put a gun in my hand (tim)

[Monica Stane]

No one quite knew who this new vigilante was - or whose side she was truly on. Those that got away said she called herself Valkyrie. They also said she let them get away. Those that weren't so lucky? Well, the dead couldn't talk. No one knew what motivated her. The criminals that got in her way seemed to do just that, get in her way. Evidence didn't seem to paint them as the targets. When there was evidence left, that was. Because Monica Stane was good at many things and covering her tracks was one of those things. She knew that if she got too sloppy, she risked getting the police or even Aegis on her tail. She didn't need that. She could handle if, should it happen, but she thought it was best to avoid that happening. That and getting her children involved. She had a feeling that if her children found out, they weren't likely to support her methods. At the very least she knew her eldest wouldn't. He was the softest out of her four children. She didn't think there was anything wrong with that. She also just didn't know how she'd managed to raise someone softer, kinder than her. But now wasn't the time for thinking about her children. She needed to focus on her mission, on her hunt. She was clothed in all black, domino mask covering her eyes, weapons adorning her body, as she strode through the back alleys of Haven. Her target operated in the shadows, she knew that much. There was more to him that she hadn't figured out. In fact she'd figured out next to nothing about him. She didn't know what his goals were. All she knew was that he wasn't one of the good guys and thus posed a threat to the city. Not that she cared about the city, but her children lived in this city. They had grown up here. It was their home. And she would do anything to protect her children's home. She heard it then - a sound, distinctly human. She assumed someone was trying to get the drop on her. She'd learned over the years how to unholster her gun, turn the safety off, and fire it at a record speed. She did that now, grabbing a pistol, clicking the safety off, turning and firing right where she knew the target - who she assumed was tailing her - would be. Tag: Timothy Smith Words: 409 Muse: Gun in My Hand by Dorothy Notes: The best way to meet your future adopted mother, obvs.

MADE BY VEL OF WW + GS

[Timothy Smith]

Every so often, Aegis went and tried to bring in vigilantes, especially ones that left a trail of bodies. While he wasn't always the first choice, this specific vigilante, who went by the name of Valkyrie, judging by the people she reportedly let escape, was pretty good at covering her tracks, so they needed someone with Tim's specific skills. Namely being able to see parts of the light spectrum that are normally invisible to most people.

He'd picked up on someone in this area, sneaking around the alleys of Haven. At the very least, she'd probably know something about Valkyrie's latest hit in the area. It had happened fairly recently, someone nearby had to know or have seen something.

Tim touched down a ways off and dispelled his energy, pulling it back inside his body. He wanted this to be low profile, unthreatening. He made his way as quietly as he could towards where he had seen her last. He wanted to get a look at who he was going to be talking to beforehand. It would let him get a sense for if he had to play bad cop or good cop, or his personal favorite, buddy cop! If you could turn someone like this into a friend, you had an in.

Tim inched around the corner, only to be knocked backwards suddenly with the force of a bullet entering the flesh in his shoulder area.

"CRAP OW FFFFFFFFFFFFFF.... Why the HECK is your FIRST response to pull the trigger? 'Don't come any closer or I'll shoot!' would have been nice! FFffffffffffffff....."

He put his hand to the bleeding hole, applying pressure to try to keep the bleeding down. He may be a master of energy but he only had so much blood.

"Okay okay okay. Ow. You're not shooting again so that's nice. Is cauterization still a good thing to do to stop bleeding or did they decide that was a bad thing? I can't remember. Fudge, it's one thing to get fake-shot in the simulator it's another for it to actually happen."

Monica Stane

[Monica Stane]

Monica frowned. She'd hit his shoulder? She'd been aiming for the heart. She didn't necessarily need answers on why he was following her but given that he wasn't dead, she supposed getting answers wouldn't hurt. Well, it wouldn't hurt her. Still to say she was pissed at the fact that she'd missed her target, which wasn't a common occurrence for her, would have been an understatement. She cocked an eyebrow, the motion mostly hidden by her mask, at the young man, taking a step closer, gun still pointing right at him, to get a better look at him. Clearly he wasn't used to being shot. He probably counted that as a blessing. She thought it was a pity. Being used to pain gave enemies less of a hold over you when they gained the upper hand. Not that she allowed many people to gain the upper hand around her. Still, there was something familiar about him. Then it dawned on her. She'd known him as a child. She hadn't known his parents all that well - just well enough to make sure they were fine with him coming over to her house to hang out with her middle son, Ivan. She'd recognized him when he'd first became a public hero, stupidly giving away his identity in her opinion. "Crap," she muttered, though it was possible her voice was loud enough for him to catch the words. "Ivan's going to be pissed." She could handle her son being upset with her but that didn't mean she liked the thought of it. She raised her eyebrow once again - something she remembered doing quite often around him when he'd been a child and spending time at her house - when he started talking again. No, she wasn't going to shoot him again unless he gave her a reason to. And if he was as smart as he claimed to be, then he wouldn't give her a reason. "Google it," she stated when asked about cauterizing. She knew the answer - it was somewhere filed away with the other helpful information she had, she just didn't bother to recall. Her empathy was, well, lacking - except for when it came to her children. "If you're not prepared for an actual bullet," she added, "Then Aegis' training must be lacking, Timothy." She had no problem using his name because his identity was already public, unlike hers. She also didn't care if he remembered and thus recognized her. He couldn't stop her. Perhaps he could delay her, but she was confident in her belief that he couldn't stop her. Tag: Timothy Smith Words: 434 Muse: n/a Notes: Gotta love her cockiness and low empathy. She starts to care more the longer she knows someone, though, as you already know.

MADE BY VEL OF WW + GS

[Timothy Smith]

"Okay so, it's one thing to be trained for something, it's another thing to actually execute that training when you're going into shock and experiencing blood loss."

Tim picked himself back up off the ground, started to go for his phone, then realized that both hands were pretty bloody, not to mention he only had one he could use. Plus he probably wouldn't have cell service.

Wait a second though. His mind was only now starting to put the pieces together. Mentioning Ivan, knowing his name, which to be honest, wasn't too much of a surprise, he was public, but the voice was familiar too....

"Mrs. Stane? Is that you? What the heck are you doing out... wait a second, you shot me!"

He hadn't lost too much blood yet, but the blood he had lost, combined with just the shock of being shot (and now the shock of finding out it was his best friend's mom that held and fired the gun), was making his mind a little loopy.

"Okay, okay so... So that means you're the Valkyrie, and... fffffudge this hurts.. Okay so that means... I'm obviously not going to bring you in, but... okay maybe lay off on the killing people because that's what really draws Aegis' attention, see Ivan doesn't kill people so I get away with letting him go easier and... crap I'm a little dizzy I'm gonna sit back down."

Tim was really regretting making his suit fabric so durable. It didn't stop the bullet, but it was too tough for him to tear and make a makeshift bandage out of.

"So... so what the heck are you doing? Does Ivan know you're in town? Does Scott? Does Lisa? Or Julian? Or... that's all your kids, right?"

Monica Stane

[Monica Stane]

She scoffed. Certainly Aegis had enough funding they could buy realistic simulations. Ones that actually made you feel like you'd been shot. That would certainly have prepared their agents better. If she was up for allying with the group, she would have offered to re-train their agents. But allies brought strings with them, and no one tied her down. Not anymore. "You should tell your trainers to make their simulations more life-like," she offered, though it wasn't necessarily out of kindness. It was said short, matter-of-fact with a small nonchalant shrug. She knew Ivan cared a great deal about Tim and wouldn't want to see him get himself killed simply because he lacked the proper training on how to handle pain. Ah there it was. He recognized her. She wondered if it was more the voice or mentioning her middle son that had given it away. If it wasn't the fact that he was her son's best friend and also couldn't stop her, she would have considered shooting him point blank for realizing who she was. But him knowing didn't threaten her, even if it maybe should have. She didn't think there was any harm he could do. She quirked an eyebrow at his you shot me comment. Hadn't he already known he was shot? Or was the realization made fresh again upon knowing who she was? "I've shot a lot of people, Timothy," she pointed out casually, "You're not the first." She frowned faintly. He didn't seem to be doing enough to stop the bleeding. She reached down and tore a good chunk of fabric off of the end of her shirt - which now was looking closer to a crop top but she had more at home - as he chatted, clearly feeling the affects of blood loss, away. He'd always been chatty, as far as she could remember. Apparently he hadn't grown out of that. She couldn't helped thinking he was as chatty as Ivan was quiet. They balanced each other out, in her opinion. She quirked another eyebrow as he listed off her kids before she approached him, using the fabric to tie off his shoulder before inspecting the wound herself. She wasn't necessarily gentle about it. "I'm doing what I want," she replied simply, "My children know I'm in town. I know what they've been up to. They know what they want to know." She eyed him, a silent threat to think carefully before he told her children anything. "You could try to bring me in," she continued, reaching into her jacket where she kept a few tools. She pulled out what looked like tweezers. "But you wouldn't be successful." She was cocky, she'd always been. Whether or not he'd picked up on that trait of hers as a child, she didn't know. She looked at him, attempting to meet his gaze. "Everyone I kill deserves it for one reason or another. The city is better off without them." She then held the tweezers up, stating matter-of-factly, "The bullet is still in. I need to remove it. Unless there's some secret hospital here." She didn't think there was. She was also hoping he wouldn't pass out at the thought of having a bullet pulled out of his shoulder with nothing to numb him with. Tag: Timothy Smith Words: 549 Muse: Get Off my Back by Eliot Kennedy Notes: RIP Tim lmao

MADE BY VEL OF WW + GS

[Timothy Smith]

Things were clarifying a little bit. But only a little bit.

"Okay first of all I happen to make the simulations and don't get me started on how difficult it is to simulate pain without the brain actually thinking it needs to cause some kind of injury. Our brains are amazing and stupid and brilliant and mine feels really really light right now because I should probably stop the bleeding somehow and oh wow okay you ripped your shirt did you mean to do that because... wait okay I see what's..."

She pulled out some tweezers and started talking about getting the bullet out. Secret hospital? Did she know of something he didn't? No wait. Wait. That was... rhetorical. That was the word. Rhetorical.

Tim shook his head, clearing it a bit more. He had to pull himself together. The shock, and the blood loss were contributing factors, but he was also playing it up to downplay the fact that it had really freaked him out to just get shot out of the blue like that, not to mention by his best friend's mom.

"Aegis has Mexican facilities... I mean medical facilities. I can fly there, I think. I'm fine. See? Just fine."

He tried to stand up and promptly fell back on his keister.

"Okay yeah maybe you better get this thing out. Fuuuudge this is going to hurt even more."

He met her gaze. "The people you kill may deserve it, but it's not always for you to decide. There's a reason we have a court system. You could make a mistake. The courts could too, but that's what an appeals process is for. A chance. If you make a mistake, it's over. No second chance to fix it. I... I've made a couple big mistakes myself."

The last part was said under his breath, but Monica was moving closer to begin to retrieve the bullet, so she might have heard.

"Regardless, it's just going to make things harder if you keep leaving a trail of bodies. I can only say you got away from me so many times before they send someone else with me. Ivan, they kinda let slide because he doesn't kill anyone. He's not causing problems. You keep racking up a body count Aegis is going to pull out all the stops and I can't stop the stops."

He took a deep breath, steadying himself.

"You going to get this bullet out or do I need to pass out from blood loss first?"

Monica Stane [/i]

[Monica Stane]

She gave him an unimpressed look when he mentioned he designed Aegis' training simulations and it was apparently hard because he didn't want the brain to actually think they were injured. In her opinion, the tougher the training, the stronger the outcome. Besides Aegis could always add a liability clause to their contracts, if they didn't have one already. Not that she knew whether or not new members of Aegis had to sign some contract but the idea was fitting in her opinion. Had he always been this chatty? Yes, she was fairly certain he had. She wasn't going to tell him to shut up, of course. She'd raised four children and if she could tune out their bickering - and God, did Ivan and Scott bicker a lot - she could tune out Tim's rambling. Besides he wasn't doing any harm by talking. In fact, she thought it was helping him stay focused despite the blood loss. "I'm sure they're lovely medical facilities," she said, her mom voice popping in as she focused on seeing how deep the bullet had gone in. It was a soothing, calm tone - the kind used to comfort a child. She was only paying enough attention to his words to be able to reply and thus keep him talking, keep him focused. "The pain will fade," she pointed out when he seemed worried about how much removing the bullet would hurt, "Pain always fades." She knew that from experience, though she also knew some pain took longer to fade but she didn't think telling him that would help keep him calm. When he met her gaze, she cocked an eyebrow. The court system? The same court system that failed people? The court system that favored those with privilege? She'd been part of the FBI for years. She knew quite well how the court system worked. She thought he had more faith in that system than it deserved. She heard what he said under his breath, her eyes on him, noting his facial expression, his body language. She had a feeling she knew what he was talking about. She'd heard about the accident - he was her son's best friend, of course she'd heard. But she didn't know enough details to decide whether or not he held any fault there. The thought of Aegis arresting any of her children visibly angered her. She tore off another line of fabric from her shirt and used it to tie off his wound, doing so a bit rougher and tightening it a bit tighter than she needed to. If Aegis arrested any of her children, she would make sure they came to regret it. She turned her attention back to the bullet. "Mistakes happen, Timothy," she said, that note of anger that had been on her face just moments before found nowhere in her voice. Instead she had that calm, soothing tone again. She talked as she worked on removing the bullet, her words possibly working as a distraction. "If you go your whole life trying to avoid making mistakes then you will never truly live." She remembered giving a similar speech to Scott when he was in high school. "All you can do is learn from mistakes," she continued, moving slowly to remove the bullet because any faster meant a higher risk of causing more damage. "Anything else only hinders you." She pulled the bullet out and inspected it. It wasn't her best shot - she typically aimed to kill and she'd only hit him in the shoulder. Still, she supposed she could have done worse. She showed him the bullet. "You may pass out if you wish," she replied, "But the bullet is out." She placed the bullet, with the tweezers, into her pocket and brought out a needle and line for stitching. She'd learned how to close up a wounder long before she'd ever joined the FBI. She got started stitching the wound up, her eyes focused on it though she remained aware of how he was doing. "Aegis is more than welcome to try to arrest me," she pointed out, "They'll find their efforts unsuccessful, though." She was cocky - she'd always been. It was one thing life had not taken from her. Tag: Timothy Smith Words: 710 Notes: Sorry about the wait >>;;

MADE BY VEL OF WW + GS

[Timothy Smith]

The bullet was out. That was nice.

"Thanks. If I'm being honest, I was playing up a lot of my reaction. If you know you're intentionally overreacting to something, you at least know you're in control of how you're reacting. It's probably a bad habit."

He winced as she stitched up his shoulder. This was why they numbed up the area first when you got stitched up in a medical facility, it hurt like crap. Tim wished he hadn't tried to modify and upgrade his Giz before heading out. His poor Giz, wouldn't be back up and running for another week after what he did to it.

"Mistakes are... ah, ow... mistakes are fine. Mistakes on the level I'm talking about though... they should be avoided, because there's no way to make them right. No way to ultimately pay for what happened and move on."

He waved his good hand as if to brush the topic away.

"Anyway. You don't know what Aegis has. You don't know what Aegis can do. If they decide you're enough of a threat to pull out all the stops... Mrs. Stane there's a reason that Aegis is the only super group endorsed by the UN. There's a reason that we're trusted with the defense of the world. It's because we're good at it. I just... I don't want you to get put away. I honestly don't know how Ivan would react. Probably get himself arrested trying to break you out. Just... less killing please? Maybe stick to maiming? I personally don't endorse it but it's easier to brush aside than killing. Not the easiest, but easier."

Monica Stane

[Monica Stane]

He had a high horse, she thought, whether he realized it or not. She would have assumed his trauma would have made it difficult to climb onto a high horse but it could have aided him instead. She also didn't think he'd been "playing up" his reaction to getting shot and losing blood. She knew she could be a judgmental person but was he really that worried about her judging him for his reaction? Wasn't he supposed to be around the same age as Scott? "There's always a way to pay for one's mistakes," she said, finishing off the stitching. "Whether in this life or the next. If you are meant to pay for them, then life will find a way for that to happen." She spoke from experience, though she didn't say that. It was true that she didn't know all there was to know about Aegis but there was also a lot she assumed they didn't know about her, including her identity. "Ms. Stane," she corrected mid-way through him talking. She was divorced. She liked people to remember that. She was certain that Tim would disagree with her on the reason she thought Aegis was the only team working with the United Nation - and that reason wasn't flattering toward Aegis. She had a lot more in common with her middle son than either of them were willing to admit. "I appreciate the concern," she said in a tone that made it questionable whether she actually appreciated it or not, "But you can save your worry for someone else, Timothy. I've been doing what I do for a long time and you've only now heard of it for a reason." She didn't appreciate him bringing her son up but decided to keep that part to herself. "There are things Aegis can't do," she explained, "Because there is a line they are unwilling to cross. Until they're willing to erase that line, more... creative people are required. I don't expect you to understand or agree." Tag: Timothy Smith Words: 336 Notes: n/a

MADE BY VEL OF WW + GS

[Timothy Smith]

Tim sighed. He was pretty sure he wasn't going to be able to change her mind, but he had to try one last time before he went back to HQ, got some medical care that wasn't done in a back alley, and try to make up some kind of believable report about how the Valkyrie evaded him without making himself look incompetent.

"Lethal force is sometimes necessary. But so is oversight. When you don't have oversight you start making mistakes that while you may pay for in this world or the next, affect other people. You don't know what the lives you're ending are like. Not really. Sometimes people just need some help. Sometimes emotions cloud judgement."

Don't make a Star Wars reference, don't make a Star Wars reference...

He stood up and dusted himself off with his good hand, as best he could with it being covered in blood. There was a lot of blood that wasn't inside him at the moment. He staggered a little, just a tiny bit light headed, but stabilized.

"I know about what you're doing now because you've left a trail of bodies that's caught Aegis' attention, and they're trying to track you down and stop it. Just..."

He sighed again.

"Just tone it back a little. I know I can't get you to stop, but if you reign it in some it'll be less of an issue. Less priority. The actual serial killers will get more attention than you will, so you'll move to the bottom of the list."

Monica Stane