Ruby and Tuesday.

Civil War / Age of Ultron

Recruiting the “kids” of the group.

Part 1 / 2.

Part 2 here.

Homecoming / Civil War

Post recruitment “training” the kids of the group.

Part 2 / 2.

Part 1 here.

I’m sorry, but did we watch the same movies?? Wanda was Severely under-trained, to the point where she Did kill people (it was an accident, I will admit, but it still happened) and then when she was faced with the consequences, she threw a hissy-fit and ran away.

Also, “instant kill mode” was NOT THE DEFAULT! Tony put a Training Wheels Protocol in the suit, which Ned and Peter removed by themselves. When Peter messed up, Tony revoked his suit-privileges, and Peter had to essentially earn it back (which he did!). And, when Peter needed him most, Tony dropped Everything (did you miss the part about him met even being in the USA a few scenes previous?) and went to help/support him. In Tony’s own words “If you’re nothing without the Suit, maybe you shouldn’t have it.” You make mistakes, you face the consequences; something I’m not sure Wanda had learned before Tony put her under house arrest (not the same thing as “locking her in her room,” notice she had free reign to go wherever as long as she stayed on the compound).

Based on your comments, I’m not really sure we did watch the same movies.

Wanda was not “under-trained.”

She was still learning some situational analysis, yes, but she was more than competent enough to be in the field, especially with at least one of the others backing her up almost the whole time.

And I really don’t know where you’re getting this bit:

“when she was faced with the consequences, she threw a hissy-fit and ran away”

Because there wasn’t anything like that in the movie.

Wanda is shown to feel incredibly bad about not being able to save everyone, to the point where she is ready to drop being an Avenger entirely because she’s afraid that it might happen again - that she won’t be good enough to be of any help.

The bomb very clearly was not her fault, however she takes the fallout just as hard as if it had been. That’s why Steve tries to give her the pep talk about “if we don’t help next time, maybe no one does” when he sees her spiraling into self-loathing over her powers and her inability to save everyone at Lagos.

It’s why Clint comes to save her from internment when she’s feeling guilty enough to let herself be stripped of her basic rights and locked away in the compound as a “danger to the public” over the whole mess.

It’s why she asks if the UN is going to come for her.

That bomb was not her fault. The press know damn well that the bomb wasn’t her fault, but “the Avengers stop another terrorist attack” makes a much less interesting headline than “Avengers cause deaths of 11 in Lagos” and Tony isn’t there rolling out the big bucks to make sure that they only say nice things about his part in the incident, so as long as he’s not involved the rest of the team is free game.

The UN is also well aware of the fact that this was the Avengers stepping in to reduce casualties, but they can’t push the Accords unless the Avengers are seen as a a problem to be reined in, and the fact that the King of Wakanda is out for blood is going to give them just the excuse they need to spring their freaking phone book of human rights violations on the team with the ultimatum to “sign in three days or retire/be locked away as a danger to the public.”

And yes, before you argue, that IS one of the known clauses of the Accords.

This isn’t saying “if you are enhanced and break the law we can imprison you indefinitely without trial” (which is still a MAJOR rights violation) - it’s saying that an enhanced individual who uses their powers to break the law can be imprisoned indefinitely without trial OR an enhanced individual who is otherwise deemed a threat to the safety of the public (like, say, having powers that can warp reality or play mind tricks on people) can be imprisoned indefinitely without trial based on the fact that they might potentially be dangerous.

Anyone who might be a threat.

Hm…wonder where I’ve heard that logic before…

But I’m sure that we’ve completely managed to scrub HYDRA and their workings out of every corner of the UN in the past year or so since Winter Soldier…right?

(Which is why Steve and Co. are still having to run around after HYDRA members almost a year after Ultron, but that’s tooootally not important when the UN has to make sure their civilians are protected from the big, bad Avengers by locking up the innately enhanced like super soldier Steve Rogers and ex-HYDRA escapees who might know too much like Bucky and Wanda…

 …right?)

But that’s another debate.

A lot of people like to pin everything that happened at Lagos on Wanda, and not only is that incredibly unfair, but honestly I’m getting damn sick of hearing it.

She was saving people, but couldn’t save everyone.

Simple as that.

She took the casualty total from this:

(…including everyone in all of the surrounding buildings…)

Down to a mere 11.

And yet, instead of saying she’s a hero for saving the lives of hundreds, the stans instead act like she went out of her way and either through malice or incompetence, took the lives of 11 innocent people.

Here’s a newsflash for you, those 11 Wakandans? Were dead anyway.

If Wanda wasn’t there when that bomb had gone off, they would have still been dead from the blast due to the collapsing building. If Steve and the Avengers weren’t there and Rumlow managed to release a disease on that population, they still would have been dead. If the Lagos government had sent the military or the police to this situation, the death count would have only increased because they would have been going up against something out of their league and would have all been slaughtered.

And I bet you didn’t realize that there were in fact more than just the Wakandans killed at Lagos.

However the only ones that the stans ever focus on are the eleven people that Wanda couldn’t save.

Funny how that works, isn’t it?

The stans are so desperate to demonize her over any little thing she does that they’re willing to look at everything in the worst possible light, and twist it around just to make her the villain.

She gave Tony a nightmare instead of outright killing him?

Clearly all of Tony’s future bad decisions must be her fault.

Hulk levels a city 300+km from where the Avengers are fighting in a one-on-one battle with Tony?

Clearly Wanda’s fault, because she “meant” to have Hulk attack Johannesburg instead of attacking the Avengers and the smugglers who were literally under his nose.

Wanda isn’t able to effectively contain the 6+ packs of military-grade explosives going off at a detonation velocity of more than 8040 m/s for more than a few seconds?

Clearly she’s out killing people for fun in Lagos, or she was under-trained to the point that she should have been back in the compound.

It’s ridiculous the amount of hate this character gets for daring to have beef with Tony over the death of her parents.

And for the record, while we’re talking detonations, this is what Wanda is having to contain.

High-grade explosives surrounding his waist.

And can I just point out:

Note that Dynamite is NOT the highest grade explosive on the market, and especially where a technologically advanced universe like Marvel is concerned.

Even at 250 feet (the shrapnel-catcher behind the police car that made it) the pressure sensors they had set up were completely destroyed by the blast.

Wanda not only protected everyone in the market from the detonation, she also suppressed the pressure wave from the blast for long enough to clear it from the main crowd.

A pressure wave that was so powerful that by the time she’d burned through her strength trying to hold it back (almost 10 seconds worth of the initial blast) it was still strong enough to rip open the side of a nearby building.

Wanda is not going into this half-assed or being careless.

She is containing a live explosion with her mind, and you can see in the clips how much she’s straining to do it.

She’s shaking as she tries to hold it. She cries out as she starts to lose her grip and expends more strength trying to get it clear of the people behind her. She collapses as she’s trying to get it up past the skyscrapers around her (and she actually manages to clear all but one of them).

And at the very end, despite all of that, the bomb still goes off with enough force to kill eleven people who were unfortunate enough to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Wanda should not be taking the blame for the destruction caused by a weapon that someone else set off.

Blaming Wanda for Lagos is the equivalent of blaming Tony for the destruction and death caused by Ivan’s suit attack in IM2 because Tony wasn’t ready or equipped to handle it.

Also, while we’re on the topic, I have a question that I have yet to see anyone from the “Wanda killed people” side try to answer.

Just what the hell is your suggestion for better trying to contain that?

Because if Wanda was simply left back at base for “not being prepared” then the bomb goes off and everyone in the market dies.

Nobody else on the team was close enough to help, and Steve had just had his PTSD triggered by Rumlow, causing him to freeze up.

(And really, if you guys are going to lecture about people not acknowledging the “inconvenient symptoms of PTSD” here’s one you seem to like to ignore -

Steve is triggered into freezing at the worse possible moment, and accidentally endangers the people around him because of that. But alas, only Tony’s alien-induced PTSD matters, right? All of the other characters are clearly perfectly fine and don’t ever make mistakes due to past trauma.

Yes, I’m getting a bit tired of that particular argument as well. Can you tell?)

And it’s not like the local authorities would have been able to do anything in this situation either.

The Avengers didn’t know Rumlow was hitting the disease lab until about 30 seconds before he hit it - they thought he was going to be attacking the police station. So even if they had “stayed in their lane” and warned the authorities, giving them all of the same evidence that they’d found, the authorities would have reinforced the police station and Rumlow would have gotten away with the disease, only to wreak havoc on a much, much, MUCH larger scale.

Even if your precious Tony had been there, what exactly is he going to do? Shoot his repulsors or missiles into a crowd of people to take out the terrorists?

Cause I really see that going well in a tight-packed market.

What could he have done about the bomb besides possibly throw it straight up into the air, to the same effect as Wanda doing it? If anything, this would have resulted in more casualties because Tony would not have been able to contain the worst of the explosion before it struck the building.

Hell, his suit isn’t even rated to take the pressure kickback from that kind of an explosion.

Wanda stepped in to do what no one else could in that situation, and she brought the casualties down from hundreds of people to just eleven.

And yet everyone still wants to crucify her for not saving everyone.

And as for you, @tomholland-obsessed…

It doesn’t matter if Peter had Instant Kill Mode unlocked or not, the idea was that it would eventually be unlocked for him, and answering “yes” to the question of “Would you like to enter enhanced combat mode” automatically turns on instant kill. 

For a mentor who supposedly “studied Peter’s fighting style” Tony reeeeeeeally missed the mark on this one.

In the scene above, Peter says he needs to get in closer to see what’s going on, so he knows he’s got the right guys.

He’s not engaging, he’s scoping out the situation.

And the offer pops up to attack with instant kill.

“he hid that mode under the Training Wheels Protocol, which PETER GOT NED TO HACK INTO.”

Also, I think it should be mentioned that for some reason you think we’re all supposed to be holding a 14-year-old to a higher responsibility standard than a 40+ year old man.

Like, sure, let’s blame Peter for hacking the suit instead of blaming Tony  for providing the instant-kill features to a child and putting some paper-thin “do not enter” coding protection on it.

“Tony did not put IKM in a suit for a child”

Except that yeah, he did.

Would you give a kid a shotgun? Would you even leave a shotgun lying around where a kid could potentially access it?

Because that’s essentially what Tony did.

Honestly, if we’re going to use a gun argument (because maybe that will resonate a bit more clearly with what kill mode means) here’s the scene in another light:

Tony gives Peter a fancy backpack to carry around with him that has a loaded gun inside, and thinks everything is fine because he zipped the backpack and taped a “no babies allowed” sign on the zipper.

Tony is 100% trusting that not only is Peter not going to get curious enough to look inside the backpack (or that a teenager won’t be insulted enough by being called a toddler to do it out of pure spite), but also that Peter is incapable of removing the tape and unzipping the backpack.

(Additionally he is making the assumption that no adult is going to get a hold of that suit, hack through his code in 20 seconds, and use the instant kill mode for nefarious purposes.)

That’s a lot of really big, really dumb assumptions for a supposed “genius” to make on one feature.

And hacking aside, Tony didn’t even bother to tell Peter why there was a lock on the suit features.

Even if I’m assuming the best of Tony and not figuring that this “training” feature was simply going to serve as a bribe to keep Peter in line later down the road, it’s basically daring Peter to enter without telling him why he isn’t allowed, then blaming him when his natural curiosity and genius gets him through the lock-out and into trouble.

It’s dumb, and incredibly irresponsible of Tony, not to mention completely disregarding the fact that Peter may not have wanted that kind of a feature, no matter who or what he was facing.

“Tony did not give Instant Kill Mode to Peter right away.”

And who’s to say that Tony would have made Peter wait for more than a month or two to get the instant kill unlocked? There was no set time limit, no age restriction, and even if Peter had gone through the training wheels protocol like he was supposed to instead of finding a shortcut, there’s nothing to say that he wouldn’t have charged through that in less than a year and had instant kill still available to him as a minor.

I’m sorry, but there is literally no reason for that feature to be in the suit of a child. Especially when Tony could have just held off on adding that program until later. These programs don’t take forever to install, and we’ve seen before that Tony can have his AIs download suit features on the fly.

Additionally, this isn’t exactly a “world ending” or “alien invasion” situation, which Tony could have also specified as a suit function.

This is an everyday combat mode, put into the hands of a child, and barely given a level of protection that a highschool freshman could be kept out with.

There is no excuse for Peter having any access to this kind of feature.

Stop trying to come up with one.

Love these beautiful eyes by @lions_cat_tabi on Instagram

Fic Update: A Headcanon Encyclopedia of Panem

More world-building to support my Hunger Games fanfic series! Excruciating detail about each district and my ideas about the cataclysm that destroyed pre-Panem civilization, development of the country, and all manner of exposition about each district’s population, geography, government, education, and culture.

Chapter 11 is now up: Life in District 10 including an up-close map and sections on Population, Geography, Climate, Economy, Government/Divisions/Output, Education, Tribute Academy, Relationships with other districts and the Capitol, Food, and Culture (culture includes languages, religion, sexuality, health, class divisions, music/entertainment, weddings, holidays, childbirth, funerals, and status of the rebellion).

Fic Update: Favors (Hunger Games AU)

Favors. AU from the end of the 74th Hunger Games. After the two-winner rule is revoked, Peeta takes his own life before Katniss can stop him. Her grief-driven words over his body still defy the Capitol and endanger everyone left that she loves. Haymitch and the other victors struggle to help her navigate the dark, dangerous world of mentoring and forced prostitution…and in the end, she still becomes the Mockingjay.

Chapter 32: Katniss faces the awful prospect of returning to the Capitol for the 75th Victory Tour without Haymitch. She breaks the news of her "real job" in the Capitol to Prim, while Gale takes the news of her victory tour visit hard, and we learn what has been going on in Haymitch's head as the rebellion began cultivating Katniss.

In other news, A Headcanon Encyclopedia of Panem continues to be updated and is now posted through District 9.  I've added subsections on Sexuality, Health, and Reaping to most of the Culture sections and continue to add material in response to reader questions and comments!  Please keep it coming!

In other other news, although A Headcanon History of the Hunger Games is complete, I'm now adding fancast photos and more details about the victors' lives and origins, including Beetee, Seeder, Lyme, and several of my major OCs. (Suggestions for fancasts welcome!)  

Fic Update: Favors (Hunger Games AU)

Favors. AU from the end of the 74th Hunger Games. After the two-winner rule is revoked, Peeta takes his own life before Katniss can stop him. Her grief-driven words over his body still defy the Capitol and endanger everyone left that she loves. Haymitch and the other victors struggle to help her navigate the dark, dangerous world of mentoring and forced prostitution…and in the end, she still becomes the Mockingjay.

Chapter 32: Katniss faces the awful prospect of returning to the Capitol for the 75th Victory Tour without Haymitch. She breaks the news of her "real job" in the Capitol to Prim, while Gale takes the news of her victory tour visit hard, and we learn what has been going on in Haymitch's head as the rebellion began cultivating Katniss.

In other news, A Headcanon Encyclopedia of Panem continues to be updated and is now posted through District 9.  I've added subsections on Sexuality, Health, and Reaping to most of the Culture sections and continue to add material in response to reader questions and comments!  Please keep it coming!

In other other news, although A Headcanon History of the Hunger Games is complete, I'm now adding fancast photos and more details about the victors' lives and origins, including Beetee, Seeder, Lyme, and several of my major OCs. (Suggestions for fancasts welcome!)  

Fic Update: Favors (Hunger Games AU)

Favors. AU from the end of the 74th Hunger Games. After the two-winner rule is revoked, Peeta takes his own life before Katniss can stop him. Her grief-driven words over his body still defy the Capitol and endanger everyone left that she loves. Haymitch and the other victors struggle to help her navigate the dark, dangerous world of mentoring and forced prostitution…and in the end, she still becomes the Mockingjay.

Chapter 32: Katniss faces the awful prospect of returning to the Capitol for the 75th Victory Tour without Haymitch. She breaks the news of her "real job" in the Capitol to Prim, while Gale takes the news of her victory tour visit hard, and we learn what has been going on in Haymitch's head as the rebellion began cultivating Katniss.

In other news, A Headcanon Encyclopedia of Panem continues to be updated and is now posted through District 9.  I've added subsections on Sexuality, Health, and Reaping to most of the Culture sections and continue to add material in response to reader questions and comments!  Please keep it coming!

In other other news, although A Headcanon History of the Hunger Games is complete, I'm now adding fancast photos and more details about the victors' lives and origins, including Beetee, Seeder, Lyme, and several of my major OCs. (Suggestions for fancasts welcome!)  

Fic Update: Favors (Hunger Games AU)

Favors. AU from the end of the 74th Hunger Games. After the two-winner rule is revoked, Peeta takes his own life before Katniss can stop him. Her grief-driven words over his body still defy the Capitol and endanger everyone left that she loves. Haymitch and the other victors struggle to help her navigate the dark, dangerous world of mentoring and forced prostitution…and in the end, she still becomes the Mockingjay.

Chapter 32: Katniss faces the awful prospect of returning to the Capitol for the 75th Victory Tour without Haymitch. She breaks the news of her "real job" in the Capitol to Prim, while Gale takes the news of her victory tour visit hard, and we learn what has been going on in Haymitch's head as the rebellion began cultivating Katniss.

In other news, A Headcanon Encyclopedia of Panem continues to be updated and is now posted through District 9.  I've added subsections on Sexuality, Health, and Reaping to most of the Culture sections and continue to add material in response to reader questions and comments!  Please keep it coming!

In other other news, although A Headcanon History of the Hunger Games is complete, I'm now adding fancast photos and more details about the victors' lives and origins, including Beetee, Seeder, Lyme, and several of my major OCs. (Suggestions for fancasts welcome!)  

Honestly you don’t even have to change the genre much. Guy probably went through quite the ordeal because of all the people trying to get to Indy.

Day 1: “Professor Jones, hate to bother you but there’s an assassin trying to kill me, do you have...yes I see it...*gunshots* just to make sure, is there any paperwork I can file or should I just call the police?”

Day 85: “Oh fucking try me, I have 84 papers to grade because that lazy asshole went off to fucking Burma in the middle of fucking finals week, if you don’t leave right the fuck now I will awaken that ancient artifact in the corner and turn your intestines into fucking snakes.”

also, don’t forget: the movies are set in the 1930s-50s

so please imagine this 20-year-old girl who’s had to practically fight god to convince everyone that, no, she would NOT be happier with a degree in home economics and yes, she DOES want to be an archaeologist. she’s had to deal with male grad students trying to steal her research and constant patronizing questions about whether she can really handle the dirt and insects out in the field. even Indy, who stands up for her when the department leadership tries to pull Some Bullshit, sometimes treats her like a glorified secretary just out of habit

when the bad guys show up, they are therefore faced with a young woman who exists in a permanent state of simmering rage. she has a sensible wool skirt and practical oxfords and a baseball bat and you can fuck right off if you’re trying to pull this nonsense right after one of her professors just called her “sweetie” for the dozenth time

Okay idk if the timing and logistics match up at all but i just have a fever thought that his TA is none other than Mrs Evelyn O’Connell. Just think about it.

Jones: Are you sure you’re up for this position?

Evie: Dr Jones I assure you that despite being a woman I-

Jones: No no it’s not that, it’s just that there’s a lot of… weird artifacts that come through my door

Evie: Oh, well I actually have some experience with weird

Jones: and sometimes it can get dangerous…

Evie *smiling*: I can handle that as well

(Later in the school year, during a shoot out)

Jones: You weren’t kidding! *gunshots*

Evie pulling out a grenade and chucks it: These ruffians aren’t half as bad Imhotep, and he was nothing compared to midterms *explosion*

Evie: Oh dear they seem to have brought more friends. Pass me my bag Professor Jones if you’d please. 

Jones: Sure Evie *hands her the bag* 

Evie: *pulls out an old fashion pistol with a large bell* 

Jones: I don’t think that’s going to be enough. 

Evie: Oh it’s not. I’m phoning my husband *fires a flare through the window* 

Jones: I doubt stiff upper lip gent is going to help us right now Evie. 

Evie: I whole heartedly agree Professor Jones.

*A moment later Rick crashes the car through the wall and pulls out a tommy gun. He screams at the top of his lungs as he rushes the bad guys* 

Evie: Luckily my husband is American.

@deadcatwithaflamethrower

YES PLEASE.

Yaaaaaassss! Headcanon eagerly accepted!

Fic Update: Favors (Hunger Games AU)

Favors. AU from the end of the 74th Hunger Games. After the two-winner rule is revoked, Peeta takes his own life before Katniss can stop him. Her grief-driven words over his body still defy the Capitol and endanger everyone left that she loves. Haymitch and the other victors struggle to help her navigate the dark, dangerous world of mentoring and forced prostitution…and in the end, she still becomes the Mockingjay.

Chapter 31: Katniss and Gale seize the chance to forget about the ugly world for a while, but they can only hold it off for so long. When Madge Undersee's mother's health worsens, Katniss dares to appeal to the Capitol for assistance...and President Snow reminds her that nothing is without its price. Another person Katniss loves has worked out what her real job in the Capitol is, and her reunion with Haymitch is marred by more bad news.

Fic Update: A Headcanon Encyclopedia of Panem (Hunger Games)

More world-building to support my Hunger Games fanfic series! Excruciating detail about each district and my ideas about the cataclysm that destroyed pre-Panem civilization, development of the country, and all manner of exposition about each district’s population, geography, government, education, and culture.

Chapter 9 is now up: Life in District 8 including an up-close map and sections on Population, Geography, Climate, Economy, Government/Divisions/Output, Education, Tribute Academy, Relationships with other districts and the Capitol, Food, and Culture (culture includes languages, religion, health, class divisions, music/entertainment, weddings, holidays, childbirth, funerals, and status of the rebellion).

Enjoy! Discussion and debate joyfully welcomed, as are questions and criticism of all kinds!  Feedback! My kingdom for feedback!

Fic Update: A Headcanon Encyclopedia of Panem (Hunger Games)

More world-building to support my Hunger Games fanfic series! Excruciating detail about each district and my ideas about the cataclysm that destroyed pre-Panem civilization, development of the country, and all manner of exposition about each district’s population, geography, government, education, and culture.

Chapter 9 is now up: Life in District 8 including an up-close map and sections on Population, Geography, Climate, Economy, Government/Divisions/Output, Education, Tribute Academy, Relationships with other districts and the Capitol, Food, and Culture (culture includes languages, religion, health, class divisions, music/entertainment, weddings, holidays, childbirth, funerals, and status of the rebellion).

Enjoy! Discussion and debate joyfully welcomed, as are questions and criticism of all kinds!  Feedback! My kingdom for feedback!

Fic Update: Favors (Hunger Games AU)

Favors. AU from the end of the 74th Hunger Games. After the two-winner rule is revoked, Peeta takes his own life before Katniss can stop him. Her grief-driven words over his body still defy the Capitol and endanger everyone left that she loves. Haymitch and the other victors struggle to help her navigate the dark, dangerous world of mentoring and forced prostitution…and in the end, she still becomes the Mockingjay.

Chapter 31: Katniss and Gale seize the chance to forget about the ugly world for a while, but they can only hold it off for so long. When Madge Undersee's mother's health worsens, Katniss dares to appeal to the Capitol for assistance...and President Snow reminds her that nothing is without its price. Another person Katniss loves has worked out what her real job in the Capitol is, and her reunion with Haymitch is marred by more bad news.