revivalproject | Indictment

Entry tags:

Indictment

WHO: Absolutely everyone.
WHERE: The diner.
WHAT: A decision has to made about threats to the community.
WHEN: After an attempted murder, a chaotic rescue, and an awkward reunion. Now.
WARNINGS: Nothing yet. Mark it if something comes up because...
NOTES: Structurally, this is a mingle, so you can decide what part of this is actually important to you. What you talk about in here doesn't have to be directly Beck-related, but for details about the incident, further organizing, and if you want to determine what your characters might have done/seen/heard in the meantime, this post is still good!

[NETWORK//text @ everyone]

Come to the diner. We have to talk.
If you don't show up, I'll assume you agree with me because you're incredibly intelligent and graceful. The city of Temba thanks you for your contribution to our justice system.

This was the last thing Tony wanted to do. The diner at least felt familiar, neutral--somewhere he could be in control, without having all of the attention on him. Being able to bask in the attention would have been so much easier. As it was, that felt like he would be inviting everyone to really examine the cracks in the armor. They were here because he had already lost control.

As if that didn't already feel enough like an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, Tony found himself standing in a circle of seats that he had arranged, the tables pushed up against the walls, and couldn't honestly say how much that had been intentional. He raised a lip, and looked to Felwinter as though he would have any illuminating insight about productive interior design. He seemed like he wanted to be here even less than Tony did. Beck was his charge for the time being, though, and as awkward as it was to stand in his stupid chair-circle with the pair of them, Tony did appreciate having Felwinter there to keep an eye on their...problem. Even if having witnesses to his restless energy made it all the more humiliating. Felwinter couldn't sit on Beck forever just to make sure he didn't lure anyone else off the edge of a cliff, so they were all going to have to survive a little humiliation.

"I think the coffee's done," Tony declared, with absolutely no idea what state the coffee was actually in and readily moving toward the kitchen regardless. "Do you want one? I'll get you one. Do you do that sort of...?" He was still talking, and what Felwinter did or didn't eat and drink might have otherwise been something Tony pushed him about, but he was already mentally in the kitchen and trailed off as he went, flapping a hand to wave off any refusal of his offer or explanation about Felwinter's digestive situation. Maybe he would just stay in the kitchen and listen, let Beck hang himself.

Tony took a deep breath, pushing his sunglasses up his nose and squaring his shoulders, readying himself for a performance.

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Felwinter continued to watch Tony even as he averted his eyes with these developments. He was still such a puzzling man, and it seemed like with every interaction there was some revelation of another layer, a man made up of masks. But each layer that revealed itself came closer to the true core of Tony Stark. The Exo eventually shifted his own attention away from him, letting Tony gather his thoughts and his bearings.

So the man Quentin Beck did exist in even this Tony's version of Earth. The Exo was thoughtfully silent, looking across the room wherever Peter was.

"...what kept you from doing so?" he asked after a while.

That question did not alleviate any of Tony's anxiety, and he grimaced, teeth clenched. There wasn't an answer he could give that would sound justifiable, not now that it clearly hadn't paid out. He followed Felwinter's gaze to the kid, though, and indicated him with a raise of his chin.

"He could always take care of himself. One of the strongest people I know," he muttered. Not that Tony ever had much success trying to tell Peter what to do, anyway. Tony tried to gather himself, pushing his shoulders back and putting some of the flippant ice back in his voice to boast, "And I've got gods on speed-dial."

"I thought you said you weren't a religious man." He wasn't judging, he just found it strange for Tony to be bringing up such a point unless he was just being completely sarcastic, but it didn't seem the place for such.

"There is also the chance that for all the alternate existences of Earth that there appear to be, that perhaps there could be a Quentin Beck who isn't a danger to people," Felwinter suggested. "Are there others familiar with him who are here? It is everyone and no one's fault. In the end it was Quentin Beck who acted upon reasons that hold no place here, and it is only fortunate that he has failed."

"I said I could call them, not that I worship them," Tony replied easily, hand out flat for Felwinter to visualize the upper limit of Tony's affection. "But maybe you can ask again when one of them agrees to a date." There wasn't any dissonance to Tony between believing that the gods and the places they came from were real--he had seen enough of them, after all--and not having any faith in them. It was pretty easy for him not to think of Hercules as divine.

Jon might have been. He was kind of a god, wasn't he? Tony dropped his hand abruptly, the date thing sounding suddenly like less of a joke than he had intended.

Distracted, he had to blink to catch up with what Felwinter was trying to tell him--reassure him?--and just as easily shrugged off the naive idea that this whole thing wasn't his fault entirely. "There could be, but that Beck wouldn't get Peter living with him at the first opportunity," he grumbled. Being Tony's fault didn't mean Tony was the problem, though, and certainly didn't mean he wasn't going to keep trying to fix it, so he started to nod.

"He needs help," he said, still looking away, like he was trying to do a complex calculation. "'Reasons that hold no place here', that's--that's the problem, isn't it? He thinks they do. He's..." Tony twirled a finger by his ear. Maybe not the most sensitive expression.

He didn't see the difference, but perhaps he hadn't caught that Tony was possibly being literal about speed-dialing. It seemed besides the point though, so Felwinter left it be. He wasn't sure where to go with that conversation anyway, not without likely making it more complicated by asking what Tony meant by a date.

"Mentally compromised, yes," Felwinter nodded after taking a moment to work out the gesture. "If we are looking to find fault for the matter, at the source it would be upon the Agrii or their device that brings people here. Such will not solve anything, unless they decide to make right by taking back their mistaken 'hero.'" He shrugged. "What do you want out of this, Stark?"

That was a much more generous expression, and Tony was glad to accept it with a nod, letting his hand dangle again innocently like he hadn't been the one making the rude one. He didn't look convinced by Felwinter's 'source', though, wrinkling his nose and sucking his teeth, because as terrible as it was to fall into that pit, he wouldn't confidently say Beck's being here was a mistake--even outside of the possible planned dramatics. Only, Felwinter sidetracked him again with a surprising question, making him raise his eyebrows and open his mouth without a response prepared, colour returning to his face. What a generous, miserable question that Tony didn't like to answer on a good day.

"D'you mean, what do I want to be done?" he clarified. "I don't know, I guess I--I was hoping someone would have some power that made for an easy solution. Send us back in time so it never happened. Psychic calibration. Something." The grimace returned, and he tried to give Felwinter a hopeful, inquisitive look. He wasn't hiding something really useful behind that intimidating stare, was he?

It seemed a natural thing to ask. Felwinter did not correct Tony in his reiteration of the question, so it must have been more or less what he'd implied. It probably wouldn't reassure Tony to know that the warlord really had nothing useful, not in that department as his answer was made. Retribution, justice. Those things were simple compared to what Tony was hoping for. But Felwinter couldn't say that the 'easy solutions' that the man sought weren't beyond reason.

He shook his head, looking towards the floor, somehow regretful he couldn't deliver on whatever Tony might have expected of him. "If such things were accessible there would be many things I would have liked to circumvent."

The inquisitive expression remained, but the hopeful part quickly faded. Tony could only guess at the kind of heavy regrets a not-warlord was carrying around, and they were already getting dangerously close to unearthing some emotions that Tony did not have the capacity to deal with. Quickly, he offered, "Listen, we can always have a redo, I'm happy to play along if you want to make a new first impression. Maybe something a little flirtier, that'd be fun, really liven up our conversations." Even rattling through that didn't ease the anxious furrow of Tony's brow, though, and he ventured, "If it's someone else you're wanting to impress--that'll take a little more work, but I'm willing to make it happen for you."

These rebounds were difficult to follow, and in this case, Felwinter was caught off guard by Tony's turn-around before he realized how it had come to there in the first place. "I do not think that anything will change how confusing you are," he decided. The words did not match the expression on Tony's face, a diversion from more difficult problems that couldn't be so easily solved, then. Unfortunately Felwinter wasn't sure how to respond in any way other than fact. He shook his head. "I have no wish to impress anyone." To what end would that be for?

"Really?" Tony returned in immediate disbelief, and had to dial it back enough to explain, "That seems like your whole thing. Being very impressive," with a wave of his hand from Felwinter's intense head to equally intense toes, and seemed to quickly realize that was a much more awkward thing to say than just questioning the Exo. He cleared his throat and tried to redirect, "What would you want to see happen?"

Was that a compliment? It was difficult to tell sometimes, with Tony Stark. "Then I do not need to put further effort into impressing anyone," Felwinter said after considering a moment. Maybe he was attempting to be funny.

The Exo looked around the room again, at those gathered, at the guilty party. "Perhaps my solution is too simple. I will tell you now, if the boy had not intervened, I would have killed Beck. -or attempted to."

Unsure if he was supposed to laugh, Tony stared back, eyebrows still raised, like he was waiting for Felwinter to elaborate and save them both from the awkwardness. He wasn't as good at that as he was at being impressive.

While Tony couldn't say he was surprised by Felwinter's very final problem solving, it was still enough of a shock to him that he was willing to commit to it before he had even talked to Peter that Tony blurted, "What, why?"

Unfortunately awkward moments came in abundance around here, and Felwinter never quite knew what to do with them. Staring people down didn't seem to work as well and somehow made it more awkward. Was it just because the people here were so different from those he would come across back home?

He was a little surprised himself that Tony needed to ask that he took a moment to consider how to respond. "Operational necessity," he said, condensing his thoughts into the two words.

Two was not nearly enough words. Tony's eyebrows only crept higher, lip raising slowly, once again hoping that Felwinter would elaborate, and was stuck having to lead him through it. "It was necessary to kill him?" he tried to clarify. "Or it was necessary that you kill?" seemed less likely, overall, but Felwinter did seem like he was on the edge of it most of the time, so maybe it was a necessity somewhere in his programming.

"Our number is few, our objective already difficult. Our very environment poses a threat to us at times we cannot anticipate. Having someone in our midst who would actively do anyone harm to the agree he has intended for selfish reasons threatens the safety of everyone who are otherwise only trying to survive."

Felwinter seemed to frown a little. "I do not kill by necessity. Any kills by my hands are a response." His shoulders sagged in what might have been the expression of a sigh, feeling once again weary of everything. He looked out past the people, out at the open door and its framed light. "I just want peace."

What Felwinter was proposing was a very straightforward equation that Tony could easily follow; if all things were static, then either Beck would continue to pick them off, or they could reduce the number of deaths to just one. Nothing was ever static, though, and the finality of ending Beck's life didn't allow for that.

"Has killing ever brought peace?" he pressed, looking slightly desperate that Felwinter couldn't actually answer that--or if he did, that he saw the inherent flaw in the question. Was it peace, if it was made by violence?

"Potentially," Felwinter replied. Things had at least for him been better once he claimed the mountaintop keep for his own. He and Felspring hadn't been threatened by Rasputin after that, although who knew how long one could hide from a Warmind? ...except that his attention was brought to the fact that there were others who also sought better, who didn't have the same chances that he did. His metal brow furrowed slightly as he considered this.

"It depends on the peace sought. ...but I suppose in this instance, it won't come so easily."

At least he didn't have a confident answer. Tony wasn't entirely relieved, but his shoulders did drop a fraction without the tension telling him that Felwinter might have been correct.

"What if he, you know, just agrees to never do it again? Pinky swear," he suggested. "Killing him would have been a little bit hasty. Can't take that one back."

"Would you believe him if he said he agreed to such a thing?" Felwinter asked, looking at Tony, seeking his honest reply. To him it seemed unreasonable to believe a man who had openly lied and manipulated others with words, who still denied responsibility for his actions.

"Pinky swear," Tony repeated, like that held some monumental weight that had to be respected, only to abandon the intensity with a boneless drop of his hand onto his lap and tight nod to concede. Okay, it wasn't exactly a believable scenario, but that didn't make the finality of killing someone any less final.

"We can't know that, though, not for certain, unless we give him the chance to do it again. And now we're more prepared, we know what to be on guard for. He's lost his most effective weapon," he pointed out. "And it's--it's a precedent, that I don't want to establish. This place--I've done some terrible things here, that I didn't know I was capable of. And even if we always had are full faculties, and nothing was getting into our heads, we're from such different places--we're never going to have a consistency of morality, and we can't just kill people over philosophical disagreement, or not having the faculties to even know why something is damaging. There has to be an alternative."

"What is that alternative?" Felwinter pressed, wanting to know what options people were willing to provide, coming from a place where it wasn't dog eat dog. He paused.

"Do you forgive him for doing what he did?" Tony had been, after all, the main target.

Tony narrowed his eyes and tipped his head, considering. The alternatives that they would have back on Earth, his Earth, weren't exactly viable, either. They didn't have whole systems in place to ensure they worked. They hadn't been building enough of a community.

Felwinter's second question surprised him out of that consideration, though, and he raised his eyebrows, looking like he expected Felwinter to continue again before shrugging and flapping his hand. "Of course," he could more easily answer that one. "Not to the kids--I don't know, maybe, but for letting me fall..." It felt like he was supposed to have a reason, and that part was harder. He had to fall into thought again to form the right words without probing too uncomfortably deeply into his own psyche, focus rolling back up to the ceiling. "I don't have the bandwidth to hang onto stuff like that. It happens. People have their reasons. It was days ago," said like it was a millennium. "What we do next, that's more important, what's coming. At home, they'd probably put him in jail, so he couldn't do it to anyone else. Ideally, while he's isolated like that, we could get him the help he needs, deal with his brain thing, the antisocial thing, rehabilitate him."

Tony would have to forgive the stare again, as though Felwinter was trying to discern the thought process behind the surprising answer. He wasn't quite sure how truthful it was for how casual the response was, but Tony at least pushed forward with more of an explanation of sorts. Did it make any more sense? The warlord folded his arms, thinking.

"If he is willing," he said after a moment, after Tony had hopped back onto the previous train of thought. He cast a look over at Beck again. "Somewhere where he cannot do harm to anyone would be good. We will see if he accepts that he needs help. Thus far he has not even admitted to the things he has done."

"That's all pretty normal. Part of the puzzle," Tony replied with another shrug. "It's not often easy, if someone gets to the point where they're already incarcerated and are forced to see a therapist, they've already missed a bunch of lifelines on the way and we're down to digging out. Here, its--those lifelines weren't even available in the first place. I don't know if they would have helped, but I can see someone really spinning out just from being here. Do you feel stable here?"

No, it didn't sound like a simple matter. Things were more cut and dry back home. Was it like this or whatever Tony spoke of, back during the Golden Age?

Felwinter looked back at Tony, head canting slightly to the side. "For the most part. It is difficult to say when the very atmosphere warps and becomes unstable in what we can expect of the world itself. Otherwise it is calm. Under less unusual circumstances I probably would not mind dwelling here in the long term."

Indictment

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