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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"Should be used to," Tommy says, clearly amused by that. "Dude, you know just enough of my history to know that I'm not. Maybe here it's a bit better, but fuck if that's not been true most of my life. Listen, you've known my Uncle for a while. You ever wonder why sometimes he just goes off like an asshole and does stuff without consulting people? It's how our heads work. While everyone else is still processing, we've thought what we think is a hundred steps ahead. We're not always right. We're often not right. But in our heads it's been hours and we can't handle not acting."

And that gets them into trouble. Got him into trouble. He'd gotten used to being alone because of it. So no, he doesn't feel like people want what he has to give. He gestures around the kitchen.

"This gets me credit here. But we know it wasn't my idea. And the most successful it was happened to be when Clarice was mostly running it. Most people here see the results of what I do, but they don't see me. Just the outcome. Beck? I thought he saw me. Like you did, for a moment, when I was seeing your memories."

Tony hadn't been trying to argue that he thought Tommy's life was full of only the kindest of people, so he tipped his head back against the cupboard with a thunk to shake with frustration. He didn't have to explain the miscommunication this time, though, because Tommy laid it out for him pretty plainly, despite himself.

"Have you considered, maybe, you think everyone only sees the worst in you, because you only see the worst in other people?" Tony suggested. Tommy was making a lot of assumptions about how people perceived the diner and Tommy's role in it. And even if Tony had to concede all of that was true, because he hadn't personally examined the data, he did know that what he knew about Tommy wasn't a momentary lapse in judgment in a dream world.

"No," Tommy answered rather quickly. Because of course he didn't think he saw the worst in other people. "I give people chances that others might not. I've tried to make that my policy. The Young Avengers gave me a second chance, and I have to pay that forward."

Of course Tony is completely right. Tommy is prone to seeing people as likely to hurt him, so even when he formed friendships, there was a distance. ANd usually he was the one to put it there.

With his head still back, Tony frowned up at the ceiling, not sure how to articulate what an uneven exchange Tommy was proposing in this context, without discounting that in general that was a good philosophy. Eventually, he came up with, "Does Beck deserve another chance?"

"He's blown his," Tommy answered. "After all he's done, he's blown it. ANd neither of us really thinks he's not going to try and kill you again, right?"

Because if either of them do, they're idiots.

Tony grit his teeth, looking unconvinced. Not that he didn't think Beck would take his shot again, and he pointed out, "Didn't work the first time, not too worried about a repeat performance." The problem was, they were all one terrible day away from blowing that chance, and they were all coming from very different entire dimensions where the boundaries of that chance were not going to be the same. And, sure, Beck had sent him falling into a hole. Wouldn't anybody take the opportunity?

"I think we should consider the bigger picture," he said, trying to form it between both hands. "Jon blew that chance with you, didn't he? And now you're--I don't know, you avoid each other? But he hasn't done that to someone else. That I know of." Alright, maybe that was a terrible example, because there were very few details that Tony actually knew about the aftermath, and he was trying to talk about that aftermath. What happened after they gave Beck another chance.

"Yeah, but what happens when other people start getting in his way, Tony? Think about how Mysterio was in our world. Didn't the dude get into villainy because he basically was jealous of Spider-Man? How many people died, Tony? How many people injured? We can't get this guy the help he needs, and we can't risk him going further."

He does think Beck needs help. They just don't have anyone to give it. Though Tommy's frowning at the idea that Jon blew any chance with him. Jon's a friend.

"Dude, that Jon thing you're referencing is ancient news. Before the Agrii ships. We've long since patched that up and while we don't hang always, I consider us friendly. We just don't have a lot of cause to overlap in our lives."

"I don't think that's a fair comparison," Tony muttered, more to himself than making an actual argument, because he was sure all of the other Tony Starks would hate to be judged against his actions. More than that, he winced with one hand rubbing anxiously against his heart, like it might actually seize, the rest of Tommy's argument sounding very much like Maria's when she was insisting that Tony do something about the Hulk. He didn't have a good argument then, either.

What he could argue was, "Maybe by this time next year, this Beck thing will also be ancient news. How easy would it have been to convince you of that, when Jon first...did that to you?"

"Hard. But Jon didn't try to murder me."

And that's a whole different thing.

Tony raised his eyebrows expectantly, but found he had to finish the thought himself, "Beck didn't, either. You can't trust him, sure, but--maybe that's it, we just know we can't trust him, act accordingly, don't be alone with him, until he can prove otherwise."

Seriously? Seriously?

"He shoved you down a deep hole, Tony. He tried to kill you! If you think any Maximoff would fucking stand by for letting someone hurt their family like that, you've completely fucking forgot who we are!"

While the energy made Tony blink, it didn't take him by enough surprise to keep him from talking over Tommy to correct, "He let me fall," because he felt like the distinction was important and he had already accounted for it in his suggestion. Just don't be alone with Beck. He was more effectively silenced by Tommy's suggestion that Tony was part of his family, and he had to stare for a beat, trying to determine if that was what Tommy actually meant to say. Tommy hardly wanted to acknowledge that he was part of the Avengers team when Tony suggested it.

"It's--it--" he stumbled, trying not to acknowledge it even as he tried to push his hand into his chest, focus sliding to the floor. "It already happened, and the best we can do now is not let it happen again. I don't think giving him another chance is directly at odds with that. So--is there a punishment that would actually be satisfying, and feel like justice?" Tony had to drag his focus back, and even then he didn't look convinced that there could be an answer to his question. He couldn't think of something he really wanted to do to Beck in retaliation that would improve anyone's life.

The Avengers don't want Tommy, so why should he consider himself one of them? There's baggage there, and it's frustrating that just about everyone else that was once part of the Young Avengers is either gone or acknowledged in their own ways, and he feels left behind. He's got traumas that shape the way he sees the world back home. But like it or not, Tony was trying more than most people. Sure, they fought, but fuck, even his mom and uncle did that.

Fighting was what family did.

"No," Tommy answered. "There's never anything that feels satisfying, that feels like justice. Because the only thing that would..."

His hands flex. They're strong hands. Well, durable hands. He can do amazing things with them because of his speed.

"The only things that would satisfy won't satisfy long, and puts us on his level. Lower than it. There's no right choice. But when we leave men like him to lash out again, the new blood on their hands is on ours too. Balancing that is what we're supposed to do, right? How we're supposed to be heroes."

Tony shook his head slowly, considering carefully because Tommy was correct, there wasn't a right choice, and they didn't have the luxury of having a whole social system to defer to when they didn't want to take on that burden themselves. Tony might not agree with the death penalty, but it was out of his hands once he handed a supervillain over to be charged for his crimes, and there weren't a lot of cases where he went out of his way to intervene when that was on the table, and it wasn't like he was organizing any prison breaks in protest. He was onto the next problem.

"I think we use different scales," he eventually offered. "Being a hero means tipping the balance, yes, but I don't think it's just against destructive men. I think it's--how many more good things can we do, to minimize the bad things. Giving these guys the chance to correct their behaviour, that's a good thing."

With a deep breath, he continued, "I'm not going to resent what Beck did forever. It's already better for me to forgive him. But retaliating with some punishment, or doing something more permanent, that could be forever, he could be unable to forgive that, and we've actually made it worse."

"You are the victim, you get to choose whether to forgive what he did to you or not. But that doesn't mean you get to choose what the rest of the people here feel about him. How safe they feel, or how in danger."

So people outside of this room get to decide what happens to Beck. If Tony didn't want that, then he shouldn't have come here with this. He should have found a way to get Jon to make everyone let this go.

"You can choose to forgive, but the rest of us have to choose if we're okay with the forget."

Calling Tony 'the victim' had him wincing about as effectively as if Tommy had slapped him, so following it up with a reminder that he didn't actually matter was kind of comforting, in a familiar way. What was best for everyone, not just him, or Beck, was really the only way to approach this, so Tommy again wasn't wrong. Maybe Tony wouldn't have found that quite so difficult to see if he wasn't the one dangling off the ledge of that pit.

He still had to protest, "Feeling like you're in danger isn't enough to condemn someone. I don't think you should forget. That is dangerous, I don't think everything should just go back to normal." He also didn't know what they should do instead.

What he had was, "What would Cap do?," forlornly directed at his hands, which had anxiously tangled together between his knees again.

What would Cap do?

"Dude, he'd have a whole lecture. Too much lecture. Not worth fucking thinking about that if you ask me."

That question had helped Tony out of plenty of tight situations, but those situations mostly came own to where to aim the next punch, and this one would have definitely been a stern lecture. Tony snorted and thunked his head back against the cupboard again, eyes narrowed and trying to string the words together as effortlessly as Steve always seemed to. In a frankly terrible Steve impression, dropping his voice lower, Tony started, "Freedom means freedom for everyone, not just a few. Not even for most."

"Yeah, but the freedom to swing my arm ends at where your nose starts. And after that point, I'm choosing to surrender some of my freedom to let that remaining distance close," Tommy points out.

Even Steve would know that.

"Don't think like Steve. Think like Tony. Got a problem? Build a way out. You say let him go? Make something to watch him."

Thinking like Tony is what got him sitting here, stewing over it in the first place, and in general he would much rather be Steve, so Tony wrinkled his nose at the suggestion, rolling a sidelong gaze Tommy's way to ask if that had ever actually been helpful to him.

Tony did know how to build, though. He didn't often spend so much time banging his head against the wall, hoping the he could divine the answer to the situation. He changed the situation. He frowned thoughtfully at a blank middle distance, then abruptly gave Tommy's leg an appreciative pat before bouncing up to his feet. "Good talk," he announced.

Huh? It was over? Well, he's not going to deny Tony what the guy needs.

"Alright then. Just, you know, take care of yourself, Tony. And don't get hurt. Some of us actually care if your scrawny ass gets fucked up."

Yes, he knows Tony's smithing work gives him beastly arms but his ass is still only human.

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