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#997178 Fri 14/08/20 09:55 UTC
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Arssanguinus
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She finds her ‘captors’ shortly meeting with yet another Individual, a rather unremarkable man with what looked like an ankle monitor. When it snapped shut, it almost felt like a discharge of static electricity through her, then nothing.

She found herself taken to a room in a nearby building and sat down at a sim0e table, with a glass of water, with a new individual she did not recognize standing apparent guard. Shortly after, Grey eNtered the room, sat, placed both hands on the table, and waited an uncomfortably long time.

“Cadence, I think it is a time for frankness, a time for honesty and a time for thoughts.”

She had her name. Why did she have her name? Her name should not be out there,

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Forsaken

She followed where she was led. She was taken to a place. Didn't matter where though, it was a place. And there was a man. Didn't matter who he was. He served a purpose. He gave them a sense of peace and comfort. They watched as he did what he was supposed to do. She felt the the sensation she was meant to feel. Did they relax? She looked at the anklet and then to the man who knelt down to snap the thing around her leg. She remembered that the old man had said a name. This was probably that person.

"Hi Eric... Is it gonna work?" She glanced at the cuff device again, and then back to him. There was an emptiness in her voice. She wasn't mocking him but her question didn't have the sincerity of soul in it either. "I mean, not just now... but forever... because I don't think that whatever I am is going to go away... What do you think?"


****

Another room, in another place, wearing her new jewelry. It felt uncomfortable around her ankle, but she would not complain. She told them to kill her. She asked them to kill her. She begged them to kill her. This is what they did instead. Complaining was pointless. Hurt was meaningless. She glanced sidelong at the new 'guard'.

"Yeah, I didn't think so," she muttered. Even with the cuff around her leg her captors weren't certain yet. They wanted extra assurances. Good for them. She was dangerous. They knew it... and she knew it.

There was a table, and a chair, in a sterile room, with a powered guard, and glass of water. Her escort made it clear she was to sit there. She wasn't resisting. She had surrendered. This was part of the punishment they chose for her. This was part of their idea of justice. 'Bullet in the brain box' would have been faster, less expensive, more money left over for paint and furnture for this room... maybe even curtains? Nah, there was no window.

The woman wearing grey entered. She said the young lady's name aloud, as if hearing it in the space between them made it real.

"...time for thoughts?" Forsaken shrugged. "You can read my mind, or my feelings... whichever... both... You already have my thoughts... but ask your questions anyway."

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Eric:

“Forever? Not yet. But that is what my work is for.”

*******

Grey
She pulls back her hood, and leans back in her chair.

“No Cadence. I don’t. I have nothing more than what you are projecting. I could get more, but I will not go into your mind like that. If I made the choice, I could reach in and rip out that which I wished to take. I’m pretty sure for all of your connection to whatever it is that powers you, you wouldn’t have the defenses to resist. Doing that, however, would make me into something I do not wish to be. That I will not do.”

She pauses.

“You pose a certain conundrum, Cadence. I know that you think that your death is the best option. There are those who agree. However, in this case the decision is in my hands. My decision is that you will not be sent to the prison below, that would merely turn you in to what we do not wish you to be. You also will not be executed. Therefore, we have an alternate place for you.“

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Forsaken to Eric

She watched as he tested the device and made settings changes. "Eric, I want you to succeed. I never want this power to touch me again. But I know that you know there isn't a whole lot of science for what I do... You do know what I can do, right?"

****

Cadence

"There's that word again... choice."

Cadence shrugged.

"So you know my name... It's not the name my biological mother gave me. Not sure what that was... Maybe there never was a name... Maybe I was always going to be Forsaken to her. Don't care. Cadence is the name my true mother called me... When life was... was... Whatever, that's all gone now and there's no going back."

She looked at the anklet for a moment, and without looking up at first, she continued, "So, I'm a problem. I told you that out there," she said with a gesture to the imaginary outdoors. Grey had told her that she was indeed inside the prison at this point.

"Killing me would be safest option... If my moth... If Alchemy is still alive then she will come looking for me. And I know my freakin' insane Aunt is still alive. She wasn't close enough...."

Cadence sighed.

"I knew people would die. That's what I was being..."

Cadence stopped speaking and her jaw clenched tight, her eyes no longer met those of grey, and her lips were pursed so tight and thin as to be almost none-existent.

"It wasn't real... until it was. I had never killed anyone before. I knew what she intended... But not Why. She never talked about Why. Maybe it was just as simple as killing you or him," she said with a nod in the direction of her powered guard. "...or as many people as she could."

"And Nyx didn't need a why. No, I'm sure there was a Why. The plan was too precise. I only knew what she wanted me to know. Only what she wanted me to do. Wind me up and turn me loose. At a certain point she was going to tell me more... I knew that after I destroyed as much of the prison as I could I was going to go inside. I arrived, exactly as I was supposed to. The heroes were losing, trapped by their own codes, unable to save everyone and unwilling to to accept that losing a few was better than losing them all. She predicted all of this. She baited you into attacking her, coming forward. I saw the one, the flyer, and I swatted him out of the sky... I hurt him... or her... I didn't want to kill anyone. And then she executed that child for you to see... she wanted you to feel that agony as she..."

Cadence stopped the running dialogue of her memory.

"Is this what you want to hear?"

Cadence shook her head, refusing to let emotions get to her.

"8 months since she killed my mother. My mother knew her, recognized her... feared her... I feared her. I didn't understand what was happening. 8 months since she wiped Gun Barrel City into nothingness- no witnesses, no survivors... she never leaves loose ends."

"So do whatever you're going to do... and I hope you can protect the innocents when NYx comes looking for payback... and may God have mercy if Alchemy is still alive. She's evil and she's a sociopath... but she's not insane."

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Eric:

"Yes. Yes I do. Of all the people here, I perhaps understand it the best of anyone. And where science does not exist, I will have to invent it. This is what I do. I may be able to suppress powers - but in the end any real power I have lies in what I do."

Grey:

"Believe it or not, I am quite familiar with Nyx. I am quite familiar with Alchemy. I know both."

SHe looks her in the eye.

"Cadence, if you pause from your morass, you would realize that whatever we do or not to you will not factor into Nyx's actions. Nyx will do what Nyx will do. If you are not the pretext, something else will be. And Alchemy is as secure as she can be made."

She pauses a very long time.

"Were it not for a little talk I had with Eric, I would have been all for ending her. He would have to explain the science behind it, but he figures there is a significant chance that simply killing her she would convert spontaneously from matter to energy. E=MC2. Alchemy is a conundrum."

She sighs.

"But we are talking about your future. You will not be killed. The laws do not allow for it. And you do not, whatever you may think, deserve it. However, placing you in that facility has ramifications beyond any I want to comprehend. Therefore, we have one choice. We are going to teach you. To train you. Attempt mitigation in the way we are able."

Last edited by Art in the Blood; Fri 14/08/20 20:11 UTC.
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Forsaken to Eric

She wanted to know more. She wanted him to know more. She knew more than he did, but he would probably understand what she knew better than she did and that would help her understand it better. If that made any sense at all, that is.

But this Eric gave off the vibe that not only didn't he trust her(which was fair) but that he really didn't like her, maybe even detested her... and again, that was probably fair and also absolutely irrelevant to Forsaken. She didn't much like him either. Truth? She really didn't like anyone... not anymore.

She would test his device later. She had no intention of escaping but she did want to know what the device could reveal to her about herself and her powers. That would wait.

"Good luck 'inventing science' for something that's only a theory to you..."

For Cadence it was a real thing, despite not knowing enough science to help her master it. And then it occurred to her that this device she was wearing would be how Eric tested all the theories about Dark Matter and dark Energy- something he could neither see nor touch without her as a conduit. So she was his guinea pig- a lab experiment and wasn't going to say anything was he?

"Are we done here? I'm sure I've got places to be..."

***

Cadence to Grey

"I understand the science and the Physics. I started manifesting in small ways when I was 14. Nothing major, nothing serious. So I started trying to figure it out. Hard to do in a small town in Texas where's there's not too many... umm- what are we- Mutants? Evolutionary Advancement? What?"

"Never mind, it doesn't matter. So, I just learned everything I could and kept it hidden from everyone. Tried to be normal and do normal things."

"How are you going to train me?" It sounded rhetorical and a bit cynical. "Are you going to back time up and make it so that Alchemy didn't spend 8 months mentally abusing me and making me react to her powers and her tortures until my will broke and I accepted that anyone born with powers like mine can't possibly be a good person, or can't possibly deserve kindness from others, can't possibly be loved by anyone? Are you going to overcome the ingrained fear I now have of anyone who says they want to help me, teach me, train me. All I hear is that I am about to spend a whole lot more time fighting to stay sane while being mentally broken down again and again. How can I trust anyone? Why should I trust you? I mean, I have no choice, you're going to do what you're going to do and I promised I wouldn't resist the justice that was coming for me... I just want you to tell me the truth. You said it was time for truth, right?"

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Eric:

The man shrugged.

She would believe what she believed, and he didn’t think he was going to change the mind of this bitter young woman in the here and now. He simply said

“Good luck”

Grey:

“Truth? The truth is, you can never go backwards. The then and there is then and there. The now is the now and moving forward. You can’t undo, you just start doing something different.”

“I happen to believe that breaking someone down just makes you end up with someone who is fundamentally broken. Despite everything you say at a basic level I am not sure you are. I think you are more willful than you give yourself credit for. I also think that as much as trying to convince me you are a monster you are trying to convince yourself. I think it’s probably going to be hard as hell for you. I’m not going to lie. I empathize with you but, young lady, I am not going to pity you. You want pity, look elsewhere. You want validation of your self-loathing look elsewhere. Trust me because I’m not going to lie to you even if you don’t like all of my truths. Can’t guarantee you success but I can guarantee you a chance and that I, as well as others, will be fighting to make sure you have that chance.

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Cadence

"But there does sound like there's a few that want to see me burn in hell... I'm rooting for them," she said as she shrugged and shut down. "Heroes gonna hero so... I will go wherever I am sent... Do what I'm told."

So far she hadn't taken a drink of the water in the glass and it didn't seem like she would despite wanting to. It had been a horrible no good night. For some others it was worse though.

"Oh, and let your tech guy know that if he wants to study me," she said as she leaned over in the chair enough to tap the cuff around her ankle, "...you know, figure what makes me tick, and what happens when I touch the Darkness... He just has to ask... Until he does, I'm not even going to try."

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Grey:

“Yes. There are. I am not one of them. Those people do not work with us. However, I think you need some sleep. We have a room for you. It has a shower. Use it. I think this long day, at least, needs to end for you and turn the next page to see what may be on it.”

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cadence

"Can hardly wait..."

Sarcasm and cynicism was really the only defense she had left. She was not going to let this woman see her cry. But Cadence also suspected the woman already knew she wanted to cry. She wanted to weep. She was scared. She didn't want to kill anyone and yet she was somehow able to do it as though she could make a choice and all the variables were just parts of an equation. That somehow Cadence could turn off her humanity. And if Cadence was understanding that about herself, then she was also worrying about whether or not she was also a socio-path like her mother.

There were no more justifications to be made. What she did was wrong. She killed people. Stopping Alchemy was the only thing that mattered in that moment. Rationalizations allowed her to compartmentalize the consequences and protect her psyche from processing the tragedy she created while trying to stop a tragedy. That made her a Villain in the story.

The tears would come later.

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Continued in girls dorm.


Moderated by  Art in the Blood 

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