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bunnypeew · 3 months

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Under star-lit skies - Moon/Sun x reader part 1

Okay so I started writing this cuz my obsession for Sun and Moon came back since I keep getting posts and fanart of them so here is the first part of the fanfic you can read it on Ao3 linked in my bio :3c

it was one of those days, one where you and your class had to go to a stupid location outside of town. You weren’t eager about it since you preferred being closed in the confinement of your dorm room, but an outing was necessary even for you. You got up from your bed unwillingly and started getting dressed, some sweatpants a t-shirt and a hoodie on top, was pretty easygoing and comfortable for a day out.

you weren’t sure where you were going until it came into focus, the Freddy Fazbear Pizzaplex for some reason you weren’t going to question it since your school did choose some random places all the time, not caring if it’s educational or not, but you guessed it was because of the way the pizzaplex was built, could be really interesting or maybe how the animatronics worked. You all went into the pizzaplex being greeted by some basic-looking bots holding maps

“Take a map, take a map,,

you take one and look the other way a little creeped out, you hope those poor things weren’t sentient like the bigger ones otherwise this would’ve been fucked up. The tour starts then, going around the entire pizzaplex from Gator golf to Roxy raceway, it was pleasant meeting the big animatronics in charge of entertainment. Roxy, in charge of Roxy Raceway, was a wolf animatronic with long grey hair and a puff of green in the front, while Gator Golf was attended by Monty, an alligator-like animatronic with icon star-shaped sunglasses, he was pretty cool. Then you arrived at the star of the gang Freddy Fazbear himself, he was a nice bear animatronic with a little top hat on his head and an iconic earring on his left ear. He waved at everyone with a happy smile on his face, you waved back catching his attention, noticing you he winked at you also doing finger guns, you smiled and blushed a little bit at that (blushing over an animatronic? Are you okay??)

You then arrived at your last stop, the Superstar Daycare. It was a place full of kids, also full of toys and arts&crafts stuff (of course like the name said it was a daycare) but something caught your eye, the animatronic that was attending the children, it was a jester-like robot with a sun for a head that could spin around when it wanted to

“Hello everyone! I am Sun! the daycare attendant I hope you guys had a lovely tour so far!,,

he says lively his rays on his head spinning around happily, Sun huh? (ironic isn’t it) You were fascinated by him, he was really, pretty? I guess you could call him pretty.

When you got back to your dorm you picked up your laptop right away and started doing research on Fazbear Entertainment, finding a lot of weird stuff about some lawsuits and shit like that, you didn’t care you went on to look if the pizzaplex out of town was looking for a job, you really needed one and that was a big place so maybe they did need some human personal, you were also hoping you’d get to work near or in the daycare, you wanted to know more about Sun. Thinking about that you looked up the Superstar Daycare for some more information and found yet another lawsuit about the daycare this time, you read through it.

“my son was traumatised by your stupid daycare attendant and can’t sleep with the lights off anymore, whatever that thing did to him. You should decommission it right away it is not safe for children,,

you scrunch up your nose at that, because there is no way this person was talking about Sun seemed like a nice guy! So you did more research finding out the animatronic they were talking about was not Sun, but an animatronic called Moon, he was the nap time attendant and apparently, they were two separate animatronics, which intrigued you even more.

Doing even more research you find out they were actually looking to hire someone, it didn't say in which position but you weren't one to complain about stuff like that so you wrote an email and sent it, you weren't expecting a reply right away so you decided to go to bed.

It was dark, and something was bothering you but you couldn't put your finger on it, you found yourself in a jungle gym of some sort crumbled up like a pretzel, you started moving in front of you or what you thought was in front of you, while moving you could hear some sort of music, like a soft melody getting closer and closer until it stopped, you stopped as well, looking around now trying to understand where you were.

clang.

BOOM.

You wake up in your bed full of sweat and your heart beating super fast, you get your phone from your nightstand only to see it is 2 am, you definitely can't sleep after this weird ass nightmare you just add so you decide to start scrolling through social media. Before you get the chance to do that tho you get a notification from your emails, saying that Fazbear Entertainment sent a reply to your email, accepting your application!

You get up to do a little victory dance happy for it to begin.

tomorrow is another day.

this is how they will look in the fanfic since they are separate animatronics here the one in the middle is my persona ignore them I insert myself in every fandom I go in lol!!

#moondrop #sundrop #fnaf moondrop #fnaf security breach #fnaf sun #fnaf #fnaf moon #fnaf sb #fnaf fanfic #fnaf fanart #fnaf fandom #ao3 writer #fanfic #ao3 fanfic #ao3 tags #ao3 stuff #fanfiction #archive of our own

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ppeonppeonhan · 3 months

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Dead Friends Forever Q&A-Style Review

I listen to a movie podcast called The Rewatchables, and they have interesting categories that I want to examine this series through.

Most rewatchable scene: It has to be the last one, because we've been talking about it nonstop since it aired. Plus, it lives in my head, rent-free, like Non is haunting me. Like WE failed him. 😱

But since I'm a BL girlie, who loves a well-crafted sex scene, I also have to include both of Phee and Jin's high-heat moments when Phee's trying to seduce him on the balcony and when they have rough sex in Jin's room. I'm not gonna lie: That was some king shit on Ta's end.

Best quote: "No one could leave this abandoned house — not even one." Come on! It foretold the surreal ending and fulfilled the victim's wishes. Gold.

What aged the best? The way that even the bullies perceived teacher Keng as a groomer, who took advantage of a desperate child — that will most definitely make that subplot still bearable even a decade from now.

What's aged the worst? The unaliving and SA montage in the finale that some have said was insensitive/irresponsible to have included. It was like trigger after trigger after trigger — practically a machine gun of traumatic scenes. The fandom could sincerely organize a class action lawsuit against the writer and director for them to pay for our therapy bills.

Scene-stealing location: The lake. Such a beautiful setting for romance, betrayal, and revenge. 😈

Best shot: Definitely the one of Tan from above when he's successfully drugged all of his victims. Iconic.

Are we sure this person is good at their job? Tee's uncle. The fact that he has so much riding on two teenagers is ridiculous. He didn't just start being a con man / mob boss that week. How does he not have a more stable criminal infrastructure at this point?

Best use of food and drink: Obviously, Tan spiking the beverages, knowing it would be the easiest way to poison everyone.

Was there a better title? Absolutely not. The play on the phrase "Best Friends Forever," an archaic term popularized in the '90s that puts way too much pressure on kids to find their kindred spirit and hold on to them through adolescence and adulthood, was inspired. It truly encompassed the impossibility of it all. There are just so many obstacles ahead of you, like peer pressure, family obligations, love triangles, bullying, ego, insecurity, and cowardice, that it's a lofty promise to make when you've barely finished puberty. Plus, it kind of hints at the ending...

Overacting award: Some could argue Barcode, but part of his performance was meant to be surreal, because it was in the dream state. I, personally, vote Jet (Top). Sometimes I felt like his character was in an entirely different, far more slapstick genre.

The "That Guy" Award: This category is for the actor/famous person you see all the time, but don't know the name of. I noticed a lot of people were excited to see Perth, so I "saw him all the time" on my feed. When I Googled him, that's when I learned that he was on a reality show with other Be On Cloud stars.

Scene-Stealer (with very few scenes): Honestly, whichever extra/stunt double they had wearing that mask, freaking us out. The most memorable of which was when its creepy hand groped Tee.

Recasting couch:

I think Nanon (Bad Buddy) could've been interesting as the tormented Tan, because we would've bought his innocence longer.

It could've added to the mystery if we had the BL twins, AJ and JJ, confuse the narrative.

I would watch Neo in almost anything at this point, and he could've played the morally conflicted Tee as he showcased those skills already in Only Friends.

A younger Mark (Last Twilight) would've fit so well into this cast. He plays lost and guilty quite well.

Picking Nits: This category is for pointing out things that just don't add up.

Why didn't Phee's cop dad have more questions about his son's behavior and activities after he saw who his son was involved with?

What teenager is fine going somewhere that has no wifi or reception? Even I wouldn't do that and I've had wifi as long as these characters have been alive.

Why was Non, a teenager, being medicated for mental health issues, but not being monitored by a mental health professional?

If Tee's uncle didn't want to be at a loss if Non died unexpectedly, then why didn't he let him get his wounds treated and get some rest? Unless the plan was always to harvest his organs, which would still have merited rest. Nobody wants shitty organs.

Unanswerable Questions

If Jin and Phee survived, would they have got back together?

If Non were alive, would Phee have ditched Jin?

What did they do with Non's body?

And, of course, after succeeding: Does Tan recover from his grief and move on with his life? Does he successfully escape arrest? Does he leave behind evidence of what the boys did to his family to further persecute them in death? Is his revenge plot really over...?

That was fun! Tag me if you answer the same Qs.

#bl drama #thai bl #bl series #thai drama #dead friend forever #dff the series #dff spoilers #bl review

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dontmeantobepoliticalbut · 8 days

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Several Uvalde families are suing Daniel Defense, the gun company whose AR-15 style rifle an 18-year-old gunman used to kill 19 children and two teachers and injure several others at Robb Elementary two years ago, lawyers said.

The family members of victims Friday also filed a separate lawsuit against California-based companies Meta — the parent company of Instagram and Facebook — and Activision, whose best-selling video game Call of Duty features Daniel Defense guns.

The lawsuits together will argue that the three companies marketed semi-automatic weapons to the Uvalde gunman before he was 18, accusing them of negligence and wrongful death. The shooter purchased firearms shortly after he turned 18 years old and then used one of those guns to carry out the deadliest school shooting in Texas history.

In Texas, 18-year-olds can legally purchase long guns such as rifles.

Josh Koskoff, an attorney representing the Uvalde families, says there was a direct line between the companies' conduct and the Uvalde shooting.

“Just 23 minutes after midnight on his 18th birthday, the Uvalde shooter bought an AR-15 made by a company with a market share of less than one percent,” Koskoff said in a statement. “Why? Because, well before he was old enough to purchase it, he was targeted and cultivated online by Instagram, Activision and Daniel Defense. This three-headed monster knowingly exposed him to the weapon, conditioned him to see it as a tool to solve his problems and trained him to use it.”

The lawsuits come on the two-year anniversary of the shooting.

Attorneys argue that Daniel Defense intentionally markets its weapons to adolescents and uses platforms including Instagram and first-person shooter games like Call of Duty to promote criminal use of their weapons.

They add that Instagram provides an unsupervised channel to speak directly to adolescent boys because of what attorneys say are flimsy and easily circumvented rules meant to prohibit firearm advertising to children.

The lawsuit against Daniel Defense is expected to be filed in Texas’ 38th District Court in Uvalde County on behalf of 31 family members of the victims. It accuses Daniel Defense of courting the shooter with marketing that lures adolescents into forming an attachment with its brand of AR-15s, particularly its flagship DDM4v7.

The lawsuit against Activision and Meta was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on behalf of approximately 45 family members of the deceased and injured victims. It accuses the gaming company of desensitizing young men to acts of mass violence and grooming them to seek out weapons like those featured in Call of Duty. An Activision spokesperson did not respond to questions about the allegations in the lawsuit but issued a statement expressing their condolences to the victims’ families.

“The Uvalde shooting was horrendous and heartbreaking in every way, and we express our deepest sympathies to the families and communities who remain impacted by this senseless act of violence,” the spokesperson said. “Millions of people around the world enjoy video games without turning to horrific acts.”

However, the Entertainment Software Association, which represents top publishers in the gaming industry, denounced efforts to blame video games for real-life acts of violence.

“We are saddened and outraged by senseless acts of violence,” said an association spokesperson. “At the same time, we discourage baseless accusations linking these tragedies to video gameplay, which detract from efforts to focus on the root issues in question and safeguard against future tragedies. Many other countries have similar rates of video gameplay to the United States, yet do not see similar rates of gun violence.”

Representatives for Daniel Defense and Meta did not respond to emailed requests for comment.

While Instagram prohibits the marketing of firearms on its platform, the lawsuit claims Instagram fails to enforce firearm guidelines while rigorously enforcing other types of content guidelines.

The Uvalde families’ legal action appears to follow a similar playbook that Koskoff, a Connecticut attorney, successfully employed in his home state, where he helped victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting win a $73 million settlement in a lawsuit against the maker of the AR-15 style rifle used in that school shooting.

That settlement was widely considered a setback for the firearms industry, which has broad legal immunity from civil complaints. A 2005 law enacted by Congress shields gun companies from liability for crimes committed using their weapons. Koskoff’s team worked around that by successfully arguing that the gun company could be sued under a consumer protection state law, through an exception to the federal law.

Over the course of the Connecticut case, documents came out through the discovery process showing that gun company Remington has a licensing agreement with Activision. It is not clear if such an agreement exists between Daniel Defense and Activision.

A 2019 Instagram post from Daniel Defense says “Call of Duty Modern Warfare launched today” and shows a photo of the type of rifle used in the Uvalde shooting.

Other Instagram posts from Daniel Defense show videos of young men actively firing the company’s rifle. A 2020 Instagram post shows an image of someone taking a gun out of the trunk of their car and the words “refuse to be a victim.”

“Gun companies like Daniel Defense don’t act alone,” Koskoff said. “AR-15s were available when many of us were growing up, but we didn’t have mass shootings by kids. What has changed is that companies like Instagram and Activision do more than just allow gun companies to reach consumers–they underwrite and mainstream violence to struggling adolescents.”

This is not the first lawsuit families have filed against Daniel Defense. Uvalde victims’ families previously filed two lawsuits against the Georgia-based gun manufacturer, alleging that the company intentionally marketed its AR-15 rifles to young males in ways that “encourage the illegal and dangerous misuse” of its weapons.

Daniel Defense has sought to dismiss those lawsuits, which were filed in federal court and remain ongoing.

In the two years since the Robb Elementary School shooting, state and local law enforcement officers have been heavily criticized for their response to the massacre. Hundreds of law enforcement officers descended upon the school and waited for more than an hour to confront the gunman, who shot indiscriminately inside two fourth grade classrooms.

The botched response was the subject of a U.S. Department of Justice report and a scathing Texas House Committee investigation. A grand jury convened by Uvalde District Attorney Christina Mitchell could determine whether any federal, state and local officers are criminally charged.

On Wednesday, Uvalde families — represented by Koskoff — filed a lawsuit against 92 Texas Department of Public Safety Officers. They also announced a $2 million settlement with the city of Uvalde. During a press briefing on the day of that announcement, Koskoff foreshadowed that additional lawsuits would be filed on behalf of Uvalde families, including some lawsuits focusing on the time period before the shooting.

“There has been, appropriately, so much of a focus on law enforcement,” Koskoff told reporters earlier this week. “And, I think it’s appropriate to remember that they are at the end of the road.”

Koskoff noted that the 610-page DOJ report included “not a single page on why the shooting happened in the first place.”

The number of semi-automatic rifles, which include AR-15s, produced or imported in the U.S. have increased significantly since the 1990s. AR-15-style rifles weren’t used in mass shootings until 2007, according to a database kept by Mother Jones. In 2022, gunmen used an AR-15 rifle in 67% of the 12 massacres that year.

The AR-15 was designed in the late 1950s as a military-style rifle.

Officers who responded to the Robb Elementary School shooting feared the rifle and decided to not immediately confront the gunman, a Texas Tribune investigation found. Officers instead waited for a Border Patrol SWAT team based 60 miles away to arrive.

Uvalde families pushed the state Legislature to pass a bill to raise the minimum age for buying certain semi-automatic rifles from 18 to 21. That bill failed to pass in the Republican-controlled Legislature that has spent years loosening gun laws, making it easier for Texans to get guns in a state whose residents have a strong fealty to the Second Amendment.

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y0ur-maj3sty · 2 years

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List Of Clinton Associates Who Died Mysteriously Or Committed Suicide Before Testimony

1- James McDougal – Clintons convicted Whitewater partner died of an apparent heart attack, while in solitary confinement. He was a key witness in Ken Starr’s investigation.

2 – Mary Mahoney – A former White House intern was murdered July 1997 at a Starbucks Coffee Shop in Georgetown .. The murder …happened just after she was to go public w:th her story of sexual harassment in the White House.

3 – Vince Foster – Former White House counselor, and colleague of Hillary Clinton at Little Rock’s Rose Law firm. Died of a gunshot wound to the head, ruled a suicide.

4 – Ron Brown – Secretary of Commerce and former DNC Chairman. Reported to have died by impact in a plane crash. A pathologist close to the investigation reported that there was a hole in the top of Brown’s skull resembling a gunshot wound. At the time of his death Brown was being investigated, and spoke publicly of his willingness to cut a deal with prosecutors. The rest of the people on the plane also died. A few days later the Air Traffic controller commited suicide.

5 – C. Victor Raiser, II – Raiser, a major player in the Clinton fund raising organization died in a private plane crash in July 1992.

6 – Paul Tulley – Democratic National Committee Political Director found dead in a hotel room in Little Rock , September 1992. Described by Clinton as a “dear friend and trusted advisor”.

7 – Ed Willey – Clinton fundraiser, found dead November 1993 deep in the woods in VA of a gunshot wound to the head. Ruled a suicide. Ed Willey died on the same day his wife Kathleen Willey claimed Bill Clinton groped her in the oval office in the White House. Ed Willey was involved in several Clinton fund raising events.

8 – Jerry Parks – Head of Clinton’s gubernatorial security team in Little Rock .. Gunned down in his car at a deserted intersection outside Little Rock Park’s son said his father was building a dossier on Clinton He allegedly threatened to reveal this information. After he died the files were mysteriously removed from his house.

9 – James Bunch – Died from a gunshot suicide. It was reported that he had a “Black Book” of people which contained names of influential people who visited prostitutes in Texas and Arkansas

10 – James Wilson – Was found dead in May 1993 from an apparent hanging suicide. He was reported to have ties to Whitewater..

11 – Kathy Ferguson – Ex-wife of Arkansas Trooper Danny Ferguson, was found dead in May 1994, in her living room with a gunshot to her head. It was ruled a suicide even though there were several packed suitcases, as if she were going somewhere. Danny Ferguson was a co-defendant along with Bill Clinton in the Paula Jones lawsuit Kathy Ferguson was a possible corroborating witness for Paula Jones.

12 – Bill Shelton – Arkansas State Trooper and fiancee of Kathy Ferguson. Critical of the suicide ruling of his fiancee, he was found dead in June, 1994 of a gunshot wound also ruled a suicide at the grave site of his fiancee.

13 – Gandy Baugh – Attorney for Clinton’s friend Dan Lassater, died by jumping out a window of a tall building January, 1994. His client was a convicted drug distributor.

14 – Florence Martin – Accountant & sub-contractor for the CIA, was related to the Barry Seal, Mena, Arkansas, airport drug smuggling case. He died of three gunshot wounds.

15 – Suzanne Coleman – Reportedly had an affair with Clinton when he was Arkansas Attorney General. Died of a gunshot wound to the back of the head, ruled a suicide. Was pregnant at the time of her death.

16 – Paula Grober – Clinton’s speech interpreter for the deaf from 1978 until her death December 9, 1992. She died in a one car accident.

17 – Danny Casolaro – Investigative reporter, investigating Mena Airport and Arkansas Development Finance Authority. He slit his wrists, apparently, in the middle of his investigation.

18 – Paul Wilcher – Attorney investigating corruption at Mena Airport with Casolaro and the 1980 “October Surprise” was found dead on a toilet June 22, 1993, in his Washington DC apartment had delivered a report to Janet Reno 3 weeks before his death.

19 – Jon Parnell Walker – Whitewater investigator for Resolution Trust Corp. Jumped to his death from his Arlington ,Virginia apartment balcony August 15, 1993. He was investigating the Morgan Guaranty scandal.

20 – Barbara Wise – Commerce Department staffer. Worked closely with Ron Brown and John Huang. Cause of death: Unknown. Died November 29, 1996. Her bruised, naked body was found locked in her office at the Department of Commerce.

21 – Charles Meissner – Assistant Secretary of Commerce who gave John Huang special security clearance, died shortly thereafter in a small plane crash.

22 – Dr. Stanley Heard – Chairman of the National Chiropractic Health Care Advisory Committee died with his attorney Steve Dickson in a small plane crash. Dr. Heard, in addition to serving on Clinton ‘s advisory council personally treated Clinton’s mother, stepfather and brother.

23 – Barry Seal – Drug running TWA pilot out of Mena Arkansas, death was no accident.

24 – Johnny Lawhorn, Jr. – Mechanic, found a check made out to Bill Clinton in the trunk of a car left at his repair shop. He was found dead after his car had hit a utility pole.

25 – Stanley Huggins – Investigated Madison Guaranty. His death was a purported suicide and his report was never released.

26 – Hershell Friday – Attorney and Clinton fundraiser died March 1, 1994, when his plane exploded.

27 – Kevin Ives & Don Henry – Known as “The boys on the track” case. Reports say the boys may have stumbled upon the Mena Arkansas airport drug operation. A controversial case, the initial report of death said, due to falling asleep on railroad tracks. Later reports claim the 2 boys had been slain before being placed on the tracks. Many linked to the case died before their testimony could come before a Grand Jury.

THE FOLLOWING PERSONS HAD INFORMATION ON THE IVES/HENRY CASE:

28 – Keith Coney – Died when his motorcycle slammed into the back of a truck, 7/88.

29 – Keith McMaskle – Died, stabbed 113 times, Nov, 1988

30 – Gregory Collins – Died from a gunshot wound January 1989.

31 – Jeff Rhodes – He was shot, mutilated and found burned in a trash dump in April 1989.

32 – James Milan – Found decapitated. However, the Coroner ruled his death was due to natural causes”.

34 – Richard Winters – A suspect in the Ives/Henry deaths. He was killed in a set-up robbery July 1989.

THE FOLLOWING CLINTON BODYGUARDS ARE ALSO DEAD

35 – Major William S. Barkley, Jr.

36 – Captain Scott J . Reynolds

37 – Sgt. Brian Hanley

38 – Sgt. Tim Sabel

39 – Major General William Robertson

40 – Col. William Densberger

41 – Col. Robert Kelly

42 – Spec. Gary Rhodes

43 – Steve Willis

44 – Robert Williams

45 – Conway LeBleu

46 – Todd McKeehan

And the most recent, Seth Rich, the DC staffer murdered and “robbed” (of nothing) on July 10. Wikileaks founder Assange claims he had info on the DNC email scandal.

Not Included in this list are the 4 killed in Benghazi.

And you can add multi-millionaire Jeffrey Epstein to the list. Documents described how Bill Clinton held a private party on Jeffrey Epstein’s pedophile island.

Clinton made at least 27 times trips on Jeffrey Epstein’s private plane. Most of those flights were with underage girls. Despite a previous attempt on his life, the prison guards skipped the 30 minute required checks on Epstein’s cell that night.

#Clintons #hillary clinton #kill list #government #death #politics #united states #bill clinton #jeffrey epstein

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beardedmrbean · 2 months

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The former assistant principal of a Virginia elementary school where a 6-year-old boy shot and wounded his first-grade teacher last year has been indicted on eight felony counts of child neglect.

A special grand jury found that Ebony Parker showed a "reckless disregard for the human life" of the other students at Richneck Elementary School on Jan. 6, 2023, in Newport News, Virginia, unsealed court documents show.

Each of the charges is punishable by up to five years in prison.

According to authorities, Parker, of Newport News, was working the day the 6-year-old fired a single shot at his teacher, Abigail Zwerner, during a reading class.

Zwerner has filed a $40 million lawsuit alleging that Parker, 39, ignored several warnings that the boy had a gun in school that day. Zwerner was shot in the chest and hand in the shooting but has recovered.

The boy told authorities he got his mother's 9mm handgun by climbing onto a drawer to reach the top of a dresser, where the firearm was in his mom's purse. He concealed the weapon in his backpack and then his pocket before shooting his teacher.

In the lawsuit, Zwerner's lawyers describe a series of warnings that school employees gave administrators in the hours before the shooting, beginning with Zwerner, who went to Parker's office and told her the boy "was in a violent mood," had threatened to beat up a kindergartener and stared down a security officer in the lunchroom, the Associated Press reported. The lawsuit alleges that Parker "had no response, refusing even to look up at (Zwerner) when she expressed her concerns."

The lawsuit also alleges that a reading specialist told Parker that the boy had told students he had a gun. Parker responded that his "pockets were too small to hold a handgun and did nothing," the lawsuit states, according to AP.

The indictments allege that Parker "did commit a willful act or omission in the care of such students, in a manner so gross, wanton and culpable as to show a reckless disregard for human life."

The special grand jury issued the indictments on March 11, and they were unsealed by court order Tuesday. A warrant was issued for Parker's arrest on Tuesday morning, but she's not yet in custody.

Parker, who resigned from her role after the shooting, is the first school official and second person charged in this case.

In December 2023, Deja Taylor, the child's mother, was sentenced to two years in prison for felony child neglect. The state sentence she received from Circuit Court Judge Christopher Papile was stiffer than what is called for in state sentencing guidelines and harsher than a joint sentencing recommendation of six months that prosecutors and Taylor's lawyers had agreed to in a plea deal.

Taylor was also sentenced in November 2023 to 21 months in federal prison for using marijuana while owning a gun, which is illegal under U.S. law. The combination of her state and federal sentences amounts to a total punishment of nearly four years behind bars.

According to Zwerner's lawsuit, the boy's parents did not agree to put him in special education classes where he would be with other students with behavioral issues.

"There were failures in accountability at multiple levels that led to Abby being shot and almost killed. Today's announcement addresses but one of those failures," Zwerner's lawyer said after Taylor was indicted. "It has been three months of investigation and still so many unanswered questions remain. Our lawsuit makes clear that we believe the school division violated state law, and we are pursuing this in civil court. We will not allow school leaders to escape accountability for their role in this tragedy."

The Newport News School Board, former Superintendent George Parker III, former Richneck principal Briana Foster Newton and Parker are named as defendants. The superintendent was fired by the school board.

Zwerner no longer works for the school system and is no longer teaching.

#nunyas news #wild

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mariacallous · 1 month

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A draft law in Serbia aims to allow the authorities to use both public and private CCTV cameras and facial recognition technology for the remote identification of citizens, raising concerns about mass surveillance of people during public assemblies or protests.

In Bosnia and Herzegovina, the assembly of the country’s Serb-led entity Republika Srpska has passed a law making defamation a crime punishable with a fine of up to 1,500 euros.

Romania’s parliament adopted a law increasing criminal penalties for acts of “outrage” against public officials and “disturbing of public order and peace”, among other offences.

In Hungary, some bookshops faced fines for selling books that deal with homosexuality in their youth sections and for failing to sell them in closed packaging.

These are some of the steps being taken in the wrong direction noted by rights watchdog Amnesty International in its latest yearly report on the “State of the World’s Human Rights”, published on Wednesday.

Worldwide, Amnesty says, freedom is under attack and authoritarian practices are on the rise. The number of people living in democratic countries is now the lowest since 1985.

Journalists face attacks and lawsuits

The Balkan region seems to be part of the international trend, albeit at a different speed, it says.

Journalists are often victims of this authoritarian tendency across the Balkan region, the report observes, as they became the objects of smear campaigns, strategic lawsuits or SLAPPs, or outright physical attacks in several countries.

In Serbia, independent and investigative journalists and activists faced “threats, vilification and punitive civil proceedings”, the report notes. In Albania, journalists were subjected to hate speech, physical assaults and a gun attack.

The report notes how Mayor of Tirana Erion Veliaj referred to a female journalist as “contract killer” following her investigation highlighting his role in a corruption scandal. In March, a security guard was murdered when unknown assailants sprayed bullets at the offices of Top Channel, Albania’s largest private TV station. Police have been unable to identify the authors of the attack or uncover their motives.

In Bosnia, the Journalists’ Association recorded an increase in attacks on journalists, with over 70 cases recorded in 2023, of which only a few were investigated. In Kosovo, journalists also faced “increased hostility”.

In North Macedonia, changes in the law regulating civil liability for insult and defamation reduced fines imposed on journalists. That welcome change, however, failed to curb the growing use of strategic lawsuits or SLAPPs. Journalists in Croatia are facing currently at least 945 SLAPPs, “mostly filed by public officials”.

The report said press freedom in Montenegro had improved, however, as the Appeals Court quashed proceedings against investigative journalist Jovo Martinović, wrongly convicted and imprisoned for drug trafficking.

Gender-based violence is a serious concern

The report highlights that gender-based violence remains a serious concern in Serbia where 27 women were victims of feminicide and in Albania, where 12 women were murdered last year by their partners or family members; in Kosovo, where there were six such deaths.

LGBTI rights remained under attack from religious groups in Serbia and North Macedonia; Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic announced he would never approve the Law on Same Sex Unions.

Bosnia and Herzegovina was identified as one of the most hostile places in the world for LGBTI people. Albania registered “no progress” in this field.

Rights of refugees increasingly violated

The Balkans is also becoming a hotspot for refugee rights violations, the report underlines; to the old issue of Greece prosecuting rights activists who help emigrants is added new ones, including the plight of some 35,000 arrivals who were registered, some 2,500 of whom are estimated to be stranded there.

A controversial agreement between Albania PM Edi Rama and his Italian counterpart, Giorgia Meloni, to build a camp in Albania to host refugees rescued in international waters in the Mediterranean became the latest concern.

Albania, a country that once exported droves of asylum seekers, agreed to allow Italy to place thousands of migrants there each month in facilities built at Italian taxpayer’s expense.

Costing an estimated 800 million euros, the operation is seen as a political coup for PM Meloni as she tries to reassure her right-wing base that she is acting against illegal emigration – even though the number of these processed in Albania, at just 3,000 per month, is just a faction of the total arrivals – and even though many of those processed in Albania will have to be transferred again to Italy.

Human rights organisations and others have expressed concern about the wider impact this could have on the human rights of refugees, asylum seekers, and migrants, including automatic and therefore arbitrary detention.

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odinsblog · 2 years

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Simply put, Minneapolis did not defund the police. It’s the opposite. The police are defunding Minneapolis.

How? Well, first there are the costly settlements from the violence the police committed: $27 million for George Floyd’s family; $2.4 million for protester Soren Stevenson; $650,000 for journalist Linda Tirado. Tirado and Stevenson both have an eyeball missing as a result of the police firing so called “less lethal” rubber-coated steel bullets at them during protests. There is $1.5 million for Jaleel Stallings, a Black army veteran who was hit by a less-lethal round from MPD officers riding around in an unmarked van five days after Floyd’s murder. Under the impression it was a real bullet, Stallings fired a real gun in self defense. He was beaten by the cops and charged with attempted murder only to be acquitted on all charges. His friend Virgil Lee Jackson Jr., who was with him and beaten and tased for two minutes, also received a $645,000 settlement. The total is staggering. An actuarial study by the city in 2021 estimated that legal claims made in the fifteen days after Floyd’s murder would lead to Minneapolis paying out $111 million in lawsuit settlements.

Then, there is the cost of the police officers themselves. Nearly 300 officers have left the department since Floyd’s murder, over one third of the force. Over 200 have left with workers’ compensation settlement checks and lucrative disability pensions, based on claims that policing the protests gave them post-traumatic stress disorder. Are these civil servants reaping the benefits of hard-won public-sector labor protections after bravely fulfilling their duty? Or is this a permanent version of what labor organizers would call a “sick out”?

Either way, some of these cops are getting generous retirement packages (costing the city money) after a career of complaints (costing the city money). One officer racked up more than $344,000 in misconduct settlements over the course of 12 years. He’s now receiving $56,000 a year in disability pension, on top of $195,000 in a workers comp settlement, according to records reviewed by Winter. Another officer—one of five involved in the 2013 SWAT Team killing of a Black man named Terrance Franklin (after new reporting by Time the case has undergone renewed scrutiny)—is making more than $128,000 a year on disability pension, on top of $195,000 in his workers’ comp settlement. Those officers who fired at Stallings from an unmarked van, and fractured his eye socket? Three of them are getting a combined $22,000 a month in disability pension for the trauma inflicted upon them.

Since Floyd’s murder, Minneapolis has paid more than $23 million in workers’ compensation settlements to police officers, according to the Star Tribune. Ronald Meuser, an attorney representing 200 MPD officers (a large portion of which he says were inside the 3rd Precinct station, and were forced to flee the building before the station eventually was set on fire by protesters), estimates that the city will eventually pay out $35 million dollars.

This is a great deal of money. The combination of these payouts and police misconduct settlements is approaching $150 million dollars. That’s more than three fourths of what the MPD’s budget was in 2020. The city’s self-insurance fund, which it uses to pay out settlements, is expected to be at negative 94 million dollars by the end of 2022.

👉🏿 https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2022/08/minneapolis-police-defund-george-floyd-city-budget/

#politics #police #defund the police #george floyd #blacklivesmatter #police brutality #police misconduct

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antidrumpfs · 3 months

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youtube

Jury finds longtime ex-NRA leader should pay organization $4.3 million

A jury in a lawsuit brought by the New York Attorney General’s Office against the National Rifle Association found that the gun rights group mismanaged its charitable funds when it failed to stop its top executives — including its former longtime leader, Wayne LaPierre — from diverting millions of dollars for lavish personal trips, no-show contracts and other questionable expenditures. In its verdict, the jury found LaPierre should pay the powerful gun rights group $4.3 million in damages.

#the nra is a terrorist organization #fuck the nra #Youtube

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twistedtummies2 · 4 months

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Year of the Bat - Number 7

Welcome to Year of the Bat! In honor of Kevin Conroy, Arleen Sorkin, and Richard Moll, I’ve been counting down my Top 31 Favorite Episodes of “Batman: The Animated Series” throughout this January.

TODAY’S EPISODE QUOTE: “How could you? I worked with you, trusted you, and you never told me?!” Number 7 is…Over the Edge.

Many consider this episode to be one of the best of the TNBA era of the Animated Series. I am, very obviously, highly inclined to agree. “Over the Edge” might well be the single darkest episode of the entire show, and that’s saying a lot. (The only possible competition it may have in my mind is “Growing Pains,” another TNBA outing I covered much earlier in the countdown.) It’s not dark because it involves scary imagery, or gruesome and physically twisted concepts, but because it puts the characters at the absolute peak of tension, with things getting more and more bleak as the story goes on, and it never really lets up. The episode literally opens with a shootout inside the Batcave. No joke. Commissoner Gordon and the rest of the GCPD are racing through the Batcave’s tunnels, gunning for the Dark Knight and his allies, and it’s made clear that Gordon knows who Bruce Wayne is. Alfred gets arrested, giving Batman, Robin, and Nightwing a chance to escape. While in hiding, Batman recounts how things have gone down for the audience’s benefit: it’s revealed that, during a battle with the Scarecrow, Batgirl was knocked off a building, and landed right on top of Commissioner Gordon’s car. She dies as a result of the fall shortly thereafter, at which point Gordon learns the truth of how the heroine was Barbara, his daughter. Now in the present…blaming Batman for Barbara’s demise, Gordon and Harvey Bullock effectively wage war against the Bat-Family. The Commissioner is more outraged than ever when he learns Bruce Wayne is the Caped Crusader. Even the public seems incensed, and some of the villains get a quick cameo as they try to gain support and form a lawsuit against the Dark Knight. Nightwing is eventually captured, and Tim Drake is forced to give up the mantle of Robin and go into hiding. Finally, Gordon makes the most drastic of moves, as he teams-up with Bane, of all villains, to destroy Batman once and for all.

So…first of all, JESUS H. CHRIST, THAT’S A LOT TO TAKE IN. Every few SECONDS, it seems, throughout this episode, another point of suspense and dread rises up. The story just does not let up, as the situation spirals further and further out of control. With Gordon on the brink of madness and Batman on the brink of self-destruction at every turn, this is easily one of the most harrowing tales of the entire series. Neither is vilified here, and the voice artists for these two characters are what really sell the emotional impact: this is by far Bob Hastings’ most startling turn as Gordon, as you see him pushed to his breaking point and transformed into an antagonist. Conroy is equally powerful as Batman, as you can sense the pain in his own vocals and the way the fear and sorrow build for him as the story goes on. Bane’s presence as the main villain (though not the main antagonist) is also a welcome addition. We didn’t get much of him in the show, but this is by far his most memorable outing. I do feel I HAVE to spoil the ending to this episode, though, so…for those who have not seen it, SPOILER ALERT: as you might have guessed, Batgirl isn’t really dead. In fact, it’s revealed that none of the events actually happened. Batgirl and the others DID face the Scarecrow…but the villain didn’t knock her off a building. Instead, he gassed her with a special form of his Fear Toxin, which put Batgirl into a deep sleep, where her absolute worst nightmare was illustrated in vivid, lurid detail. Thankfully, Bruce and the team are able to bring her back to health.

The episode doesn’t just stop there, though. Even more than all the horrors the story puts before our eyes, I think my favorite part is the very ending. Disturbed by her dreams while under Scarecrow’s influence, Batgirl goes to talk to her father, planning to confess her identity to him. Gordon, however, stops her, and tells Barbara that she doesn’t need his approval: he trusts her to make her own decisions, he won’t blame anyone else for them, and he will always love her. Not only is the ending heartwarming, but I love how the dialogue subtly hints that Gordon may know the truth of Barbara’s secret identity already, while still leaving that teasingly ambiguous. Either way, I love how – after all the suspense and dread the story slams into us over and over again – it ends with such a wholesome, warm, yet poignant conclusion. It’s also yet another reason I credit this as Hastings’ best performance for the Commissioner: the fatherly warmth of this scene is just as impactful as the bitter vengeance and spite from before. While the twist of “it was all a dream” can seem a bit…iffy for some people, I think we all knew this couldn’t actually be real, or that there had to be some catch to it, so to speak, so I don’t really mind much. It doesn’t take away from what makes the story great: for both its darkness, and its hidden speck of interesting light, it is an absolute marvel, and one the Animated Series’ most rightfully lauded gems. Honestly, I’m kind of disappointed in myself for not placing it higher…but hopefully the stories still to come will not disappoint.

Tomorrow we move on with Number 6! Hint: “It would move me to tears, if I had tears to shed.”

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bellagrimfox · 5 months

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Another Year on Planet Earth

I'll be honest, as someone who's chronically online, real life is scary.

I'm close to graduating and once that happens, I'll have to find a job that I'm afraid will take me away from what I really want to do. Create and draw stories for everyone. Or at least, everyone in the world that isn't in poverty, dictator countries, regimes, jails, anyone living in North Korea, and many others who can't enjoy life the way they want to. Even if everyone in the world was happy, there will always be something or someone who says otherwise. Every insane homophobe, anti-abortion, racist, awful human being will find someway to get what they want.

2023 and every year before 2010 for me was years in which the world gradually got worse. To make a small recap, and not to turn this into a politics filled rant, we got:

Afghanistan killing women's rights, Abortion rights in America being in danger, Donald Trump, China destroying and hunting human rights, Any news about North Korea, gun violence once again being ignored, and finally, the rise of doom scrolling and depression.

Even online, there's things that have happened. Indie games in hot water for:

Mcpig unintentionally having racist imagery for three sprites, Friday Night Funking having both the Mod creators and original creator being in trouble or being terrible people, rise of Denuvo, Internet Archive being in a lawsuit that could destroy the site, KOSA and other online bills being dangerous, and Materia being jerks when it comes to music copyright.

But, despite all of these mounting issues

even if the sun will die

even if the world is dying

even if climate change is happening

even if America takes a bad turn

even if online enjoyment is being destroyed

even if my own life gets unfairly stopped by things out of my control

I still have two things, a resolution and hope.

My resolution is simple. Improve. Get better at what I know. Even if I let ADHD and fear based Procrastination get the best of me, I'll still try. And for hope, as long as I can be with my friends and family, I'm still gonna exist. Thanks @somecartoonisttalkshere, @karmicartist, @apollothemechanic, @owoiwonderwhatsthis, @tyrannic-world, @reaper34, @xclevername, Ela, Ray, Blu, Red, Violet, Engooneer, and Ela. For reminding me to not give up and helping me keep going.

Finally, I wanna thank one of my biggest inspirations. The one, or one of the few genuinely artists who are a great person, that inspired me to eventually try to draw. @oddpizza or what I remember them by, Cosmic-Retro-Head. You don't have to read the entire top if it's too depressing but I just wanted to let you know that you are still an amazing and kind person. Love your new art and hope you keep it up!

Happy New Years everyone and to anyone who finds this though an archive of tumblr or just browsing online and stumbling onto my account.

#new years #new years resolution #my rants #my post #rant #ranting #real life #growing up #existentialism #If anyone is confused by who the non tagged names are

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ohtobeleah · 3 months

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https://screenrant.com/top-gun-maverick-lawsuit-barry-tubb-details/

Barry Tubbs is officially the pettiest man alive rn: a couple of the girlies (gn) have been talking about this and they’ll just give him some go away money.

^^^ Barry for the past few years just seething ^^

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mydisenchantedeulogy · 3 months

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Sweet Sacrifice [Chapter Two] In Propria Persona [Jonathan Crane/Scarecrow]

A/n: Welcome back for chapter two. Thank you for reading. Please enjoy.

Warning(s): anger, Arkhamverse lore, depression, fear gas, master plan, original character(s), thieving, hallucinations, mentions of animal death, fear.

No Minors Allowed!!

Fate had been harsh to him, and today, on the eve of Halloween, Jonathan Crane found himself at the start of his profession, looking heatedly at the massive steel gates of ‘Gotham University’. The last time he had seen them, even though it was for an instant, was the day he was dismissed.

Sacked was the literal term used by Dr. Long. The balding old coot insisted that his teaching method was unconventional and posed a threat to the safety of the students. But how was he to insight genuine fear from them? A mere psychology textbook did not do the trick and although his experiment was forward, he got the reaction he wanted. The gun was not meant to harm the students but to scare them a bit. How was he to know the broken ceramic from the container he shot would strike a student in the eye? A lawsuit was unavoidable. So to stop the family from suing the college, the Chancellor fired him.

And now he was back.

The gates opened with a high-pitched squeal, bringing Jonathan from his traumatic thoughts. He slid his square-framed glasses in place with a slim finger and carefully drove his stolen Telsa up the long and narrow track to the university. Once at the top, he parked in a staff-reserved lot and switched off the engine.

Old habits, he reminded himself.

Jonathan was, after all, a well-known instructor some time ago, with an assigned lot near the main campus, but that detail was of no concern to him anymore. He had moved on, as one would say. Jonathan was a leading psychiatrist at Blackgate, and although the money was decent, the price of chemicals he needed for his experiments was more than he could afford. This was his only reason for being here, returning to the place he loathed so much.

Deep inside, his blood began to boil in anger.

He always gave the impression that he was a stoic man, not far from the truth in his opinion. Jonathan was open-minded to adversity and held in such high regard at the prison. He liked to think it was because he was a prodigy, which his imprudent colleagues revered him for, but he knew better. They feared him for his sharp remarks and the authoritative temperament he held himself in.

But it was the sheer terror on his test subjects’ faces that brought out such strong emotions in Jonathan. Emotions he felt when he used his fear gas on Dr. Long for the first time.

Fear was intoxicating. He did not want to lose the only thing that brought him true elation. How he longed to witness what he no longer could experience. His pale skin littered with goosebumps at the mere thought of the terror that was to come.

His fingers went numb. Glancing down at them, Jonathan realized he was gripping the steering wheel tightly in his hands. The feeling came back to them moments after he pried them away.

Be patient, he thought.

Slowly he composed himself, returning to the stoic psychiatrist he commonly was known as, and slid out of the car. The late autumn air felt unusually cool in contrast to his heated skin. It was soothing. Jonathan brushed back his dark brown hair, which took to sticking to his forehead, and grabbed his briefcase from the passenger seat. He had delayed himself long enough.

The walk across campus was short. He moved quickly along the footpath until he came to the administration office in the central building. It was empty from what he could tell, but he strolled vigilantly through the lobby until he passed the mess hall.

If he had to guess, he’d say the attendants were there. Jonathan could hear a mass of voices echoing from the closed double doors, just as he had hoped. In any normal circumstance, he would be there too, eating his lunch and working on his research, but his reality was not ordinary.

It had never been, not even as a child.

Stay focused, he told himself.

Now was not the time for memories to resurface, not that it ever was, in Jonathan’s opinion. Still, he wondered if the bullies from his past would recognize him. He had changed a considerable amount in the years since he had last seen them. He was still thin and tall, standing at an even 6 feet, but his body was now balanced in a way that made him more charming.

That didn’t mean of course he wanted to be noticed. He took one last look at the past and turned his back to it. He was now late for his meeting. The stairs to the roof were at the back of the building, which he found without difficulty. They were blocked off with a narrow rope, but Jonathan quickly stepped over it and jogged up to the metal door that led to the roof.

It was locked, however. A simple precaution, but one that made Jonathan annoyed with himself for suggesting it. He knocked twice with the back of his hand and waited. It didn’t take long for the brute guarding it to open. Jonathan noted the tatty blue utility uniform he wore, which read Gotham Heat & Cooling on the sleeve.

“Doctor Crane,” he greeted.

Jonathan dipped his head to acknowledge him and walked through the small opening he made between himself and the frame. He was met by three other men wearing the same uniform, one of whom was crouched on his knees, working on unlatching the panel from the school’s air conditioning unit. Jonathan strolled across the rooftop to meet with him.

“Evening, doctor,” he said, sparing Jonathan a look. “I assume the blueprints gave you a bit of trouble finding the staircase.”

Jonathan overlooked his previous statement. “Good evening. I am supposed to meet with Silas Lynch.”

“That would be me,” he retorted.

He stood up and offered his hand to Jonathan, to which he shook. Now that he was facing him, Jonathan could see the name Lynch printed on the upper corner of his shirt. He was shorter than Jonathan but stout. His manners were varied, a notion the doctor picked up as Silas shook his hand, still wearing his grime-covered work gloves.

“It’s a pleasure,” Jonathan grunted, wiping his free hand on his suit vest.

“On to business, I suppose. We can't get started without you.”

Jonathan hummed; he was becoming slightly annoyed with the man. He watched as Silas bent to his knees and pulled the panel from the unit. Inside was the compressor tank, attached to a smaller canister by an air hose, the refrigerant as the label read.

Silas detached the refrigerant tank from the compressor and slowly slid it from the unit, pushing it to the side. He then motioned for the briefcase that Jonathan was carrying and removed an aerosol tank from it, latching it in place. Then he hooked the air hose into the valve at the top of the container and reattached the panel.

“It’s finished,” he pointed out with a grin.

Jonathan was impressed, but only for a second. Silas knew his role well. He replaced the refrigerant with a canister of compressed toxin so that the poison would be pumped through the heating ducts, and then be pumped back into the compressor when the cycle began again. However, he forgot where he stood in all this. Of course, this was his experiment and his formula, but not his plan.

It belonged to his employer, the man who was paying him, the man whose face he had never seen.

“What orders did your boss give you once the canister was set?” Jonathan asked, raising a curious brow.

Silas laughed, “No need to worry. He’s not planning on double-crossing you, doctor.”

Jonathan knew that. He narrowed his blue eyes, hating to repeat himself.

“What were the orders?”

“He...uh told us to follow your lead, assist you in whatever you need,” the man uttered quietly.

Good to hear. Jonathan smiled.

“I assume you know to stay put until I tell you otherwise. As for the others, I need them.”

“You need them for what?” Silas asked.

“That’s none of your concern,” Jonathan replied. “Just have them ready to follow me when the time is right…and remember, gas masks on.”

Or not. He didn't care.

Jonathan latched his briefcase and moved to exit the roof. It was time, the work was finished, and now he could play. However, he was rudely stopped before he could reach the door. The brute in front of it locked his arms.

“Where are you going?”

Jonathan turned and gave him a wicked smile. “To get dressed for the occasion, of course.”

A life of crime was a ruthless road to travel. But unavoidable to some. To Ana Patterson, it was a role, one she was good at.

The curtains were drawn open – or rather the doors – and enveloped her in a burst of light. She took a deep uneasy breath, allowing the cool fresh air to fill her lungs, then hesitantly took her place amongst the crowd of eager students, ready to play her part.

A sudden chill crept down her spine, sending her into a fit of shivers that stopped her cold. She knew this feeling all too well. It was fear, the same crippling fear of failure that haunted her every time she took the stage. Ana did her best to push the feeling aside so that her focus was sharp, but the anxiety remained, lying dormant in the darkest corners of her mind.

Baby steps, she reminded herself as she forced her legs to move forward. Just as she rehearsed. Ana took one step at a time, walking down the stairs of the university as she searched the mass of students in the area.

It was around noon. The air was cool and dry, a strong reminder that autumn was upon Gotham. Many scholars were camped out on the lawn to enjoy the decent weather before it became too cold. Ana settled down at the top of the stairs in the shadow of a stone column and waited. It served as a temporary nest so that she could keep a bird’s eye view of the activity on the estate. So far, it was reasonably quiet.

A little too quiet, she thought to herself.

There was absolutely nothing going on.

Ana sighed and stood to her feet, heaving her body up and onto the narrow niche of the pillar. The square base was broad enough so that she could balance her toes on it. She had to wrap her arms around the expanse of the support to keep well adjusted but it was worth the unease.

From the pillar of the main building, Ana could see everything from the private bank to the high-end museum across campus, and the arena. It was not long before she saw him, Jesse Collins.

He left the football field with his friends, slowly making his way toward the fountain in the center of the courtyard. She was not expecting him to bring company, although it was not unusual. Collins was the star of the defensive team, he was rather popular. And attractive, a dark-skinned wall of a man with an infectious smile.

His private file gave a list of scholarships and advances he attained out of high school, family assets, and bits of personal information Ana leafed through before being assigned the job. Unfortunately, Collins did not have any money to his name. He was what she would call ‘quick money,’ meaning she had been given the chore of pocketing cash from him as a means to eat.

Collins moved into position near the fountain. He was on his way back to his dorm. It was detailed in his file; his schedule and patterns across campus were noted as well.

Today, however, his pattern changed.

A familiar woman with an ivory completion and dyed blonde hair stopped him. Her name on this particular job was Lenore. And she was a lifesaver.

Ana needed to act. She hopped from her perch and hurried down the stairs of the university and onto the lawn.

Lenore occupied him. It was her role, to influence people at her will and draw their attention. Despite how good she was, even Ana knew Lenore could not hold him or his friends for much longer.

Ana pressed forward, extending her slender legs to their full extent. She pushed past several scholars along the way carrying on debates that seemed irrelevant to her and stepped onto the narrow pathway that looped the fountain. Collins was in sight, or instead, his back was turned to her. She was able to see his worn leather wallet sticking from his rear pocket, just about in the grasp of her hand. She clasped her fingers into a fist, then extended them out as far off from the palm of her hand as she was capable.

Shivering in fear, Ana grasped for the object.

However, before she was able to take it, she was hit in the right shoulder with enough force to spin her around, knock her off balance, and drop her onto the pavement with a loud smack.

A sharp pain shot up her side.

“I am so sorry!” A voice bellowed out. “I didn’t see you there. Are you okay?”

Ana clenched her jaw tight, drowning out the slur of curses that just about passed her lips. She was in mild pain.

“I’m fine,” she groaned in frustration, leaning back her head.

The voice belonged to a young man, a decent-looking rich kid in slacks with short black hair. He gawked at Ana for an instant, shifting his blue eyes over her, then grinned.

“I can see that,” he teased.

Ana blushed in embarrassment. This was new to her and a little awkward. She was not used to people openly flirting with her – or busting her for that matter. Ana had been told that she was pretty before, but she typically disregarded the sentiment entirely.

She looked like her mother, average height and thin. Her dark brown hair and pale skin came from her bastard of a father.

“I’ll take that as a compliment,” she mumbled.

To make matters worse, Collins glanced at them.

His mouth pulled into a smirk as he noticed the rich kid and turned to greet him.

“Way to go, man. Grayson landed him a girl,” he stated with a laugh.

“What can I say? She ran straight into my arms,” Grayson retorted.

Ana rolled her eyes as he proceeded to joke with Collins. Men could be such idiots at times. As they chatted, ignoring her, she shot a glance at Lenore.

The said woman nodded and slipped back into the crowd. Ana sighed, she mucked up. Somehow, she had to make it up; her contact put so much work into keeping tabs on Collins after all.

“Some gentleman you turned out to be,” Ana declared out loud.

“Pardon me?”

Grayson glanced at her, face turning red. How could he have forgotten? He leaned down and offered her his hand. “My apologies, miss.”

“It’s Ana. My name is Ana,” she clarified, taking his hand so that he could help her up.

She took a second to dust the grass off her pants as Grayson stood beside her awkwardly.

“I’m Dick,” he mentioned.

Ana agreed. “Yeah, you are, caveman.”

He grinned. “Nice joke. Richard is my name, everyone just calls me Dick.”

How charming. Ana sighed and glanced into the crowd. Where had Lenore gone? It was time she took off too.

“Well, Dick, I appreciate you being a gentleman and all, but I was on my way to meet with some friends. I shouldn’t keep them waiting,” she lied.

He stopped her, standing in front of her as she tried to leave. “Let me apologize properly. Maybe over a cup of coffee…or lunch.”

“I don’t drink coffee, and I already have a lunch date,” she mentioned.

Ana brushed past him. Maybe Lenore had returned to the dorms.

“What if I pay?”

There was an idea.

Ana stopped and glanced over her shoulder with a fake smile. “Only if my friends can come along.”

“I can’t say no to a lady,” he retorted with a grin.

Ana told him she would meet him later and went to find her partners.

The cafeteria was bright and heavy with students, the air smothering. Ana sat down beside Dick; Lenore on her right. She was pleased to see that he had secured a booth as each one was crowded with people. The sandwich Dick bought her sat unopened on the table as Lenore, and he spoke – she was ever the social butterfly.

Ana ignored them and picked up a pamphlet left on the table, looking over the layout of Gotham State, lecture times, and important dates.

“What are you majoring in?”

She glanced up, noticing that Dick was smiling at her. He tapped his pen on the desk like a makeshift drumstick as he waited for her answer.

“Business,” she lied. “Well…I’m studying social science and liberal arts until I can get my Ph.D. in law.”

Lenore snorted and curled her lips. “You do love to argue. Mind ordering something for Bekah?”

Ana hid her smile. Lies slipped so quickly from her mouth. She took the pencil from him and opened the pamphlet to the lunch tabulate, scratching down a fake order. Excusing herself from the table, she walked up to where the display cases were and leaned against them with a sigh.

Rebekah, a woman with thick curly blonde hair puckered a brow.

“How does she do it?”

Ana hummed. “Do what?”

“Be someone she’s not?”

Ana dreaded the worst, considering she mucked up the job Rebekah had planned. Shrugging her shoulders, she shivered as the heat above them blared down. The cool touch of the case felt nice against her heated skin.

“No idea,” she retorted honestly. “You know how she is. Lenore is whoever she wants to be. After this job is over, she will probably be someone else.”

It was hard to tell with her. Sometimes even she had a hard time remembering the real her.

“Because I asked her to take her role seriously,” Rebekah admitted.

Ana sighed. She understood. They had a code to follow.

“I can find another meal ticket,” she insisted.

Rebekah nodded in agreement. “I hope so. This is unlike you.”

She was right.

“Richard Grayson took me off guard,” Ana admitted. She glared at him from across the room. “Like he knew and intentionally knocked me down.”

“Doesn’t matter. We’ll move on after a few more jobs, then take the valuables to the fence,” the blonde declared. She scratched at her arm with a grunt.

Ana agreed in relief. She hated playing a student. It was fortunate they looked the part, but so far it had been nothing but a headache for her. Like the one she was developing now.

“Something smells,” Rebekah brought up.

Ana sniffed the air. She was right. It smelled musty and wet. Almost like iron.

Like blood.

Why did she relate the two just now?

A sudden shrill scream from across the room made Ana jerk in fear. She watched in disbelief as a student attacked another one with a plastic fork.

“What is–”

Rebekah erupted into a fit of coughs and grabbed Ana by the arm. The latter watched in horror as her friend doubled over and fell to her knees. The blonde’s body stiffened in fear and then she screamed, adding to the hysteria of the room.

More and more were falling victim to whatever the hell was going on.

“They’re everywhere!” Rebekah cried. Her nails dug into her arm, clawing at the patch-like skin beneath her high-necked hoodie. “In my skin! I can feel them crawling inside me!”

Ana leaned down beside her. There was nothing there, nothing crawling beneath her skin as far as she could see. She refrained from touching her and shouted for someone to help her, but like Rebekah, the others were also in hysterics.

Screams of horror echoed through the room.

But why?

The strange odor perhaps. It was too late. Ana knew that she too, had been infected.

Her mouth suddenly flooded with something and sprayed the floor. Thick lumps of blood oozed down her chin. She gasped in shock and forced her eyes shut. How was this happening? Was this a virus?

Someone grabbed her arm again.

“Ana…please--"

She opened her eyes just as Rebekah coughed blood into her face. It got into her eyes, painting her vision a dark red. She gasped and pushed the woman aside, attempting to wipe it away. There was too much, her clothes were soaked like she had taken a bath in them. Where was the blood coming from?

Ana shivered in disgust and hauled herself onto her feet using the display case as a crutch. Her shoes slipped on the pool of blood beneath her, but she was able to keep her footing and move away from the area. Rebekah was still on the floor, scratching thin lines into her skin. There was nothing she could do for her. Ana needed to get out of there.

People rushed past her, slamming into her; some begging for help; some trying to escape. She made it to the door and tried to push it open, but it would not budge. Someone had locked it from the outside. Ana growled in frustration and shoved against it as hard as she could, but to no avail.

“How interesting,” she heard an inhuman voice state.

Ana turned and noticed someone or something behind her. It looked inhuman, observing her with wide blacked-out eyes. The nine-foot-tall creature loomed over her with a wide grin across its stitched face. Blood oozed from its mouth, dripping on her face.

“What are you?”

The creature hummed, leaning its head to the side. “Are you not scared? What do you see?”

Blood, so much blood.

Ana shivered as she felt it soak into her clothing. This was straight out of a nightmare. No. Monsters could not compare to the real thing. Ana knew. She had seen it before.

“Make it stop,” she begged.

Sinking to the floor, she covered her eyes and sobbed.

“Help me…don’t leave me here.”

Tears ran down her face. It was happening again. The horrid smell of sour dead tissue invaded her nose, and the old black goat choking on its blood invaded her ears.

How did she get back here? To the slaughterhouse. Did she not escape?

“I can take away your fear,” the monster offered. His voice gurgled.

Ana shivered. “Please…please help me.”

“As you wish,” it laughed.

Something pierced into her arm, and in an instant, darkness consumed her.

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