closed;

[crotcharrow]

Date: After this thread.
Location: Edge of the Metal Sector, then the mines.
Situation: After Brandon finds out about Kate's disappearance, he offers to join Tommy in blowing things up to get rid of unwanted feels. Shenanigans ensue.
Warnings/Rating: Violence, explosions and a whole lotta man feels. UPDATED: Mentions of torture and experimentation.

[Part of him doesn't know why he agreed to this. He's always dealt with this stuff alone. Letting people in isn't something Tommy is very well practised at doing and he had no plans on starting now. And going up into the mountains to go smash some stuff until he stops feeling like the grounds about to swallow him whole? Not exactly a time he wants someone else around.

But for some reason, here he is, a backpack filled with food, waiting impatiently on the edge of the Metal Sector for Brandon, of all people, so they could go find somewhere up in the mountains to expend all this unwanted negative energy. Because somehow that seemed like a good idea to agree to at the time. He's having his doubts now--he's been having them since he shut the console off--and even though he's turned up, he's not even sure if he's going to let Brandon actually tag along yet. It's not like he needs a babysitter right now.]

--Ugh, c'mon Sparky. I ain't got all day.

Comments

[sharpes]

Yeah, water conducts electricity. It means I've gotta make sure none of my teammates are standing in puddles when I decide to take down a badguy.

[He rolls his eyes. Teammates, god.]

[crotcharrow]

You got team mates? And here was me thinking you were a lone asshole.

[He offers a small grin.]

That's gotta get annoying. Making people get out of the way before you can zap shit.

[sharpes]

Naw. We were all graduates of the Norman Osborn school of 'let's torture teenagers until they do what we want'.

[a pause, and a briefly disconcerted look.]

I'm the only one he didn't have to torture. I mean, Finesse too, but she's different. And then we ended up being the Avengers' charity project. 'Oooh, better help these kids because our ineptitude fucked them up in the first place', but really we're all just on supervillain watch and they want to keep an eye on us. We're the most powerful rejects from that whole... thing.

And yeah, you bet your ass it's annoying.

[crotcharrow]

[Tommy does actually slow down to listen to Brandon, his eyes moving to the floor when torture is mentioned. He never got tortured by Norman Osborn, but damn, he knows what people torturing teenagers until they do what we want felt like. At least Brandon hadn't actually been tortured himself, and had gotten training and actual acknowledgement from the Avengers. If that even counted for anything. It seemed they had a lot of teens on supervillain watch.

He snorts.]

I didn't graduate from anything that fancy. Mine was more a 'lets experiment and torture mutant kids and turn them into biological weapons' kind of deal.

[Trying to keep this blase.] The Avengers like to keep a lot of us on supervillain watch. I'm pretty sure Wolverine wanted to kill my brother just in case he turned into another Scarlet Witch.

[sharpes]

I never had to worry about that. I'm not a mutant. My mom made sure everyone knew it, too. She had me on national television to have my DNA tested by a panel of doctors. No X-gene. Go me.

[And it only had the fourth highest rating for the time slot. She wasn't happy about that.]

Yeah, like they've never fucked up. Gone rogue or been brain-washed. Killed people. Just because so many of them come back from the dead doesn't erase the shit they've done.

[And then, quieter,]

Sorry to hear that. About Billy.

[crotcharrow]

[Tommy blinks, frowning at Brandon. He'd assumed he was a mutant. That was just how it went, right? Super powers usually meant mutant or mutated spider bite or aliens.]

So what, you're like, kid Thor or something? How'd you even get powers?

[He snorts and kicks a rock ahead of them.] Seriously. That's what I was saying. I wish I punched Cyclops.

[He really does. But shouting in his face had been just as good at the time.]

Yeah, well, it wasn't like we were about to let them take him away.

[sharpes]

I don't know. Nobody does. One day I was just... I was normal and then this.

[He sounds a little bitter about that. Rick is never a happy topic.]

Yeah? Good. I mean, not that I'd expect anything else from the 'Junior Avengers'.

[crotcharrow]

[He's watching him with interest.] That's weird. You sure you didn't get struck by a magic lightning bolt or something stupid like that?

[Because that's how getting superpowers without the X-Gene works right? He gives a shrug.]

So what, your team isn't close or?

[sharpes]

[He hikes his pack up on his shoulders.]

Positive.

[Everything about his tone is like a flashing 'let's not go there' signal.]

And no, not really. I mean we barely know each other.

[crotcharrow]

[Yeah, he picks up on that and decides to go with the other line of talk. It's kind of sad that Brandon doesn't have what he has. Even though he's not exactly sure what he has. Other that he'd give anything to hold onto it. Even if he was last-to-know-anything-team-sociopath material.]

Just be glad you're not forced into team bonding exercises. If i have to sit through The Sound of Music one more time I'm going to strangle Billy.

[sharpes]

Well, we tortured a guy together. That's pretty 'team building' as far as I'm concerned.

[Yeah.]

[crotcharrow]

[Way to bring this conversation to a halt, Brandon.

He side eyes him, suddenly looking a little uncomfortable. Electricity hadn't been uncommon in his tests, the labcoats using it to coax his muscles into moving when he had no energy left to do, pushing them to the limit to see when they'd break. And though he hadn't initially made the connection with Brandon's powers, the mention of actually carrying out torture is enough to dredge that nugget of information out of the sludge of things he'd rather forget.]

Right. Fun.

[sharpes]

He deserved it. You ever hear of 'Hood'? Or met Tygra?

[He's not surprised it makes Tommy uncomfortable. Hell, it did the same thing to Steph. But Brandon's not above using shock tactics when it suits him.]

[crotcharrow]

[Yeah, and the guys who did that stuff to me thought I deserved it too.

He bites his tongue before he says something he regrets, his jaw clenching just slightly. He eyes Brandon warily, almost as if to test the water.]

--No. [he gives a small shrug.] Wait, ain't Tigra supposed to be a good guy? The tiger-bikini chick?

[sharpes]

[did I seriously spell it 'Tygra' I have been playing too much Arkham City jesus.]

Yeah. She's one of our teachers. And this guy, Hood, he-- let's just say he tortured her. On camera. Jesus, he laughed about it and I just-- we spend so much of our lives looking the other way. Turning the other cheek. So we can be fucking 'heroes.' So people like Hood pull shit like that because they know we'll 'rise above it' or whatever the fuck that means.

Sometimes you don't want to rise above it. Sometimes you wanna just take the people that hurt you and hurt them back. Hard enough that they won't come back for round two. And that's what I did.

[crotcharrow]

[LMAO i was wondering.

He listens carefully, blinking at Brandon. Okay, so it hadn't been the kind of torture Tommy had thought it was going to be. That helps. And well, he can relate. He makes a small noise to clear his throat.]

I know what you mean. Hell, you're talking to the 'Team Sociopath' here. [He gives a weak laugh, and glances at the scenery.] When they got me out of that place, all I wanted to do was track down everyone who ever hurt me and do exactly what they did to me. Show them what they made. And stop them from doing it to anyone else. God, I still want to.

[He gives a small shrug, frowning, saying with a little hint of venom:] But 'Avengers don't kill'.

[sharpes]

[Brandon gives him a sideways look.]

You aren't the only one who's got people you want to hunt down.

[He shrugs.]

But you don't need to kill somebody to get your point across. Electricity does some pretty nasty things to the human body.

[crotcharrow]

[He gives a weak laugh.]

Go us, two teens out for revenge on the people who fucked them up. Geez, that sounds like a bad movie.

[Let's make light over the fact Tommy just admitted he wants to kill people. Yup.

He glances at Brandon, grimacing.] Yeah, I know. Got first hand experience.

[sharpes]

[He gives Tommy a long look, and then pointedly examines the landscape around them, shrugging his pack higher on his shoulders.]

I already killed the worst one.

[He has no idea why he's admitting it. Telling Steph was one thing, but telling Tommy's entirely another, and he just. Closes his eyes briefly and then shakes his head.]

Shit. Sorry.

[crotcharrow]

[he frowns, not sure if that's supposed to make him feel better about this whole situation. He's not really sure how to react.]

Did it help?

[God he wishes his mouth would wait for his brain to catch up. But he can't help but wonder. Kate and Eli always told him that killing the people who did that to him wouldn't do anything. It wouldn't help. It wouldn't make him feel better. But he had always been sure that they were lying--that they couldn't understand what he was going through, or put themselves in a position where they could make that assumption for him.]

--It's fine. I mean, it's not even the worst thing they did.

[It's not fine. But he's pretty sure the electrical currents on his legs to test how his muscles worked with a progressively higher charge was pretty tame to what Brandon was talking about.]

[sharpes]

I don't know.

[This is. Definitely the most honest he's ever been with Tommy.]

Sometimes I sleep better. Sometimes I don't. It's like a lottery of 'how fucked up can I feel today'.

[a dry laugh.]

Yeah. I'll bet. Nothing people like more than seeing how other people tick, right? It's basically a national pastime.

[crotcharrow]

[He watches Brandon carefully, his fingers curling around his thumb uncomfortably as he speaks, giving a small nod. It doesn't help him. He's not sure if any answer would have helped him other than make him question his morality more. Did it make him a bad person for wanting to wipe another off the face of the earth? He's almost a little scared how easily he could have turned--how easy it would have been for him to join a team like Coat's and actually go through with it. God he's so fucked up he doesn't even know how to feel about anything other than trying to shove everything back down.]

Oh yeah. And boy, did they wanna find out how I worked. Gotta figure how to use me for a weapon and junk.

[sharpes]

[He snorts.]

Why do you think Osborne was all over me. Sometimes it scares me how powerful I am. You know, I can detect electrical impulses in people's brains? [grimly,] And I can interrupt them.

[It's not bragging. Man, he wishes he wasn't as powerful as he is. His life would be so much easier if--

God, what he wouldn't give for it to just be easier.]

Did they know who you were? The whole-- family connection?

[crotcharrow]

[He blinks at Brandon.]

Wow, remind me not to piss you off. [It's said as lighthearted as he can manage. He scuffs his feet along the floor a little, pulling the backpack back up onto his shoulders so it's resting more comfortably.]

No. I didn't even know. I mean, it's not like the Scarlet Witch raised me. [he pauses, stretching his fingers.] And besides, it wasn't the speed they were interested in. It was the whole, I can destabilize atomic matter from a distance and cause things--like my school and people--to explode from the inside out thing that really got them wet in their lab coats.

[sharpes]

[His answering smile is a little tight.]

I don't-- I wouldn't do it to a friend.

[Fffffffuck he used the 'f' word. what the hell. Change topics.]

Yeah, I'll bet. Guess they missed Ethics 101 back in their little School of Mengele.