8. Wildcat (public video)

[heisrisen]

[About an hour and a half after the conclusion of this thread, the Emperor's communicator turns on. In the stark light and deep shadows of the floodlights in the engine room, he sits surrounded by parts and tools. He's drenched in blood, and his clothes are rent in a few places, although there are no visible wounds. He is utterly, preternaturally still, not as though he is controlling himself, but simply as though there is nothing in him with intent to move. His eyes are not quite vacant, but very, very distant. After a long pause, he takes a breath - his first, so far in the message - and uses it to speak, in a soft impassive tone.]

Victor Creed came here some time ago. He killed Barbara Gordon and ourself.

[He seems to go very far away again. Then, without bothering to turn the communicator off, he returns to his work.]

Comments

[wecanavenge]

You're both alive now? [Creed >(]

[heisrisen]

[It takes a moment before he looks up, expression still blank.]

...no.

[He picks up the communicator and turns it to view another part of the engine room. There are pieces of Barbara's body strewn on the floor, although her head is missing. He returns the device to its previous position.]

We are, technically, still dead. We are immortal.

[wecanavenge]

[Oh that is grotesque. He locks his jaw and doesn't look away but the storm clouds are gathering on his face.]

Where's her head?

[heisrisen]

We don't know. He killed us first, so we did not see what happened to her. Presumably he took it.

[Private]

[youwillgotohell]

[Well that is a disturbing fucking stillness, sir.]

Risen? Are you still there?

[Private]

[heisrisen]

Yes.

[Morgana. He pauses in his work, for her, waits to see if she wants something.]

[Private]

[youwillgotohell]

Has he gone?

[megamind]

[ Welcome to Megamind's utmost horrified face ]

Oh-- God--

I'll-- be back in the engine room in-- few minutes. For the love of all that's good...

[ And then he heads on down, because holy mother of God that's not a good sight, and he doesn't even know what's happened to Barbara! ]

[heisrisen]

[The Emperor seems unconcerned. Pieces of Barbara's body are left here and there - he only bothered to move the ones that were obstructing the repair work. He putters around beside the carnage, methodically detangling and reconnecting a power array. He doesn't look up when Megamind enters. It's not that he doesn't notice; it's just that a response seems trivial compared to continuing his work.]

[megamind]

[ Megamind stops in the door was as soon as the smell hits him. He stops, and then he turns, and staggers down the hall a bit to vomit. He didn't have much in his stomach to lose, but that? That would make him heave regardless. ]

[ A few minutes later he comes back, and takes a glowing cube from his pocket, and his ever-present water-bottle. He got them wet and the brainbots he'd leashed together and dehydrated popped back into beading. ]

C--Clean up M-M-M-Miss Gordon.

Gently. With r-r-espect.

[ If robots could convey horror at the prospect of picking up somebody's remains and guts? The brianbots sudden look at the mess, and then each other could get it across. But nevertheless, they slowly floated off to help their master. ]

[ Megamind swallowed hard again and approached the Emperor. ]

Are you-- you're at full power, then? You just-- came back.

[ And Barbara, well. Whatever his problems with her, he didn't enjoy seeing her like that even knowing she's return. ]

I've g-got it from here. You might want to... clean up, less you get... uh. D-debris in the s-sensitive systems.

[ So much for Megamind, repair team leader and Most Experiened Guy Ever. Right now he was trying to ignore the wet, slick noises as bits of meat were collected and ferried away to await 'resurrection'. ]

[Private/Handwritten Text]

[forsaken_queen]

[Where has Sylvanas been? Well never you mind. That's unimportant.]

Are you well?

[Private/Handwritten Text]

[heisrisen]

[No elevated pronouncements for Sylvanas; she would not be comforted by his inability to die in itself. Not that he currently cares about being comforting, but connotations are always part of a message, and he prefers to give an accurate one.]

We have recovered enough to perform our duties. We are not in pain.

[Private/Handwritten Text]

[forsaken_queen]

Irrelevant. Are. You. Well?

[Because that sounded like a "no" if she ever heard one.]

spam

[godsays]

[ He doesn't waste time with a video message. He just goes. He runs. And when he sees the Emperor, working away, calm and empty, sees the blood from Barbara's corpse, he loathes Creed.

He moves forward and pulls the Emperor back from where he's working. ]

Look at me.

[ He reaches out to the Emperor's emotions and Riots. It's only a little pull, right now. Like trying to nudge a sleeping man awake. ]

spam

[heisrisen]

[His eyes widen - it's surprise that magnifies easiest, from a reflexive kernel at Zane's touch and sudden demands, a low-affect emotion that the symbiant erases less forcefully. He draws in a breath, little puffs of confusion and curiosity blooming inside him like misty breaths on a frigid winter morning, warm and tremulous, small in wide emptiness of the air, on the verge of dissipation.]

What are you - what -

spam

[godsays]

You can beat this.

[ This time, he reaches out, and he Pushes, much more forcefully, a rough shove. He still has duralumin, if it comes to that. He can go one step further. ]

You can. Come back.

[mistconduct]

For fuck's sake, I just talked to her, are you FUCKING kidding me?!

[heisrisen]

[He does not look up.]

No.

[mistconduct]

Shit. Shit, what the fuck?!

Fuck Creed. I cannot fucking believe this.

[ Video ]

[surfaceshine]

What?!

[And then the anger slams out of him and Dean's voice goes cold, barking with command.]

Where are you?

[ Video ]

[heisrisen]

Still in the engine room.

[There's a waspish hint of obviously to his tone, which is as much of a reaction as anyone has been able to get out of him.]

There's still work to do.

[ Video ]

[surfaceshine]

I'm on my way.

[And indeed he is, at a run, as if he can stop it by getting there sooner rather than later. Like it's not already too late.]

How long ago?

[itstopped]

Barbara?

[heisrisen]

[This is not a helpful question. There's no direction to it. He doesn't know what Felix wants, besides perhaps a lie, which would be unhelpful in the longer term. He could be blunt, say she's still dead or perhaps over there, in pieces. But he knows that Felix heard him, and that Felix is smart enough to figure out that his own resurrection is due to his inmate status, and not applicable. Repeating it would be redundant.

He also knows, intellectually, that such an answer would be cruel, and that unnecessary cruelty might harm the efficiency of the repair effort as a whole. So he says the gentlest relevant thing he can think of. He honors her.]

She tried to protect me.

[In a quiet murmur, his apathy might almost be mistaken for pragmatic solemnity.]

[itstopped]

[If he were still a robot, he'd admit that there's nothing logical about asking. He had heard the Emperor the first time. Barbara died. Creed murdered her. Brutally, if the blood on the Emperor is anything to go by.

Of course, there's nothing logical about getting upset about it, either, but that's where Felix is still proud to be human, if not so proud that he wants other people to see that humanity. He blinks rapidly, his eyes growing red and damp as he fights to contain his reaction, but he nods at the solemn proclamation.]

Thank you.