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rhysie-cakes314 · 6 years

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Day 23- Urban Legend

Sorry, if you want specific warnings, you’re better off reading on my ao3 page than on tumblr (the format is easier for me there). Just as a heads up because this one is a bit extra angsty.

...What was the point of having his amazing car collection if he didn’t get to drive them? A night alone on empty highways was peaceful.

The first several hours were perfect. The dashed lines passing him by and the focus he could put into just the feeling of driving was therapeutic. The slight buzzing of the engine underneath his fingertips reminded him of his teens, the good parts, when he could get away with long trips to nowhere to escape everything. There was no time for brooding or panic attacks when autopilot wasn’t an option, like in the suit, and driving helped keep Tony from drinking. He sighed, life was going pretty alright.

That was, of course, until the black-eyed child showed up.

“Yeah, Pep, I get it, I’ll be there.” Tony rolled his eyes and took a sip of his water bottle. The night was a bit chilly, so he had the convertible Audi R8’s roof up to avoid the chill. The air flowed openly through the vents though. If Tony liked one thing about October, it was that the smells of autumn hung in the air before being swept away in November’s cold.

“I’m serious Tony,” her voice sounded warped by the cell phone’s speaker. “It’s first thing in the morning, and you chose to drive. You’re never going to make it in time.”

“Oh ye of so little faith. I drive plenty fast enough, and sleep is for the weak.”

“Tony! No driving without sleep, I’m going to call happy to meet you at an airport this is-”

“Ksshhht, Pepper, I, shhhhkkk, we’re breaking up.” Tony tapped the end call button with absolutely no guilt. He was in a bout of insomnia anyway, so he wouldn’t be sleeping, and he never got to go on long drives anymore. What was the point of having his amazing car collection if he didn’t get to drive them? A night alone on empty highways was peaceful.

Of course the thought had floated through his mind before he could stop it. Bad thing always happened when he thought that. As if on cue, his periphery caught a figure standing off the side of the road, barely noticeable outside of the streetlight’s beam. It was probably a child given the stature, and they looked cold and alone. Tony lamented the loss of his solitude as he pulled up beside them.

“Hey! Need a ride?” He called out the rolled down passenger side window.

The figure looked up, her hoodie falling back to reveal a teenage girl, probably of some mix of asian descent, with her hair in high pigtails. She made no move towards the car, but watched him from afar. Her head tilted slightly. Tony guessed, in fairness, it probably wasn’t in a teenage girl’s best interest to get into strange men’s cars without a little hesitation. He wondered if she had a cell phone, and why she hadn’t called for help, though they were on a country road in the middle of nowhere. Non-Stark phones probably didn’t have signal out here.

Tony put the car in park, and made sure to make his moments slow as he exited the vehicle. The last thing he wanted was to scare the poor girl. He approached with his hands raised, so she knew he didn’t have a weapon. Maybe in the light, she’d recognize him from TV. “I mean no harm, I’m Tony Stark. I just thought you look a little lost out here alone.” She nodded in agreement, but still said nothing, unwilling to meet Tony’s gaze as he got closer. “I won’t force you, but would you like a ride to the nearest town?” The girl hesitated, then raised her face to meet his gaze.

Something was very wrong. The girl had no sclera or iris, just purely black orbs for eyes. It was disconcerting on its own, but Tony had met stranger kids who often ended up with Xavier and the X-Men. No, the eyes alone were not the issue. She stared at him blankly, and his fear response was illogical. Shut up, he told his anxiety, now was hardly a good time for a panic attack. There was a civilian in need right in front of him. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.

Tony was no longer on the side of a country road. He was suddenly in Gulmira watching small children begging and crying while men scarred them for lives by holding them at gunpoint with his weapons. He wasted no time killing all of the threats, but he flew away feeling sick. Terrorists were running this area of the world while he had been partying and womanizing with the profits. Things had to change.

Howard was handing him a glass of brown liquid, and Tony tried to give it back. He didn’t want it, it smelled bad and it reminded Tony of how his dad’s breath would smell when things were bad. Howard pushed it into his hand harder and glared at Tony, and he just wanted the man to look happy with him once. He downed the glass, and promptly broke off into a coughing fit while his throat burned and tasted acrid. Tony should’ve walked away.

Obadiah had the reactor in his hands and Tony sat, unable to move while the man disconnected the wires. The pain was excruciating, but he couldn’t cry, couldn’t scream. His father’s friend, the man who had helped raise him, walked away with Tony’s heart in hand. Tony should never have trusted him.

Tony took one last glance over their handiwork. The small group of senators had worked with him and Fury to write the law, made sure they were well-worded to do the greatest good. Masked heroes needed to be held accountable. Tony had made the mistake of being unaccountable before, had been the Merchant of Death; he wanted to save all his friends the pain of learning that lesson the hard way. The children who’d died in that explosion were his fault. Not directly, of course, but Tony knew better. He should have foreseen this and done something sooner. This was for the best. A flash of the future felt like a punch to the gut. Tony should’ve never made the Superhero Registration Act.

Tony was overcome with grief, sobbing into his hands as he lay next to Steve’s body. His Steve. Steve Rogers, beautiful, perfect man, the great Captain America was dead. The tears that streamed down his face felt hyper-real somehow. This was all his fault. How could he have let things spiral so far out of control. The love of his life was still and cold, and Tony would never be able to tell him how sorry he was. He should’ve listened to the man sooner. If sadness was going to kill him, this was it.

Steve stood awkwardly in front of Tony, and everything they had shared before was gone. Tony didn’t trust him, and he didn’t trust Tony. It was the greatest surprise in the world that Steve had never actually died, but the suffering had been real nonetheless. And now that he was here, Tony had no idea where to start. He had failed with SHIELD, had barely survived the Skrulls, and his health was failing, his brain slowing. Steve shifted on his feet, sadness so clear in his eyes that Tony felt like it stabbed him in the heart. He needed to explain everything, that he regretted all of it, but his brain just wouldn’t seem to work fast enough.

The entire city of Paris is full of statues. No, he berates himself, they’re not statues. The population of Paris was turned to stone because he couldn’t convince Odin to help him save it fast enough. Half of the fight with serpent had nearly killed his friends while he was taking far too long in Nidavellir making their weapons worthy. If Tony had just been a little more focused, things may have gone smoothly. Every casualty in Paris was a failure that ate at him from the inside out. Tony should’ve never even tried to claim he was a hero.

The trust that had taken them so long to rebuild after Civil War was shattered again. Steve couldn’t even meet Tony’s gaze anymore, and being around any of Tony’s friends made him want to curl up and die. There were so many secrets and lies between them all for the Illuminati, and it wasn’t worth it. Following their plans to destroy other worlds… What had he been thinking? Tony never learned or grew wiser, his mistakes just did more and more damage. He regretted who he was to the core.

There was no more Tony Stark. He was sadness, grief, regret, angst, emotional anguish incarnate. Far away, in another time, his knees hurt and his cheeks were wet with warm, sticky tears. Every painful memory of his regrets flashed before his eyes and they each felt like another sword through his center. The pain was unbearable, and he wished he’d just die already.

…

When Steve made it to the gps coordinates JARVIS, he couldn’t make sense of what he was seeing. Tony had never made it to the meeting this morning, and Pepper had called Steve demanding to speak to the genius. When Steve assured her that no, Tony had never come home, and no he wasn’t just covering for the man, the fear had started to settle in. Together they traced Tony’s phone through the night, and for some reason it had stopped traveling in the middle of nowhere, and was still there.

Steve pulled over onto the shoulder of the road in front of Tony, and got out at a run. “Tony! What are you-” he stopped short. Tony was on his knees, shaky breaths in between heaving sobs wracking his small frame. The smears and streams down his face were of blood, and the man was clearly not present. Steve waved a hand in front of Tony’s face, but he didn’t even blink. Steve knelt down beside him, terrified and unsure what to do. The car was gone, someone must’ve taken it after they left him like this, but what did they do!? Tony’s pained gasp urged Steve through the fear, and he put a hand on the man’s shoulder. He shook it violently, screaming at Tony to please wake up. It took several minutes before the man blinked hard, and seemed to suddenly become aware of his surroundings.

Tony was back, on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere, but now it was daytime. Where had the girl gone? Who was shaking him? “Steve?” he rasped, eyes wide with confusion. “Why are you here? Where’s the girl?”

The relief was dizzying. “What girl? Tony, what happened?”

“She was here, her eyes were black- Aaah!” He pitched forward suddenly, hand automatically grasping at his chest with the sudden tightness and sharp pain, but he breathed through it, and it slowly lessened.

“Tony! I’m calling an ambulance,” Steve dialed 911. Tony was shaking his head, murmuring something about being fine, but the man was clearly not ok.

Whatever the girl had done to him with her black eyes, he remembered all of it. Tony felt the pain of it wash over him again, the shock of snapping away from the trance gone. Regular, saltwater tears mixed with the dried blood on his face. “Oh god,” he moaned. People weren’t meant to deal with this much at once. There was a reason Tony pushes things away to deal with later, one at a time, preferably with alcohol handy. Steve was still talking to someone on the phone, but it all seemed distant. The dead Steve on the table in front of him, a ghost of the past, seemed far more real. “I’m so sorry,” he sobbed. His heart squeezed painfully again, and maybe the universe would have mercy and just smite him.

It didn’t seem like there was warning before Tony slumped over, lying unconscious. His breathing became more even without the sobbing, but he looked pale. No one could look healthy with bloody tears all over them, though, so Steve tried to just take comfort in the fact that he was still breathing. The medics were almost there. Tony dialed JARVIS and Pepper, updating them on the situation so someone can start looking for the car.

…

Tony woke up with a start. He was in a hospital bed, and Steve was watching him warily. He was tired, and had an IV in with a simple saline solution, but that was it. Clearly whatever had been causing his chest pain had been nothing, like he told Steve, but he couldn’t really blame the man for the precaution. Tony was hardly known for his stellar cardiac health. “Did you find the girl?” Steve nodded, tears forming but not spilling. Tony grabbed his hand and pulled him in for a kiss. “Hey, it’s fine, right?”

Steve nodded again, and took a steadying breath. “Xavier stopped in while you were out, explained what happened, and they found her with your car on the way to an airport. She had been trying to get to Madripoor, where she’s from.”

Tony blinked. Xavier had been in his head? Saw all of, well, that pain? God, no wonder Steve looked so stricken. He couldn’t imagine what it must sound like explained allowed. Hopefully Professor X had been skimpy on the details. “Who was she? All I can think of now is that urban legend with the scary black-eyed children. You know? With the weird approaching adults alone and people think they’re aliens or something?”

Steve shook his head. “Is that one of those creepypasta things Clint told me about?” Tony snorted, and Steve was so thankful to have him back. That sobbing shell of pure pain had not been his husband. “Anyway, she goes by Gazing Nightshade. She’s a mutant, apparently when she looks into your eyes she can put you in a ‘trance-like state full of sorrow fueled by your deepest regrets’ according to Xavier. He didn’t tell me what he saw by the way, if you’re worried.”

Tony let out a long breath, thinking. “That’s a scary power. How did that land me here?”

“Doc said a prolonged state of such grief can cause your heart to temporarily malfunction, it should be fine now though. Broken Heart Syndrome. The bloody tears-”

“Wait, bloody tears?”

Steve nodded, a look of horror on his face for a moment. “Oh, yeah, your face was covered in wet and dried blood, it was terrifying Tony.” He shuddered. “That’s part of her power too, makes your eyes and hers bleed. Mutants are weird sometimes.”

“God, Steve I’m so sorry you had to see me like that…” He couldn’t even imagine finding Steve in that state.

The humorless laugh that escaped him was almost a sob. “No, I am so sorry you went through that. If you want to talk about it, I think you should, I mean, I’m here to listen, unless you don’t want it to be me,” It was rare for Steve to be the one rambling, and Tony squeezed his hand until he stopped.

“Hey, it’s okay now. And I agree, I should talk about it. Can we talk about it when we get home?” Tony smiled tentatively. This new open thing had come with their engagement, and stuck around into the marriage. They had agreed it was their best chance to avoid repeating their many past mistakes. It often left Tony feeling raw and exposed, but Steve was there to soothe it.

Steve returned the small smile. “Yeah, I’d like that.”

#thearkoctoberchallenge2018 #stony #marvel #marvel 616 #avengers #x-men blue #gazing nightshade #tony stark #steve rogers #superhusbands #fanfic #fanfiction

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puclpodcast · 7 years

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Pokemon of the Week #47 – Delcatty

Welcome to the PUCL Pokemon Contest where we have a very special guest. The reigning Champion Delcatty! Over here Delcatty, come say hi to your fans. No don’t lie over there we need you center stage…I’m sorry audience but it looks like Delcatty doesn’t feel like it today, maybe next year. However to make up for it, if you look in your brochures you will see an exclusive interview with the Delcatty by SumtimesIFly!

National Dex #301 – Delcatty

Description: The Prim Pokemon Type: Normal Abilities: Cute Charm/Normalize Hidden Ability: Wonder Skin Competitive: [Smogon PU] Evolution: Skitty -> Moonstone -> Delcatty

Origin: Delcatty is a preppy, well groomed, house cat. Its name is a combination of “delicate” and “catty”. Not much to add on to what Bulbapedia had this week. Original Appearance: Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire Dex Entry [Day: Sapphire]: Delcatty sleeps anywhere it wants without keeping a permanent nest. If other Pokémon approach it as it sleeps, this Pokémon will never fight – it will just move away somewhere else. TCG: There are no Standard Delcatty cards so I picked a random one that looks nice.

Platinum

Shiny:

Analysis:

Delcatty is widely known as a contest Pokemon and is very popular among trendy trainers. As far as battling goes it is not interested and the Pokedex mentions several times that it does not like fighting (or Fighting types for that matter). Honestly, it is the new low standard for our PotW competitive analysis but that makes the challenge more exciting…right? Its abilities are all average but play out differently. Cute Charm is not really worthwhile because Delcatty can’t typically take hits. Normalize is a unique ability to Delcatty and provides some interesting mechanics. Wonder Skin is the best all around ability if you don’t intend on using synergy with Normalize.

Delcatty has the standard Return and Double Edge STAB moves. Also like most Normal types it for some reason has Electric and Ice coverage. Throw in Iron Tail, Zen Headbutt, and Play Rough for more attacking types. Its utility is limited to some debuff moves, Sucker Punch, Fake Out, and Calm Mind. This movepool does not leave much room for experimentation which is why Smogon has so few sets available. That and the fact that its stats are so poor with a slight affinity to Physical attacking.

There is a Smogon set for Wonder Guard that involves Substitute and Calm Mind but that was in a world with Baton Pass. We are no longer in that world and in my opinion its too ambitious to believe Delcatty could actually set up more than once without being knocked out. The only set I think is interesting is the Normalize one. It runs Return for STAB even though every move is STAB with Normalize. Return does not get the +20% buff from Normalize so I did some research and the only move that out damages Return (102BP) thanks to that buff is Play Rough (108BP). I don’t know if the +6BP and the chance to lower the opponents attack is worth the 10% chance to miss but I would at least try it out. STAB Fake Out is always a solid move to run especially if you have a pivot into Delcatty since it will continuously get off chip damage. Normalize boosted Sucker Punch is your priority move. Since you can only use Normal attacks the fourth move can be utility, commonly Thunder Wave which is really cool in that it can Paralyze even Ground types. For an item I suggest Silk Scarf as a pseudo Life Orb on all your attacks.

I tried coming up with an interesting set despite Delcatty’s personal distaste for battling. I had already fleshed out the Physical side in the analysis so I tried a Special set. The strongest move it has access to is Blizzard (technically Solar Beam but we’ll say Blizzard). With Silk Scarf, Normalize, and STAB it is boosted to a 237.5BP move. For anything with decent Special Attack this would be amazing. Unfortunately, Delcatty has 55 SpAtt so it hardly does any damage and can never be Super Effective. None the less I took on the challenge. By pairing it in PU with Abomasnow to get Hail, definitely my favourite weather setter, you are able to use a Normal type Blizzard that never misses and has a 10% chance to freeze the target. This strategy had some nice unique properties that made me wish it was more viable than it ended up being. I tried to team Delcatty up with things that covered its weaknesses, Granbull for Fighting types, Camerupt for Steel types, Hitmonchan for Rock types etc but this was my first effort in PU so it ended up only going 10-6 at the bottom of the ladder. I had one battle where Delcatty swept the last three Pokemon and it was glorious but I closed the battle before saving it. Heartbreaking. After another hour of playing I got a second game where it did some damage (see replay below). Go Delcatty, you did something. I initially ran Blizzard, Hyper Voice Calm Mind, Substitute/Thunder Wave but I frequently found Delcatty was too slow to sweep. To compensate I replaced Silk Scarf with a Choice Scarf, still fashionable but even less powerful than before. I’m sure Delcatty only cares about that first part though. During my battles I actually encountered another interesting set, that’s right I found another Delcatty. It was using Fake Out and Last Resort with Silk Scarf and it did much better than mine so maybe try that instead!

http://bit.ly/2wIVJZv

While researching this article R.Sigma showed me a video of Wolfe Glick using an amazing Normalize strategy in doubles. He uses Gengar and Shadow Tag to essentially render his opponents completely useless while he chips them down. Check it out!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyRLBrB8Jrc

Delcatty emerges from its Luxury Ball with a purr. Upon seeing the chalk outline of a battle field it saunters to the sidelines where it proceeds to groom its already immaculate fur, much to the bewilderment of the two competitors. Until next time, SumtimesIFly

from Pokemon of the Week #47 – Delcatty

#pokemon #pucl #pokemon podcast #ORAS #nintendo #video games

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