❝ I ask them to taste the blood in my mouth and let it spoil on their tongues like a child that has outgrown a mother's expectations for it. Or like a dog that will no longer heel to its master's commands. I say grab a steak knife and make an incision between my fourth and fifth rib, a peephole to the feral thing inside me
— ask me what it eats. ❞

━━ an excerpt from // MAD WOMAN

❝ Stomach full of blood, head full of blood,
burning red, she can feel it at last, this rage that
has been going on for a long time ... ❞

━━ Margaret Atwood // Dancing Girls: Stories ;
❝ Lives of the Poets ❞

❝ Modesty, violence, anger make me want to talk.
Pain, too. You write like you kill. It comes from the belly and all of a sudden it's in your throat.
It's a cry of despair. ❞

━━ Anne-Sophie Brasme // Breathe

NOT YET CORPSES.

STILL WE ROT.

© DIGGING GRAVES.
BOOK ONE of

DEADLY ENCOUNTERS
pluto   ━━━━━━ 2022

DEVIL ALL THE TIME.

synopsis.

HYDRA IS EVERYWHERE.

They're in the shadows of the world, in the glares where the sunlight reflects, under the streetlights that illuminate entire cities. They're deep within the soils of this holy Earth, beyond the constellations. Most importantly they're in S.H.I.E.L.D, in its foundation, within the cracks and crevices that only begin to expand — wider, wider, wider — as every disaster continues to erupt like a volcano: a volcano where S.H.I.E.L.D — strong in its few varying ways, in a way they're Big Brother to humanity from the unexplainable inhumane things — is the vent that grew from the ground up, where the fate of humanity is the Earth's crust, and Hydra is the cause of eruption. It spews out death.

It's here.

Their weapon.

Two beings of mass destruction where there is never one without the other: the Phantom and the Ghost. Similar names, different meanings — different dangers. One with platinum hair, it's the first thing their victim sees as they step out of the shadows, bared teeth dripping with venom, ready to kill, to slaughter. The other wispy fiery red that flows behind them that blurs their figure with the godly speed they move in. One born in the light and the other a damnation spit out by the shadows with blades ready for war.

Darkness and light: one evil one good? No. All is evil.

Anything released from the restraints of Hydra, from their sharp nailed clutches, is never meant for anything remotely good. Both stained crimson, sharp teeth and claws, both ready for war, destruction, death. Trained to bring ruin, to burn down entire kingdoms. Two pieces, Hydra's most prized, where one is evil and the other odious — worse, far worse.

Two pawns in the game where victory is insured.

Game? The game against S.H.I.E.L.D, against the world, the universe, where evil will prevail and heroism will die at the tip of one's tongue, bitter, ashy. This is the moment where the good die, fall face first into their Earth's very own soil and become a stepping stool, up the step is Hydra in all their wicked glory.

Because S.H.I.E.L.D is ten steps behind, falling further, further, behind Hydra and its infinite heads that grow larger in number as days, hours, minutes, seconds go by. Glory is theirs for the taking, no matter the blood that will spill nor the empires that must fall for their very own victory. If the world must burn and be rebuilt to fit their own agenda, then it may.

Where are your heroes, your heroines? Shaking feverishly in an Earth shaking, ground breaking fear. They've now realized the real threat, and the realization? We are in your ranks. Hydra is in your home, within the walls, in your peace.

Who is truly good? You'll hear from the threat before finding any good in the crumbles of your very own empire that you held so dearly before. Who are your true comrades?

Because HYDRA IS EVERYWHERE.

continuation.

               MANIA VOLKOV AND VERA ORLOV, the Phantom, the Ghost, two young girls born from nothing, twisted and turned into the perfect soldiers. Although not twins, where they are half of a being that completes the other, they are inseparable, almost twins but lack the biological proof of actually being siblings — family is not always blood. Mania is vicious and cunning in the way she lives her life, enjoys the sounds of agony that escapes her victims, Vera not far behind her.

               There's always a but — an anomaly that was once a tiny, forgetful speck that slowly yet surely began to spread like a wildfire, burning, irritating.

               But Vera is tired. Mania is not.

               For Vera it's work, a job, where there is no end in sight because Hydra will never let go. She's one of the best in Hydra's artillery of assassins, second to Mania. The mere idea of freedom was indescribably painful, it was never meant to be Vera's to begin with, hadn't been written in the stars. She was a flightless bird, caged, tethered down by Hydra's eight tentacles — she never had a chance. And in the mist that floats above the seven oceans, clear as day in a low whisper was a voice, beckoning her, giving her false hope, that maybe one day, if she fights hard enough, she can be free. Free to wander, free to love.

               Then there is Mania. Birthed for destruction, full of wrath and a weapon that resembles a million soldiers in a single body. She is the monster they say you must fear that lurks in the shadows, laying in wait as it prepares to devour its prey whole. And she's in love with the misery that erupts beneath her very own fingertips. Mania is sure — absolutely, undoubtedly sure — that this life was meant to be hers, and she wouldn't change it for the world.

               Vera is evil, but unsure. Mania is a living breathing Devil who punishes humanity to spark some joy. The next obstacle in their life is to decide how far they're willing to go for Hydra or for Hydra at all.

INTRODUCING . . .

nastya kusakina ...
MANIA ❛ maniac ❜ VOLKOV

ALIAS // ( phantom )

THERE'S AN INFESTATION
IN MY MIND'S IMAGINATION
I HOPE THEY CHOKE ON SMOKE
'CAUSE I'M SMOKIN' THEM OUT

TWENTY ONE PILOTS /
HEAVYDIRTYSOUL

alyda grace ...
VERA ❛ katarina ❜ ORLOV

ALIAS // ( ghost )

CAN YOU HELP THE HOPELESS ?
WELL, I'M BEGGING ON MY KNEES
CAN YOU SAVE MY BASTARD SOUL ?
WILL YOU WAIT FOR ME

BRING ME THE HORIZON /
CAN YOU FEEL MY HEART

david castañeda ...
EDUARDO ❛ eddy ❜ DIAZ

ALIAS // ( annihilator )

MY TEETH ARE YELLOW, HELLO WORLD
WOULD YOU LIKE ME A LITTLE BETTER
IF THEY WERE WHITE LIKE YOURS?

VUNDABAR / ALIEN BLUES

maxcence danet-fauvel ...
XANDER CROSS

ALIAS // ( manna )

GIRL I WANNA MAKE YOU MINE
AND WASTE ALL OF MY TIME WITH YOU
FOR YOU I WOULD GO BLIND

BLOOD ORCHID / MAKE U MINE

harris dickinson
SETH FLETCHER / TYDE

lizeth selene
ESME MONTOYA / THERMA

ADDITIONALLY ...
michelle rodriguez ━━━ AMARA ALVARO
ALIAS // Lady Death
ashley moore ━━━ AMARISSA LAURENT
stephen amell ━━━ CLINT BARTON
everyone else ━━━ AS IN THE MOVIES

COPYRIGHT ;; I ( along with maya ) own the plot and the six original characters everything else is owned by the MARVEL creators; as in Civil War characters, Hydra, etc.

WARNINGS ;; Explicit mentions of death / murder, gore, self-harm, abuse, strong language, substance abuse, mentions of suicide, mental illness, violence.

DEDICATIONS ;; to maya

TODAY I'M THINKIN' ABOUT

THE THINGS THAT ARE DEADLY. . .

🕷 this entire series is dedicated to maya who left wattpad a while back. my issue is that i'm always remembering the past, always nostalgic, always wishing for more time. and i wish i would've been consistent enough to have finished all the planned fics we had ( so many aside from this series ) that also included our mutual friend. but the past is the past.

🕸 i lost all our messages somehow and so a lot of our original ideas got lost along with them. ( take my advice and just save everything in a place you know the ideas will never disappear ) i'm basically grasping at scraps. but i'm going to try and do this series justice with the initial idea we made together. basically if maya were to ever see this, if you were to ever come back and wonder what the fuck i did to our original plot uh i lost it. but i hope i do us some type of justice.

🕷 let me preface by stating that we both hate hydra, but i remember reading that ( i think ) captain america was hydra in some alternate version in some comics. also this is completely au and was inspired by an edit i had seen and sent to maya ( which i also lost fml ). the opportunity to flesh out a completely non-redeemable pair of oc's was there and we took advantage.

🕸 also if something doesn't connect or i messed up the timeline etc etc you can point it out be kind about it though sometimes my brain works faster than i can interpret so i might be missing things but i'm keeping an eye out.

🕷 anyways i really hope y'all enjoy however long i make this series. once again in honor of maya, local sweetheart and deserve-er of all good things.

© pluto 🪐  ━━ sombersuns
published o1 MAY 2022
created 15 MAY 2020
finished  tba