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]

[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.

[crotcharrow]

[That actually gets a small smile out of Tommy.]

For the record, I wouldn't explode your atoms either. I really don't want to clean your goop outta my hair.

[He gives a sigh and rolls his eyes.] Ethics doesn't count with mutants, didn't you get the memo?

[sharpes]

[It's a good thing he wasn't drinking on it because he'd be choking right about now.

Stupid, sexy Tommy.]

Glad we got that out of the way. It's like a mutual 'hey let's not kill each other' clause.

[There are so many more things he'd like to do with your hair anyway do you have any idea how pullable it is.]

Yeah, well, it's not like it's much different with mutates. So we're pretty much all in the same superpowered boat of 'hey those flatscans suck'. Not all of them. But damn, it's hard to shake a bad impression.

[crotcharrow]

[Yeah, Kate seemed to love to pull it whenever he went down on her. And damn, he liked it.]

Do we need to shake on it?

[He glances up at the fast approaching mountains, and snorts at Brandon's comment.] Yeah. Pretty much.

[sharpes]

I'm pretty sure that would end up with us just punching the shit out of each other. Pass.

[It's weird how much of this terrain seems familiar.

After six months, why the hell not, right?]

[crotcharrow]

[He grins.]

Nah, it would end with me punching the shit out of you.

[sharpes]

Oh don't even get me started, boy wonder.

[BITCH PLS.]

[crotcharrow]

I'm too fast for you to hit. [He gives a matter of fact shrug.] Sorry Sparky.

[sharpes]

Okay, electronic impulses in the brain aside, I'm still about ninety-nine point nine percent sure you can't out-manoeuvre lightning.

[ROLLING HIS EYES NOW.]

[crotcharrow]

Yeah, and you said you know that because of Pietro. Who I'm faster than.

[sharpes]

[Well, they're friends now, right? Right.

Whatever.]

You just about got smoked by a bolt back in-- dunno, October or whenever the hell that was.

[crotcharrow]

[He has to pause to think about that, frowning.]

--Wait what? No I didn't.

[sharpes]

[He hunches his shoulders a little.]

You sure about that?

[crotcharrow]

Uh, yeah, that was you who got hit.

[sharpes]

[oh my god tommy you are so hot but so dumb sometimes.]

Okay. Do you know what lightning rods are for?