tushanshu_logs | I'm not close I'm not safe

Entry tags:

I'm not close I'm not safe

Characters: Kaine and OPEN
Date: December 23rd
Location: Brazen Turtle; Various
Situation: Kaine has an empty nest. Clearly this means there is something wrong with him as a person.
Warnings/Rating: PG-13 to be safe (Kaine has a filthy mouth)

Option A (Kaine):
[Kaine sat at the bar of Brazen Turtle, staring at his beer. He didn't know why he was as bothered by Peter leaving as he was. After all, how many times had he threatened to kick Peter out? He didn't even particularly like the smaller version of Peter Parker. All his presence did was remind him that there were more idealistic idiots out there than even the Peter he was familiar with. The kid was nothing but a nuisance, constantly butting into his business and forcing him to do things he didn't want to do. How could this kid, this boy who didn't know the first thing about him (by design), mean anything to him?

He had spent his entire life alone; he had always preferred that to the company of anyone. There was no one in the world--in the universe, he supposed--that was like him. They all had souls and families and relationships. He was a human shell hiding a monster within a monster. Miles Warren, his father, had put him on his destructive path by creating him, but Kaine was fully aware that he was the instrument of his own destruction. His own actions through the years had insured that he could never join society the way that Ben had tried, no matter what he did in an attempt to atone. Kaine knew this... he embraced it. So why was it bothering him now, all thanks to a kid he didn't particularly like?

Aracely. Peter reminded him of Aracely. That was the only thing he could think of. And he didn't particularly like her either. She was just someone who needed help, and he was the unlucky sap who got saddled with her. If he had left her, she would have just gotten killed... in any of those times he had gone back to save her. She was just a child. She deserved a second chance. Peter deserved a second chance.

Kaine downed the rest of his drink, knowing full well that it will probably come to bite him in his low tolerant ass later.]

Option B (Scarlet Spider):
[Kaine needed something to punch. It didn't matter what or who, so long as it had a face that he could connect with his fist. He had no recollection of putting the costume on, or leaving his suite for that matter, only swinging through the air throughout Keeliai, looking for someone relatively out of place. He was a man on a mission, one who wouldn't be satisfied until he was able to take his frustration out on someone who looked like they might deserve it, preferably someone of the criminal persuasion.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

What the hell do you think any war is? Someone having a pissing contest with someone else and whoever has the biggest damn guns wins. Don't even have to rack up the biggest body count.

[She snorts into her drink.] And I said I was bored, not stupid. Why do it myself when there's obvious some asshole out there willing to do it for me?

You know what I meant.

[Guess who's usually "that asshole."] I don't think you're going to find anyone stupid enough on this turtle.

[She takes a drink and laughs a bit, looking at him with a raised eyebrow.] You haven't been around long have you? There's some guy going around who does it for kicks. Too bad it doesn't seem like we get much out of it. Maybe he's too much of a chicken and likes to just say he's doing it.

Seriously? [Really, he knows he shouldn't be surprised and yet he is.] Even if I'm not sold on this whole evil thing, I know better than to try my luck.

[Someone who understands.] Like I said, dumb as a sack of bricks. But it works in my favor if it gets people riled up enough for something to start.

With all the damn heroes strutting around and throwing their weight, you'd think this would be solved already. Instead they make it harder to get things done. [She tries not to sound so bitter, really.]

You're assuming they try to stop something before it starts. [Pauses to order another drink.] No, they wait until half of New York has been destroyed before getting their ass in gear. They don't know what it means to be proactive.

[Tea watches him for a moment, because this is the first time someone has completely agreed with her and it's...weird. She's not even sure if it's a good weird.]

That's because they're so full of themselves they keep thinking no one will do anything while they're around. [She rolls her eyes.] Almost as annoying as their double standards on what laws they can break but no one else can. Arrogant hypocrites, the lot of them.

No, it's because they're all about second chances and "maybe this person will change now, after we throw him in jail for the 90th time." Then they're surprised when a week later they're back on the street doing the same damn thing.

I'm not saying kill them all... [Takes his beer from the bartender.] but some people aren't worth second chances.

They say they're about second chances, but really they just want to be able to claim the moral high ground by acting all benevolent. If they did what they really wanted to do, they wouldn't come out looking so nice in front of the cameras.

[She finishes off her drink and pushes the glass toward the bartender.] Couldn't they get anything stronger around here?

Not all of them. [Peter is specifically coming to mind... and the Peter here, and May.] Some of them just can't do it. They can't become what's needed to get the job done.

[Looks down at his drink.] Even if they did I couldn't have it. Not if I wanted to walk out of here and not become acquainted with the floor. [Damn you, Peter.]

Lightweight. That's cute. [She chuckles a bit because it's amusing to hear someone admit that out loud. She orders two more drinks. Maybe drinking more will make a difference.]

I pity the heroes who actually buy into all of the justice for all and peace on earth crap. They're setting themselves up for failure and a lot more dead bodies on their hands. What good do they even think they're doing?

Oh yeah, it's great. [Because most of the time he wanted to get drunk, but it was ridiculous how quickly he could do it... most of the time it took the fun out of it.]

Because they're apparently hardwired to do the right thing. [As he's now learning.] And they can't fight it, even if they want to.

And what the hell is "the right thing"? [A question she's asked herself maybe more than she'll ever admit.] Who gets to decide that and layout the mandate on the rest of us? Because they sure do think they're right and no other way could possibly get things done better.

Heh, they arrested Lex Luthor more times than there are holidays and that sure worked out great for them.

Fuck if I know... [Finally starts his second beer.] Sometimes it's obvious--stopping fires, muggers, human traffickers... The minute you get beyond that, I have no damn clue.

[Looks over at her.] I have no idea who that is.

Oh yeah right. Alternate universes. [She cares so little that she forgets about that most of the time.] Rich genius guy who hates Superman and has wrecked Metropolis a couple of times. He gets off every time. Think he's into politics now.

[And helping fund secret government organizations.] He's not even the worst of it. There's this Guy in Gotham called the Joker. So fucking crazy they don't even bother giving him a trial anymore, probably. They just throw him back in this asylum every time. And when he gets out and blows things up or kills a bunch of people? Batman catches him and throws him back in again. Been going on for years.

[He points his bottle at her; his thumb is over the top to keep it from splashing.] That's what I was talking about. That's the kind of monster that needs to be put down.

[But is that the right way? She can hear Waller going on about the good of the people and protocol, but those hypocrites trained her to kill enemies of the state behind the public's back. For them it was about doing it there way and that was the right way. Sometimes they were just as bad as the Justice League.

Except she gets fun toys from Cadmus.]

Truth is, I think they need those monsters. What's a hero without someone to save the world from? If they don't have someone to fight, we don't need their masked faces running around telling us what's best for us.

Isn't that all the more reason to get rid of them, according to you? So they no longer have a leg to stand on?

What? [She's not sure what he's asking and raises an eyebrow.] In my opinion, we should wipe the lot of them out. Then get rid of the shitty heroes, too. They act like their a cure to the disease but really they're one of the symptoms and don't realize they're killing the patient.

[She takes another drink and then licks her lips to catch a stray drop.]

Back home, my job was amputating the dead limbs and cauterizing the wounds.

[He shakes his head.] They aren't all useless. Some of them actually do some good. [He's mainly saying this because he's thinking of Peter, and doesn't want anything to happen to him.] And not every idiot who puts on a costume and tries to rob a bank needs to be offed. But there need to be people willing to cross the line the heroes won't to weed out the rest.

Which sounds like what you were doing.

For every alien invasion they stop, there's someone else who could have done the job and would have made sure they couldn't come back. Who wouldn't worry about whether getting rid of the threat was too mean for them. Whatever "good" they might be doing, we don't need them doing it if they're going to hesitate when it counts.

[Sorry but she's never going to believe that superheroes actually do any good when most of the time they just cause problems.] The big difference between them and me? I actually had the government on my side and they were the ones holding a huge beam cannon floating over the heads of every person on the planet. Biggest threat the earth ever had was an army of super humans living above us.

Only you're making the same argument they make. I'm making the better choice than the other guy. I'm the only one who can stop these idiots from hurting innocent people. Only difference is your definition of idiot.

Think about it--that's the same damn logic as them, only you have the US government on your side. Congratulations, you were backed by the group more corrupt than superheroes are idealistic. [Takes a drink.]

[He's got a point but she doesn't actually care. She gives a little shrug of her head.] Can't live in this world without having a little bit of hypocrite in you. But at least I know it. And I'd rather work for a government that knows it's corrupt but trying to do the right thing, instead of the group that still thinks it's not and refuses to look past its own nose.

The world is what it is, but that can't see it. I'm not a fan of the blind leading the idealistic.

The government doesn't give a damn about the right thing. They care about their own self interest, and if that happens to coincide with the right thing, great.

And I think you mean the idealistic leading the blind. Either way, you're giving the heroes too much credit.

[She laughs and smacks the bar in a bout of amusement, not that hard really, but the counter shakes just a little.]

You're the first person to ever tell me I give them too much credit. [Usually she has people insisting she's wrong and needs to give them more credit for what they do.] Besides, I wouldn't exist if the government didn't care about doing the "right" thing. Just so happens for them that's protecting the citizens who pay their salaries. A win-win.

[She says it flippantly, a bit of a slip of the tongue almost, to the point she doesn't even notice.]

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