(no subject)

[mememaker]

the alternate universe meme

how to play
1. post with your character, name and canon in the subject line.
2. feel free to mention which aus you’re willing or not willing to play in the body of the comment.
3. tag by rolling for an alternate universe setting using rng.
4. or tag by picking whatever au you’d like to play in most.
5. have fun!


alternate universes
i - all human: in an all human au, characters who are canonically vampires, werewolves or superheroes, are now humans, with corresponding changes to their backstories.

ii - apocalypse: a portmanteau of "apocalypse fic", apocafic is fiction set during or after some sort of apocalypse, or end of the world. some canons carry a built-in apocalypse against which the protagonists are fighting: in apocafic, they lose. for example, apocafic in stargate and x-files is usually set after the alien occupation; supernatural apocafic is set on a demon-controlled earth.

iii - band: an alternate universe in which the characters are members in, or form a band. often, the instruments they plan and their roles in the band are analogous to their canon identities. for example, tony stark might be cast as the fame-hungry lead singer who is also a musical genius, or river tam might be a classically trained pianist who, after a terrible experience at julliard, writes songs for mal reynold's grunge rock band, serenity.

iv - circus: circus aus are a popular trope in fanfic and sometimes fanart. using a circus as a setting means introducing the characters to each other in a close-knit community. that can help break down barriers between them and make them bond together against the outside world which may not understand them as well as the other characters do. it also brings a sense of adventure and the idea that this world may have different rules and everything is possible. a circus can also be a good place for characters to go undercover and meet the love of their lives.

v - coffee shop: the barista au (or coffeeshop au, or the closely related bakery au) is a popular fanfiction trope in livejournal fandoms. in most cases, one half of the main pairing is the barista and the other is or becomes their favorite customer; in some stories the whole cast works at a coffee shop. this trope is especially popular in fandoms where one character is very attached to coffee, either in canon or in fanon, or is frequently stressed.

vi - college/high school: college fic is a popular genre of fanfic (less often a genre of fanart) that places characters together in college or another secondary institution such as the starfleet academy in star trek fic (then called "academy fic"). this can be canon stories, for example backstory if characters have or could have met during college, or college aus, similar to high school aus. in science fiction, historical or fantasy fandoms the present day college au is a popular subgenre of the modern au that puts fantastic or historical characters in more mundane everyday settings.

vii - cop/detective: an alternate universe in which the characters are cast as cops or investigators of some kind. often, the canon villain is also cast as the villain in the story. this might be set in modern times, or in a noir-like environment, complete with gangsters and femme fatales.

viii - daemons: his dark materials is a fantasy trilogy by philip pullman. the trilogy consists of the golden compass (1995; published in the uk as northern lights), the subtle knife (1997), and the amber spyglass (2000). there are currently two companion novellas: lyra's oxford (2003) and once upon a time in the north (2008). a movie adaptation of the first book was released in theatres in late 2007. humans have their souls living outside their body in the form of an animal companion. males have female souls and females have male souls. the animals often correspond to the character’s personality.

ix - fantasy: an alternate universe populated with fantastical characters like elves, dwarves, unicorns, sorcerers, and dragons. canon characters might be cast as analogous races (e.g. clint barton or katniss everdeen as elf archers) or they might be humans in a fantastical setting. characters also might be able to secretly shape-shift into another form, like a dragon, and therefore is related closely to were/vampire/supernatural aus.

x - historical: a historical au is a fanwork which moves characters into a different historical period than their canon setting. typically this involves taking "contemporary" characters (from the late 20th century or 21st century) and putting them in an earlier historical period (such as the 19th century or before). popular settings for historical aus include: pirates, america's old west, britain's regency period, ancient rome, a vague facsimile of medieval england such as robin hood, and many others.

xi - hooker/porn/stripper: hookerfic is a type of fanfic where one or more of the characters is a sex worker. there are many different types of hookerfic, ranging from more realistic depictions to the more common pretty woman-type fantasy of a hooker with a heart of gold, rescued from life on the streets by a client. sex work of all kinds is portrayed—brothels, escorts, street prostitution, "call-girls" as well as strippers and go-go boys.

xii - magic: magic aus are alternate universe fanworks that incorporate magic in fandoms where there is no magic present in canon. (or in some cases, fanworks that make a canon with magic more magical.) they differ from elf aus in that there may be magic without any elves showing up, and are opposites of all human and mundane aus.

xiii - neighbors/roomates: an alternate universe where the canon characters live next-door to one another, or in the same apartment building or complex, or in the same apartment. often, this is also an all-human au, if the canon characters are powered in some way. the forced proximity is usually used to create romantic tension between characters.

xiv - space/sci-fi: a space au is an alternate universe where a source set on earth is transported into space; works are often referred to as "[fandom] in spaaaaaaaaace!" the trope can be a form of crackfic, but often includes surprisingly serious reinterpretations of the most earthbound of sources, particularly historical fiction written or set before space exploration. cyberpunk trappings such as robots, cyborgs and ais are often included.

xv - steampunk: steampunk was originally a term for a sub-genre of speculative fiction that imitated 19th century "scientific romances" like the work of jules verne and h.g. wells. later, the term was applied to a general aesthetic involving styles that would be "futuristic" from the perspective of the 19th century. steampunk appears in fanworks as both a genre and an aesthetic. there are some fandoms for which the canon is steampunk(-ish), e.g. the secret adventures of jules verne, but more often it is found as steampunk alternate universe.

xvi - western: the western is a genre of fiction set in the later half of the 19th century in the western part of north america, especially the united states, but also canada and mexico. sometimes also included in the genre are stories about western-type characters and plots in other settings, e.g. "space westerns" (in science fiction settings) and contemporary westerns (set in the western part of contemporary north america).

xvii - were/vamp/supernatural: a reversal of the all-human, in these fics characters who are normally human are now supernatural creatures of some kind the most common being werewolves or vampires.

xviii - choose your own: self-explanatory! choose your own option.

Comments

[raventonbeauty]

Ashley understood, understanding quickly how it was supposed to work. He washed himself as best he could, getting off the worst of it, though his clothes remained spattered. "Thank you," he murmured again, sighing because he was exhausted from everything he'd been through, but there was still the horse who needed care. "I should see to Malek. How much time do I have?"

[reunite]

"Half an hour, perhaps a bit more. I will see to finding replacement clothes for you while you tend to him, and then return to get you."

They'll have to return the replacements, and they will likely not be up to Ashley's taste, but what he is wearing really needs to be washed, as quickly as possible so that hopefully they can still get the blood out.

[raventonbeauty]

"Yes, Mago," Ashley replied, eyes dropping obediently. He went out to the stables as quickly as he could, fetching the brushes he needed and starting to scrub the horse down. He wished he had better knowledge, enough to take better care of his horse and himself. For the first time, Ashley became aware of just how helpless he was, and just how much of a handicap it created.

[inlay]

Ah, yeah... just like that, yeah, c'mon, babe...

[prompto moans as he's touched, his hands leaving his chest so he can claw at the sheets; he wants, very badly, to touch not the same way, but his hands won't reach that far and they're just not in the right position for it. watching noct frot against him is almost as satisfying, though — it would have honestly been pretty hot if noct came just from doing that.

the hand between his legs makes him feel like there's a fire sparking in his belly; prompto groans, hooked on the sensation, craving it more intensely. he's got about a hundred different fantasies running through his mind as noct's hand rolls over him through his flannel pants and underwear. how is noct going to take him this time? what position — one of their favorites, or something new? is prompto going to get the chance to give a blowjob? he loves using his mouth, and running it too —

— outside, one chocobo warks, another one kwehs, and prompto winds up laughing out loud.]

Guess we're about to get pretty loud too, huh?

YOU COME INTO MY HOUSE AND DIO MEME ME... TAKE A SEAT

[alterplex]

[ It really does things for a squad's morale when they find themselves crumbling under the collective force of a whopping two people. It also says something about a squad that they only think to guard the goddamn DShK once they see someone attaching a pound of C4 to its base (better to be safe than sorry), but c'est la vie— they don't think Venom would be stupid enough to detonate the thing while he's still in range of the explosion, but that's debatable. The guy does have a horn.

("That's Big Boss; they sent him straight down to hell and he came crawling back up. Even the devil couldn't keep him.")

The great thing about stationing yourself next to an explosive is that it inevitably deters people from shooting at you. Take, say, the kid pointing his rifle at Venom right now: a bright-eyed, bushy-tailed amateur that doesn't quite know that C4 is stable enough to withstand a bullet or two. He looks like he'll shit himself any second now, chicken-legged and shaking. As if blinking too hard might set something off and blow them all to high heaven.

Unfortunately for him, Venom doesn't have the same reservations or nearly a quarter of his instincts for self-preservation, so two shots is all it takes to send him and his late-arriving, stunned companion to an early grave.

That leaves two more, but he'll also have to request pickup and reconvene with Frost.

The last item on that list happens as he's maneuvering himself away from the rigged Dashka, mid-reload and eye scanning for signs of movement in the dark. He smells her before he sees her— blood and the unmistakable scent of a hostage who hasn't washed in a week, maybe more— and motions with his bionic to assure her that yes, he would be offended if she chose this particular moment to try and shoot him. ]

You're hit. [ He suggests unhelpfully (but with that strange empathy he wears with such nonchalance), offering the same bionic to take Edelstein off of her hands, to free her up from a little extra pressure. ] —I'll take a look at that in the chopper.

[ Spoken with the full confidence of a man who embraces the knowledge of his resilience with an immense amount of zen. It's as if the thought of them dying here, decomposing next to the rats, hasn't even occurred to him.

(It hasn't.) ]

Pequod's not gonna be happy about this.

[ So he says, but they all know that Pequod loves the chance to do something aside from being a glorified chauffeur; he doesn't need to be told twice where he has to shoot for with respect to their LZ when Venom makes the call, and if he sounds more eager than strictly necessary, well. That's the mark of a real Diamond Dog. ]

[caretaller]

Huh? My button?

[Gotou looked down at it, a confused look on his face. Clearly not understanding the meaning of it.]

Why do you want it?

[reunite]

He would need to find a way to counteract the obedient behaviour that Ashley showed towards him once they were in Carthage. It was much too useful now to discourage it, but he didn't want his lady or another vampire to get the idea that he, Mago, was trying to rise above his station. Well, sure, he would like to climb the social ladder a bit further, but he didn't expect to be placed above his lady's vampire charge.

...Though he was starting to wonder if that was what would happen. Had his lady known of Ashley's state? Perhaps she had, and was planning something with it. Or perhaps she hadn't, and he would be a disappointment. Or perhaps she would just change plans. It really wasn't his place to tell her what to do or make assumptions.

As the sun was about to rise, Mago returned to fetch Ashley. "Come. I'll show you the guest room."

[raventonbeauty]

Exhausted, especially as the sky began to lighten, Ashley gladly put aside the brushes and followed Mago from the stables. "There are fresh clothes in the guest room?" he asked. His lids hung low, lashes fluttering slightly as he kept himself just above sleep.

Jittery from the remaining stickiness of blood on his clothes, Ashley shed them immediately once he was shown into the plain spare room that he was being provided. It was reassuringly dark and quiet, and that was more appealing even than Ashley's accustomed and beloved luxury.

He didn't mind in the least whether or not Mago's glance strayed toward the slender marble planes of his body. As soon as he was clothed in the ill-fitting, borrowed clothes, he curled into the available bed, shivering with emotional and physical exhaustion. "Can the clothes be washed?" he asked, eyes lingering on Mago even as drowsiness closed over him.

[reunite]

"I will see to them being washed while you sleep."

He had indeed watched Ashley - now that the vampire posed no danger to him, it was quite pleasant, really, and a sight to marvel at (more perhaps if he hadn't been so exhausted, having been on his feet for almost 24 hours and walking most of that time) - but lowered his eyes when Ashley had turned towards him in question.

[raventonbeauty]

Ashley nodded, nuzzling into the thin pillow as he dropped into sleep. He trusted utterly that Mago would ensure his safety. If Mago didn't, after all, there was no help for it. Ashley had no choice but to trust, no chance to survive without Mago's guidance.

He slept deeply, waking with a start just before sunset and blinking as he looked around the unfamiliar room. Another first for him, waking up in any place but the home he'd lived for as long as he could remember.

[reunite]

Mago wasn't there when Ashley woke up, but came in briefly after sunset with the vampire's own clothes, washed and dried as promised. He placed them on the only chair in the room and leaned against the wall near the door.

He looked visibly refreshed, a good day's sleep and a bath having done wonders. "We can leave as soon as you are ready."

[raventonbeauty]

Busy with brushing out his long hair, which was to him the highest possible priority, second only to bare survival, Ashley smiled shyly as Mago returned. His eyes flicked gratefully to the clothes, and he stood, snatching his clean tunic with eagerness that bordered on rudeness. Stripping entirely once again, he dressed in his own clothes.

Feeling much restored now that he was fed, rested, and clean, Ashley fastened his ornaments back into his hair and pulled up his hood. He held his chin higher, with a little more of the innate confidence and threat that was a vampire's nature. "Immediately, then."

[busdriver]

[She makes a confirming sound, finally deigning to pull out a chair and sit down. It doesn't seem worth making a distinction between "still alive" and "alive now", because that's covered by the contents of a different file.]

More than that, it's part of how he's alive. Why he's stable.

[The advanced Sci-Techy stuff was lost on her, but the part she'd read over and over talked about the patient deteriorating after becoming aware of the project. It's an everyday occurrence at SHIELD to tell themselves that they're keeping a secret for someone's good, but isn't often medically true. May senses she'll be falling back on that justification a lot, in the months to come, whenever loyalty and her conscience start to get the better of her. She's expecting it to work for Jemma too, if pure scientific curiosity doesn't do the trick.]

[padadin]

[That flippant tone has Shiro arching his eyebrow and... well, chuckling, he can't help it. Is he really coming off as too controlling? He doesn't want to - but at the same time, her safety always comes first, so he won't apologize for anything he's done so far.

He does, though, stand up and moves to the window next to her, smiling gently as he completely opens the curtains.]

Don't underestimate them. They probably learned of your location the minute we stepped in this hotel. Curtains won't stop them. [A red dot suddenly appears on her chest and... draws a heart. Shiro pinches the bridge of his nose before pretty much growling.] Blue.

[The light instantly disappears. How could it not, with the tone Shiro used? A leader giving an order... but with a mix of a father dealing with his children's antics.]

Sorry about that. About the data - we know Altea has been--

[He freezes when he hears the sound of a phone. Allura's cellphone, of course. He glances between her and her bag, trying to guess if she is expecting the call. It isn't until she receives Pidge's confirmation that she can track the call that he nods at Allura, telling her it's ok to answer.]

b-b-be gentle mr. chris hansen sir...

[welcome_mat]

( She sees him out of the corner of her eye just as she’s putting down the last of the soldiers and nods in greeting, gently pushing Edelstein over to him as she does so. The good doctor doesn’t resist - indeed, he’s murmuring all kinds of thanks to them in his mother tongue.

One of the soldiers groans and tries to crawl to his weapon. Frost puts two in his back, thwock-thwock, and then-

All is quiet.

She stands, scans the courtyard for contacts - but everything is still. They’ve nobody for company but dead men. Twenty-nine men utterly slaughtered by two in a matter of minutes.

You’re hit.

Venom’s words bring her back down, and she lowers her weapon and presses a hand to the duct-taped wounds. The adrenaline is fading away, and she can feel the hot blood against the tape, feel the throbbing pain radiating through her torso like so many knives cutting her up from the inside. She pats herself down, hands moving around to the small of her back - then stops at she feels the exit holes in her Kevlar.

Two through-and-throughs. She should be dead. She sure as hell feels like a dead woman walking, head getting foggier and eyes getting droopier as the blood oozes down the small of her back. )

Yeah.

( Said like it’s a piece of gum on her bootsole instead of two holes in her torso. )

It’s nothing. It can wait.

( It’s a front, of course - pure bravado, a tough-guy suck-it-up attitude that organizations like the Diamond Dogs cultivate amongst their members. But if she puts it up now, they’re one gun down. They’re still on-mission: Edelstein must get out of here unharmed.

If that means toughing out the oncoming hypovolemic shock - that’s what she’ll do. )

I rigged their ammo and rations to blow. ( A flick of her wrist to check her watch as she moves out to clear some of the bodies from one of the bigger clearings in the courtyard. ) We’re cutting it close with the fuse.

( Getting an extraction is more complicated than simply calling it in on your position and hoping it falls out of the sky. Pilots by nature are finicky creatures, primadonnas in sunvisored helmets and $6,000,000 chariots hypersensitive to the slightest changes in temperature and barometric pressure and visibility, and so more often than not they’ll request visual guidance onto the LZ. The most favored is the combination of a “NATO-Y” and a “buzzsaw” - respectively, four infrared chemlights tied to premeasured lengths of paracord and pulled taut to create a Y, with the base pointing into the wind and the two legs marking touchdown points for the helo’s landing gear, and another infrared chemlight tied to a two-foot length of paracord and swung around like a lariat. Through night-vision goggles, they make for a display no pilot can miss.

Frost lays out the NATO-Y first, cracking each of the lights in turn before pulling it taut, then cracking her other chemlight and tying it to the other length of paracord. A portable radio in the deceased lieutenant’s hands crackles to life, and the rapid-fire Russian that comes out of the earpiece makes Frost snap to attention before looking at Venom. )

Reinforcements from the base up the road coming this way. ( She hurriedly gets to work tying the chemlight to the paracord. ) I’d put their ETA at four, maybe five minutes. He’s gonna want to hurry.

[reunite]

It seemed like some problems had solved themselves, or were at least close enough to it to still be pleasant but not dangerous yet.

"As you wish." He flashes Ashley a grin before ducking out of the room and leading the way back into the yard. "We will have an additional horse for me, too; I'll just have to bring it back within the week." Not the cheapest way to get around, but he figured that it would be significantly better than making Ashley's neglected steed carry two people.

[raventonbeauty]

Startled by the grin, which he'd not seen before from Mago, Ashley was immediately intrigued and entranced by it. He wanted Mago to make that expression more. Especially towards him.

Trailing after Mago, he stayed close to his side, looking around with casual imperiousness, using his natural pride and superiority to help hide his nerves and fear. He wanted to cling, but felt wary enough of the military men to know that wasn't an option.

"Good," Ashley said, going to put saddle and bridle on his horse. All of this taking care of himself felt... odd. He looked forward to the promise of servants.

[reunite]

Mago made sure to project a certain level of submission to Ashley until they had left the military station well behind. There had been a few questions that wouldn't do the vampire well if they got around from the people stationed there.

And he felt an odd notion of ...well, a wish to protect the young man. Perhaps a father's instinct, even if he had never had children, but he wanted to make sure that he wouldn't have it harder to adjust in the outside world than necessary.

Once the station was well behind, he rode a bit closer to Ashley, looking at him.

"How are you feeling?"

[raventonbeauty]

"Better," Ashley said, eyes lingering on Mago. The question was almost as intriguing as that grin. It indicated a level of care toward him, rather than just a fulfillment of duty. "Not hungry or tired. I feel stronger again."

He didn't like thinking about why. The entire experience at the military facility had been a sort of nightmare. He wanted to believe that their destination would be better, with none of that sort of unpleasantness. "What is it like, the place where you're taking me?"

[reunite]

"The city. It's... imagine thousands of people, humans and vampires alike, living in one big complex of houses. There are theatres and eateries, stores and markets, workshops and schools and everything civilization ever produced. It may look like squalor and chaos to you at first, but it is peaceful and safe, as much so as a gathering of people can be.

...and, as it seems to be different in other cities," Rome came to mind, or Alexandria, "my kind and yours coexist in knowledge of each other.

My lady's house is in the best quarter of the city, and I am sure she will be best equipped to tell you of the society of your kind."

[raventonbeauty]

"What is her house like?" Ashley asked, eyes lingering again and again upon Mago, drawn constantly back to him. "I'll be staying there? With servants?"

The idea appealed to him, since he'd only ever known dependence, and he wanted to be under the care of someone who would keep him safe. If Zyabqot offered that, as promised, Ashley was sure that he would be content.

polishes my 9-inch stilettos...

[alterplex]

[ Incidentally, what Venom loves about Pequod is his tolerance threshold and his ability to weather persistent bullshit without batting an eye: take, for example, the hours he has to spend listening to Venom's shitty 80s mixtapes as they fly over the monotonous blue-gray of the Arabian sea. Venom's inherent trust in his pilot is the reason for his general lack of agitation and his all-pervasive sense of patience, for the efficient but unhurried process of aiding Frost by taking up the buzzsaw end of their business after he shoots Pequod a brief message:

"Frost says that you're gonna want to hurry."

(He's not being facetious— two GSWs are nothing to joke about.)

Practiced and relaxed, Venom's bionic glints under the glow of the harsh artificial chemlight as he swings it over his head to coax the incoming hum of helicopter blades. The doctor stares at the both of them as if he has no idea why they're performing an intricate light show instead of running for the hills, but he has enough sense in him not to ask, or worse, to improvise.

He does, however, start telling them both to hurry, which is one of the 5 German words that Venom does speak, so. Hint taken.

They're cutting it close with everything: with the fuse, the reinforcements, their ride. The measurement of their lives comes down to seconds and milliseconds, beats that they can't afford to waste, breaths that they hold to channel into other tasks. Venom wants to tell Frost to sit down and let him take over, but even courtesy is something he has to shelf in favor of the mission. He'll tend to her later with his callused hands, hardened by grips and grenades while retaining an odd delicacy. Enough to pass as a surgeon's, if someone closed their eyes and let him run his palm over their wounds.

(Maybe in a past life.)

Minutes later, Pequod heralds his arrival with the customary hurricane of dust and wind, perfectly in position for boarding and, yes, extremely finicky. Edelstein goes in first, aided by a push and a grunt.

The look Venom levels on Frost after the doctor retreats to a comfortable corner of the helo is a silent invitation for her to get on before him. He's confident in his ability to pull through should enemy reinforcements choose to arrive Right Now and start a firefight— he can distract them while his comrades pull away and head back to Mother Base. Not ideal, but not an issue. ]

[welcome_mat]

( She meets his look instinctively from where she’s down on one knee, leveling the sights of her MP5 at the road - as if nine-millimeter Parabellum will do anything to stop the machines of iron and steel headed their way. And they are headed their way - sound travels far on cold nights like this, and if you stop and strain your ears you can hear the rumbling engines of the IFVs and APCs off in the distance, like the growl of warhounds out for their blood get it dog metaphors I’m so fucking original.

She’s the one with two gunshot wounds, so by all rights she should get on before Venom, but even so...it reeks of chickening out. It’s plain by the look in her eyes, conflicted and calculating, brow furrowed. She goes through hours of mental debate in a split-second before acquiescing, turning and clambering aboard the helo and yanking the NATO-Y string aboard with her - it wouldn’t do to leave more trace than necessary.

(She’d be surprised if they didn’t feel the repercussions of this operation for a long time to come. An entire Soviet platoon slaughtered without so much as a single dead Diamond Dog to show for it? The brass will send heads rolling for this.)

She stows the chemlights in some cargo netting before taking the seat next to Edelstein. He doesn’t get more than a look before she turns to Venom and jerks her head as though to say get your ass on board.

(So help you God, Boss, if you try to pull any heroics she's jumping right back out and giving you the assbeating of a lifetime.) )

[mousewhisperer]

[ The curtains opening gives Allura a moment of relief, only to be replaced with the cold grip of terror when she spots the red laser. It lasts for a second, leaving as quickly as it appeared, when the dot traces a heart.

She glares across the way, knowing full well the rest of the team can see her, and turns her back on the window in a show of disapproval. There's not really anything she can do or say, since they aren't actually present and Allura would feel distinctly odd about talking to the room at large, and they are her bodyguards, but at the very least she can express some lack of amusement at the antics.

She's halfway across the room when Shiro's comment catches her off-guard, followed by the ringing of her phone, and she's immobilized for a second.

She isn't expecting a call, but she is also not surprised by it. Even as she fishes it out of her bag, her eyes are on Shiro. ] I want to know what you know about Altea. After this call.

[ She looks at the screen finally. ] It's just Coran, there's nothing to worry about.

[ She answers, nearly cheerful when she greets him, as he was practically an uncle to her, and had been helping with both the development of their defenses and in the dossiers written for the meetings. ] Coran! I made it safely, you didn't need to call and check-

[ Only her words are cut off when the man in questions chokes out a breathless "They've got me, Allura," followed by the sound of a fist hitting flesh. ]

SORRY FOR SLOW?! turns this thread into a daddy kink thread to make up for it

[alterplex]

[ He's well aware that Frost is someone who doesn't do anything by halves, but also, consider: she has two bulletholes in her torso. Let's not waste time with pride and pretenses— his silence speaks for itself. Get your wounded-ass self in there, soldier.

Still, she's efficient and resourceful and thinks not to leave anything of theirs behind (good call), so Venom respects her judgment and, in kind, her warning. It comes at a good time, too, if Pequod's insistent twitch of the helo a few inches upwards isn't cue enough.

He climbs on, his bulk tipping the body of the craft just enough that Edelstein looks concerned; as if one big man is enough to disturb their getaway. The paranoia is well-earned, though, so Venom only responds to the frightened look he's being cast with a slight raise of one scarred brow, a 'keep your head down' in clumsy German that winds up straying more along the lines of 'head down, thanks'.

They roar upwards into the moonless night, leaving enraged infantry vehicles to sit impotently on dust-covered roads. What a waste of time and resources; Miller would cackle if he heard about it.

The pathetic patter of bullets hitting reinforced plating accompanies their rise to safety, and Venom drowns it out by turning the radio on and cranking the volume up on Twisted Sister's "We're Not Gonna Take It". With that done and Edelstein placated ("get some rest"), Venom crouches next to Frost and crooks a finger at her. ]

Let's see what you've got.

[ As if she's going to come at him with a knife instead of showing him her wounds. Come on, Venom. ]