had appeared to be recording. Up close, she could see that the Recording light was indeed illuminated although the LED display screen had turned off. She'd only had these things installed in the cruiser and in the Bug a few months ago so she wasn't entirely sure if the screen was in standby mode or if it was malfunctioning, but she was thankful that at least Killian had remembered to turn the thing on.

She fumbled with different buttons surrounding the screen for a few tense moments trying to figure out how to make it stop recording and switch to playback. She really should have read the whole manual when she put these in... There wasn't time to hunt through it right now but somehow, she managed to get it working. As the screen lit up, the grainy, black and white display showed that there was two hours and sixteen minutes of footage, a lot more elapsed time than a traffic stop should have taken. It was also right about the time that the storm front would have reached Storybrooke.

An eerie sense of dread washed over her as she pressed the Play button and the digital replay opened to a view of a parked, dark-colored sedan. She'd have to see the footage on a bigger screen to make out more of the detail but it appeared to be a Toyota. She was just happy that she could make out the digits in the license plate even if she'd have to take a guess on the state. It definitely wasn't a Maine or Massachusetts tag. She'd be able to recognize either of those but hazarding a guess, she thought it was probably New Hampshire.

There was no sound to accompany the video so there was no way for her to know exactly what was being said as she watched the image of Killian walking casually up to the driver's window of the stopped sedan. She could see that there was a short conversation before Killian took a step backward and then suddenly staggered out of the camera's view. Emma's breath hitched in her throat as a man appeared at the passenger side of the dark sedan, climbing into the vehicle just before its engine started up, the driver leaned out of the window, brandishing what looked like a gun for a few seconds, and then the car peeled away and disappeared down the lonely highway.

What the hell did I just watch? The feed was too blurry for her to get a good view of the driver and she had only a few fleeting glimpses of the other suspect's profile. Had they shot out the front tire? It seemed pretty likely but what had caused Killian to fall out of the frame? Why hadn't he called this in?

Had they shot him?

She fast-forwarded the footage a few minutes ahead to see an image of Killian stumbling awkwardly back toward the cruiser and then slumping against the front end. His dark clothing may have obscured any overt signs of injury but the distressed expression on his face revealed all she needed to know. He was hurt and she had no way of knowing how severely based on the video.

He slid out of the camera's range again and she continued to press the fast-forward button until she saw his hook catch onto the void between the hood and the frame and his face appeared in front of the camera. He looked unsteady on his feet, his features scrunched in agony. At one point, he looked directly into the camera, eyes pleading for help that wasn't coming. And then he pushed himself away from the car and staggered out of the camera's line of sight again. She forwarded all the way to the end of the feed and he didn't reappear.

"Oh, god, Killian… Where are you?" she asked aloud, not that she expected anyone to hear her.

He had to have been shot. It was the only thing that made any sense, but everything had happened so fast... Why hadn't he called for help? Had he broken his phone during the altercation or had he dropped it later because his hand was too shaky? Why didn't he get in the car and use the radio? Even if he hadn't reached her at the station, he could have contacted the State Police over the emergency channel. Had he not remembered how to do it or which channel he was supposed to use? She couldn't even imagine what must have been going through his mind but if it was anything like the panic she was experiencing just watching this on replay, she wasn't even sure if she could recall which channel was the emergency one.

She grabbed the radio's microphone from its cradle and depressed the button on the side, hoping that her dad had arrived at the Sheriff station by now. She was going to need his assistance.

"David, are you there? Over." She released the button and waited impatiently for his response.

"Emma - I'm here," he replied after a few short seconds. "Did you find anything out there? Over."

"The cruiser, yes. Killian - no." Her response was blunt and she allowed enough of a pause for David to know she was done with the formal radio etiquette.

"Damn…" was the first response she heard before David realized he'd pushed down on the button too soon. "Any indication of what happened?"

"Thankfully, Killian remembered to turn on the dashcam. He made a traffic stop and apparently, there was an altercation. I'm going to need you to call the State Police and see if they can run a plate for us while our systems are down."

"Sure. Just give me the tag number. And just what do you mean by altercation?"

She dodged his question and provided just the necessary facts. "Vehicle is a dark sedan, likely a recent-model Toyota. Plate is New Hampshire, I think. J73 422."

David knew instinctively that something must be wrong for her to avoid his question but he didn't press her for it. "Got it. Should we have them put out an All Points for the car? If so, what reason are we giving them?"

"Possible officer-involved shooting," she replied as matter-of-factly as her current state of mind would allow. She could picture the look on her father's face right now though as he processed her statement.

"Can you repeat that?" his voice begged over the tinny radio speaker.

"It looks like the driver may have shot Killian but I can't verify that until I find him, and that's what I need to do… Have them put out an APB for the vehicle which was occupied by two men. Unfortunately, I don't have a better description. The dashcam video screen is just too small and too fuzzy."

"Will do, Emma. Where do you think he went? There's a lot of forest out there…"

"But there's only one farmhouse. I think he would have headed towards Zelena's place."

"It's not very far but why would he leave the cruiser behind and go on foot if he'd been shot?"

"The suspects shot out the front tire. His phone's shattered and I have no idea why he didn't try to radio for help. I just know that he'd try his damnedest to reach the closest place he thought he could get help."

"I'll put the call in to the State Police. You go find your husband and Henry and I will man the fort here. Your mother sent a three course meal and a thermos of hot cocoa with cinnamon with me so we're well provisioned until we know what's going on."

"Thanks," she replied, managing a weak smile as she replaced the microphone into the cradle on the side of the radio and reached over to turn off the cruiser's engine. She slipped the keys into her pocket figuring she'd worry about retrieving the vehicle later. She didn't need a car to reach the former Wicked Witch's farmhouse.

#cs ff #cs fanfic #cs canon divergence #captain swan ff #weathering the storm #killian whump #although not much in this chapter #but yes - I finally got it updated!

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aion-rsa · 3 years

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Power Rangers Beast Morphers Season 2 Episode 22 Review: Evox Unleashed

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This POWER RANGERS BEAST MORPHERS review contains spoilers.

In the end this is how it was always going to be. For as excited as I was after last weeks triumphant Power Rangers Beast Morphers episode, there was no way this episode could live up to it. ‘Evox Unleashed’ is good but it’s not great and much of that can be put down to the mandate that has held back Beast Morphers from living up to its true potential.

As I’ve mentioned many times before but bares repeating now, when Senior Vice President of Power Rangers Franchise Development and Production Brian Casentini left the franchise he left us with this revealing quote.

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“I am a big fan of serialized storytelling, but most broadcasters across the globe want more episodic storytelling for scheduling ease.”

Knowing this was a limitation helped me understand the series more and review it under the proper context. It improved many episodes knowing the plot line wouldn’t continue and I could appreciate what they did in such a short time. It hurt others when they didn’t use the standalone story to give us more insight into the characters or even tell a proper one and done lesson. Standalone doesn’t mean it has to be completely disposable.

Casentini went on to say in that same interview that, “I think we found a really great balance (between serialized and episodic) with Power Rangers Beast Morphers.” To give the show credit, many of the serialized episodes did work. The problem was that they more often felt like glimpses into a fully serialized show than proper serialized stories in of themselves. Something felt off about them even when they were good.

That’s not to say only the serialized stories had merit. Some episodic plots were fairly fun and a few were great. Most of them though weren’t used to develop the characters in a meaningful way. Without that the serialized moments the show was able to have couldn’t land. Without character arcs even the biggest of plot moves feel empty.

So it’s no wonder that when we get to the finale we get a lot of great moments that are kneecapped by a lack of development from earlier in the series. The start of the finale is great. It’s tense, we get a tearful moment between Zoey and her mom, and there’s an incredible sequence of the Rangers busting out old weapons. I still wish they had put more time into explaining how the Ranger Vault came to be but it was genuinely clever to have them use old weapons to get around Evox’s ability to absorb their own. Great way to have fan service but still impact the story.

We also get some good callbacks to last episode when Nate says, “I made you, Evox, but today we’re gonna destroy you. As a team!” Perfect way to cement the lesson he learned. Evox later saying, “it’s been a long time since I’ve taken out a civilization” was an excellent RPM callback.

Steel’s sacrifice was also powerful and devastating. More than anyone else we’ve gotten to know and love Steel over these two seasons and he’s always been a delight. Seeing him sacrifice everything was a huge shock but very effective. It gave the rest of the episode more weight. The problem is that while the solution the team comes up with is a good one (combining their human DNA with Morph-X) it’s rooted in the message that the team is strong because they’re human. That’s… true, I guess? But the finale acts like this is something that’s been building up the entire show. It hasn’t. Outside of Steel’s desires to be human this was never built up as a central theme. This wasn’t a constant problem the characters had to deal with in their episodic adventures. I guess you could stretch and say Ravi felt like a bit of a robot when he had to ignore his feelings for Roxy and his love of art but that’s being generous.

Far more effective would have been the very simply message of you don’t have to solve your problems alone. That would have tied into pretty much everyone’s stories in the series. Devon needed to take advice from his dad but refused to listen. Zoey was determined to solve big problems but often tried to do it all on her own. Ravi hid away his feelings and suffered alone. Nate felt isolated from the world and had to build a brother to find friendship. Hell, that would have been a great way to bring in Ben and Betty who while bumbling have always worked together.

And making the ultimate theme of the show, “you’re strong because you’re human” is even more head scratching when you remember the Beast Bots. Are they not strong because they’re robots? Are they only strong because they have human best friends? Is Steel only strong because he’s half human? It’s an odd message with some alarming undertones if you sit there and analyze it. Just looking at on the surface it boils down to ALL MACHINES ARE BAD… when the show did a lot of work to make the Beast Bots sympathetic.

Much of the weight of the start of the episode was able to establish is lost in this confusion and in Steel coming back to life as a human. It’s cute that he finally gets what he always wanted but it robs the show of a more powerful ending. I can understand not wanting to kill a Ranger even if he is a robot but if there were anytime they could get away with killing a Ranger, it’d be here. The human ending is also strange because they add Steel’s voice to his human version. I get why they did it and it was okay in the body swap episode but here it felt too silly. Just give him a regular voice. It would help sell the scene instead of distracting the audience with unintentional comedy.

We then cut to one year later and the montage of scenes is mixed. It’s incredible that Mason Effin’ Truman comes back for a small cameo that also ties off Scrozzle. It subtly does some world building (Corinth and Grid Battleforce are in more contact) and it allows Ben and Betty to finally get some development. Anytime Power Rangers uses James Gaylyn it gets an extra point.

Devon suddenly being a commander doesn’t really work. He moved up in the ranks that quickly? After one year? That’s a little far fetched. Was he even officially enlisted in Grid Battleforce? No one can go from being a recruit to a commander in one year. If he was a commander-in-training I could believe that. This, not so much. Did he even express a desire to be a commander? If this was rooted in an episodic outing earlier in the series it might have been a little easier to buy.

Zoey and Nate working on clean energy was nice though and a good reminder of the franchise’s progressive history. I’m glad they took the time to explain how the city moved away from Morph-X to something that’s attainable in the real world. Power Rangers loves a good message and this was a small but needed one.

General Shaw (love this promotion!) painting with Ravi was cute although it just reminded me how human Roxy was barely in this show. Same with the very bizarre bit with Steel becoming an actor and Blaze being his stunt man. Uh, that came out of nowhere? Steel being an actor, okay, he’s a wacky guy and I can buy that. But Blaze being a stunt man? Yeah he did karate a few times but nothing in the previous episodes set that up. That would have made a nice episodic story that could have reminded us Blaze existed!

The series closes out with the team throwing Steel a birthday and they sing ‘It’s Great to be Human” cementing it as the very odd theme of the show.

Parts of the finale do work, especially the first half, but without any buildup of the shows central themes or the character arcs it all feels flimsy by the end. Its competent but the episodic mandates on the show as a whole crippled its chances. This could have worked with more planning on how the episodic stories could have supported a larger theme but that wasn’t allowed or simply wasn’t done. It makes the finale feel like a slapdash ending that wants to be big and grand but can only manage the trappings of it. The human DNA mixed with Morph-X was a great solution to destroying Evox but rooting it in “it’s great to be human” just made it fall flat. It’s a decent finale but one that will sadly be more known for finally wrapping up the Venjix cliffhanger from RPM than wrapping up Beast Morphers’ story.

This leaves Beast Morphers in a middle ground in the history of Power Rangers. It was a decent series with a lot of potential but ultimately couldn’t deliver on most of it and felt aimless for much of its run. There were genuine moments of quality throughout and you could see a great show in it. Sadly the episodic stories were not up to a high enough quality to sustain the series between the serialized ones, where the show seemed to spend much of its energy. This was Beast Morphers‘ biggest mistake.

Those standalone stories could have been structured in a way to still be episodic while forming a backbone to the show that let those serialized stories thrive. Without that backbone the attempts at serialization just felt like reminders of wasted potential instead of solid stories in their own right.

I’m very interested to see where Power Rangers goes from here. Simon Bennett is one of the more experienced show runners to join the franchise so his influence on the show could be a positive one. Hasbro has also gotten out of the training wheel phase with Power Rangers and could have a better idea of what they want out of the franchise. I hope they take the lessons learned from Beast Morphers and use them to find the best way to work within their mandates to make Power Rangers the best show it can be. It has the potential, Beast Morphers showed that. Let’s hope they can live up to it.

The post Power Rangers Beast Morphers Season 2 Episode 22 Review: Evox Unleashed appeared first on Den of Geek.

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honestsycrets · 5 years

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The Knight’s Prize I : The Leader

❛ pairing | ubbe x reader, ivar x reader

❛ type | multi

❛ summary | the reader knows that she has no chance against Ubbe’s great army. she offers herself to him, the king. the only issue is, he isn’t.

❛ warnings | love triangle (of course), concubine reference

❛ sy’s notes | ya’llllll.... it’s here. more ubbe x reader x ivar for @walkxthexmoon ! I hope you all enjoy it.

“And we’ve been flanked.”

Your hands knot into the reins of your steed as you turn him to look at the hot flames closing in on your army. Primitive, you called him, primitive. Not because he was unlike you because he was like you in many ways but because you thought you could outsmart him with the ways of your foremothers. Well, this primitive warlord boxed you in with the most primitive of all things: fire. It’s smoldering flames jump like bouncing wisps in the cool wind.

Careful, the commander husked, don’t underestimate me.

You tug your horse Eirný’s ethereal braids, shifting the steed one way then another on her crystal-like horseshoes looking for a viable exit. Stuck. The armour you wear could withstand the heat for some time. Your people, however, likely could not. If your people could not, you could not either.

“I see it, Yrsa.”

You see it. You see him, mounted upon his dark steed. His hood is thrown over his heavy, long braid that sits down his chest. The bright radiance of his piercing eyes glistens underneath the shadow of a cowl. You dip your fingers down to the hanging bone upon your chest and tighten it in your palm.

“Should we pray to Brynhildr now?” She almost mocks.

You turn your head down toward her when a blotch of black obscures your vision. A great raven descends down onto his reins. A chill fills your skin pocked by the sight of its one bright eye. Odin, commander of Valkyries, your people stand no chance.

“I see a son of Odin,” you speak past a knot growing in your throat. “There is nowhere to run where the Ravens will not see.”

“We could always charge.” Yrsa suggests. “Like we usually do.”

“But the numbers…”

A wiser woman would have backed out at the war council. In your stubbornness, you had not. For even if Odin was on the field, you convinced yourself; even the Valkyries, your great mothers, could disobey him. You were wrong.

You withdraw the sword of your belt and dismount your brilliant girl, chucking the line of rope at Yrsa.

“(Y/N)!” Yrsa calls your name. You heed no call of it.

Your boots squish along the dewy grass, pushing down on the water and releasing it from lush green pleats. In a few minutes, it would be sloshing with the blood of your countrywomen. You release hold on the bone around your neck, clanging your sword against an iridescent shield. Behind you, the tight line of your warriors closes the gap you ascend from with their own shields. They beat their shields like drums, rattling the hot battlefield as they move forward on low bent knees from the heat burning closer. In front of you, his men raise their bows, kissing the sky with would be fatal arrows. He extends his hand to stop them from releasing. You slow to a stop, looking at the king and his ilk.

“I have no intention on slaughtering my women here for precious rock,” you bear in mind Yrsa whose hands tighten upon your horse. It was well-known throughout neighboring cities that your land sat upon a beautiful reserve of precious rock that might be used in valuable trade for people with more materialistic pleasures. It was also known that your people were descended from Valkyries and of which, your women had no pride in not fighting.

“Then what have you to give?” The ruddy haired man booms. “We have nothing to lose.”

“Myself as a concubine to the king.” You boom.

The women behind you are grid-locked in their abject horror to your suggestion. Each one would most certainly prefer to give up their sword and lives to preserve your honour. That was the basis of what it was to be a shieldmaiden. Honour, glory… all so important. A fair and loyal queen as you were, you were not willing to give the lives and freedom of your women outnumbered as they were.

“You say this knowing that you will lose.” The king says. His raven beats its wings. You sheathe your blade and cross the midplane of the unscathed field.

“Perhaps not,” you assert. “I descend from the valkyrie Brynhildr who lay waste to your grandfather.”

“Fanciful stories.”

“Fact and truth,” you shake your head.

The man dismounts his horse at long last. His skeptical eyes look to your archers with their bows raised, trotting closer to you. He stills to stand in front of you. Your eyes settle upon a pendant on his chest. A hammer. Strange for a son of Odin.

“Even so, what will I stand to lose by taking your offer?”

“You’ve decimated my men. Your people have no women, king. The woman that was with you. She’s fallen in battle and gone to Folkvangr.” He almost visibly flinches to your word. “Rock and trade are all good and well, but wouldn’t you rather have willing women of our people to carry on our ways?”

The commander lifts to pull his cowl back off of his head. His long, black rune chain tattoo over his eye greets you straight away.

“An alliance.” He states his question. He holds out a tattooed arm out to you. You extend your own with images of swans to take his, grasping him at the junction of his elbow and pulling him close.

“An alliance King Ubbe,” you agree. He signals his men to stand down and you yours. Axe, sword and shield clang together. The raven flies overhead.

“It is good that you are as beautiful as you are, (Y/N).”

“Why is that?” You ask in a confident, if not sassy tone. Yrsa tilts a cool pitcher of water over your head in a rushed flow. You sputter in the steaming tub, water cascading down the circumference of your head, dripping down your nose. You shake your long hair. It floats at the surface of the water.

“Because you are so stupid.”

You swipe your middle fingers over your eyebrows, flicking water off to the side. To say that she was displeased would do nothing to capture just how enraged she was with you.

“You’ve shamed us. You ignored all the traditions of your mother, our grandmother and our people to hand yourself off to him in the field where the Valkyries, our ancestors, had control of the field.”

“Odin has control--”

“You see. You are so stupid. How can you be a queen and be so stupid at the same time?” She says, running her comb through your long hair. She lifts your hair out of the bath and wrings it like a bit of old cloth, twisting so you squeak in pain. As she yanks, your head snaps back so that you might only look into her eyes like sard. When she was so angry you could not make out the brilliant bronze glow on the apples of her well-rounded cheeks.

“Now he will take you.” She seethes, working out a knot not from a long battle, but a few days of not showering. A tooth of the bone comb comes off in the heated fight against your knot. “He will take you and you will be his for all of time with no ability to choose a warlord for yourself. Now you will have no freedom, you idiot.”

Yrsa pulls free a knot of hair. She pulls your hair up with a clip to keep your hair in its place. You try to rationalize what she thinks. It’s fine enough for someone who could run away from duties. Someone who had no allegiance to her people. You do.

“It is not that simple. What would I have told the children who have just lost their fathers? To lose their mothers for pride?” You stand in the water, running droplets down from the expanse of your breasts. It dribbles into the scented water. You wish you could worry just as Yrsa would about nothing more than who to marry and what image you’d like to develop for yourself.

“It is that simple. Life and death.” Yrsa shoves the rug under your feet to catch the water as you step out. You run your fingers over the short curls covering your mound. “We live, we die. That is how it works. I think you are the simple one here.”

She sounds like your brother every day. The little brother who thought he was a big brother and now, he is nothing but a ghost in a burial mound. Across the hall, the commander is awaiting your presence. You can’t blame her despondent nature. She lost her father, counsel to the crown and a hell of a warrior. She moves toward your bed where you have laid out a beautiful, layered gown. It falls to the ground sheer.

“Now what do you want to wear for him? This-Is-What-You-Just-Bought,” She holds up the sheer gown, thinly wrapped from the steps of India by way of Arabian traders. Then she holds up Asian silk, well fitted but not as thin. “Or Go-Ahead-And-Rip-It-Off-Me-And-See-For-Yourself.”

You swipe the thin, see-through gown from her fingers. Because Yrsa would only brew if she saw you in this piece for the king. Yrsa sits with her thin, muscular arms supporting her on your lavish sheets.

“Of course you would pick that one.”

You call a thrall to help you pull it on, pulling your drying hair aside so that she might properly secure it.

“You are as bitter as Skadi.”

“It is better than being as you are.” Yrsa drops back upon the bed, flicking her hands up into the air as she admonishes you for your stupidity. The agreements were made. Unless you were going to go against your word, as no woman would, and kill him. That portion of your pride would remain.

“Shut up,” you move to a chair. There you apply your kohl in peace, slight but defined. You wipe the remnants on a bit of cloth. “Well, cousin. How do I look?”

Sometimes, you needed her bode of confidence. She gives you a once over, nodding past her long brown braids. Her words had always been barbs against your skin when things weren’t going her way.

“You look ready.”

“That is not what I meant,” you say. Yrsa exhales forcefully.

“You look like a concubine. There, happy?”

Your finger pats the rouge on your lip.

“Thank you.”

The familiar walk to your brother’s room was not marked with childish pranks or decisions to hide in his corridors so that when he came home, you could leap upon him in your joy and cuddle at night. The two guards at the door keep their gazes forward facing whilst you knock with your jeweled knuckles.

“Come in,” the voice on the other end says. The guards reach to push the door open. All of his things are here. The first fur that he ever wore after a hunt with your uncles, the weaponry mounted above his bed and long timber floors lead to the table where he stands, knocking his knuckles on the tabletop.

“King Ubbe,” you entreat him.

Ubbe turns toward you, his back leaning as he takes you in his sights. He lifts his head to the bits of pearl running through the twists in the front of your head toward the back.

“Beautiful,” he whispers under his tongue before he catches himself. Your eyes keep confident in his gaze as he looks to you in something more than idle interest. Your lips pout out and he runs his thumb over your painted lips. A sudden and insipid smile splits his features. “But the king is my brother, Ivar.”

“Ivar…?” You say, not quite grabbing the gravity of his statement. Any of the kings that you had known would have been leading their own armies.

“Yes, Ivar. Ivar the Boneless,” he finishes for you. A wash of abject horror had might as well splashed over you.

There were many Ivars. Your vision blanks under the thought that-- it was that Ivar. The one that you had thought was overthrown. The one that ran with his tail between his legs to the Rus king. It was that Ivar. Ivar the Boneless.

“But-- but you lead his army.” You state.

“A portion,” he returns.

A portion? For a community of farming Norsemen, that number of men was about unheard of. To know there were more? Well, your skin lights in gooseflesh. Outside the door you feel the repetitive stomp of soldiers buckling the timber floors. Yrsa calls out your name, alerting you to another army stomping its way into the walls of your well-protected town. Prince Ubbe folds his arms, looking down and then back up to your eyes. You stagger back to the door, thrusting it open and running after your cousin. A whizz of a chariot catches your attention and Ubbe comes by your side.

“And there is the other.”

The rider of the chariot slips off his helmet, running his hand through his sweaty black hair. The excitement in your stomach pits, grasping the charm of bones around your neck. King Ivar the Boneless perks his plush lips at you, chucking his helmet into the floorboard of his chariot.

“Queen (Y/N)! I’ve heard a lot about you!”

And he’s seen a lot of you too, now.

@igetcarriedawaywithyou, @kylobien, @titty-teetee, @breathlessouls, @nejijjeoroo, @bcat1291, @readsalot73, @mslothbrok, @captstefanbrandt, @ailucascen, @michaeliskindahot, @cbouvier23, @naaladareia, @cbouvier23, @the-geeky-engineer, @lisinfleur, @tephi101, @akamaiden, @ethereallysimple, @venusloviing, @happylittlepuppydog, @beyond-the-ashes, @slutforrpg, @sparklemichele, @alicedopey, @lif3snotouttogetyou, @noregretsandyeteveryregret, @dangerous-like-a-loaded-pistol, @deathbyarabbit, @unacceptabletatertots, @beyond-the-ashes (no sig), @babypink224221, @ivarandersen, @queen-see-ya-in-valhalla, @moose-squirrel-asstiel, @icarus-fell-in-spring, @end-of-night, @gruffle1, @lol-haha-joke @arses21434, @smileyparrots, @miss-artemis-wild, @two-unbeatable-beaters, @wonderwoman292, @wish-i-was-a-mermaid, @killerb00sdeath, @heartbeats-wildly, @boo20017, @acacheofstrange, @shaelyn102, @smokealone, @shaelyn102 @laketaj24, @peaceisadirtyword, @ly--canthrope @cris101071 @daughterofthenight117 @unassumingviking @ladyofsoa, @inforapound @winchesterwife27@directionlessbuthappy, @hizz-hizz-mothertruckerz, @atequila, @rekdreams247, @ivarswonderlust, @writingeverynowand-then, @hp-hogwartsexpress, @minarawr, @strangunddurm, @peachesnpisces, @elenawrit, @equalstrashflavoredtrash, @roxxck, @ilvebeenabad, @vikingsmania, @huntingbears, @my-little-wolfe, @mitchiri-nek0, @dakotacheyenneee-blog, @seize-the-droid, @a-writers-dreams, @quaint-and-curious-being, @fangirlbitch02 @demongirl0913, @moondustmemories, @colourmeinblue, @ilvebeenabad, @pancake-blonde, @im-bored-how-are-you, @rubyquartzshades, @lost-and-wandering-alone, @memememememe1-blog, @queenmissfit, @attorneyl, @hallowed-heathen, @mimi334545, @lulura, @looneytunes20033, @ethereallysimple, @Givemesmutorgivemedeath, @bloodydaydreamer, @peaches-seed, @tierneygonzalez, @neeadinghugs @mblaqgi, @slutforrpg, @astertist, @triumphantreturnofpies, @dmv49, @iconicvaleria-blog, @terrainhead, @poisonedjoinery, @lovelynerdytraveler, @sarcastic-mrs-scarlet, @justlovelifeblog, @zabee113, @meganjudee, @ragnarok-imagines, @sdcyumyum, @ivarswickedqueen, @starkiddreamer, @smile-sugar, @austenkingmylady, @amyalpha, @pinkrockstar19, @jeowjungkook, @natalie-rdr, @hopplessdreamer, @tempt-ress, @malakianshinoda, @part-time--thot, @backstagepaige, @smokealone, @chewythecatus, @laughinglikenialler, @lefrenchfrye, @tatertot1097, @imamommakingadifference, @mybarnesmyhero, @honeyofthegods, @vengefulflange, @buffy-the-vampire-blogger, @imcreepininyourheartbabe, @therealmrshale, @that-goodgirl, @supernaturalvikingwhore, @athroatfullofglass, @laketaj24 @chinduda @rekdreams247, @directionlessbuthappy, @ivarswonderlust, @peachesnpisces, @equalstrashflavoredtrash, @roxxck, @dylanowhyyien, @ilvebeenabad, @vikingsmania, @huntingbears, @dakotacheyenneee-blog, @seize-the-droid, @ilvebeenabad, @im-bored-how-are-you, @multi-fandom-imagines8, @queenmissfit, @hallowed-heathen, @lulura, @looneytunes20033, @imamom-makingadifference, @mblaqgi, @attorneyl, @nina2697, @zabee113, @meganjudee, @sdcyumyum @ms-allenbrown, @awesome-hedgehog, @pancake-blonde, @starkiddreamer,@austenkingmylady, @pinkrockstar19, @tempt-ress, @part-time--thot, @chewythecatus, @laughinglikenialler,@mybarnesmyhero, @honeyofthegods, @imcreepininyourheartbabe, @that-goodgirl, @supernaturalvikingwhore

#Ivar x Reader #Ivar/Reader #Ivar Ragnarsson x Reader #vikings imagines #vikings imagine #vikings/reader #ubbe x reader #Ubbe/Reader #Vikings x Reader #ivar the boneless x reader #ivar the boneless imagine #Ubbe imagines #Ubbe Ragnarsson imagines

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andrea-lyn · 5 years

Note

Hey! So birthday request 🎂☺️(I am Shameless).So I was thinking since Alex Met Michael ‘s mum,can you please do an Alex taking Michael to meet his(Alex’s) mom fic?and Kyle tagging along because now they are the road trip trio and he says he is Alex’s best man.

(I’m sorry that this is so much of a belated birthday gift, but a bunch came in before, but I hope this works for you even if it is no longer your bday)

“I don’t know about this.”

Alex glances to the passenger side of the car, trying to surreptitiously check that the locks of the car are on for the fourth time. After all, the last thing he needs is Michael tucking and rolling out of the car because he’s panicking. “Michael,” he sighs, glancing in the rearview mirror. “How come you’re not helping?” he demands, of Valenti. “What are you even here for?”

“The entertainment, mostly,” Valenti quips.

Michael is in the middle of what might be an actual panic attack and Valenti is about to eat popcorn. Alex pinches the bridge of his nose and wonders what he did to deserve this, never mind that he’d been the one to actually request this happen.

It’s Mother’s Day and after the disastrous events at Caulfield two years ago and everything that’s happened since, Alex didn’t think it would be smart to leave Michael alone on the day.

Maybe he’s just trying to fool everyone. Maybe it’s because Alex is going to visit his mother in person for the first time in years, because after he’d called her to ask about Jesse’s habits, she’d ended the call saying that he should come see her sometime.

He’d made a promise and now he intends to keep it.

It feels like if he doesn’t, it’s not only him making his mother upset, but somehow undermining Michael as well, who’ll never get a chance to visit his mother again, thanks to Jesse Manes’ legacy. The very least Alex can do is offer him something else, even if it’s second best.

His mother lives out in the middle of nowhere, off the grid. Alex had helped erase her information so that certain people (specifically his father) couldn’t find her once he got old enough and had tracked her down.

She’d explained it wasn’t the boys she wanted to hide from, but Jesse.

They’ve been talking lately and he’d mentioned wanting to introduce her to his boyfriend, which she had eventually come around to. Alex suspects that she’s anticipating another military boy, someone that reminds her of Jesse. She’s going to be so damn surprised.

“Michael,” Alex says, reaching over to squeeze his hand. “It’s okay. She’s gonna love you. You’re nothing like anyone I was around growing up. That’ll do it alone.”

“So, be the anti-Manes?” Kyle quips.

Alex raises both brows and shrugs, because, “Yeah. Kind of.”

That seems to relax Michael a little. Alex isn’t so sure that he’s as relaxed, but he’s burying it down deep. He’s never brought anyone home and it’s for obvious reasons with his father, but with his mother, it almost felt like cowardice. Not bringing Michael or anyone else felt like he could keep his heart safe in the process.

He’s not so sure he wants safe, now.

Pulling into a long, winding driveway, he knows that there’s no turning around at this point. They’re here and his mother is expecting them. To leave now would be an act of cowardice so grand, so awful, so terrifying that he suspects he’d have to go months without speaking to his mother as a consequence.

Besides, he wants her to meet Michael.

The three most important people in the world to him are within a mile of each other right now – mother, boyfriend, best friend – and Alex has never felt safer or more panicked at the same time.

“Okay,” Alex says, and parks the car. “We’re here.”

Here goes nothing.

When Alex is making his way to the porch of the little bungalow, Michael weighs the merits of running away. He’d have to live off the land in the desert, sure, but then he won’t have to worry about being a disappointment to anyone’s mother (especially seeing as he doesn’t even have a shot of being with his own).

Of course, there’s one looming doctor-shaped issue in his way.

“Don’t even think about it,” Valenti warns, like somehow he’s learning mind-reading tricks from Isobel.

“What? I was just…” Michael trails off, when he hears low voices at the porch. He straightens up his posture, aware that he’s not going to get out of this, and if that’s the case, then he needs to make sure he doesn’t fuck this up.

Michael Guerin, Earner of Parent’s Trust isn’t a trait that he ever thought he’d possess, but for Alex, he’s got to try.

“You were just debating running away. I’m pretty sure that’s why I’m here. Got to make sure you don’t make a break for it.”

He’s lurking back here because he doesn’t think that he can muster up the courage to get over there until Alex either deliberately drags him or his presence is requested. “I’m not exactly the kind of guy mothers like.” It’s an understatement. Michael’s not the kind of guy any parents like, from his interaction with adults as a kid.

Valenti clearly isn’t impressed by his little ‘woe is me’ parade.

”You know how hard it is for him to come out here and face her. It only happens when something is important,” Valenti says. “He doesn’t like bothering her, but ever since Caulfield, I swear, he brings this up on a weekly basis. He’s always asking me if I think you two should come out here and look. It’s mother’s day and he wants to spend it with you and with her.”

”Also, you,” Michael feels compelled to point out.

”Yeah, notice how I’m the one talking you off the ledge? Alex knew he’d need the backup,” Valenti boasts. “Is this about your Mom?”

They really, really, really don’t talk about this often, but Valenti knows the gist of what happened in that prison. He knows that Michael had lost his family that day and that his mother had been one of them. What’s been weird, honestly, is the fact that Valenti gets it.

After all, they both lost parents to Caulfield.

”I don’t want to think that she can replace her,” Michael admits, feeling feeble for the way he sounds as he speaks, “and at the same time, I don’t wanna be the ingrate boyfriend who doesn’t see how much Alex is doing to make this happen for us. It’s just, how is she supposed to replace my Mom? How can I even think that when I don’t even know my Mom?”

”You won’t find that out standing out here,” Valenti says.

Michael breathes in and out, staring at the daunting bungalow in front of him.

”Do or do not…” Valenti intones.

”Oh, fuck you, I knew showing you Star Wars was a mistake,” Michael groans, but it has the effect of breaking the tension, making him huff out a laugh as he nods his head. “Yeah, I got it. There’s no try.” He’s just gotta do this and he knows it’ll turn out fine.

He still can’t help worrying.

”Michael,” Alex calls, ducking out onto the porch. He’s smiling like the sun is shining on him and he’s waving for the both of them to come inside. He looks so happy and Michael isn’t about to ruin that by running away. “Come inside, lunch is ready.”

Valenti claps him on the shoulder, putting his hands on both of them like he’s intending to steer him inside if Michael doesn’t go on his own volition.

”You can do this,” Valenti encourages.

”I can at least try,” Michael admits. “For Alex.”

”For Alex.”

Michael sits in the truck, full of lunch, tea and cookies, still feeling the tightness of Alex’s mother’s embrace as she’d hugged him so tightly to say goodbye, refusing to let him go until he’d relaxed. He hates that he’d tensed, but his experience with the Manes family, outside of Alex, has been resoundingly stressful.

She’d been kind and warm and welcoming. She’d been the complete opposite of Jesse, and he’s starting to understand why she’d run away so early in Alex’s life.

“So, did she…” Michael trails off, hating how small his voice sounds. “Do you think she liked me?”

Alex gives Michael a fond smile. “She did ask when I was going to ask that nice boy to marry me,” is his wry comment. “She’s hard to put off when she knows that I’ve been in love with the same guy for over twelve years, not to mention the part where we live together. As far as she’s concerned, that’s inevitable.”

Michael feels his cheeks go hot, because he’d liked her, too.

It’s not that he’s ever had a mother figure to compare her to, but she’d been sweet and warm with her love, while also having a firmness and a backbone of steel – but then, he supposes you’d have to, in order to leave Jesse Manes, because that takes guts.

”I liked her too,” he mumbles, staring out the window so Alex can’t see the vulnerability on his face. “Do you think we could turn this into a regular thing? I know she doesn’t like coming back to Roswell, but I don’t mind driving out here, if that’s what we’d need to do.”

From the way Alex practically radiates relief and joy, it’s definitely the right thing to say.

”I think we can manage,” he agrees, tugging Michael towards him for a slow kiss that makes

“Come on, let’s hit the road,” Valenti says, interrupting that beautiful moment, hopping in the back of the car, arms piled with leftovers. “I saw a 7-Eleven on the way back and I don’t know about you two, but I’m thinking Big Gulps.”

Okay, thinks Michael. Maybe Valenti has a few decent qualities up his sleeve and his taste in roadside beverages is up there in the plus column.

#thougtsofadyingatheist #malex #malex fic #tumblr prompts #meeting the in-laws #road trip buddies!#roswell new mexico

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randomestfandoms-ocs · 5 years

Text

Marvel OC Masterlist

Name: Adelaide Stark

Story: Beyond The Archetype

Face claim: Jenna Louise Coleman

Love interest: Sam Wilson

Summary: Adelaide Stark had always had a lot to live up to. Her dad always tried not to put a lot of pressure on her, but the rest of the world hadn’t been so kind. So, Adi spent the first seventeen years of her life working and studying to follow in her family’s footsteps and work on military technology. But when her father goes missing in her senior year of high school, her world falls apart. And when he comes back, alive and a superhero, she has to rebuild herself and her dreams. Now, not only Tony Stark’s daughter, but also Iron Man’s daughter, Adi realizes that maybe it’s time for her to stop following, and to do something for herself instead.

Name: чудо | Adriana Stark

Story: Like The Sun (We Will Live To Rise)

Face claim: Madison McLaughlin

Love interest: Peter Parker

Summary: tbd

Name: Alana Stark

Story: Born To Die

Face claim: Madison Davenport

Summary: tbd

Name: Alessia Stark

Story: It’s The End Of The World (As We Know It)

Face Claim: Melissa Benoist

Love Interest: Steve Rogers

Summary: “So this Doctor Banner was was trying to replicate the serum they used on me?” “A lot of people were, only one succeeded.” “Who?” “Howard Stark.” -Steve Rogers and Phil Coulson

When Alessia Stark was sixteen, her dad used her to test out a new super serum. He succeeded, and died a week later. Aly Stark has never wanted to be a hero, despite the serum running through her veins. She grew stronger, her aging slowed, she had even developed an inhuman healing factor, but she still didn’t want to be a hero. Until her twin brother - now over a decade older than her - is kidnapped by terroists and returns a superhero. Aly may not want to be a hero, but she’ll be damned if she leaves her brother to fight alone

Name: Angelina Stark

Story: Cheap Tricks (And A Cheesy One-Liner)

Face claim: Phoebe Tonkin

Summary: tbd

Name: Angie Stark

Story: Turn Back Time

Face claim: Malina Weissman

Summary: tbd

Name: Antonia Stark-Parker

Story: The Final Countdown

Face claim: Olivia Holt

Summary: Years after the final battle against Thanos; after Tony and Natasha died and Steve stayed in the past, after Bruce became Professor Hulk and Clint retired again, their daughters are all grown up with children of their own. In their defence, they didn’t realize that their parents’ time fuckery and infinity stone usage would pass onto the newest generation, leaving them with six superpowered girls, each with the power of an Infinity Stone. And they certainly never expected the girls, the self proclaimed New Avengers, to decide to fix the mistakes that their grandparents made, starting back at the very beginning, with the Battle of Manhattan. And no, you can’t ask about their dad, thank you.

Name: Anya Barton

Story: What Happened In Budapest (Doesn’t Stay In Budapest)

Face claim: Emma Stone

Love interest: Bucky Barnes

Summary: What happened in Budapest? Clint and Natasha took out an arms dealer, saved the world, had a baby, learned that the Red Room lied about sterilizing Natasha, and killed a few people. Now all grown up, Anya Barton is the newest SHIELD recruit, and almost immediately, aliens invade and a god brainwashes her father; that’s a hell of a first day. But Anya is the daughter of two of the greatest spies in the world, she’s not going down without a fight. Not when aliens invade, not when SHIELD is revealed to be Hydra and she has to go off the grid, and definitely not when, in Budapest of all places, she meets a man with a metal arm who’s also trying to hide from whatever is left of Hydra.

Name: Aphrodite

Story: The Course of True Love (Never Did Run Smooth)

Face claim: Vanessa Morgan

Love interest: Thor

Summary: Aphrodite could barely remember her home planet of Olympus, thanks to Odin destroying it when she was a child. As the sole survivor of the Olympian gods, Odin decided that she was “useful” enough to keep, and brought her to Asgard. Clearly he’d never considered the consequences of murdering her entire world and taking her hostage, as he somehow still expected her to be loyal to her. Unfortunately for Odin, that plan was as stupid as the rest of his ideas; Aphrodite had never been loyal to him, her loyalty had always been to the next king of Asgard, and when he sends Thor to earth, he’ll learn just how far a goddess of love is willing to go to make sure he doesn’t cost her another family.

Name: Aria Parker

Story: The Art of Disappearing

Face claim: Natalie Dormer

Love interest: Steve Rogers

Summary: Peter Parker was hardly the first enhanced Parker. His aunt Aria had been born with the ability to control the elements. At eighteen years of age, she dropped off the face of the earth, and no one, not even her cousins Ben and Richard, had any idea where she’d gone. Most people thought she was dead, until ten years later when she helped Clint Barton find his dog in Central Park, and somehow befriending he and Natasha Romanov. Even then, though, most of the world didn’t know who or where she was; not until Shield fell apart and Natasha found herself reaching out to the only person she trusted who had no affiliation with Shield or Hydra.

Name: Aris Stark

Story: Forged In Iron

Face claim: Olivia Holt

Love Interest: Peter Parker

Summary: All Aris Stark wanted to do was train for the Olympics - gymnastics, specifically - and go on dates with Peter. Of course, being Iron Man's daughter and Spiderman's girlfriends complicated things, but Aris could handle complicated. Everything was perfect, until both her dad and boyfriend hopped on a ship to outer space while some crazy alien tried to destroy the universe. She waited in the compound, preparing all of the ways that she would yell at them for scaring her. And then she woke up, the compound on fire and crumbling around her, Tony and Peter nowhere to be found. And if that weren't confusing enough, suddenly she was glowing.

Name: Asteria “Stargirl” Quill

Story: Made Of Stardust

Face claim: Chloe Grace Moretz

Summary: If Peter Quill had known that some species didn’t have gestation periods, he might have been a lot more selective about who he slept with. But, he hadn’t, and so, he wasn’t. And so, he found himself with an infant daughter. Half alien, all ravager, Asteria “Stargirl” Quill is all about profit and adventure, just like her dad. But when a fight breaks out during a sale, and she and her dad get arrested with a green girl, a racoon, and a tree, everything is about to change.

Name: Athena Stark

Story: Iron Princess

Face claim: Zoey Deutch

Love Interest: Peter Parker

Summary: Athena Stark had a plan. She was going to be the valedictorian for her grade at Midtown High, then an undergrad in Poli Sci at Yale, then law school at Harvard, and then she would become president of the United States. She would change the laws in order to better protect superheroes like her father, and she would make him proud. But then her dad brings Spiderman to Berlin for a fight, and Peter Parker comes back talking about a Stark Internship that definitely doesn't exist. Athena's life plan never accounted for Superhero Liaison, let alone for becoming a superhero herself, but Starks are made of iron and Athena will make it work.

Name: Aurora Hansen Stark

Story: The Future In Silver and Gold

Face claim: Bailee Madison

Love Interest: Peter Parker

Summary: “Please don’t tell me there’s a 12 year old kid waiting in the car that I’ve never met.“ Actually, she’s thirteen and at home, but with Killian having killed her mother, Aurora Stark is about to find out the truth about her mysterious father. Unfortunately, as unprepared as Tony is for a daughter, Aurora is equally unprepared for a father, and getting used to each other will be harder than either of them could have ever anticipated.

Name: Octavia Ava Potts

Story: Golden Child (Grew Up)

Faceclaim: Danielle Rose Russell

Love Interest: Peter Parker

Summary: tbd

Name: Bennett Parker-Maximoff

Story: The Final Countdown

Face claim: Danielle Campbell

Name: Bianca Davis

Story: The American Dream

Face claim: Kat McNamara

Love interest: Steve Rogers

Summary: Being 26, in Washington DC, and working at the Smithsonian Museum of Air and Space wasn’t exactly where Bianca ever imagined herself, but it’s a pretty fun gig, and a great stepping stone to becoming a Smithsonian Curator. And she gets to work in the Captain America exhibit, which has always been a fascination of hers. Twenty six and working a good job in her field of studies is more than most recent graduates can say, but her life is still completely mundane–until the day Steve Rogers walks into her exhibit for the first time.

Name: Brinley Brant

Story: Because I Could Not Stop For Death (He Kindly Stopped For Me)

Face claim: Lili Reinhart

Love Interest: Peter Parker

Summary: There had been four Brant sisters, once. Beatrice and Bridget, twins and completely inseparable; Betty, the oldest, brightest, best; and Brinley, the middle child, overlooked, and Betty’s biggest fan. And then, the decimation. Three sisters and their father waiting by the door for Betty to come home, to tell them she was alright and laugh about them worrying. But she never did. With a dead sister and a dying mother, it fell to Brinley to fill the gap. Day by day she became more and more like her sister, no longer able to differentiate between her reflection and Betty’s pictures, until one day she woke up and realized that she was a whole year older than Betty would ever get to be. And then the Avengers reversed the blip, and when the doorbell rang, Betty had finally come home.

Name: Brynhilde Parkerdottir

Story: The Final Countdown

Face claim: Jenny Boyd

Name: Brynn Bates

Story: Dust To Dust

Face claim: Erin Moriarty

Summary: tbd

Name: Calypso Lokidottir

Story: This Is Your Kingdom

Face claim: Emilia Clarke

Love Interest: Steve Rogers & Bucky Barnes

Summary: Calypso “Callie” Laurens had always known that she wasn’t normal, no one had ever tried to spare her from that truth. With her silver-white hair, her fondness for “renaissance fair” dresses, and her Shakespearean speech, it would have been impossible for her to not know that she was strange. What she didn’t know was that her name wasn’t Calypso Laurens, but rather Calypso Lokidottir, princess of Asgard and daughter of Loki. But, when a strange hammer shows up in her town, one that only she can lift, Calypso is about to learn everything that Odin never wanted her to know, including why she was cast away to Midgard in the first place.

Name: Charlie Dugan

Story: Spider Web

Face claim: Madelaine Petsch

Love Interest: Peter Parker

Summary: tbd

Name: Cora Royce

Story: Stars Defied

Face claim: Willa Holland

Love Interest: Sam Wilson; possibly poly Sam x Bucky in TFATWS

Summary: tbd

Name: Cordelia

Story: I Was In The Darkness (So Darkness I Became)

Face claim: Emeraude Toubia

Summary: tbd

Name: Courtney Lang

Story: The Cost Of Legacy

Face claim: Katherine Langford

Summary: Courtney Lang loved her dad, she really did. Sure, he did some illegal business and was in jail for a while, but hey, nobody’s perfect. But when he got back from jail, everything changed. He was keeping secrets, avoiding her, lying to her, but it all made sense when she learned that he was actually a superhero. But then he went rogue, got put under house arrest, and broke said house arrest with less than a day until his time was up. Still, she could handle all of that, until half of all living things disappeared, and her father along with them.

Name: Diana Moore

Story: The Long Game

Face claim: Hailee Steinfeld

Love interest: Peter Parker

Summary: You would have to be an idiot to not realize that Peter Parker is Spiderman. Well, Diana might go to a school for geniuses, but clearly they’re all idiots because no one else seems to have figured it out. Well, that’s fine, that makes it easier to keep the whole Secret Identity Thing a secret. And if there’s one thing that Diana Moore is good at, it’s keeping a secret - or it was, until she and the rest of her Acadec team nearly die in DC. Now it’s personal, and whether he likes it or not, Diana is going to do whatever it takes to help Peter Parker save the world.

Name: Dominique Barton

Story: Life Goes On

Face claim: Emily Rudd

Love Interest: Peter Parker

Summary: tbd

Name: Dorothy Madison

Story: Somewhere Over The Rainbow

Face claim: Keira Knightley

Love Interest: Steve Rogers & Bucky Barnes

Summary: Dorothy Madison, Bucky Barnes, and Steve Rogers had been inseparable for most of their lives. Four years her senior, the boys had already been best friends for years before they met the small girl on her first day of kindergarten and immediately got into a fight with her first bully. From then on it was much of the same; Steve getting into fights, Bucky either joining him or pulling him out, and Dorothy keeping them out of trouble.The years passed quickly, and she found herself falling in love with both of her best friends. But before she figured out what to do about that, the war made its way to their door. Bucky got drafted and, during their last night together, Steve got himself enlisted.Well, no way was Dorothy letting her boys go to war without her. She quickly found a place for herself within the Office of Strategic Services, and soon found herself put in charge of the Howling Commandos. Finally, everything was right again; Steve was rushing head first into danger with Bucky as his right hand, and Dorothy struggling to keep her boys alive.

Name: Eir Odinsdottir

Story: See No Evil

Face claim: Maisie Williams

Summary: Once, Eir Odinsdottir had been the princess of Asgard; Odin’s youngest child, and only daughter, and beloved by her brothers and their kingdom. But Eir was also a seer. She could see things that had happened, things that were happening, and things that had not yet happened. And one day, she saw the truth about her family: the older sister long since cast away, the secret behind her brother’s parentage, and the dark and bloody truth behind her father’s reign. And so, Odin exiled her. Eir spent years travelling the nine realms, longing for home, before finally seeing her brothers on Midgard, so to Midgard she goes.

Name: Elena Barnes

Story: Balancing The Score

Face claim: Kaya Scodelario

Summary: Imagine a weapon who has all the skills of the Asset, but without the memories. No need to wipe and start over, no questions, only loyalty to Hydra. Enter Elena Barnes. Bred by Hydra to serve that purpose, they truly believed that they had created the perfect weapon. But, compliant as she seemed, Elena watched the torture that her father suffered, and anger lived within her veins. After the Battle of Manhattan, she finds herself out in the world with instructions to bring back Loki’s staff, but instead, she disappears. Goes off the grid and dedicates herself to learning the truth about herself and her father, until one day she’s at a museum and meets the one person who can truly answer all of her questions.

Name: Elizabeth Banner-Parker

Story: The Final Countdown

Face claim: Natalia Dyer

Name: Elizabeth Barton

Alias: Silver Swan

Title: Walking The Tightrope

Love Interest: Tony Stark

Summary: Elizabeth Barton has been working for SHIELD since she was sixteen; since she and her big brother had been recruited out of the circus. No mission ever phased the ex tightrope walker, nothing ever compared to the thrill and danger of walking on a wire, over 20 feet in the air. Even her elite task force with Clint and Natasha - Silver Swan, Hawkeye, and Black Widow - paled in comparison. But then Tony Stark becomes Iron Man, Liz is assigned to get to know the man behind the mask, and suddenly she feels like she’s sixteen and walking the tightrope again.

Name: Eleanor “Ellie” Coulson

Story: Reinvention

Face claim: Sabrina Carpenter

Love interest: Peter Parker

Summary: There are some facts in life that are simply unavoidable. “If your father is one of SHIELD’s top agents, and your mother is out of the picture, you will be raised as a SHIELD agent from before you can walk” is one of them. Eleanor Coulson has spent her entire life as an agent in training, and she happens to be very good at it. But when SHIELD is revealed to be Hydra, and her dad is charged with rebuilding the entire organization, Ellie is faced with her most challenging mission yet. High school.

Name: Elsie Carter

Story: Travelling Soldier

Face claim: Jessica Raine

Love Interest: Steve Rogers & Bucky Barnes

Summary: tbd

Name: Erna Bragidottir

Story: Speak No Evil

Face claim: Gal Gadot

Love interest: Thor & Steve Rogers

Summary: When Hela massacred the Valkyrie, only two survived; Brunhilde and Erna. But Odin wasn't going to risk anyone learning the truth about his bloody history, and was quick to exile them both. One minute, Erna was trying to say goodbye to her best friend, her sister, and the next she was waking up on Midgard, surrounded by a group who called themselves the Howling Commandos, apparently in the middle of the planet's biggest war. The Valkyrie may have been slaughtered, and she may have been exiled from Asgard, but Erna is, and will always be, a Valkyrie and she is going to fight for her new home.

Name: Felicity Taylor

Story: Welcome To New York (It’s Been Waiting For You)

Face claim: Shailene Woodley

Love interest: Natasha & Steve

Summary: Felicity Taylor was a small town girl. Born and raised in a small town, and university in another small town, by the time she graduated she was more than ready for the big city. Or so she thought, until she stepped off of her train and found herself in the middle of an alien invasion, and accidentally saves Captain America.

Name: Francine Barton-Parker

Story: The Final Countdown

Face claim: Emily Rudd

Name: Freya Thordottir

Story: Like Catching Lightning

Face claim: Jenny Boyd

Love Interest: Peter Parker

Summary: tbd

Name: Grace Osborn

Story: Bound In Secrets

Face claim: Camila Mendes

Love Interest: Peter Parker

Summary: Once upon a time, Grace Osborn had it all. She was the prized princess of the Osborn family, she had a wonderful older brother, and she was her parents’ pride and joy. And then Norman Osborn found out that her mother had been lying for thirteen years and Grace wasn’t his daughter, only a lie to force him into marriage. In order to keep the scandal quiet, Norman quickly sent Grace away to boarding school in England; out of sight, out of mind. That was three years ago. Now, Norman is dead and Harry is in charge, and he has only one priority. Bring his baby sister home.

Name: Grayson Frost

Story: Fear No Evil

Face claim: Dylan Sprayberry

Love Interest: Kassandra Maximoff

Summary: tbd

Name: Jameson Barrett | марионетка

Story: Til The End Of The Line

Face claim: Dove Cameron

Love Interest: Stefania Raine

Summary: Under the scars, white hair, and leather ensemble, Stefania Raine recognized Jameson Barrett — the very best friend she thought to have seen die two years prior, when aliens invaded New York. But for the other girl, Jameson Barrett was buried deeper; she only ever remembered being марионетка, The Puppet, and being sent there with The Soldier to end Nicholas Fury’s life.

In the middle of the chaos, Stefania lost sight of her best friend, but refused to let the girl go again — even if that meant teaming up with a recently un-brainwashed soldier to find her.

With a faulting memory and unbalanced emotions, Jameson knew that accepting that she used to have a name wasn’t enough of a step to becoming a functional person. So, when she runs into the man from the bridge, from the helicarriers — the man who refused to fight — and he asks for her help in finding her ex-partner and the closest thing she had to a friend, she doesn’t say no.

Name: Jamie Carter-Rogers

Story: Out Of Time

Face claim: Margot Robbie

Love Interest: Sam Wilson, Bucky Barnes

Summary: Everybody knows that everybody dies, and nobody knows it like Jamie Rogers. She was raised on war stories, stories about her long dead namesake, and her dad’s stories of another world. A world of aliens and superheroes, of pain and hope, stories of how half of its universe died, and of the ones who gave everything to avenge it. But when Jamie touches the strange crack on her wall and finds herself in New York City, in an alien invasion, in 2012, she realizes that her dad’s other world is not only real, but is the world he comes from, and every single story she heard was true. Everybody knows that everybody dies. But not every day. So, trapped in a world where she was never born, with no way to go home, and knowing exactly what the universe has in store for earth’s mightiest heroes, Jamie makes a promise to herself. Just this once, everybody lives.

Name: Jordan Jameson

Story: Unwritten

Face claim: Margaret Qualley

Summary: tbd

Name: Kara Helasdottir

Story: The Memories Are Gone (The Aftershocks Live On)

Face claim: Emma Dumont

Summary: tbd

Name: Kassandra Maximoff

Story: Fear No Evil

Face claim: Danielle Rose Russell

Love Interest: Grayson Frost

Summary: Kassandra Maximoff was no stranger to fear; she’d been afraid ever since her parents were killed by a Stark bomb, since she spent those days hiding with her siblings, wondering if any moment might be her last, waiting for Tony Stark to kill her too. So when Strucker offered she and her siblings the opportunity to be strong, to protect their country, to not be afraid, they took it. By the time they found out he was HYDRA, it was too late to escape. The siblings spent months being tortured, knowing exactly what would come if they defected. Kassandra had long since accepted her fate, had long since given up hope. And then the Avengers break into their facility.

Name: Katarina Amelia Aliano

Story: Skyscraper

AO3 | FFNET | WATTPAD

Face claim: Sophie Turner & Summer Fontana

Summary: Child genius turned orphan, Katarina was counting on her own hacking skills to keep her under the radar. And it does, until she gets caught hacking into Stark industries, looking for answers regarding the aliens that killed her parents in New York, and suddenly she’s not just on the radar, she’s on Tony Stark’s own radar. When he decides to take her in, no one expects it to go well, but she soon makes a place for herself on the team and in their hearts. She’s not a superhero, far from it, but she’s a hero in her own right, and nothing comes between Katarina and her family; not her biological family, not the weird group of misfits and gods that she calls her own.

Name: Katie Dean

Story: Renegades

Fandom: Runaways

Face claim: Meg Donnelly

Summary: tbd

Name: Kennedy Keener

Story: True North

Face claim: Sophia Lillis

Summary: tbd

Name: Lara Rogers | призрак

Story: Death Defied

Face claim: Lyndsy Fonseca

Love interest: Bucky Barnes

Summary: No one told Steve that his DNA was going to be used to breed a new super soldier - or that it was going to fail. No one told him that a civilian, Angie Martinelli, was going to give birth to his son, Caleb Rogers, or that Caleb wouldn’t be a super soldier. No one told him that Caleb was going to have a daughter, Lara, and absolutely no one told him that on her fifth birthday, his granddaughter was going to be kidnapped by Hydra, turned into a super soldier, frozen over and over again, tortured and brainwashed endlessly, and eventually get partnered with the Winter Soldier. But suddenly he’s in the future, suddenly he’s fought aliens, and suddenly солдат and призрак - the Soldier and the Ghost, Bucky and Lara - are attacking Nick Fury in the middle of DC. Suddenly Steve is on the run with Natasha, suddenly they’re in a Hydra facility underneath a bunker, and suddenly the computerized ghost of Arnim Zola is telling them everything. And while it feels sudden to Steve, Project Insight and its enforcers have been seventy years in the making, and no matter how much he wants to cling to the last remains of his family, they might be beyond saving.

Name: Lillian “Lili” Rogers

Story: To The End Of The World

Face claim: Ali Liebert (in Bomb Girls)

Love Interest: Bucky Barnes

Summary: Lili Rogers would do anything for her brother. Lie and steal to get his medication, agree not to flirt with his best friend despite her eternal crush, even fake her way into the US army. Of course, it didn’t take long before someone figured out that Liam Rogers was actually Lillian Rogers; but thankfully she was found out by Peggy Carter, who quickly hired her as her secretary and liason to the Howling Commandos. Lili honestly couldn’t have cared less, until she found out that the elite force was led by none other than her brother - who had somehow doubled in size - with the love of her life as his right hand man.

Name: Lucy Pierce

Story: Heaven Or Hell

Face claim: Vanessa Kirby

Love Interest: Bucky Barnes & Steve Rogers

Summary: tbd

Name: Lydia Cabot-Stark

Story: Right Down The Line (It's Been You And Me)

Face claim: Blake Lively

Love Interest: Tony Stark

Summary: tbd

Name: Mia Pierce

Story: (I’ve Got) No Strings On Me

Face claim: Troian Bellisario

Love interest: Pietro Maximoff

Summary: Mia Pierce has been raised as a Hydra pawn since the day she was born. Her father, Alexander Pierce, believed that she was the future of Hydra, someone that they could teach to worship the organization without brainwashing, that could be raised as a public figure and eventually positioned in whichever political office they needed her in. But Mia was too curious for her own good, asked too many questions, and tried to tell too many secrets, and so she was punished, and forced to comply. But after her father died, and Winter escaped, the Avengers broke into her latest facility, and suddenly Mia is free for the first time in her life.

Name: Nerio

Story: A Thousand Years

Face claim: Caity Lotz

Love Interest: Thor

Summary: Let’s do a head count here. Your brother, the demigod. A super soldier, living legend who kinda lives up to the legend. A man with breathtaking anger management issues. A couple of master assassins. An actual warrior goddess, and you, big fella, you’ve managed to piss off every single one of them.

When Emperor Theodoseus began his persecution of paganism, Nerio fled Rome. The warrior goddess travelled the universe for centuries, training and fighting and surviving, before she finally settled on Earth, blending in as a normal human. She never intended to reveal her true identity until one day she hears about a hammer landing somewhere in America.

She knew who it was, of course, how could she ever forget? But she said nothing, did nothing, and kept her ear to the ground. And then she hears rumours that Loki has come to Earth and stolen the tesseract, and Nerio knows that it’s time for her to act. But it had been centuries since she had left Asgard, and she was horribly unprepared for reuniting with her first love in order to fight her former best friend.

Name: Nikki Rogers

Story: This Is Your Story

AO3 | FFNet | Wattpad

Face claim: Meg Donnelly

Love interest: Peter Parker

Summary: Before Steve Rogers hit the ice, American scientists collected as many sources of DNA as they could in the hope that one day it could be used to create another super soldier. When SHIELD–or technically Hydra– finally tried, they were disappointed to get a girl, and were quick to toss her aside. Raised by the best of the best, to be a weapon while still living as a semi-normal girl–as normal as you can be when you’re raised by Peggy Carter, and Natasha Romanov after her, and knowing that your father is Captain America himself–Nikki is as shocked as anyone when her father is finally unfrozen and she’s even more excited when he gets custody over her. It’s going to take some time for them to find a good rhythm, especially with aliens and Hydra and robots trying to destroy them, but family is worth the effort.

Name: Pandora

Story: The Final Curtain

Face claim: Lily James

Love interest: Thor, Steve Rogers

Summary: tbd

Name: Patti Parker

Story: A World Of My Own

Face Claim: Rowan Blanchard

Summary: When Peter Parker and Mary-Jane Watson were twenty, they had a daughter and, terrified of the responsibility, Peter bailed on MJ and Patti. Fifteen years later, Peter Parker travelled to another dimension, met five other spider-beings, and finally came home to his family. Three months later, Patti Parker, or крестовина was trying to destroy a new version of the Super-Collider, but instead she finds herself in New York City in 2017, with no way home, and meeting a boy named - Peter Benjamin Parker?

Name: Peyton Parker

Story: Great Responsibility

Faceclaim: Danielle Campbell

Love Interest: Pietro Maximoff

Summary: “With great power comes great responsibility.” Peyton’s dad told her that almost every day until he died. She might not have any great power, but she had always been responsible, and now more than ever. Helping her mom pay the bills, handling the funeral arrangements that May couldn’t face, maintaining a 4.0 GPA so that she could get a scholarship to Columbia, and now, figuring out just what on earth has her cousin Peter behaving so weirdly. She might not have great power, but she can still have great responsibility and make Ben proud.

Name: Phoebe Beck

Story: The Face In The Mirror

Face claim: Britt Robertson

Love Interest: Peter Parker

Summary: tbd

Name: Phillipa Pippa Ross

Story: Breaking Free

Face claim: Kaylee Bryant

Love interest: Peter Parker

Summary: tbd

Name: Sabina Maximoff

Story: Invincible (Like I’ve Never Been)

Face claim: Taissa Farmiga

Love Interest: Peter Parker

Summary: tbd

Name: Sammy Barton

Story: We Are The Youth

Face claim: Crystal Reed

Love Interest: Peter Parker

Summary: tbd

Name: Sophia Wilson

Story: Citizen Of Doubt

Faceclaim: China Anne McClain

Love Interest: Peter Parker

Summary: tbd

Name: Starling Danvers-Rogers

Story: Stardust In My Soul

Faceclaim: Ginny Gardner

Love Interest: Peter Parker

Summary: The first time that Carol Danvers returned to Earth after saving the Skrulls was not after The Snap but actually in 2001, also the year that she met Grant Rogers, grandson to Peggy Carter and Steve Rogers. And in 2002, after returning to space, Starling Danvers-Rogers is born. Part super-soldier and part infinity stone, with Kree blood running through her veins, it was no surprise that Starling was a bit tougher than the average Terran, but no one expected her to be able to survive an attempted sacrifice on Vormir. And yet, when her great-grandfather’s old enemy throws her over the cliff in hopes of obtaining the soul stone, she does not die. Instead, through fate or luck, Starling breaks all known laws of the universe and absorbs the power of the stone herself. And of course that’s when a maniacal god with the tesseract tries to take over Earth, and Starling goes to her parents’ planet for the first time in her life, only to meet her deceased great-grandfather

Name: Stefania Raine

Story: Til The End Of The Line

Faceclaim: Sofia Carson

Love Interest: Jameson Barrett

In the middle of the chaos, Stefania lost sight of her best friend, but refused to let the girl go again — even if that meant teaming up with a recently un-brainwashed soldier to find her.

Name: Stella Carter

Story: Falling Star

Faceclaim: Brec Bassinger

Love Interest: Peter Parker

Summary: SHIELD had always been a part of Stella Carter’s legacy. With her aunt as the founder and her older sister as one of their top agents, it was a part of her life that she couldn’t imagine living without. She never saw it as dangerous, really, until SHIELD fell apart, and Stella Carter disappeared. Sharon Carter searched high and low for her little sister, but she was nowhere to be found; not until the Avengers stormed an abandoned HYDRA base and found the youngest Carter in chains in the basement. With new superpowers and the Carter need to help people, Stella was quick to brand herself as a new hero, Starr Captain, styled after her lifelong hero and rescuer, Captain America himself. And despite everyone’s warnings, balancing superheroism and teenagehood was a piece of cake. Or it was, until the Avengers fell apart and Sharon decided that her sister needed a fresh start in New York City, at Midtown High. Even that could have been easy, if only Ned Leeds and Peter Parker hadn’t decided to pursue the mystery that was Stella Carter; if only she hadn’t needed to team up with Spiderman, the same boy she fought against at an airport in Berlin.

Name: Stephanie Carter

Story: What’s in a Name?

Face claim: Katie McGrath

Love interest: Tony Stark

Summary: As if being the daughter of Peggy freaking Carter wasn’t pressure enough, her parents had to go and name her after Steve Rogers. Raised side by side with her god-brother Tony, Stephanie Carter has always taken solace in the fact that at least one person understood the legacy that had been forced upon her. When she was recruited to SHIELD Steph was wary. When Tony became Iron Man, she was concerned. When he suddenly named her his sole inheritor of everything including his company-Pepper Potts was his CEO but she would own Stark Industries-concern grew to worry. When her own damn namesake was found alive, Steph decided that enough was enough. She and Tony had been partners in everything; from high school labs to MIT dorms to carrying on impossible legacies, there was no reason that superheroes shouldn’t be next on the list. There’s a new Agent Carter around, and she only has one goal. Protect Tony Stark.

Name: Stephanie Rogers-Parker

Story: The Final Countdown

Faceclaim: Meg Donnelly

Name: Tesla Banner

Story: My Father’s Daughter

Face claim: Natalia Dyer

Love interest: Peter Parker

Summary: Tesla Banner had always known who her father was, of course. She was born only a week before the Hulk Incident, and her mom had never hidden anything from her. Neither had her grandfather, of course, but even a young child could tell that he had his own motives. She had always known who he was, but she didn’t meet him until she was eleven, and aliens had just tried to invade. For the next few years, every other weekend is spent with her dad and whichever Avengers are around; and when he disappears from the face of the planet, she continues to visit the remaining team. And then her grandfather sparks a civil war within the team and her mom moves them from DC to New York for good. But just when she thinks she’s settling into her new home and her new school, she meets a boy who seems to know just a bit too much about her dad’s closest friends.

Name: Trinity Rhodes

Story: Lighting The Way

Face claim: Kat Graham

Love Interest: Steve Rogers

Summary: Being the daughter of an Air Force Colonel was very anxiety inducing, thank you for asking. Especially when your mom was also in the Air Force and went missing when you weren’t even a year old. Luckily, Trinity Rhodes has always had her uncle and second father figure Tony to keep her company and distract her from the paralyzing fear that overtook her every time her dad was away. James Rhodes may have been a military man in constant danger, but Tony was a business man, he wasn’t in any real danger. And then both of them went to Afghanistan.

Name: Virginia Parker

Story: The Final Countdown

Faceclaim: Danielle Rose Russell

Name: Wendy Parker

Story: Save The Hero

Face claim: Joey King

Summary: Wendy had always known everything about her twin brother. That’s why, after their field trip to Oscorp, she’s not just the only one to notice that something is wrong with Peter, but the first one to figure out what. Peter may be the superhero, but even heroes need someone to save them, and that’s what Wendy is for. So, when Tony Stark shows up on their couch one day, looking to take Peter to Germany, he gets an ultimatum. He can either take both Parker twins or neither.

Name: Yasmin Dalton

Story: Running On Empty

Faceclaim: Lana Condor

Love Interest: Peter Parker

Summary: tbd

Name: Zoe Hall

Story: Frozen Heart

Fandom: Deadpool

Faceclaim: Crystal Reed

Summary: Zoe Hall hated Ajax. She hated him with every fibre of her being. Three years ago, he had convinced her to join his experiment with the promise that she would then be able to pay her mother’s medical bills, but he had lied. For three years now, Zoe had been tortured and experimented on daily, in the hopes of bringing out a mutation, and all she could think about was how much she wanted to kill him as soon as she could escape. And then one day, Wade Wilson does break out, and Zoe manages to get away. She’s sure that Wade is going to go after Ajax, all she has to do is find him and convince him to let her join his revenge mission. Easy peasy, right?

Name: Zora Wright

Story: All Fall Down

Face Claim: Anne Hathaway

Love Interest: Clint Barton & Natasha Romanov

Summary: “Agent Barton was sent to kill me. He made a different call.” Five years after Natasha joined SHIELD, Agents Barton and Romanov are sent to take out Paradox, a notorious hacker and vigilante. They make a different call, and Zora Wright joins SHIELD. And everything is good, until Nick Fury changes their lives with ten simple words: I’m here to talk to you about the Avengers Initiative

#randomestfandoms construction #masterlist #marvel oc

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lovelyirony · 6 years

Text

Checkmate

@thormlm

Tony Carbonell was good at what he did. He knew it, no one else did. Why? Because again. He was good at what he did. Tony stole stuff. Not snacks from the convenience store, not jewelry from an old lady’s home.

Documents that incriminated some syndicate. Paintings that no one in public had seen them. (Van Gogh had a crazy other side to his paintings, it was wicked.) And mostly, scammed enough people into forgetting his face. He was John Howard, Arno Stark, whoever he needed to be. He was not Tony Carbonell. He was just another face in the crowd. That’s how it was meant to be.

There’s a new cop in town. “Corrupt,” or so they say. Not corrupt, just a little bit more willing to get criminals in jail than most. They call him Captain. He’s also known as Steven Grant Rogers, served in the army for three years, honorably discharged. Awards and honors out the ass, a degree in art history, and a talent for making posters for local events on the side.

Captain is smart. He knows exactly where Tony’s kind hangs out, where they get information, and just what they call Tony.

They call Tony “Iron Man.” It’s a stupid nickname, earned a few years earlier when Tony did a job involving a safe. No one knew how he did it. How the safe was opened, because no one had accessed it in months. And then, of course, they don’t look at who accessed it all those months before. Who pays attention the morning cleaners?

Tony got in, he got out. No combination, just DNA processing. They don’t know how he did it, because a.) the man was dead, and it requires a recognizable strand of DNA to be done. b.) there were no relatives that thieves knew of.

Keyword: knew.

Tony robbed his own father, which really most people would have a problem. But as it turns out, Howard Stark was a piece of shit, and Tony really thought that the ruby cuff links and stacks of cash deserved to see the light of day and not rot in an iron safe in some “secure” bank.

But that’s not the point, is it? The point is that Tony has to deal with Black Widow texting him “lol ur in deep shit” with a screenshot of Steve Rogers texting someone that he would get Iron Man.

Which, you know, is great. Wonderful. Tony loves that he’s being pursued by a man with more resources than he needs to catch Tony. He loves knowing this all before he gets his coffee, the one that’s flavored Amaretto, and just sitting in his kitchen saying “shit.” He loves life. Wow. Tony wishes he could live forever, this is amazing news! Great, Tony might die!

Fact: criminals who are convinced that they will never get caught are the worst. Tony has met many criminals who boast and say they will never get caught. He smiles, says “okay”, and watches from the back of the courtroom as they get sentenced to forty years in prison, rotting. Tony knows that eventually, he may get caught. But he’ll get to that when he gets to it.

Tony calls Pepper first. She is his lawyer that he loves more than life itself, even though she has called him “an inconvenient goblin” and “really, Tony? This again?” She loves him, though. He knows that she does. So when he calls her and says

“Hey Pepper, I’m in deep shit! Fun!” She knows Exactly what’s going to go down. Someone is onto Iron Man. Which means that she is on standby just in case things go haywire.

“You might want to call Jim,” Pepper says. “You know how he gets when people threaten you.”

“Overprotective?”

“Careful,” Pepper suggests. “He’s not overprotective, you’re just reckless and paranoid.”

“Those who aren’t paranoid die, Pep. Consider me an expert on that.” Once upon a time, Tony had not been paranoid.

Then there was a car crash. An uncle who smiled and said it was so unfortunate, would Tony like to go on a trip to forget about it? Dubai, maybe? And then Tony ended up in Afghanistan where he was supposed to die.

But that’s the thing, sometimes, about Paranoia: it gets you out of some weird situations. Tony was supposed to die. But he’s just paranoid enough of dying that it didn’t happen.

Tony calls Rhodey up anyway. “Hello Rhodey! How are you today? I am doing Fantastically Wonderful, It’s So Nice Outside, What? No, I’m Not Bullshitting You--”

“Yeah, you are. What’d you do?”

“It’s more of what I’m about to do.”

“If you’re finally buying that Danny Devito cardboard cutout, I’m legitimately cutting you out of my will.”

“You can die?”

“This life around? Yes. What’s your point?”

“The Captain is coming after my ass.”

“Like...in a sexy way?” Tony splutters.

“You are Unbelieve, no, not that way. I cannot believe you thought that within, like, two months of knowing about the Captain, that he would even look my way.”

“So he’s looking your way,” Rhodey says. “But in a ‘I might be murdered’ type of way?”

“Exactly,” Tony responds. “So I may die in a couple of months to a year.”

Rhodey laughs. “You’re so stupid, no you’re not. You ate an egg roll from a gas station in the middle of nowhere and you survived. It’s fine.”

“I really feel like you’re not getting the severity of the situation,” Tony says. “The Captain is trying to catch me. And he knows more than enough about the criminal world to actually get the job done. He knows people.”

“Like who?” Rhodey says. “The guy’s in the police force. He just got awarded for rescuing a cat, I hardly doubt that the people he knows can actually pull this off.” He’s kind of laughing. “I got your back.”

“Against the Winter Soldier?”

Silence.

“Oh fuck. You’re screwed. You’re so screwed. Do you know how screwed you are?”

“Screwed as a nail,” Tony mutters. “So I’m going off the grid. I’ll catch you in a year or something. I don’t know. Off-the-grid schedules are tricky.”

“Don’t do anything weird, okay? Don’t, like, blow up the White House or something to escape.”

“I don’t have access to that much C-4,” Tony quips. “Bye, honey bear.”

Line goes dead. Phone gets smashed. Easy peasy, lemon whatever.

Tony has fine taste. He’s not gonna deny that much. He has Italian leather shoes, pants specifically tailored for his legs and ass, and a passion for the finer side of thread-counts and furniture. All acquired through a man who goes by Bruce and Bruce only. He used to be a radiation scientist, Tony actually knows about him. But then something went haywire, he has anger issues, and refuses to talk about deep-seated issues. Can you believe?

But Tony walks to the store, unassuming and beige with everything else. Ugh. Tony hates beige.

“Bruce! I have a favor to ask!”

“Yeah, what is it?” Bruce says. “If it’s murder, I charge money for my no-doubt-eventual-counselling sessions.”

“Nonsense,” Tony says. “I’m not doing murder, and the only thing I need for you to do is deny that I’ve ever shopped here.”

“Why?”

“Bruce, only scientists ask questions like ‘who’, ‘what’, ‘where’, ‘when’, and the damning ‘why’. You don’t need to know.”

“You forgot the ‘how’, Tony.”

“Damn your perception,” Tony says, light and cheery. He’s actually teetering between the line of “Is this Okay or is it Anxiety Time,” which is better than a lot of other lines he’s teetered on. (One was literal, too, which is not good for your state of health if you’re not trained to go on tightropes, by the way.) “Anyway, promise not to tell anyone that you sell me good cotton sheets?”

“Sure,” Bruce says. “But you also can’t tell anyone where you got the sheets.”

“Never have, probably never will,” Tony says cheerily. “Talk to you maybe later!”

And then comes a text. I’ve been assigned to come after you. Headstart of one hour.

Well, fuck. Just because you’re friends with Black Widow doesn’t actually mean that she refuses to take jobs referring to Iron Man. She hasn’t refused any, but she also hasn’t been given any.

I’ll double the sum they’re paying.

They have blackmail on me, you can’t double that. They know more about me than you.

Even that you like cherry-nut ice cream?

Less than one hour, Iron Man.

So then, Tony has to do something drastic. He may have told his driver/friend/low-key criminal hitman Happy to pose as him, buy a ticket to France, and actually get on the plane. Natasha doesn’t kill those she isn’t assigned to. And she’s real good with faces, so she’ll know when he turns that it isn’t Tony.

Tony actually gets to an apartment in Brooklyn. It’s his back-up apartment, technically owned by his mother. His mother hates Brooklyn, refuses to go anywhere near the area, and doesn’t technically know that she owns an apartment in Brooklyn. Tony finds it funny.

He’s wearing a t-shirt that he likes, jeans that he hates, and lugging some boxes in. Maintain the cover.

“Hey,” comes a voice behind him. “Looks like we’re neighbors. I’m Steve.”

It takes everything in Tony’s willpower to not just whip the knife out of his pocket, but you can’t do that to neighbors you just met. Even if they signed a contract with Black Widow to get you and maybe-kill you.

“I’m Tony,” Tony says, because he is an Idiot Under Stress. “Nice to meet you, Steve.”

They talk. For an hour. Steve is surprisingly funny for a guy who wants to kill him. Steve likes appetizers at restaurants, does art as a hobby, and wants to own a dog. He also used to be allergic to peanut butter but isn’t anymore, and isn’t that the Funniest thing? Tony half-laughs and says “yeah, it is,” and then Steve says it.

“So, what do you do for a living?”

Tony does a lot of things. He stole a Renoir. He also has sixty thousand dollars in an off-shore bank account. Which actually isn’t a bank account because Tony doesn’t like banks, but more of a dresser in a house in Manhattan Island.

“I’m, um, tech support,” Tony says.

“Really? I’m sure that’s interesting,” Steve says. “A lot of asking people to reboot their computers, huh?”

“You have no idea,” Tony mutters. “Well, as lovely as it has been getting to know you, I need to get everything set up. See you around?”

“Definitely!”

Tony shuts the door, sits on the couch, and looks out the window.

He can do this. It’s like a game of chess: you just need strategy. Tony used to play all the old guys in Central Park in chess, you could probably call him an expert at this point. Maybe. He’s not exactly sure of all the rules, some old guys made up their own. But still. He could do this.

(Rhodey would be laughing at him right about now if he could see this predicament.)

#this was based off a post i made yesterday about tony knowing all the moves before you even made the first one #yeah it's fun #stony #steve rogers #tony stark #captain america #Iron Man #yeah buddy this is fun #i like this #lovelyirony writes #tony: chill but Not Really #this was infinitely longer than i had originally planned #oops

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monkeymindscream · 6 years

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I now want to imagine what it'd be like if the Dark Ones had somehow corrupted Gyrus Krinkle instead of the Alchemist as their Skeleton King... But I can't fathom how disturbing things would be. Though a SK fanboying the Hyper force would be the most terrifying thing ever. Probably ask them where they'd like their bodies to be mounted if he can't brainwash them into his minions (not thinking too hard about the timeline mess. It's all too scary).

I shit you not, from the moment I first got this ask(however long ago that was – my bad,sincerest apologies) this concept’s been stewing in my mind. I already have a ludicrously self-indulgent AUgoing I don’t need this.

ugh here we go again I guess Okay let’s set the scenehere, because for DO!Krinkle to happen, then our canon SK can’t. So let’s say that Captain Shuggazoom, instead of hurryingoff to save the city, stayed with the Alchemist as he went to shut down theNetherworld gate. He had a really skeevy feeling about the whole thing,whatever Al said about the grid being “impenetrable,” so even though his alarmstarted to go off he hung around a few more seconds just to make sure. Thusly,when Mandarin tried to jump up onto the grid, Cap was able to make a smooth-asssave and be like “c’mon little buddy listen to your dad he’s shutting it offnow” and held him back until everything was safely turned off.

(Mandarin sulked for the rest of the day, because being toldwhat to do by anyone other than his dad makes him insufferably cranky.Thankfully for dinner that night they had a noodle dish that happened to be hisfavorite, so his mood perked up considerably. And that’s the anti-climactic endto what would have been a horrible, life-altering evening otherwise.)

Years pass, and things progress pretty much how they did incanon in terms of the monkeys’ training, with a few key differences: Obviously,there was no need to wipe their memories, so even though the monkeys split upto learn their respective trades (Mandarin + Antauri and the Verans, Nova andOffay, etc.) they all still remember each other and would write and videochatand meet back up at their Dad’s for special occasions and stuff. (Also itshould be noted that they became robot monkeys and go off to train at a MUCHmore relaxed pace than in canon. Without demons breathing down their necksthey’re all allowed to move at a healthier pace towards things.) When they allget back to Shuggazoom, they work to help Captain Shuggazoom defend the cityfrom his assorted rogues gallery. TechnicallyCap’s in charge of the whole outfit, but Mandarin secured himself as leader ofthe Monkey Team “conditionally” (hepestered Cap and Al until they caved).

And then along comes Krinkle.

While he’s just as obsessed with the monkeys as he’s everbeen, the difference here is that he ends up coming into the monkey’s lives alittle earlier than he does in canon (Timeline? I FEAR NO TIMELINE). Since themonkeys are – at least – fifty years old by the time of the show, and I’d placeKrinkle anywhere from mid- to late-forties, let’s say he’d start stalking them here during his teens. ThinkSyndrome-from-Incredibles originstory: after pestering Cap to let him be his partner for an unspecified amountof time (and being repeatedly rebuffed; “Kid where the heck are your parents??”),he becomes bitter and disillusioned and decides to take matters into his ownhands. Krinkle’s selling point was that he could be the scientific/mechanicalgenius to Cap’s rough-and-tumble fighting style; he either hadn’t gatheredenough info on the monkeys themselves yet to know that the Team already has oneof each of those, or when Cap pointed this out he was like “yeah I know they couldhelp me it’ll be so cool!!” Cap eventually tries to shut the matter down forgood by saying he already has apartner that fills that role for him, and he’s worked with Al for years so hereally didn’t see a point in changing things now.

Baaaad move there.

So now Krinkle’s all indignant, because whatever this“Alchemist” guy can do, he’s positive he can do better. He manages to find outwhere Al lives (which is still out in the middle of nowhere, bless his oldhermit-y heart), and heads down there with the intent of having a gadget build-offor something to prove he’s the better mechanic. He gets there, breaks in, andstarts plodding around the place trying to find the Alchemist so he can makehis dramatic challenge. He gets distracted when he gets to the lab, because nowthat he’s found his competition’s invention stash he wants to have a look toget a feel for what he’s up against (he grudgingly admits that yeah, fine,these inventions are okay, but hecould still do better if only given thechance). There’s one thing whose function he can’t work out, though. It’s abig, ugly looking machine with a big, circular fixture on it. Kind of lookslike it might be a portal, actually… wonder where it leads to?

Y’ALL KNOW WHERE THIS IS HEADED.

The Hyperforce (who’re still located in the city, as percanon) get a really rude awakening in the middle of the night and have to goout to take care of the demons who’ve managed to escape. Since Cap has themonkeys and the Robot helping him out this time, they manage to wrap it up inwithout too much issue. But when they’re done they all panic a little becausethey only know of one place where demons could come from, and they’re scaredsomething happened to the Alchemist. Obviously, they rush over to his house tocheck on their friend/dad.

Back at the ranch, Al heard Krinkle screaming and ran tohelp (he had no idea who this kid was or whyhe was in his lab, but y’know what those are questions for later).Unfortunately, he’d come onto the scene justas demons were starting to crawl out. He really only caught a glimpse of whatwas happening to Krinkle before he was accosted by unholy netherbeings. He’sstill not corrupted, but by the time the Team get to his house to help he’sbeen plenty disfigured. His face doesn’t really even look like a face anymore, justa skull…

(Confession time: this bit is mostly just because I reallylike SK’s first design. Your skull has no reason to be that weird shape ya bigdoofus. Ya absolute dope. Ya feckin weirdo. God I love ya.)

At some point before Cap and the Team got there, Krinkle hadrun off. After assuring his worried family that he’s okay (all thingsconsidered, anyway), Al feels fucking AWFUL. Some poor child will have tosuffer a fate worse than deathbecause of his machine. Everyone tries to convince him it’s not his fault withlittle success. Sprx, though well-meaning, says something to the effect of“Better him than you, Pop,” which inadvertently makes Al feel worse. Mandarin is unapologetically ofthe mind that the little weasel deserved what he got, and it served him rightfor breaking into the lab in the first place. Not surprisingly, this viewdoesn’t exactly help either.

They don’t see or hear from Krinkle after that. They assumethe corruption was too much for him and he died sometime after running fartherinto the Zone of Wasted Years. Al is continually guilt-ridden.

Not too long after, unfortunately, whatever weird thing thatkonked the monkeys out in canon so Chiro could find them and wake them up stillexists here, so they have to go to sleep and Al and Cap are left alone for abit (I… STILL DO NOT FEAR THETIMELINE, BUT THIS MAKES IT A LITTLE BLURRIER).

Things progress kindanormally from this point, i.e. Chiro wakes the monkeys up, gets Power Primatepowers, and is on the Team. Only differences are that Mandarin’s still on theTeam (and still leader, both because Cap’s kinda old now so “conditionally”turned into “officially,” and I’m sorry but destiny or not if you think foreven a second that Mandarin would let some random human kid lead the Team overhim then you clearly don’t know this simian), and Cap and Al are around.Everything’s hunky-dory for maybe a month as everyone settles in to the newsituation, and then you get exactly one guess what happens next.

Some ways that having Krinkle take SK’s place in canon wouldchange things: Firstly, though he’s still obsessed with the Monkey Team andgunning to lead them, it’s ONLY the monkeys he wants now. Now that he’s gotSpecial Dark One Insights on things, he views Captain Shuggazoom as essentiallya pawn in the grand scheme of things (he don’tgot no special destiny) instead of worshipping him along with the monkeys likehe used to. Moreover, while he doesfixate particularly on Chiro like he does in canon, here it’s because he loathes Chiro. Not only because he’skinda against anything with a “Chosen One” label on it now (as per request ofthe Dark Ones), but he’s also supremely, viciouslyjealous of him. Oh, so he just wasn’t goodenough for the Team, is that it?? He was older than Chiro when he asked to be on the Team, and a mechanical genius! What’s this brat got that he didn’t?!

Next, Krinkle wouldn’t use formless as minions. I’ve alwayskind of headcanoned that the reason SK had the powers that he did was actuallymore because he’d been an Alchemist before rather than it solely being a resultof the Dark One’s corruption. They gave his powers an extraordinary boost, nomistake, but it was only because he’d known how to do magic prior that he wasable to do it as SK. Now Krinkle doesn’tknow a singular thing about magic, so while he has some dark powers now (mostly that he doesn’t need to eat or sleepand has the ability to corrupt other things to some extent), he’s nowhere nearas powerful as SK. So yeah none of that creating goopy-legions with the flickof a wrist for him. He’d fashion himself some mechanical mooks instead (formlessstill would exist in this AU, but I can get into that another time).

Can’t decide if the Skeletal Circle – or whatever theKrinkly-version of this would be – would exist here. On the one hand, I’m sureKrinkle would love to have a group ofpeople dedicated to kowtowing to him (if Krinklezoom’s any indicator, anyway,which I personally think it is). On the other hand… well, we just establishedthat Krinkle wouldn’t be as powerful as SK, so would he really be able toinspire enough awe or terror to justify a cult?

Anyway, if Krinklehas a cult to mirror SK’s, and if Valinahappens to be a thing in this AU, her relationship with Krinkle would be verydifferent than her relationship with SK. Again, Krinkle doesn’t have SK’spower, and one of the things Valina seemed most enamored with about SK was his power. Not to mention the factthat his main goal (possibly even more so than releasing the Dark Ones) seemsto be making himself leader of his enemies.She might have started out in his cult because her parents dragged her there,but I’m decently positive that all she’d see when she looked at him would be apathetic, whiny little man unworthy of the powers he was bestowed. So I can seeher either going “fuck this bullshit I’m out”and splitting to become a threat independent from him, or hanging around andstringing him along until she became his Dragon, and then stabbing him in theback once she’d decided he wasn’t useful to her anymore. So still technicallybecoming a threat independent from him, but just manipulating him and leechinghis power while she did it.

I’ve probably talked about this too much now, but I don’teven care. I love this. Hit me up for more on this any time.

#srmthfg #muttering about monkeys #Anonymous #Krinkle

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delusionsofmike · 6 years

Text

Missing Time

Here is the other story I wrote that made it on the creepypasta site. Enjoy!!!

When I was a boy I used to live in this little town outside Casa Grande, Arizona. Well, when I say small town, what I actually mean is five houses in the middle of nowhere in the desert with a water tower and and separate generator that ran the electricity for everyone. The houses on ether side of mine were owned by grandparents on my moms side and an uncle on my moms side. The two other houses across from us were owned by friends of our family who didn't want to live in town and wanted to be off the grid.

As kids back then we didn't have electronics or video games like the kids of today do. Hell, we didn't even have a television. What we did have was an open empty desert, our imaginations, and of course each other, which would consist of me, a sister, four cousins, and three friends; four boys and five girls. Often we would play out from early in the morning to late in the evening. We would venture far out into the desert landscape playing whatever our imaginations could make up. Back then we didn't have to worry about anyone trying to kidnap us or hurt us in any way. We got to be kids. Nothing out of the ordinary went on for many years we were out there. All that changed when I was fourteen years old.

One summer night me and three of my cousins were out in the desert not too far from the houses. We had started a small bon fire and were sitting around late into the evening talking and telling stories. As the night wore on, each one of my cousins tired and went back to their homes. Sometimes a friend would come sit a while but by eleven in the evening it was just I sitting there watching the embers die out. As I was about to get up and call it a night I noticed something strange glowing in the sky. It was a bright light that was just stationary in the sky. At first it appeared to be a little bright orb far away. There were no stars out that night as the clouds had settled in reminding us that the monsoon was near. So this light stood out.

I do not know why even to this day, but for some reason I started walking towards it. Maybe I was curious, maybe I felt like it was calling me. Either way I started to walk towards it. After walking a few yards I stopped and looked at the time on my light up wristwatch. It was 11:15pm. I looked at the orb to see that it had gotten bigger. Or, more precisely, gotten closer. I watched as it started to move around. At first it was small movements, like it was swaying. Then it started to move really fast as if it was being spun around on a string. Then it shot straight up, stopped, shot out away from me, stopped, shot back to wear it was before it started moving, stopped, then it made a flash, like a camera flash. Then it shot straight up and disappeared.

Now from my point of view this all happened in a matter of seconds. It was really quick. I looked back at my watch. It was 2:27am. I stood there confused. Why was it so late? That much time couldn't have passed. I looked back at where the embers were. They were out. I went back to my house. As I entered the door, my mom was sitting on the couch. When she saw me walk in she jumped up and ran to me, giving me a big hug. When she pulled away from me I looked at her eyes. I could tell she'd been crying. She asked where I was the whole time. I told her what happened and what I saw. She looked at me for a bit before asking me again where I went off to for so long. I tried to tell her that was standing in near the fire and that I thought it was still 11pm.

My dad went out and looked around, then walked over to my uncles house. When he came back he said that my cousin had seen me by the fire around 11pm but when he looked a few minutes later I was gone. He assumed I went back to my house and went to bed.

The next few months went by without further incident. One night though in September of the same year I saw the lights, I was awoken by noise coming from the kitchen. I assumed it was one of my parents or my sister and proceeded to go back to bed. As I was on the verge of sleep I heard a creaking noise. I recognized this as my bedroom door opening so I lifted my head to look. At the time my brain did not register what I saw right away but with the power of hindsight I knew what I saw was what I thought it to be. There, peeking around the corner of the door, was this creature, small and humanoid in shape, with a large tear drop shaped head and large black almond shaped eyes. It looked at me. I looked at it. As quickly as it had peeked it disappeared. I went back to sleep.

Nose bleeds would come out of nowhere frequently at random times the following months and I would continue to see what I thought at first was a single creature. That all changed that winter. It was Christmas Eve and I hadn't seen it in a few weeks so I wasn't on alert. I had family and friends over and we all had the traditional dinner. That night we built a bon fire where we normally would and sat around drinking snuck out alcohol and what not. We started telling scary stories and it came my turn. I started telling what I have been seeing. First thing out of my cousins mouth was 'aliens'. They all laughed. I didn't. That was my thought as well and I told them that the night I had supposedly disappeared might be linked since I don't remember ever leaving that spot. I suggested that I might have been abducted by aliens and that's why I was gone. They all laughed again. I didn't.

Seeing my serious demeanor, my female friend, Susan, asked if I had seen it recently. I had not. Not in a few weeks as previously mentioned. I told her I would see in looking in at me from my bedroom door or see it very briefly around the house at night. Caught it looking in from my parent bedroom window once. The sightings were always quick. As soon as I had noticed it would disappear. I chased it once when I had seen it outside on a moonlit night. It was peeking around the side of the house so I quickly ran to it. When I got there it was gone. The side of the house is bare of any sort of debris or anything it could hide behind. It simply vanished.

All my cousins and friends then came up with the idea of camping out by the house that night. Though it was cold, they wanted to see if it came back. Though our parents protested at first due to the cold, they ultimately let us. We got our tents and set up camp around the bon fire. We put our tents really close together. We stayed up late into the night until it was just me and Susan were left awake. She sat next to me and we covered up in a thick blanket and looked at the dying fire. I'm not sure what happened but somehow I turned to her to see if she wanted to call it a night and she kissed me. Being a teenager this sent my hormones into overdrive.

We kissed a few minutes when we heard a rustling nearby. I quickly turned in the direction of the noise. There, standing near the dead brush, was the creature. I thought she saw it to because she gasped. I looked to her, only to find her looking in a different direction. There, off the the side of where our tents were, was two more of them. As quickly as we had seen them, they disappeared. She was shaken, as expected. At first she was talking about just going back home but then looked out to her house. It was dark. The fire by now was almost out. She then turned to me and said she didn't want to sleep by herself. We went to my tent. We fell asleep.

She had stated to me that she hadn't seen anything since that night. She also stated that she must have been a little too drunk and was letting my stories get to her. I didn't argue with her. I know we saw them. And I continued to for many years. Then I left home for college. We both attended the same university. During my four years I did not see them at all. Even after graduation I hadn't seen them. Me and her would eventually get together and marry. We had a child. A girl. We named her Michelle, after her grandmother. Things were looking up for us.

Michelle was five years old when she first started telling us about the little monsters that would be in her room. She said they would look at her from the closet or they'd be hiding somewhere around the house peering out at us. I became a little worried as to what she meant. She couldn't really describe them other than they were small and they were monsters. Susan would write it off as a child's imagination at first. At least until Michelle saw me watching a movie called Paul. When she saw the alien on the screen she exclaimed very loud "that's them! That's the little monsters!"

Susan started to freak a little when she found out. We asked her if they ever tried to touch her or talk to her and she'd say no. She said all they do is look at us. Then one day out of the blue as we were sitting in her room playing tea party, as she she is serving Susan and I pretend tea, she looked at me with the most serious expression a five year old can make and said "they said they don't want me or mommy. They just want you" and sat down to drink her pretend tea. Susan shot me a glance and and asked Michelle who told her that. She replied with "the little monsters."

That was last year. She is now six and doesn't see them anymore, or at least she says she doesn't . Susan was afraid to be alone sometimes because every once in a while she would see something out the corner of her eye, and when she'd look it would be gone. We moved into a house in the desert, not too close to people but yet not too far away. Susan likes the privacy but has gotten two pit bulls for added safety measures. Plus she's not as on edge when she's alone now.

I know, moving in the middle of the desert given what we've been through may not seem like a good idea, but with the way people are these days she wanted some isolation. Plus, if what Michelle said was true, they have nothing to fear. I do. After reading up and chatting with others who have had missing time and been abducted, it has opened up in my mind that maybe I was taken during that missing time I experienced those years back. A fellow missing timer suggested I try hypnosis to see if I can recover any of that time. Though I'm afraid of what I might find, I also want to know what happened during that time.

Recently I have been witnessing strange lights in the sky's above my property. Some I can explain after a while, like the drones that the border patrol uses, or at least that I've been told they use, and small planes. But others are not so easy to explain. There also have been strange noises coming out of the desert at night that isn't the local wildlife I've grown accustomed to. Though I haven't seen anything yet I get the feeling something will show itself. The nose bleeds have started up again as well. They come out of nowhere and they usually come around the time the lights appear in the sky. I've also been seeing strange flashes, light a camera flash, around places at random and even during the day. I might go get that hypnosis done soon before I end up disappearing for good this time. Only time will tell.

#creepypasta #my work #my story #missing time #aliens #ufo

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