revivalproject | Prime Time

Entry tags:

Prime Time

WHO: Catra/Prime / OTA
WHERE: The Diner, The Forge
WHAT: Recruiting and Claiming
WHEN: Near end of month
WARNINGS: blood, suicidal ideation (cw's noted in subject line if looking to avoid)

The Diner - OTA

Catra was nursing her meal, observing the others with a quiet and disturbing smile. That strange glow was back in her eyes, and she sat impossible straight backed and regal. Her all white outfit had begun to show to wear and tear, but Prime still somehow managed to make it look crisp and clean.

She picked up her plate and moved to join you, her head tilting and smiling a little too wide.

"Hello," she said calmly, "May I speak to you about Prime?"

The Forge - Closed to Tony, Jon & Cayde

This planet didn't provide with the same ease that Prime was accustomed to. Normally it would take little effort to produce a new chip, and not a finger lifted by Prime himself. Loathe as he was to admit it, he needed Tony. For now at least. Soon he would amass more brothers, and he could leave the work to them. And then once he found this place he could properly punish those fools who had tried to hide from him. Had tried to take what was his.

"Let me see it," Catra demanded, waving Tony aside.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

If the connection was already so tenuous, then it was more important that they ensure Tony's would actually work and Tony was allowed to do the possible checks, so to use this as an argument against his request made him raise a lip in frustration again. He would have argued, Prime was really working against his own interests there, but the last of the colour quickly drained from his already sleeplessly pale face even as his arms swung down to tensely form his case.

"What?" he demanded instead, without as much energy as he was reaching for, eyes wide and panicked. "What do you mean, won't last much longer? What did you do to her?" There was the energy, it was building into anger, all of the nails holding it together sharp with fear.

"I did nothing. Her body is simple not to par with my brothers, and I have had to spend too much time occupying her directly. She'll not last long if I have to carry on I'm afraid. But you will fair much better. I've seen how you heal..."

That wasn't nearly enough of an explanation for Tony to know if Prime was messing with him, what the time limit they had now was, or how permanent that damage might have been, and that was all before Prime's subtle threat of what he had seen. Tony had to talk around his quickening breathing, brow still furrowed in his frustration as he tried to casually propose, "Listen, great, you let her go now then, that works out for both of us. I'm not installing that thing until I'm sure I've got my end of the deal. You already know I've done mine, it's right there for both of us to see."

"And who would install it?" she asked plainly, giving him a look. "You have many talents, Mr. Stark, but I think connecting this to your own nervous system is not one of them. I told you, she is of no use to me once you've made yourself available. I will release her once the chip has been installed. We can do it now...and end her suffering. It won't hurt you like it did for her. So long as you don't fight."

The message Jon sends to Cayde is brief and to the point: 'Prime. Tony's forge. NOW.'

He's angry. Of course he's angry. With Prime, with Tony, with himself. Prime for going after Tony. Tony for likely having invited that decision. Himself for not paying closer attention to what the other man has been up about. Though Jon is very willing to bundle all that anger up and shove it all the way into Prime's mind and out of his ears if the shiver running through reality as Jon approaches the building.

Sure enough Tony might be well aware of this approach, given the habit of Jon's powers to interfere with electronic devices in similar ways as it distorts reality when he lets it - Or is angry.

The message is succinct but there hardly needs to be more said for Cayde to drop whatever he'd been doing and cut the quickest way towards the forge. He has Sundance shoot back an affirmative to Jon as they're enroute.

At least he doesn't have to far to go, especially crossing and leaping between rooftops.

It was without a familiar performance of dramatic injury that Tony replied, "Please, you clearly don't even know how much you're getting in this deal. You don't think I thought of that part? What, I'm going to get all the way to the edge and not stick the landing?" That would have sounded much more believable if he wasn't clenching his fists by his sides and searching hopefully for the signs that Catra was still okay. "I'm not fighting, no part of this has been a fight--" he continued, only to stutter over a familiar tingle up the back of his neck, and the flicker of D.A.T.A's aperture out of the corner of Tony's eye where he hung watchfully over the workbench. It took Tony a beat to make the connection, a new panic briefly gripping him that this was somehow Prime's doing, that he knew how to control Tony all along and was just letting Tony hear himself talk. It was when he couldn't send that panic to Jon in a text that Tony realized what was happening, and he had to recover quickly through a draining mix of fear and frustration. "Ah--I'm--I've been doing what you said, every step of the way, and I don't know if you've been paying attention to your luxury experience on this planet, but I don't have much to lose here. You give me that one thing, we do this easy."

"This is not a- nnn-" Catra winced and blinked in confusion for a moment as Jon's interference cut through the chip.

"Tony? Don't do this you idi- nnn-" With a growl Prime was back in the driver's seat, and he narrowed Catra's eyes accusingly. "What is this?"

Jon knows Cayde isn't far and will be at the forge soon, the Exo's arrival in all likelihood much less obvious than his own. Which can only work in their favor, all things considered.

The reality of the forge shudders and morphs as Jon reaches its door where he halts and waits for it to open its eye and let him through. "This is Not Much." He announces grimly, adopting Tony's words while his attention and that of a dozen large eye that have begun to open up along the ceiling, walls and the back of that chair over there remain fixed on Catra. A single tiny camera, mounted on a small drone, emerges from one of the eyes when it blinks and flies over to circle around Tony. "You are not getting him. And you WILL release Catra!"

"Oh boy, this is bad," the Exo mutters as he drops down from the last clump of buildings before the dusty, faded road to the forge. Sundance has been reporting the sudden interference, and between them it's not hard to guess the origin.

The distance shortens by many literal leaps and bounds, not that he doesn't wish for a thousandth time that he'd had his Sparrow or a Jumpship. Quick never seems quick enough no matter the means, but he's nearly there. He can see the familiar figure standing outside of the forge.

And they called him reckless..!

It couldn't have helped that with every second that flew by much too fast, Tony's anxiety ticked higher, sure that he would lose his chance to talk Prime into leaving Catra alone if he didn't do it now, before Prime thought he was cornered. Only, he stumbled again at the sound of Catra's voice, rushing forward a step like he could just drag her free, then freezing again under Prime's stare. Breathlessly, he tried to insist, "I don't know, I don't, listen--"

Out of time. Tony hiccuped, swallowing his words at the sounds of Jon's voice and the eerie corruption of what should have been a place where he felt secure. His gaze darted, following the opening eyes, and he almost swatted the camera, glaring back at it in his frustration with his arms flexed and tensed.

Prime bared Catra's teeth, accusing glare jumping from Tony to each of the eyes, and she snatched up one of the blades from the near by table. Rather than threaten Tony though she held it to her own throat with a cold look. She could have used her claws of course, but the symbolism added something.

"You will rot here," she hissed towards Tony, sure of his betrayal. "And I will take her with me," she growled, a thin trail of blood running down her neck where the blade was pressed in warning.

"𝕮̈́҉̰𝖊̷̣̉𝖆̨͚͑𝖘̓҉͕𝖊̻͒͘𝖑̢͕̍𝖊̘͛͢𝖘̛̮͛𝖘̖̉̕ ̸̪̌𝖂̞ͨ͡𝖆̵͈̇𝖙̔͏̬𝖈̵̪̿𝖍̨̣̌𝖊̡ͫͅ𝖗̨̜̆" Jon intones while Prime is busy hissing at Tony, trusting that Tony has learned enough about the chip to take care of it. Trusting that Cayde will be able to keep Catra from harming herself. Hoping they can finally free their friend.

"𝔈̭̏𝔵͚ͤ𝔱͕ͫ𝔢̙ͫ𝔫͙̏𝔡̰̓ 𝔶̮̏𝔬̥̾𝔲̼ͦ𝔯̱̓ 𝔣̫ͥ𝔬̲̄𝔠̘͒𝔲̯͆𝔰̤̋.̹̆ 𝔖̟̆𝔢͙ͦ𝔢͍ͭ𝔨͚ͪ 𝔱̫̈𝔥̘̈́𝔦̙͐𝔰̦̚ 𝔰͕̚𝔩̥ͥ𝔦̩ͫ𝔳͓͗𝔢̬͊𝔯͚ͬ 𝔬̖ͫ𝔣͙ͣ 𝔡̲̾𝔢̾ͅ𝔰̟͗𝔭̹͌𝔞͔̓𝔦͎̎𝔯̞̉.̑ͅ ℭ̘͗𝔥̹̅𝔞̘̽𝔰̬ͤ𝔢̝̆ 𝔦̮̑𝔱͎ͣ.̥̓ 𝔉͎̑𝔬̺̑𝔩̼̾𝔩͖͑𝔬͚ͣ𝔴͙̈́ 𝔦͇ͨ𝔱̝̚.̻͛ 𝕊̢̦ͮ𝔼͓͛͜𝔼̢̱̚ 𝕀̷̍ͅ𝕋̰͒͠.͍ͭ͞" All present eyes begin to glow as Jon sends their focus on Catra's connection with Prime and channels Beholding's gaze straight through it, latched onto that brief, desperate moment that had Prime pick up the blade to threaten Catra's life.

"-I don't know how he did that, but Sundance, get the door," Cayde says, sending off his Ghost just ahead of him with a wave of his hand. He's not far after her, skidding to a halt at Tony's fancy door, looking at it anxiously as his Ghost works.

"Almost..." Sundance tempers, light beaming from her core as she accesses the internal security mechanisms. "-got it."

Her Hunter's already moving as the door yawns open, just a bit concerned that her radar's catching interference like crazy, but not without glimpses of the three heat signatures within. Cayde darts in, assessing the situation and trying to ignore the extra eyes despite the flashbacks they threaten to stir up. He sees the kid, sees the blade.

Briefly he vanishes from sight as he cuts to the side, ghost-stepping for the nearest cover so he can try to get around Catra's blind-spot while Prime's focus is on the others. Prime's just another he'd love to shoot in the head for pulling this stunt, so he's not going to feel terribly bad for whatever care package Jon's sending in his direction. Cayde's just gotta keep this maniac from bleeding the kid out.

The rush of winter air at Tony's back barely registered, already chilled to the bone at the flash of the knife. His hands flew open, reaching vainly for the Iron Man to stop her, only getting a roar of static in response that deafened him to anything else that was being said, numb to the blood dripping down his lip until he could taste it. He couldn't move, not with that red seam already opening on Catra's neck, so he growled though he couldn't hear it, "Take me first! Come on!"

That was when he finally saw Cayde, the flicker of movement suddenly approaching, making his focus jump too obviously in his surprise and a new spike of frustration. They were both here? They'd have to figure out who Tony had left to trust later, after they helped Catra. It was a mess, adapt. "Keep her down!" he tried to instruct, hoping Cayde would get enough control over her deadly limbs as Tony unstuck from the floor, rushing now to just jam Prime's signal before any other weapons were introduced. Only, Extremis still wasn't responding, just dripping down his chin. He snatched D.A.T.A. from where he hung over the bench, cracking him against the edge of the table in one sharp movement to grab the spill of wiring that burst out of him.

The connection flickered, making Catra's hand stall and stutter, slicing across her shoulder in the mental battle for dominance before the blade abruptly disappeared.

The chips sparked at her back, making Catra scream, while Prime tried to force her body to move despite the pain it was causing her.

'Take me first!' Hearing these words has Jon flinch and his attention darting over to Tony. Tony, who certainly can trust his friends to not allow him to sacrifice himself at the first given opportunity.

Though hearing these words still hurts.

Catra's scream pulls Jon back to the reason they are all here for. He knows Cayde is ready to seize her. Which means for Jon that he can't allow himself to be distracted. Especially given the fight Prime puts up.

"Oh, for the love of..." Jon mutters, growling to himself as his eyes dart back up, narrowing angrily just before he plain shouts at the being trying so hard to retain control. "PISS OFF!"

"On it, chief!" Cayde replies, offering a sharp nod emphasized by his horn. He's behind her suddenly, hands grasping her wrists, his optics narrowing as he sees that line of red. He's doing his best not to hurt her, but an Exo's hold isn't something so easily broken and all he can do is hope Prime won't try too hard to get her loose or is too preoccupied by Tony and Jon.

"Hang in there, kid!" he says, hoping maybe Catra can still hear him and focus, but her screaming in pain is difficult to bear. "Guys-" he prompts, already feeling this is a wild mess but hoping whatever the other two are meaning to do, it's soon.

Edited 2022-03-10 18:18 (UTC)

Between the scream that dropped Tony's heart into his stomach and Jon's shout, Tony could barely hear himself growl, "Jesus, Cayde, don't hurt her--" despite the hundred other things that could be wringing that sound out of Catra, frustrated enough by the appearance of his friends and glad to snap at either of them for some pressure release. Like the way he barked, "Where's the knife?," wide-eyed and searching as he grabbed at one of Cayde's wrists where he should have been in control of the weapon, D.A.T.A. unit hanging from one hand and sparking with its wiring pouring out of it like loops of intestines.

Catra was bleeding, how did they lose the knife?

With a bitter snarl, not waiting for any answers, Tony released Cayde to pull Catra's head forward against his shoulder, where he could see the spitting chip and dig his fingernails into the seams he had been studying. Enough of the casing worked free, falling down between Cayde and Catra, to expose a circuit board beneath, and pins that Tony had to quickly map and pry up. "Okay, buddy, I know you're not having a great time right now, but you gotta wake up, execute program, just flip the switch and you can go back to sleep," he tried to encourage even as he dropped the D.A.T.A. unit to swing perilously by the wires that Tony was connecting to Prime. It wasn't even a complex program he had written, just enough to overload the chip's hardware and leave it inert. Enough to make it useless, until a brain surgeon showed up. "I can't do it right now, my system caught fire--" Tony continued, ground out with a clenched jaw, his accusatory glare still down at Catra's neck and sure Jon could see it regardless. He was so annoyingly curious.

Catra's body twisted unnaturally as Prime tried to force his way free from Cayde's grip, bones making an unpleasant sound. She bared her teeth and they sunk into the muscle of Tony's shoulder as he pulled her close, ready to do even more damage when suddenly- Prime was gone.

Catra blinked, and took several panicked breaths, not trusting him to really be gone, but the connection was snuffed out, well and truly.

"...Tony?"

Prime is gone, indeed. And no searching and straining his sight reveals any remaining trails, which... Is a victory? Maybe?

The Archivist closes his eyes, at last. All of them. The ones scattered around the forge vanish while Jon blinks his own two back open with a silent exhale and a concerned look in the direction of Catra, Tony and Cayde. "He's gone." Jon mutters, more or less to himself. He doesn't have to point out that they should take Catra to the hospital to have her wounds taken care of.

Cayde scowls at Tony. "Well I'm sorry I don't have pillows for hands!" he not quite whines, not really into it himself as he knows he's doing the bare minimum just to keep Catra from squirming around too much, moving along with her as much as he can manage just to minimize any potential damage Prime attempts. The question about the disappearing knife surprises him, evident by the look on his face.

"I thought that was Jon?" the question mark tags onto the end making it clear he isn't too sure now that it's even been brought up. He throws a cautious look in the Archivist's direction.

Change in Catra's posture makes Cayde cautiously hopeful as he steps forward with her, his grip more supportive than impeding. "...Kit-Kat?" He looks at Jon upon the Archivist's confirmation, and then at Tony.

The bite should have been expected. The bloom of pain had Tony snarling in response, choking back a yell and clutching tightly in Catra's hair in an effort to keep them both still and finish this job as he ground out, "Get it all out, sweetheart." It was hard to tell when she actually stopped biting, nerves on fire from all of this tension, so it was Cayde's sudden shift that had Tony looking up in surprise, then finally releasing Catra's hair to try to see her eyes.

Jon said he was gone. Jon would know. Tony didn't even notice when everything had become so normal again, no one straining, no eyes, the raucous noise of the network roaring back into his skull. Normal, except for the knife thing, of course. "That's how I sign my cheques," he realized he should probably answer, only briefly before realizing no one needed a D.A.T.A. unit attached to them. He yanked roughly at the wiring, letting the robot drop heavily to the floor and bounce before rolling away, its legs flailing weakly. Maybe Jon did need to say that hospital part out loud, because Tony was busy hugging Catra protectively.

She nodded weakly at Cayde's words, that tension in her muscles finally dropping away. Her gaze shifted uncertainly, eyes wet but unmistakably hers, and she pushed forward to cling to Tony and hide those tears that should would FIERCELY deny if anyone called attention to them.

Her head turned briefly after the D.A.T.A. unit with a frown of concern. "...You taste really gross," she muttered against Tony's chest.

"Not me." Jon answers Cayde's question, watching as Tony pulls Catra into the safety of a warm embrace. Everyone of them knows she's very likely scared aside from having been hurt. Though there is no need for either of them to point out her fear, so Jon lets his attention drop to the discarded robot. That Tony so willingly damaged his D.A.T.A. unit only shows how much he cares about Catra and giving her back her freedom.

He nods to himself before looking back up at Tony. "You should take her to the hospital. Let Billy check her injuries." Though she may not need all of them to watch over her while she gets some much needed rest.

Prime Time

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cw: blood, cw: suicidal ideation

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