whumptober #28 creative restraints

“You can’t keep me in here forever!”

“You’ll be safe now”

Glinda is trying to undoom her yuri :)

Backstabbing | Constellation | Creative Restraints

Hero approached Superhero's office in the facility, stepping nervously towards the door. Small flurries began to pick up around them before Hero noticed and shooed them away.

Relax, they thought. It's just a standard check-in on your progress. You've captured plenty of criminals to satisfy them. It'll be fine.

Of course, they hadn't captured Villain. Superhero had tasked Hero with bringing them to justice, taking them out if they had to. Hero had taken them out...to dinners and movies and coffee shops, discretely as possible in their civilian personas. After all, Villain wasn't evil. They were just "allergic to the rules", as they liked to say.

Hero admired that about Villain. They were one of the few who knew the people Villain robbed usually deserved it, with the funds stolen turning into anonymous donations to local charities and organizations. Hero tried to help in their own way, taking down smaller criminals and protecting civilians in danger of being hurt or abused, but they were honor bound to their code. They could never be free to act outside of it.

"Why don't you join me?" Villain had asked one day. "We're basically on the same side. And it would be a treat to fight alongside you instead of against you."

"I can't," Hero said unable to make eye contact. "Superhero needs me. And there's things I can do by following the rules that you can't."

Villain rolled their eyes. "Fine. Keep being a goody-two-shoes. See how far it gets you."

Hero gently squeezed Villain's hand, their ice-cold fingers intertwining with Villain's fiery hot touch. "You know, I just don't think you'd be able to handle me if we were on the same side. You'd be so flustered you wouldn't be able to get anything done."

Villain laughed, a bit of red flooding their cheeks. "Please. You'd miss our banter so much you'd change sides before the end of the fight."

"Oh, you mean your terrible puns? The one's you practice in the mirror every day?" Hero raised an eyebrow.

Villain sputtered, causing Hero to laugh. The memory comforted them as they knocked on Superhero's door. Hearing a "Come in," they entered.

"Ah, Hero." Superhero looked up from some documents on their desk, setting them down and gesturing for Hero to take a seat.

"What can I do for you?" Hero asked, sitting down.

"I just wanted to congratulate you." Superhero smiled. "So many criminals frozen in their tracks, if you'll excuse the turn of phrase."

Hero smiled. It was nothing to worry about, after all. "Just doing my job."

"Yes," Superhero's lip curled in a curious smile. "I did have one small question, however." They took one of the documents they had been looking at and spun it around. "What do you make of this?" Hero noticed it was an image, blurry, of several figures at what seemed to be at an outdoor restaurant.

"I don't understand," Hero said, their eyebrows knit in confusion. "Is this our next target?"

"Yes it is, and I think you'll be quite familiar with them." Superhero produced a second photo, a thermal version of the same scene. Hero's blood ran even colder than usual. Among the usual heat signatures, there was a pair that stuck out like a sore thumb, together at one of the tables: one blistering hot, the other icy blue. There would be no denying who it was in those photos.

Hero went to stand, knowing they had no choice but to run.

"Now hold on." Superhero flicked their wrist and vines that had been sneaking their way towards Hero sprung forth. Hero fought against Superhero's powers, freezing the plants as they tried to wrap around their wrists and ankles.

"Just let me explain!" Hero shouted, firing blast after blast of icy cold air.

"I think the photos speak for themselves." Superhero calmly doubled the frequency of their attacks. "You've gotten Villain to trust you, but you're too weak to finish the job."

Hero's face flushed with anger, causing them to slip up. One vine caught them in the back of the neck, sprouting sharp thorns dripping with some type of sap. Hero felt their body starting to grow weak, opening them up to more attacks. The paralytic entered their system several times over, and soon they were unable to stand, collapsing at Superhero's feet.

"I could always see straight through you, Hero." Superhero used their plants to lift Hero's chin, forcing them to look up. "Still, I had such hope for you. But seeing as how long this has gone on, I think it's time I stepped in. Lucky for you, you've given me just what I need to catch Villain once and for all."

Hero tried to shout out, to struggle, to do anything, but their body wouldn't listen. Vines wrapped around their limbs, covering their ankles all the way up to their mouth. More thorns sprouted, digging into Hero's skin, ensuring that when the paralytic wore off, more would be there to replace it.

Superhero reached into Hero's pocket, pulling out their communication device. They skimmed through the contacts before finding one that was clearly Villain.

"Smile." Superhero snapped some photos of Hero, helpless, gagged, and tied up, preparing to send them to Villain. "Don't worry," Superhero patted Hero's head. "You're helping to bring in a master criminal. You're going to be a real hero."

Edit: there's a part 2 now :)

Whumptober Day 28: Creative Restraints

Something of a hypothetical sequel to the Fancy Event drabble I did earlier.

backstabbing | constellation | creative restraints

CW: head injury

Hero flitted through the treetops, leaping from branch to branch, from tree to tree, not hesitating for a moment even in the near-pitch darkness. The wind whistled in their ears, blurring out their senses, allowing them to focus solely on the wood at their feet and fingers, forgetting how far away the ground was, how careful they had to be to avoid falling. 

They periodically tapped a band on their wrist as they went, letting out a relieved exhale every time it vibrated in response. Though they didn’t distrust their partner for this mission, they couldn’t help the anxious flutter in the back of their mind. And what if they’d already been discovered? If the assignment they’d been working toward for months was over almost before it began? 

Two hours and four checkpoints into their journey, they reached the final one: a tall, unremarkable tree with a few long, sturdy branches. Hero perched on one, quickly ensuring their position was stable, and pressed the band three times. They watched the treeline carefully for any signs of another person as they waited for a response. The sliver of moonlight granted some visibility to see above and around them, but the forest floor was far too obscured by shadow to make out any details. After a tense minute, they triple-tapped the band again, biting their lip nervously. 

When they still hadn’t received a return signal, they circled the tree through its branches, staring hard into the dark. 

“Villain!” They whispered, covering their mouth as soon as the word escaped. Shit. 

They were met with silence. The wind had died down, lightly rustling the leaves around them. Hero moved to input the emergency extraction sequence.

A blinding pain erupted in their skull. 

Hero saw a constellation of stars, and then they were falling. 

***

“Are you awake, darling? Oh, my, perhaps I hit you harder than I meant…”

Hero’s eyelids fluttering weakly. Their head was pounding, a terrible ache that rendered their mind debilitated. They breathed in unsteadily, vision horribly blurry. They were leaning against something rough, their hands behind their back, legs folded beneath them. Something cool encircled their wrists, holding them together. The communication band was gone. Hero tried to move their hands apart, but was met with immediate resistance, the bite of metal on their skin. 

“There you are.” A finger hooked under their chin and lifted it up, letting dim rays moonlight shine over their face.

Hero blinked, and suddenly the world was crystal clear. Villain knelt in front of them, a casual smile playing across their lips. 

“Villain,” Hero managed to say, the words barely a murmur in the breeze. “Wh-what…”

“‘Solo’s not my style,’ remember?” Villain asked, tilting their head. “Well, I wasn’t lying. But I made a few more friends than you thought.”

“I-I don’t-” Hero’s breath hitched as a harsh wave of pain crashed into their brain, sending a shudder through their body. 

Villain’s grip on their chin tightened, keeping them upright. “Steady now. You wouldn’t want to be caught unawares when Supervillain gets here.”

Hero’s blood ran cold, realization sinking in like a glacier sliding into arctic waters. Their gaze finally locked on Villain’s. There was a new glint in their partner’s eyes, sparkling with coldness and mirth. “No.”

They let out a tinkling laugh. “You really shouldn’t worry. They’ll take wonderful care of you.” 

“Don’t do this!” Hero tugged at their restraints harder, but it seemed like the cuffs were nailed to the tree, stuck fast. “V-Villain, please-”

“As much as I’d love to see you beg, darling, I’d better be on my way. After all, this is only part of my plan.” Villain flashed them a grin, then released them, standing up and dusting off their trousers. 

Hero could hardly keep their head up to watch them go. Panic coursed through their veins, the agony at their skull steering them away from reason. Fury rose in their stomach, flames licking up their throat. “You w-won’t get away with this,” they called, anger hot in their chest. “When I find you, I won’t show you mercy.”

A chuckle. Villain paused, turned, smiled. “My dear Hero. I could always see straight through you.” 

@macknus @whumplicity @whumpwritinglover222 @lazytoshiko @jumpywhumpywriter (ask to be added/removed for Whumptober)

inspo under the cut

Whumptober 2025 masterlist

Kiran masterlist

This is a precursor to Whumptober 2025- No. 25- Altprompt- Immortality!

Solar Flare growled as Glacier cackled. She had actually managed to get the drop on him. Like any hero, civilians were Kiran’s weakness, and the ginger-haired ice queen had exploited it flawlessly.

Kiran’s arms were pinned above him in thick, jagged blocks of ice. Glacier skated over to him, her grey eyes watching his every move.

“Looks like the matchstick burned out,” she mocked, “poor thing. Taken down by a cryogenic of all people. How embarrassing for you.”

Kiran kicked a fireball at her, and she yelped. Her cape got singed as she barely managed to dodge.

“Rude,” she said.

She shot two beams of ice at his feet. Kiran bit the inside of his cheek to keep from screaming. His limbs burned with cold, and he was sure that frostbite was setting in that very moment.

“Were you just here to humiliate me, or did you actually have a reason for all the carnage?” he demanded.

“Aww,” Glacier smiled.

She took his chin in her hand, nails digging in hard enough to draw blood.

“It was just to humiliate you,” she whispered.

She dropped his chin and beamed.

“Kidding! Although that was a good chunk of it! Now, be a good boy and stay right there for me. I have things to do!”

She started to fly off. Kiran took a deep, sobering breath and tried to concentrate all his comet energy into his limbs. The ice began to crack. It melted rapidly, turning to steam against Kiran’s body.

He bolted into the air, wincing at the take-off. At least now that he was in flight, he wasn’t putting any weight on his frozen feet.

He caught up with Glacier almost instantly. She had just turned when Kiran threw a carefully timed, fiery punch to her jaw.

Her eyes rolled into the back of her head, and she dropped like a stone. Kiran dove after the criminal, crying out when he caught her.

He was careful to hover a few inches off the ground when he handed her to the authorities. A little red 2003 Miata screeched to a halt, and Dr. Yamada came out from the driver’s side.

“Flare!” he called.

Kiran couldn’t ignore gravity any longer. He dropped to his knees on the icy asphalt. Tears filled his eyes from the contact. Horatio hugged him.

“You’re cold as ice!” he gasped.

“Yeah…” Kiran admitted.

Paramedics from Apollo’s Guild came over with a stretcher. Kiran groaned.

“I can walk,” he lied.

“No time for your ego,” Horatio scolded.

He wanted to argue that point, but the medics had barely gotten a hold on him before he saw darkness and then, nothing at all.

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When Master Splinter said he didn’t like the idea of anyone going to the scrapyard alone, Donnie understood. He could think of many reasons why—but with all of his brothers otherwise occupied, the long and entirely reasonable list hadn’t stopped him from going anyway. Alone.

This particular possibility wasn’t on his initial list. Purple Dragons, yes. Purple Dragons overpowering him and trapping him in the clutches of the scrapyard crane?

It was so much worse than being bound or caged. Bonds were more predictable based on his range of movement; a cage was static, stationary. Donnie couldn’t prepare for the crest of breathless agony as the crane’s claw bore down on all sides, cold, coarse, filthy metal biting deep into his arms and ribs and along the underside of his shell. The latter was the worst, the point of pressure at the base of his spine just above the tail, pinging Pain! Pain! Pain! with such urgency that he couldn’t even pedal his dangling legs against it.

He had to focus, stay calm, think his way out, breathe. His panting was shallow, straining against the claw wrapped around his throbbing arm to wedge its tip into his plastron, threatening to impale him if he thrashed. All he could do was clench his fists and toss his head to shoot his captors a murderously defiant, Raph-like snarl.

“You’re not getting out of this one, freak! We’re gonna crack you open like a nut!”

Donnie and the crane groaned gutturally in tandem as its hold tightened impossibly further. Ribs shuddered and snap-crackle-popped, fiery pins and needles roared over him from head to toe and his vision was blurring. As such, he missed the moment a familiar shadow hurtled into the crane cab, kicking the Dragons’ hotwiring guy clear out the other side.

He missed the freedom of a full breath. He missed solid ground.