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"what if xyz were in croatverse" is basically my favorite premise ever
FIC REC: Almost No One Makes It Out by atrata
Iron Man. Tony, Pepper, Rhodey, Obadiah Stane. 28099 words.
What would have happened if Tony hadn't been born filthy rich? A military AU.
Suhair prompted me to write Risa/Cassie Robinson in 5x04verse, but instead I got as far as some prose and some rambling about what the fic would have been had I any kind of follow-through. I had more fun with the prompt than I expected, for a croatverse value of 'fun'. My new year resolution is gonna be to write more femslash. Anyway, this takes place after the sanatorium raid. It also has some Claire Novak because Claire Novak should be in all the things.
Risa survives.
Lucifer may be an evil bastard, but he has very specific goals, and once he’s killed Dean Winchester, he takes his infernal army and leaves. Risa checks for other survivors, but no, she’s the only one. With each friend confirmed dead, there’s this swell of panic that she viciously tamps down until she’s vibrating with it and she’s trying to go as fast as she can because those fuckers might be back at any minute. (She knows they won’t, feels they won’t, but they MIGHT and paranoia has gotten her this far.)
She takes their ammo, just in case.
Risa finds Dean’s body last and she can’t bring herself to touch it or even come close to it, so she just turns around and leaves, and as she walks she starts to cry and she hasn’t cried since Amrita died, and she is furious at herself and furious at Dean and furious at let’s not keep count because she’d run out of her fingers. She tells herself, don’t cry, you fucking asshole, don’t fucking cry. She stops crying eventually.
Risa gets back to the jeep and doesn’t go back to Chitaqua. Part of her feels guilty and that she should because with Dean gone, there’ll be a power vacuum and Carey and Lee are going to go head-to-head and they are idiots at the best of times. Chitaqua is your responsibility, it’s everyone’s responsibility. But that’s just something Dean said once upon a time, and Dean’s dead and she can’t stay, she just can’t stay.
She loses track of how long she’s out on the road, going the opposite way of everything she knows and killing things that need to be killed. It doesn’t feel good, but it feels necessary. When the jeep runs out of gas, she goes on foot. She’s not afraid to die, but her killing instinct outweighs her fearlessness by far. Maybe she should be scared of that too.
One day, to her surprise, she hears gunshots and a terrified scream.
It’s been a while since she’s heard or seen any sign of humanity, and even though gunshots mean trouble, she surprises herself by automatically running towards it. She was a cop before the world ended and she felt the same kind of adrenalin rushing through her when she turned on the siren and sped to a crime. Something about that scream. This isn’t just a lust to destroy anymore, it’s her forgotten habit of saving people, and she has no time to think about how right it feels because she’s bursting through the treeline and puts two bullets in a croat’s head, one bullet in another’s neck, and then she takes out the machete and goes for the third, but then bang. There’s a bullet in the third croat and it isn’t Risa. It’s the woman they were about to kill.
“Fuck,” she says, breathless. She has long dark curls just like Amrita had, and holds a gun like she knows how to use it. “Fuck. Fuck.” She’s still shaking when Risa pulls her to her feet. “Jesus. Fuck. Thank you.”
“You okay?” Risa asks. Her voice is scratchy and tight, and she realizes she hasn’t spoken since she left the sanatorium.
“No,” she says. “But I’m alive, thanks to-“
“I mean did they get you. Are you bit, is their blood in you.”
Her eyes widen and look affronted, but this is important. “No.”
Risa relaxes the grip on her machete. After a few seconds’ hesitation, she introduces herself.
+
AND THAT IS HOW THEY MEET. So, basically Risa now lives at Cassie’s camp, who I’ll probably people with favorite supports because why not, so Novaks and Birches are there, probably Braedens, and the Harvelles drop by sometimes for trade but they live somewhere else, constantly on the move.
The apocalypse hasn’t broken Cassie. This is not to say that she doesn’t mourn or get mad or heartbroken, but there is still an optimism to her perseverance whereas the reasoning behind Risa’s will to survive has been stripped down to “because it’s probably better than being dead”. Risa calls Cassie naive a few times. Cassie shrugs it off. There are more important things to worry about.
Claire starts trailing Risa around because hero-worship. Risa is confounded, but Cassie thinks it’s sweet. Claire wants to learn how to shoot but Amelia has always been nervous about it, and one day Cassie says, “Risa can teach Claire and I’ll watch over them and make sure everything runs smooth, okay?”
So Risa teaches Claire, and Cassie sharpens knives nearby and yells “woo, that’s my girl!” when Claire hits the target, and Claire is so proud, and even Risa is smiling, and it’s nice when Risa smiles, Cassie thinks. Cassie watches them, and has feelings.
At some point, there is a mission gone horribly awry and there is an ILL-ADVISED FEELINGFUL RESCUE. I just have this image of, like, Risa lying bloodied and prone and Cassie has a protective arm around her and has rage tears in her eyes as she shoots croat after croat after croat. ‘Cos she could love this woman. She could love this woman if only the world would let her but all it does is try to take her away, and Cassie is done. She’s done playing nice.
OMG, and you know later while Risa’s in recovery, sometimes Cassie comes in to check on her and Claire’s fallen asleep in the chair beside the bed and she gently wakes Claire up and sends her back to her mother, and then Cassie sits in the chair. And she waits.
Iron Man. Tony, Pepper, Rhodey, Obadiah Stane. 28099 words.
What would have happened if Tony hadn't been born filthy rich? A military AU.
Suhair prompted me to write Risa/Cassie Robinson in 5x04verse, but instead I got as far as some prose and some rambling about what the fic would have been had I any kind of follow-through. I had more fun with the prompt than I expected, for a croatverse value of 'fun'. My new year resolution is gonna be to write more femslash. Anyway, this takes place after the sanatorium raid. It also has some Claire Novak because Claire Novak should be in all the things.
Risa survives.
Lucifer may be an evil bastard, but he has very specific goals, and once he’s killed Dean Winchester, he takes his infernal army and leaves. Risa checks for other survivors, but no, she’s the only one. With each friend confirmed dead, there’s this swell of panic that she viciously tamps down until she’s vibrating with it and she’s trying to go as fast as she can because those fuckers might be back at any minute. (She knows they won’t, feels they won’t, but they MIGHT and paranoia has gotten her this far.)
She takes their ammo, just in case.
Risa finds Dean’s body last and she can’t bring herself to touch it or even come close to it, so she just turns around and leaves, and as she walks she starts to cry and she hasn’t cried since Amrita died, and she is furious at herself and furious at Dean and furious at let’s not keep count because she’d run out of her fingers. She tells herself, don’t cry, you fucking asshole, don’t fucking cry. She stops crying eventually.
Risa gets back to the jeep and doesn’t go back to Chitaqua. Part of her feels guilty and that she should because with Dean gone, there’ll be a power vacuum and Carey and Lee are going to go head-to-head and they are idiots at the best of times. Chitaqua is your responsibility, it’s everyone’s responsibility. But that’s just something Dean said once upon a time, and Dean’s dead and she can’t stay, she just can’t stay.
She loses track of how long she’s out on the road, going the opposite way of everything she knows and killing things that need to be killed. It doesn’t feel good, but it feels necessary. When the jeep runs out of gas, she goes on foot. She’s not afraid to die, but her killing instinct outweighs her fearlessness by far. Maybe she should be scared of that too.
One day, to her surprise, she hears gunshots and a terrified scream.
It’s been a while since she’s heard or seen any sign of humanity, and even though gunshots mean trouble, she surprises herself by automatically running towards it. She was a cop before the world ended and she felt the same kind of adrenalin rushing through her when she turned on the siren and sped to a crime. Something about that scream. This isn’t just a lust to destroy anymore, it’s her forgotten habit of saving people, and she has no time to think about how right it feels because she’s bursting through the treeline and puts two bullets in a croat’s head, one bullet in another’s neck, and then she takes out the machete and goes for the third, but then bang. There’s a bullet in the third croat and it isn’t Risa. It’s the woman they were about to kill.
“Fuck,” she says, breathless. She has long dark curls just like Amrita had, and holds a gun like she knows how to use it. “Fuck. Fuck.” She’s still shaking when Risa pulls her to her feet. “Jesus. Fuck. Thank you.”
“You okay?” Risa asks. Her voice is scratchy and tight, and she realizes she hasn’t spoken since she left the sanatorium.
“No,” she says. “But I’m alive, thanks to-“
“I mean did they get you. Are you bit, is their blood in you.”
Her eyes widen and look affronted, but this is important. “No.”
Risa relaxes the grip on her machete. After a few seconds’ hesitation, she introduces herself.
+
AND THAT IS HOW THEY MEET. So, basically Risa now lives at Cassie’s camp, who I’ll probably people with favorite supports because why not, so Novaks and Birches are there, probably Braedens, and the Harvelles drop by sometimes for trade but they live somewhere else, constantly on the move.
The apocalypse hasn’t broken Cassie. This is not to say that she doesn’t mourn or get mad or heartbroken, but there is still an optimism to her perseverance whereas the reasoning behind Risa’s will to survive has been stripped down to “because it’s probably better than being dead”. Risa calls Cassie naive a few times. Cassie shrugs it off. There are more important things to worry about.
Claire starts trailing Risa around because hero-worship. Risa is confounded, but Cassie thinks it’s sweet. Claire wants to learn how to shoot but Amelia has always been nervous about it, and one day Cassie says, “Risa can teach Claire and I’ll watch over them and make sure everything runs smooth, okay?”
So Risa teaches Claire, and Cassie sharpens knives nearby and yells “woo, that’s my girl!” when Claire hits the target, and Claire is so proud, and even Risa is smiling, and it’s nice when Risa smiles, Cassie thinks. Cassie watches them, and has feelings.
At some point, there is a mission gone horribly awry and there is an ILL-ADVISED FEELINGFUL RESCUE. I just have this image of, like, Risa lying bloodied and prone and Cassie has a protective arm around her and has rage tears in her eyes as she shoots croat after croat after croat. ‘Cos she could love this woman. She could love this woman if only the world would let her but all it does is try to take her away, and Cassie is done. She’s done playing nice.
OMG, and you know later while Risa’s in recovery, sometimes Cassie comes in to check on her and Claire’s fallen asleep in the chair beside the bed and she gently wakes Claire up and sends her back to her mother, and then Cassie sits in the chair. And she waits.