fatemarked | enter Sir Grumpus McWhinelord, King of the Pissbabies [audio; filtered from Gene]

enter Sir Grumpus McWhinelord, King of the Pissbabies [audio; filtered from Gene]

[It's been a week, and Tony has done everything short of throwing himself on the floor of a Governor's office and literally kicking and screaming. And despite all his arguments and protests and even a few veiled threats, he is still stuck with Gene. They take this 'link' pretty seriously here. Tony thinks it sounds like a bunch of faux-mystical nonsense, but apparently he's not going to get the Governors to budge on it.

That means the only people he has left to turn to are the Fatemarked and his fellow Sentinels. He has absolutely no faith that the Governors are telling him everything. Maybe the other recruits will give him some straight talk.

The post is audio - he's not disguising his identity, but he's not going out of his way to make it obvious, either. He has locked the post from Gene, though. Gene already knows that he is extremely unhappy with the situation, and Tony really doesn't care about offending him, but he wants to minimize Gene's opportunities to needle him with snarky comments.

He makes a cursory attempt to hide the post from the bigwigs, too, but he's aware that it probably won't be effective. Fine. If they see him going behind their backs to get this fixed, maybe they'll start taking him seriously.]

So, these 'links' that some people have - what's the deal? The Governors can't really think we'll believe them when they say they don't know anything about them, right? Somebody's got to know how they work. And how to break them. Who else has one? Are they permanent? Does anyone have any idea why they happen? [...HE'S ASKING FOR A FRIEND.]

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[It's a while before Tony responds.]

Not usefully.

[Whatever it was, it clearly makes him uncomfortable, and he's not sharing.]

[Cissie's frowning thoughtfully, her chin propped up on a hand.]

Honestly, I haven't heard too much about them yet, other than that they exist and can happen. What are they?

[She pauses, and visibly hesitates, but. Tony, your phrasing gives you away.] ...Did you get one?

[Tony switches to video too, but he also locks it. Maybe he should have just automatically set all replies to private to begin with.]

They're some kind of psychic connection. I don't know why they happen or what they're supposed to do. [He grimaces.] I got one.

[Cissie doesn't even bother trying to hide her surprise or alarm.]

What? Seriously? That's.. hideous. Who is it with? What kind of psychic?

[Thank you. At least someone shares his outrage over the situation.]

Tell me about it. I don't know what kind of psychic. [Not really his area of expertise.] I think... it might work differently for everyone. I got one of those marks on my neck like the assigned Sentinels have, but it appeared on its own. And— [He pauses. No. He's not quite ready to talk about the dream yet, even with someone who he (relatively speaking) trusts. It still weirds him out too much.]

...They say it can have other effects. [Like the effect of making his skin crawl at the thought of being in some kind of empathic mind-meld with Gene.]

[Cissie is absolutely sharing that outrage--well, she's stuck in horror, but she'll move to outrage. She doesn't want anyone in her thoughts, thanks.]

What kind of other effects? Is it, like... Can you hear their thoughts, or something? Can they hear yours?

No. [Oh, god, how awful would that be?] Not yet, anyway. I really hope not. [Whatever horror you're feeling right now, Cissie, take it and multiply it by five.]

It's been... dreams, [he finally admits, looking intensely uncomfortable. He has to say something, even if he really super doesn't want to.] About things that never happened to me. They're his memories.

Edited 2016-02-14 07:13 (UTC)

[She winces; she doesn't like her own dreams sometimes, never mind someone else's.]

Geez. Who is it, do you know?

Yeah, [Tony replies curtly.] I know.

[What's that smell? Smells like... DRAMAAAAA.]

[Okay, Tony. Cissie's just... waiting. Watching you. Raising an eyebrow. BUT EVENTUALLY:]

...And?

Oh, I'm important. Yipee. [Gosh, he's getting a lot of practice with his sarcasm here in the Double-F.] So if you don't know what these links are, what do you know about the Fatemarked? Other than that they're "important." I've been hearing a lot of that, and not a lot of details.

[He frowns when she shows him her fatemark, and lets out a little "hmph." Okay, point to you, Kami.]

What kind of lab? [he asks, trying not to show that his interest is piqued.]

Boy, you really are just demanding all the information we have, aren't you? Now I know there's no love lost between you and your linked Fatemarked, so I'm going to counter your question with a question - why do you even care?

As for 'why you', my best guess is someone in Upper Management thought you'd be the best choice to guard the guy you seem so keen on punching. Don't ask me; I just work here. [She shrugs.]

Robotics, mostly. I also muscled my way into being the local sysadmin.

Wow. Sounds like you're both fighters.

[Jack shakes his head and gives a low chuckle, like he's trying to contain it, and then imposes seriousness back into his demeanor.]

Hitting him isn't going to improve things, Tony. You might feel better for a little while, but then you're just going to want to hit him again when that goes away and you solve nothing for yourself, [he offers in a neutral tone. There's no criticism there, and no judgement, but he is trying to give Tony some advice.]

Ha ha. [It's not funny, jack! IT REALLY HURT.]

I'm not trying to solve anything, [Tony snaps.] The only thing that would improve things is if he faced justice for what he did. But I guess that's not going to happen. [And that makes him so angry he wants to puke.]

The one upside is, he can't pull his old tricks here. [Not without the rings. He can lie and manipulate and torment people all on his own, but at least he can't take over the world or alter reality itself.] And once my year is done, I can go home and I never have to see him again.

[Tony looks mildly annoyed, and genuinely confused.]

I'm stuck in a different universe for a year, protecting someone from one mysterious organization for another mysterious organization, for mysterious reasons that no one has actually explained yet. I care because I want to know what I'm doing here and why it actually matters. I'm not wasting a year of my life on 'because we told you so.' So, yes. I want to know everything.

[Like, duh? Of course he wants all the information they have, whether or not he likes Gene. How is "tell me everything" not the number one request they get from all their new recruits? (Aside from "send me home," obviously.)

But the word "robotics" temporarily distracts him from giving her a hard time about the Double-F's complete failure to adequately inform their guests.]

Where's your lab? When are you going to be there? [Right now? He wants to see it right now.]

I know him already. From home.

[Once he feels comfortable opening up, he'll never shut up about it. But until then, you're going to have to pry every detail out of him with a crowbar, Cissie.]

Make it useful.

[Be unforthcoming. It will just give you half-assed advice, Tony.]

[Tony, Cissie is friends with Tim Drake. She is very familiar with prying details out of people. And if all else fails, she gives a killer noogie. Don't think she won't try.]

I'm going out on a limb here and assuming he's not your BFF.

[Please give him a noogie, Cissie. PLEASE.]

No. He just pretended to be.

Why?

[He crosses his arms. This is still audio, but somehow, the gesture is audible. He's using his "I'm crossing my arms and pouting" voice.]

The normal pairs manage just fine without a link. [Therefore, the link is not necessary, and therefore, there is no good reason for him not to aggressively ignore it.]

If the Governors are really the good guys, then they shouldn't have anything to hide, right? They should just show us the records if we ask.

So you're going to spend the next year beating up the person you've been assigned to protect?

[Kid has a lot to learn about duty. Then again, given what Tony's told him this kid did... his anger is certainly justified. It's a tough situation, and more than a little unfair. He gives the teen a sympathetic look.]

Tony, if you're linked with someone, I'm not sure you can go home.

[You say that like it's a bad idea, Jack.

But at the moment, Tony's a little more concerned by the other thing Jack just said.]

...What?! [Tony's voice slides up in pitch - if he wasn't agitated and upset before, he sure is now.] No. They said we can go home after a year. Nobody said anything about the Links. They can't keep us here forever. I— everything I care about is back home. My family. My friends. All my work. I'm not staying here. I can't.

I don't know what the rules are on that one. If these Links are permanent and have unknown consequences for separation...

[Jack looks at him sympathetically; he had very few attachments as a clandestine agent, and the most important person to him was here anyway. That doesn't mean he can't see how painful it would be for someone like Tony to be cut off from all that and Linked with someone who put you through hell.]

Then that's one more reason to find a way out of this, [Tony snarls. He's furious all over again. it's one thing having to deal with Gene for a whole year - but being stuck with him for the rest of their lives? Never being able to go home again? Never seeing Rhodey, or Pepper, or his dad again?

And all for some shady secret organization with goals they can't even bother to properly explain?

He just can't handle it. It's not just unfair, it's wrong. He will figure this out. Or break the multiverse trying. ]

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