MY SHAYLAAAAAAA

Ouch. This hurts a bit 🥲👍

"Why'd the soldier run into the demo site before it went down?"

Soap sighed, throwing a long suffering glance to his Lieutenant. He shifted his grip on his rifle. He could pretend he didn't hear the man but... either morbid curiosity or masochism won out. He wasn't sure which. "Why?"

"To C-4 himself."

"Awful."

"More?"

"As if you'd stop if I said 'no'." Years of practice kept a smile off his face. In all the time Soap had known Ghost, the man's sense of humor had remained steadfastly terrible.

Their unit advanced. Ghost and Soap were in the lead, spread far enough to need comms to talk, but close enough to signal one another if need be. Their men fanned out behind them.

"You hear 'bout the microwave incident on base?" Ghost's voice had taken on an ethereal quality.

Glancing over again, Soap spared a moment to admire the other man's silhouette against the muted orange glow filtering through the trees. He deftly stepped over branches and around trees. Rifle at the ready. Always ready.

Soap had missed this. Missed him. Missed them.

Soap hadn't blown up a microwave for fun in much too long. He hadn't had time, too desperate to fix things. Things were fixed. He'd need to change that when they got back. "Go on."

"Lost two kernels in a popcorn explosion."

"Tragic. Your jokes are painful, Lt."

"I'm just warming up."

Good. "That's a worrying statement."

"'Fraid of a good time, Johnny?"

"Afraid your jokes'll be the death of me."

"You could only hope so."

Trees and branches created illusory enemies as the trudged through the wood, but their trained eyes and steel nerves kept their small platoon from panicking. Sure-footed, they kept searching.

Soap offered one of his own. "What do you call an officer who spends too much time at the head?"

"What?"

"A loo-tenant."

"Not bad." A pause, Soap had just begun to soak in the praise when Ghost continued. "Not good either."

"Fucker. Yours're no better."

"I'm much better."

You are. "Keep telling yourself that."

"Why's there no winning a war with zombies?"

"Ghost." Soap's warning fired off nearly unbidden. He didn't like where this joke was headed. Behind him he heard one of his men misstep, a twig snapping. Perhaps the cause of his warning had been mistaken.

"Cause it's dead even."

"No. Too topical, Ghost. Don't like that one."

Minute crackling from the smoldering world around them filled the uncomfortable silence that followed his outburst.

"Lighten up, Johnny." Easy for him to say.

"I'll try, Sir."

"Heard the Navy is the most religious military branch. 'Parently they love a good warship."

***

Why did they have to use comms? Why did they have to keep that thing around?

The Sergeant was a freak, but at least he was still human. Still alive.

"Hnnnnnnggggrrrrrrraaaaahh." The fucking monster that had once been their Lieutenant moaned, scratchy and split. It traveled through the smoke unnaturally, fraying the nerves of the men it led.

"Go on."

"Rrrrrah arrrrrrrrnnnnnn."

"Tragic. Your jokes are painful, Lt."

It still moved like a man, from a distance you'd never know.

But the sounds. Why did they keep it? It was one of them.

"Eyuhm. Mruuuuaaammm."

"That's a worrying statement."

Why the hell did the fucking thing moan into comms? Why did the Sergeant respond like it was talking? Why did they all have to pretend they weren't being led to their deaths by a fucking Zombie and a mutant who'd lost his mind?

"No. Too topical, Ghost. Don't like that one."

MacTavish's snap quieted the monster for a moment. Holy shit he could breath again.

"Ahhmff. Ohnneeee."

"I'll try, Sir."

The beast began to moan again, it floated back to them, broken bloodied nails against his nerves. It crackled through their comms. It was destroying him. "I can't fucking take this anymore!"

Both freaks rounded on him. He leveled his gun at the former Lieutenant.

"Corporal Evans, what the fuck?" Sergeant MacTavish snarled. Green eyes mutely glowing.

"That fucking thing keeps moaning. He's dead, he's one of them! Why are we pretending he isn't?"

The Sergeant was moving before Evans could even blink. Evans fired off a shot but it went wide, nowhere near his target, as the Sergeant laid hands on him.

Green smoke emanated from the mutant, eyes glowing fiercely as he threw Evans into a tree and held him there. Pain in his collar bone and a loud crack told him it had been broken.

The Sergeant barked something at him, but his ears were ringing too loudly and his mind was clouded. He must've hit his head against the tree.

***

"Heard a shot, boys. Report."

"Evans lost his damn mind and took a shot at Ghost." Soap spat. He was ready to rip the Corporal limb from limb, the traitor would deserve it.

"He hit?"

A hand landed on his shoulder. A bloodied skeleton print glove, missing the ring finger and revealing grayed flesh and blood caked under the nail.

Toxic green met milky white. Ghost's eyes still conveyed such intense emotions. He was worried about the shot and yelling giving away their position. He was feigning indifference to being targeted. He was angry about Soap losing his head.

"Ohnee. Rauhghh."  Ghost's voice echoed within Soaps mind as well. 'Johnny. Cool it.'

"Ghost's fine. Shot missed."

"Hhhnnnnaowww."

Soap rolled his eyes and dutifully translated for the others. "Apparently I just broke Evans's collar bone."

Price grunted before ordering. "Right. Bring him back in one piece, he'll be dealt with later."

Two of the others had stepped up. Zip-cuffs and duct tape in hand. There'd be no more outbursts from Evans, then.

"He probably got heated because you're not translating for us, Soap. I'm missin' his comedy gold." Gaz piped up.

Ghosts exposed mouth was one of the benefits to his condition, he refused to use a different mask since the incident. His slack, broken jaw didn't stop him from smiling.

"Hnnh hnnhh huaaaaaarrrrrnnnnnghuhh."

Soap closed his eyes and centered himself. Things had been so touch and go for so long. Theyd kept Ghost caged because they didn't know they could still trust him. No one could hear him. When The Director had offered to change that, in exchange for Soap participating in a few experiments, he'd jumped on it. Hearing the man in his own mind now, he could never regret it. Even if the damn respirator on his face could never be removed.

" 'Picasso used to drive a tank. Was known for art-illery.' Sure you want me to keep translating?"

"Terrible, Sir."

"Fucking hell, Simon, that was bad."

A few of the men around them laughed or chuckled. None would look either officer in the eye though.

"I was trying to save you all." Soap said before taking his position back up and letting his men handle Evans.

They resumed their advance through the smoldering wood.

Random Duke Thomas Headcannons pt 3

I think Duke would gets given a lot of gifts while on partol. It comes with working the day shift, really.

The first few weeks people were hesitant about a Bat being out during the day, some openly hostile, but now many see it as just a part of Gotham's charm.

One day, a girl runs up to him, holding a paper tightly to her chest. It was a drawing she made in class of Batman. The girl asks all shyly if Duke could give it to him and what was he meant to say? No?

So Gothamites started giving him things, first with kids crayon drawing, the some teens who made badges and pins, adults with letters of gratitude. Soon Duke was passing on drawings, t-shirts, crocheted dolls, poems, etc to all the batfamily.

Gothamites wanted to share their love to their heros. Bruce, Dick, Barbara, Cass, Damian, Stephanie, Tim, Kate, even Luke now had piles of trinkets after only three weeks.

One day, while on patrol as usual, a kid waved him down. He held poorly wrapped box in his hands. Duke swung down and took the box from the boy. When serching for the same he was shocked to find "Signal" written messy across the top.

Inside was a drawing of Duke a week ago, saving the boys dad who got trapped under his car. He hung to photo up on an empty wall in The Hatch.

Soon, that wall became more full than the rest of the family's piles.

When he gets in his own head, doubts clouding his brain, he stares at the wall. Art, photos, poems, letters, badges, stickers, patches, pins, shirts, dolls, shoes, all the items from Gotham, showing how he is loved by them. How he is their hero.

Duke still is asked to pass on gifts for the rest of the Batfamily, but more often he gets given gift for himself.

Yeah :D

YEAH!! :D

Oh my gosh, WAIT. Another interaction featuring Soaps new skin. They recreate that scene in HTTYD 2 between Stoick and Valka 🫢

————————————————————————

There’s no way. The man who died right in front of his eyes, standing there alive. His sergeant, his teammate, Soap.

Johnny was the only thing that circled in Ghosts head. In disbelief, he slowly approached him. Soap shifted his position, holding his ground as the green smoke illuminated around him.

Soap: “I know what you’re going to say, LT.”

Soap: “How could I have done this? Stayed away all this time. Why didn’t I come back to you?”

He said expectedly.

Ghost continued to slowly walk up to him, not uttering a word. Soap continued to speak, keeping cation as Ghost grew closer.

Soap: “Oh don’t be so Stoic, Ghost. Go on, shout, scream, say something-“

His sentence was cut off as a warm hand cupped his cheek. Soap finally dared to look into Ghost eyes, only seeing nothing but pure love reflecting in them.

Ghost: “You’re as beautiful as the day I lost you…”

My shaylaaaa

More dad Bruce comics hehe

KÖNIG WOULD NOT CALL HORANGI KÄTZCHEN!!!! NOONE DOES THAT THATS THE EQUIVALENT OF CALLING SOMEONE KITTEN!!!!!!

König would coo “hier Mietz Mietz Mietz” (here kitty kitty kitty) whenever he was in the same room as Horangi and wants to talk to him!!!!!!! König LOVES long pet names!!!!!!!!!! And he loves corny ones the most!!!!!!

“Mein Schatziputz”!!!! “Putzibärchen”!!!!!! “Mein geliebster Tieger”!!!!!!!!!!

(He would also probably use “mein edler Ritter” (my noble knight) as a teasing nickname whenever Horangi got defensive over anyone being just the smallest inconvenience to Königs day)

For the love of my sanity, START USING GERMAN AND AUSTRIAN NICKNAMES CORRECTLY😭😭😭😭😭 I don’t think I can handle reading a noun uncapitalized or a VERB OR ADJECTIVE CAPITALIZED DO YOU KNOW WHAT THAT DOES TO ME?????????

Duke in the back of the Batmobile covered in paint: Do you think different paints have different tastes?

Dick, in passenger seat as oldest rules staring absentmindedly out the window: They do.

Bruce, side eye in the cowl hits different: ...Why did you say that with such certainty?

Edit: now with a fanfic

Ok, so I was looking through a COD Monster AU and she had interesting and creative interpretations regarding to what the characters would be like as this specific monster/hybrid or otherwise.

These characters include:

-Price

-Soap

-Ghost

-Gaz

-Alejandro

-Rodolfo

-Valeria

-Graves

-König

-Horangi

-Laswell (makes a brief appearance but she seemed to stay human)

————————————————————————

So focusing on the 141 members it’s clear she did the ‘19 versions, so no Roach. :’(

(Which is FINE btw, totally understand why she didn’t include Roach, people can include whoever they want in their AU, I’m not hating).

BUT, this fandom seems loose with cannon anyway, so I thought I’d go brainstorming what Roach would be like as a monster/hybrid.

These are my head-cannons:

For the most part it seems like the monster designs retain aspects related to their monster side (claws, wings, talons, scales, fur, shadows, fangs, etc). So going off of that, I’d incorporate that into Roaches design.

First and foremost, Roach has to have his signature antennas. >:DAnd just for fun maybe include insect inspired eyes, and maybe insect wings? Pincers (maybe)? I’ll leave that up for interpretation.

He has an ability to communicate telepathically to roaches. This could be great for spying (Roach has all the tea) and for intimidating the enemy. What’s more terrifying than being bombarded by a huge swarm of roaches? :D

Thought it’d be fun if Roach had a smaller build to him? Like, I’ve seen some fan art where people depict him being a menace by hiding in small crevices and/or cupboards, or somehow ended up hanging in the corner of a ceiling somewhere. I thought that’d be perfect! (I’ll leave that up for interpretation).

Or, OR, let’s go completely off the rails. Since his original design has him mostly covered up, he's just completely made up of roaches that are embodying military suite (Armor? Clothing? Don't know my military term that well).

And like, when first meeting him you're under the impression that he's a human or something but then later on you just see his body burst into an army of roaches, like a hive mind situation. 👀

And like, I’ll leave it up for interpretation if he can still talk or not, since he’s essentially just made up of a swarm of (intelligent) roaches.

————————————————————————

The original maker of this AU is @bluegiragi. Just a heads up, she’s mostly known for making (+18) content. I was intrigued by her character designs and stayed for the lore. 😗

While I’m not too crazy about the erotic side of her work, she is writing an interesting story and am curious where she’ll take it. 👀

(Plus I’m a sucker for a good ghoap story). 😔👉👈

the thing abt duke thomas is that he is a genius truly gifted kid who had a promising albeit average future ahead of him until tragedy struck and took his parents from him. then all the energy he has diverts and he blocks everything else out and dedicates himself to finding them and also being a huge problem for anyone who'd try to obscure that.

like #1 most underrated thing abt his character is that he is, by definition, a "retired crash out". after age 14 he had no friends, shit grades, was getting into fights so often he was being kicked out of schools AND foster homes. it truly was self made vigilatism and the power of friendship that saved him from tunnel-visioning into an early grave.

ALL THIS TO SAY my favorite thing abt duke thomas pre batman and the signal (hell even during the comic) is how much of an unapologetic asshole he is to everyone indiscriminately in a bad way. He was kind but lil bro was NOT nice. he was selfish and a dickhead even to ppl who cared and were really trying to help him. I really like to think that him getting past that wasn't dc neutering him but the active choice to get better after he finally found a solid support system. that being said, he most definitely code switches and has to CONSISTENTLY hold back from poppin bitches in they mouthes bcs hes past that! he's in his healing arc! <as he'd say.

I’m wheezing at Tim’s

batman…..