I'm not close I'm not safe

[unobtainableredemption]

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.]

Comments

[werethatgood]

I guess you've never found yourself in a place and time when none of those hundreds of trained professionals are there to help you.

[unobtainableredemption]

[Stops and stares at her.] I once ripped a bomb apart in the hopes I didn't get blown up. Still wished there was someone from the bomb squad there instead.

[Kaine brings a hand to his head. He really needs to stop talking.]

[werethatgood]

... and I rest my case.

While there are more people doing bad things and people get to have to go through that - and not everybody can rip a bomb apart - then the number of actual heroes doesn't matter. One more's always needed.

[unobtainableredemption]

Look, kid, I'm not saying that people should stop doing good deeds. But an untrained, glory-seeking--or even well-intentioned--asshole in a costume isn't "helping". They're usually part of the problem.

Or do I have to bring up Stamford? [He might have been in prison when that happened, but you'd have to live under a rock to not have heard about it.]

[werethatgood]

[ Ohhh, no, no you didn't. ]

And what would have happened if that team hadn't been at Stamford? And do I have to bring up what happened when people saw a mistake as standing for everything that they'd been trying to do?

FYI, I went into training. Because it's important. But you can't say that people ignoring what's happening is better than at least trying to help other people!

[unobtainableredemption]

If the New Warriors weren't in Stamford, neither would the asshole who actually blew himself up. Don't kid yourself into thinking otherwise. [Because he actually knows all too well how the bad guy thinks.] If it wasn't the New Warriors, then it would have been someone else. The Defenders [? Was that even still a thing?], Heroes for Hire [? Was that even still a thing?], or even the goddamn Avengers. Because we all know they're experts at destroying things all on their own without a super villain's help.

And I'm not talking about you. I'm talking about how fucking dumb it is that people even think it's a good idea at all to run around in a costume and play hero! [At least Kaine's including himself in that overly harsh statement.]

[werethatgood]

The Avengers didn't exist, at the time! I know, they disbanded after my dad died!

And you don't know that he wouldn't have blown himself up, there. Or somebody else. People that I've fought haven't shown up because there were good guys to fight them, okay? They wanted something, bad things. Sure, a few of them might've been going for recognition, but that wasn't everyone! The skrull didn't invade because there were heroes on earth!

The costume doesn't matter! Well, sometimes it matters, like Iron Man's armor or Spider-Man's mask or Mr. Fantastic's stretchy suit, but it's not the costume that's most important!

[unobtainableredemption]

Are you kidding me?! What the fuck was there in Stamford? Rich people!? I don't know if you've noticed this, kid, but there's no psychopathic supervillains in Los Angeles or Denver or Houston! They're all in New York City! And I wonder why!

[werethatgood]

[ What? Just... what? ]

Maybe not on your world, but where I come from, there are enough of 'em around LA that their kids got together and made a superhero team. They've even got a dinosaur!

[unobtainableredemption]

[Seriously? Jeez, he couldn't even remember the last time he was in LA.

Wait, this is derailing him from his point.]

And somehow LA is still standing! As opposed to New York which has to be rebuilt every other damn day!

[werethatgood]

[ Skeptical. ]

I've lived there. [ More to the point, so has Tony Stark. ] You might be simply misinformed.

[unobtainableredemption]

What, are you trying to tell me LA is a giant hole in the ground after someone blew it up? Because if not then you've missed my point entirely.

[werethatgood]

Well, no, but it does get blown up and attacked, too!

I dunno if you've only lived in New York or something, but I was in a team that could pop up anywhere around the world where there was a need, and we never saw New York for weeks and weeks!

[unobtainableredemption]

Barely!

Fine, forget LA. [LA is so overrated anyway.] What about Las Vegas? Portland? St. Louis? Houston? Denver? ...Salt Lake City? [He's pretty sure he's the closest thing Salt Lake City ever got to a supervillain.] When was the last time anyone attacked them? How about Miami? Chicago? New Orleans? Memphis? Phoenix?

I can go on.

[werethatgood]

[ Did you even hear what she said? ]

Ulan Bator, China, Harare, Paris, Rio - yeah. Anywhere. Everywhere. And those guys did not expect a team of superheroes to pop up there.

[unobtainableredemption]

[Not really.]

Let me guess AIM? HYDRA? Despots with dreams of being the next Doom?

I sincerely doubt you were fighting Brazilian bank robbers.

[werethatgood]

All of the above. All. Also the occasional rogue Inhuman.

[unobtainableredemption]

Why, was SHIELD busy that day too?

[werethatgood]

I dunno. It was in China, I think they were going to get into trouble if they got involved. Not that Uncle Hank asked them.

... though by the time he got to know more than the two people sent over were needed, it was a bit of an emergency. Like, really really really an emergency. No thanks at all, Loki.

[unobtainableredemption]

Isn't he dead?

[That reminds him, there's another city other than New York and Stamford gone to hell because of superheroes: Broxton. (Bronxton? Whatever.)]

[werethatgood]

What year is it for you?!

[unobtainableredemption]

2013, why?

[Wait, did he come back again already?]

You know what, I'm never going to assume anyone's dead anymore. I should know better by now. [Because only Ben stays dead...]

[werethatgood]

Yeah, the Loki - the kid Loki - who was here? My teammate said that he was in our world. Somehow, in our team, but I guess things change, with time.

[ There's still anger, though of a different kind, in her voice; and sadness, too. Her shoulders hunch a little, arms more hugging herself than crossed. ]

And... I guess in some cases that's what one can hope. Or something like that.

[unobtainableredemption]

[Stares down at the street as she talks.]

...There's a saying. "Everyone deserves a second chance."

It's bullshit.

Some people just can't be redeemed.

[werethatgood]

I'd say it differently. Some people don't care much about being redeemed. Or at all. Or aren't very serious about it.

Something like that.

[ She's pretty sure it's possible for most people. ]

... but it doesn't help that some of them keep pretending they want to be better.