eleventh bite | anon text (shocker!)

[redhourglass]

welcome back and congratulations.

[ grudgingly, if a text can be grudging.

she's not a battle type of person; but that one was a big one and everyone had fought well, if not a bit desperately. even she'd been in the thick of it and that's not even technically her area of expertise. if she couldn't gather intel here, she might as well fight as a soldier, regardless of her distaste.

there's been something on her mind, however. something else than her usual 'everyone be prepared' and 'something bad is coming'. it's a bit closer to home; a bit more related to her life in asgard and a history back home that she'd rather forget.

there is a long pause in the text message before it continues, appearing on the bracelets. ]

i've been speaking to you for six months under this moniker.
the time is coming for you to know me. but not yet.

today, i have a question for you. answer honestly.

is it morally reprehensible to use a power that means invading someone's privacy? even in the service of what may be considered good?

Comments

perma- anon text.

[redhourglass]

that's all i ever was

i do what i can to pay the debts i owe

[private]

[ex_outofcontrol435]

[And he can't even mock that anymore, because he's felt real contrition now, and knows the weight of it.

He's the first to make the thread private, not because he's worried about outing her, but because even the anonymous Red Text likely wouldn't want this spread all over the network. She's still safe.]

So you're, what, weeding out the weak links? People out for themselves, ones looking for a way to jump sides, shit-stirrers who wanna wreck everything no matter what's at stake? What'll you do with them?

private.

[redhourglass]

yes, to start with.

nothing much. i haven't found out how far the power extends. where i'm from, it's possible to plant an idea in someone's head, make them think it was theirs. you can trick people into believing in an entire false life, if necessary. if there's a way for me to do that, then i will.

[ she knows all about living a lie, literally; living a production that someone has put in your head and then waking up one day and finding out -- nothing. you were nothing. your life was nothing. ]

even getting to a leader on the battlefield, someone marshaling troops, and finding out their plan and formation would be more useful than cutting them down one at a time.

coloured text is a bitch, i've done it before. such a pain.

[ex_outofcontrol435]

Yeah, I know all about that. [Well within the Professor's scope, had he chosen to use his power that way. And beyond that, beyond Pyro's knowlege, there was always Jason Stryker, the great illusionist.]

If you're gonna go that far, they'd better be a serious fucking threat.

sigh it's going to be nice not to have to once she's out in the open

[redhourglass]

is the end of the world enough of a threat for you?

<3

[ex_outofcontrol435]

People need to stop saying that right now. Like I didn't pick up on the stakes and join the good guys ages ago. I'm there, alright?

Someone who's got doubts and could probably be talked into cooperating doesn't get fucking fantasyland. That's the kind of threat I'm talking here. Case by case basis.

[redhourglass]

i didn't mean it that way.

i know. i don't expect you to believe me, but i wouldn't be considering this if i didn't think it was necessary.

[ex_outofcontrol435]

Well, now you know.

Just watch it. Telepathy's more powerful than most people think, even the ones that have it. You've got lines right now, stick to them.

[redhourglass]

worried i'll get into your head?

people already don't trust me. i'd hate for you to be one of them.

[ex_outofcontrol435]

My head's sloppy seconds by now. Shit, thirds. I've got bigger worries than that.

[redhourglass]

like?

[ex_outofcontrol435]

Didn't I ever tell you how Stryker actually came so close to wiping us all out before I got here?

[redhourglass]

no.

close enough that you have that waiting for you at home?

[ex_outofcontrol435]

Way better waiting back home. But that's beside the point. It was psychic energy, technologically enhanced and then focussed on a single group. His puppet was strong enough that he could crank it up high enough to - well, pretty much what the gods here do to people with outside powers.

[redhourglass]

did he do that to you?

[ex_outofcontrol435]

Genocide, remember? Not Pyrocide. We all got some nasty fucking headaches.

Good thing my leader's got a helmet that blocks all psychic energy. He broke the connection somehow before Stryker could get what he wanted.

[redhourglass]

seems like he should have made a helmet for everyone.

[ex_outofcontrol435]

Yeah, well, he's not that public-spirited. And pretty much redefined "expendable" with the Brotherhood. I just didn't know that yet.

Still missing the point, though. I dunno how strong you are or how strong anyone can even get with this bullshit telepathy, but pushing it to the limit could mean way the hell more than you think.

[redhourglass]

you think i'm going to go on a genocidal rampage?

[ex_outofcontrol435]

Follow along, Red Text, it's all written down for you to go back and read again for fuck's sake. I said his puppet did the dirty work. Don't know the details of the brainwashing, but what matters is that the Professor could kill one person no problem if he concentrated enough of his psychic energy on them. All Stryker did was amplify that.

[redhourglass]

i see.

feels a little bit like cheating.

[ex_outofcontrol435]

Which part? All of it? Yeah, it all is.

What I'm saying is actually pretty simple. Don't think at someone so hard you melt their brain. Got it?

[redhourglass]

believe me, i got it

though i think you wouldn't complain if i fried thiazi

[ex_outofcontrol435]

Disable her long enough to give me one hit and then she's yours. I really doubt you've got that kinda firepower, though.

[redhourglass]

you never know

that's the scary part, isn't it?