capeandcowllogs | (no subject)

[ it's a hard choice terry's making, and bradbury can understand the dilemma. part of it is being a teenager, he guesses. not that he thinks terry's much of a kid, but things are always a little more uncertain when you're at that age, and your friends are the only place you feel like you belong. like it's just you, together, against the world.

deciding to come to him couldn't have been easy, but it makes bradbury wonder: if he ever found himself in the same position with mitch, would he do what terry's doing now, or not? he has no fucking clue. ]

Relax. He's not gonna jump down your throat if you stutter. [ he cocks his head when mitch's voice comes through, and clears his throat, looking serious. ]

He'll listen. It's his fucking job to.

[ he opens the door then, before terry can reply, ushering him in front of him. once they're both inside, he takes up a position by the door -- not locking it, but standing guard. he nods at mitch, then at terry. ]

Hey, boss. You got a minute? [ his tone of voice implies, clearly, that he better be fucking ready to give him more than a minute. ]

Terry needs to talk to you.

Edited 2012-12-29 13:50 (UTC)

[ it's exactly that -- bradbury's right. the five of them, these outcast kids with powers too big for them... sometimes it feels like they only have each other. like only they can understand each other. that's why this feels like betrayal. he knows jenny isn't evil -- just like jenny always understood that he wasn't either, despite his heritage, his powers. it feels like he doesn't trust her enough. but he's still trying to convince himself right now that he's doing the right thing.

there's tension in his shoulders, around his mouth when he approaches mitch's desk. ]

It's about Jenny. I don't know how to dress this up or sugar coat it, so I'm just gonna tell you straight -- I think she might be taking over a foreign country. And knowing Jenny, it probably won't stop there.

[ Well, it wasn't like he could fucking say no now, but after the first words, he was starting to wonder if he should've told them to wait. After all, the phrase "I don't know how to dress this up" meant bad news, and his eyes flicked from the kid to his bodyguard in a concerned 'the fuck did you just drop on my door' kind of look, before he was right back to Terry.

And it didn't sound good, his hands clasping in front of him while he spoke, before he stopped, and Mitch's eyebrows knitted while he thought.

Mitch may not have spoken with Jenny, but he knew of her, via the network. More than that, he'd done his fair share of reading of the Authority, and he knew exactly what kind of power she had.

It wasn't good, and the prospect was even fucking worse. ]

Sit down, and tell me what you know. What country, and when?

[ Thankfully for all involved, while Mitchell could do the bullshit thing when necessary, when it came to business, he dove right in, and made a beeline for the things he needed to know. There wasn't going to be any fucking around with how Terry knew, because he didn't care. He understood in the City, people made strange bedfellows, he could appreciate that this happened more often than not. Hell, look at some of the people he'd contracted. ]

[ arms crossed, bradbury just shakes his head. the best he can do right now is watch, and step in if it looks like terry might need him to -- mitch can get a little intense, where things like this are concerned. he'll let terry do the explaining, for the most part, and mitch can ask the questions he hadn't thought to. bradbury wasn't good at political bullshit; he didn't see the full picture, or understand the implications.

even he knew an import taking over a country was bad fucking news, but he wouldn't be the one who could figure out how you'd even begin to prevent that from happening. ]

I don't remember exactly, alright? Some country in Africa. It was in some news clip. I wasn't really listening then, but after I put two and two together --

[ he's starting to sound angry, and he notices. so he stops, reels in. he's not mad, not really, just awful with feelings. and frustrated. remembering, maybe, when jenny came to see him at city hall a while back, how he'd known something was off. it'd felt like she was saying good bye and now he finally knew why. ]

It's probably been going on a while now. Me and the others haven't been able to use the Doors for weeks, and she's been hard to reach longer than that.

After you put two and two together, it seemed more likely she's not doing something she should be, right?

[ He asked it, but watched the shift of the kid's expressions. He blustered through himself, but he watched for an indication that there would be more to this. Mitchell wasn't the most perceptive, but he concentrated on what he could, because he had to.

He was really only not that perceptive when it came to people. His intensity, though, that came through. Eyes locking on Terry in the way most people wouldn't do, because this was serious fucking shit. Rick had done well, bringing him this way. He'd forgotten what it was like to have someone loyal who knew who to go to in a crisis. ]

I can watch the news and probably figure that one out. What else can you tell me? You think you know why she'd have thought taking over a goddamn country was a good idea?

[ he shifts a little on his feet, like the tone of the conversation worries him a little. mitch, he isn't worried about. terry, though ... he doesn't want to insult the kid by implying he needs backup, but he's pretty sure the kid feels bad enough without mitch going all mayoral on him.

he doesn't say anything, but he moves away from the door and comes up beside terry, just enough to give the silent reassurance of his presence -- and, mutely, an offer to step in if there was anything he didn't want to answer. ]

[ it's weirdly reassuring. the way he can feel bradbury's presence behind him. he's immortal and a demon -- and almost an adult now, besides that -- but there's something about that presence that gives him a grain more of strength. he tries not to dwell on it. if he does, it'll make him uncomfortable. confused.

he meets the mayor's eyes. he has his own intensity, maybe derived from all that pent up frustration, or maybe from the dark power laying quietly dormant inside him. maybe it was just the seriousness of their situation. ]

She's the Spirit of the Century. She's always calling herself the "protector of humanity." Maybe she thinks she's protecting them somehow -- or protecting us. I don't know. What I do know? Is that she's a reality alterer with a mission and not a whole lot she's afraid of.

[ If he's bothered by the kid's intensity, he doesn't show it. If anything, he appreciates it, because it shows that there's passion, and something can be said for caring about what you're worrying over.

That, and Mitchell Hundred stared down horrors that were almost unimaginable, but he didn't think on that. A flicker of thought toward his creators, and he snuffed it down, remaining on the task at hand. He remembered what Terry had said, about his powers. He could only hope that it wasn't constantly pervasive, or he may be in trouble. He essentially ignores Bradbury for the moment, he can offer all the fucking moral support he wants, but it's not going to change the situation any. ]

Motherfucker. Motherfucking reality altering-- [ He stopped himself, fighting to go into some rant about a comic book or another. There were some things one just shouldn't go into, like how House of M was a shitty event, and how reality alterers ruined everything. ]

Alright, figuring out where she's at won't be too tough, but stopping her is another thing altogether. By reality altering, you mean she can pull a lot of shit, and she can do it really fucking fast. Anything else you can share?

[ bradbury's eyes flick between terry and Mitch as they talk, with a sinking feeling that only grows more pronounced as things keep going on. laid out like this, the situation's unpleasantly real, even if they're talking about shit like altering reality and insanely overpowered super teens.

he thought he hated science fiction, but here he's starting to find he hates science reality even more.

and quietly, because he remembers a bitter teenage girl pulling on a cigarette like her life depended on it: ]

You think there's any chance of talking her out of any of this?

I mean I don't know what she's capable of. I don't think she does either.

[ sometimes he thinks she calls herself that -- a "reality alterer" because it's an easy label for potentially being able to do just about anything. of the group, she's probably the most powerful. and in the company jenny quantum keeps, that's saying something. he doesn't want to think too hard about what a confrontation with her would look like. she used to joke about killing her first man as a newborn -- there's even less humor in that particular story now.

outwardly annoyed with the difficulty of it all, terry irritably lifts a hand to brush his wild bangs from his face, glancing away with something like a glower on his face. ]

You don't seriously need someone to suggest trying to talk her out of it, do you? I mean, what's the friggin' alternative here?

That depends on how willing she'd be to listening. We could try, but if she's gone so far as to take over a fucking country?

[ Mitch doesn't think he needs to say it, so he does't. Not with a kid who's apparently a fucking fear...thing, and his former best friend and former bodyguard returned to his position. Mitchell was willing to go that far, but he didn't say so. There was no need to elaborate, especially with the teen right here in front of him. What would happen, and what would he do in response? He didn't need that. ]

Anyway, we don't know her capabilities, what do we know about her?

[ it's a lucky thing his control's gotten so much better. the telepathy never really turns off (the fears of others are always whispering, appealing to his perpetual hunger, on the edges of his perception, clawing at the back of is consciousness) but it's not focused now, not directed at anyone special. he can taste it though, knows there's fears in this room he could dig for. but he's not digging, at least not now. he doesn't think he needs that kind of leverage -- yet.

but something about mitch's question seems to rub terry the wrong way. he doesn't like the phrasing maybe, or where it's going. he feels like a tattletale. he feels like they're talking about someone else -- not his friend. not jenny. jenny whose habits he knows. he knows the things she likes, what makes her laugh. what does he know about her? a lot. maybe more than anyone except her own father.

he hates this. his voice comes out spiteful. ]

Don't you have people whose jobs are to figure that crap out.

Edited 2012-12-30 09:02 (UTC)

Yeah, and they'd be doing exactly what I'm doing, but a hell of a lot less nicer.

[ It was probably cold, but his gaze didn't stop. He just kept right on barreling through, and maybe it was because he knew he had his bodyguard to stop him, if things got too fucked up, but he needed more information. Mitchell understood that loyalty was a powerful thing.

He did, he really did, his eyes flicking elsewhere for just a moment, to the bodyguard, and then back to Terry. But in the face of what was necessary, he liked to think that other people would do what they had to as well. He knew it wasn't always the case, but he needed, desperately, to believe that other people would fall to their better natures, and realize that there were some loyalties that should break.

Had to break, for the right thing to happen. ]

Look, I know this is hard, but if we have any hope of making this right, I need to know everything I can, so I can figure out what to actually fucking do about it. I don't know enough about Jenny, but you do, and if I'm going to try and resolve this peacefully, I need to know who I'm dealing with.

[ he doesn't mean for it to come out so bitingly, but the bite is practically instinctive by now, and just a bit defensive: ]

You're dealing with a fifteen-year-old who made a space ship the size of a city by thinking about it. And now apparently she's adding conquest to the list of stupid crazy things she can do because she's Jenny Quantum.

[ he stops. purses his lips hard, like it takes conscious effort for him to reel his tone in. he has to be careful. anger was always a trigger for his powers. ]

You have to ask better questions. You can't just ask me what I know about Jenny. I know a lot of shit about Jenny. I know what color she paints her nails and what brand of cigarettes she smokes, but I doubt any of that will actually help you.

[ Fucking teenagers. Sure, Mitch had been one himself, but he'd always been a bit of an oddball even then, compared to his peers. He didn't go through a stage where he fucking hated the world, although he'd gone through a stage where he'd tried to escape the world by smoke a lot of dope.

Either way, the anger leaves him for a moment wondering what to do. His fingers drum against the wood of his desk, and he sighs, breaking an intense gaze to close his eyes and pinch the bridge of his nose. It took him a few, trying to pull away, and remind himself that people were different, people didn't run on logic. It was hard to remember, with more lives than just his at stake. Getting more people involved complicated things. How much easier would it have been at home if he could have told Commissioner Angotti that there were things coming, so they needed to prepare? It would have been easier on him, but it made things complicated.

Messied things. This was one of the reasons he kept all his fears and worries to himself, fought them on his own, using power grabs and dirty tactics to reach and build things up, so he had enough that when the time came, he was already prepared, even if nobody else was. ]

Fine. Has she ever done anything that made you think she would pull something like this before? Is there anything about her personality that would help me out here?

[ even though it seems like he's been resistant, he's trying to cooperate. as much as he can without feeling like the shittiest friend in this universe or any other. he doesn't make friends easily. he never fit in, doesn't know how to identify with others -- so the few that he does have, he'd kill for. he's trying to convince himself this is for jenny as much as it is for everyone else.

it's with less anger, but not less tension when he answers: ]

She posted to the Network asking global domination-type hypotheticals a few months ago. Joking about it. Or maybe just trying to piss people off. I don't know. [ evidently, she hadn't been joking that much. ] And she used to tell us sometimes, about how she'd seen futures where she takes over the world to save humanity. I wasn't ever really sure if she thought the future her fucked it up or had it right.

[ He nodded, listening. He didn't cut Terry off, but took it in, like a repository of data, weighing the variables. He needed everything he could take in, to decide on the best plan of action. The only sign of his own thoughts on it was the grimace that crossed his face, not at the words, but that someone could think that's something they didn't know about. ]

So this isn't something that's a surprise to any of you, I take it? [ His tone was low, surprisingly understanding that they wouldn't really see it until it was too late. At least he wouldn't sit there judging them quite yet. He knew that story, well enough, the type that Jenny was telling, after all. Too well. ]

But why now? Any ideas?

Edited (got unlazy, and added more) 2012-12-30 10:09 (UTC)

[ he honestly has trouble understanding jenny's motives most of the time. on the surface, she's actually pretty ordinary for a teenage girl -- or at least, she can play the part as well as you can expect the spirit of the century to, anyway. she drinks, she parties, she smokes, she rebels against her dad. but he -- and the others -- are always catching glimpses of something deeper, maybe darker. it's hard to remember she's only existed for nine years. she should be a child.

he isn't sure how they ended up here, like this. ]

I don't know. Maybe she's been planning it a long time. Me, Quentin, Striker, and Julian haven't been able to use the Doors for ages. [ a pause, then as if that needs explaining: ] I mean, we haven't been able to teleport through her space ship. It used to let us, but then it stopped a few weeks back.

[ a bit resentfully: ]

I figured we pissed her off or something, but apparently she just didn't want us following her while she took over a foreign country.

[ He barely batted an eye at the phrasing, but considered it for a long moment, like he was trying to figure out how to take it from there. How he could make use of that. ]

Do you think she fears you guys, or do you think it's because she didn't want you to know about it?

[ He doesn't know all of their little circle, obviously. He considers, though, what it could mean. Could she be ashamed of it? Was there still a girl there who didn't want to do this? Then why would she do it? He couldn't abide taking over a goddamn country, that was for sure, but the way to handle it would require some delicacy.

Especially if she could just alter reality. ]

How am I supposed to know? I'm not psychic -- not like that.

[ he's getting less and less willing to be helpful. the more he says, the greater his self-loathing gets, like there's a direct relationship between his guilt and how cooperative he is. he doesn't like talking about her this way. it makes her seem less like a person, more like a target.

a deep breath. no, he can answer that question. or try. ]

She isn't afraid of us. Not like that. She doesn't think of us as a threat. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if she eventually recruits us.

[ He inhaled, sharp and heavy, like he was trying to reign in an urge, and he was. The urge he had was just to bombard the guy down with questions until he told him what he needed to know to fix this, but he recognized that superpowered individuals, and namely superpowered teenagers weren't going to bow down to that.

But he really didn't know how to ask it much better, if he were being honest with himself. He was trying to be sympathetic, but he would throw himself under the bus to do the right thing, if he absolutely had to.

Only if he knew it would work, though. If Bradbury had brought him in, there was a reason, did he know any more than Mitch was getting? His eyes flicked in that direction, before returning to Terry. ]

But she didn't, not yet. [ It was thoughtful, this time. Thinking about it. ] There has to be a reason for that.

[ he's been wondering that too. she's always said they were her army -- in a friendly, sarcastic sort of way, most of the time -- but if anyone ever thought about that properly, there would probably be more than a few legitimate reasons to keep the five of them apart forever. jenny alone was taking over a small country. who knew what they were capable of together, with an arsenal ranging from mind control to immortality to devastating electrokinesis.

maybe he was being the weak link here. he wasn't sure. ]

Sure, there's probably a reason for it. Like she doesn't want us in trouble. Or wants to see where we stand first. [ a little bitterly: ] Or maybe she just doesn't trust us enough. Which wouldn't be totally stupid, considering I'm ratting her out to the mayor right now.

Hey, I know it's shit, but she's taking over a country. It's not like she snuck pot out of her dad's stash or something. [ His tone was wry, but it wasn't flippant. He took things like this very seriously, if Terry hadn't figured that one out by now. ]

What else can you do, just stand by? Let her do what the fuck she wants? A teenager, running a country? [ Inaction, in his eyes, was just as bad as supporting. For a guy who liked way too much history, it should be no surprise that he could think of plenty of historical examples, and even some comic-book related examples, but this wasn't the fucking history channel. He expected Terry at least got that.

This was very obviously his attempt to actually reassure him, as shitty as it was. ]

I could let someone who's not her friend figure it out.

[ there's that defensive tone again. like he's trying, unconsciously, to make a point of his loyalty to her, maybe even trying to pretend he doesn't feel a degree of loyalty to city hall too -- or at least, some of the people there. ]

Maybe she'll even do a good job. How the hell am I supposed to know. But I bet people like the assholes in Vulcanus won't like it, even if she does turn out to be some kind of stupid ImPort messiah.