Chojin Patriarch
Veteran Lurker
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Ah, there's awareness. And she is pissed indeed. And seeing the explanation of her mental blocks, I suppose that explains why she hasn't repaired herself. The damage isn't enough to trigger the 'survival' condition of the self-repair ability.7th May 2024
09:07 GMT
Atom Eve's eyes open for a moment, scanning her environment. I get a half-second longer than the physicians, but nothing more.
"Well. Here you go." Dr. David Evesham shrugs dejectedly. "She's won't be fully alert just yet, but she can hear you."
Right... Of course they're having to deal with their overlord's short-sighted decisions. This place probably has minimal sanitary facilities, too. One bathroom and shower, I bet, and they're probably bunking down on gurneys...I nod. "Could you..? Could all of you take a break?" Oh. "Do you have a break room, or all you all stuck in here-."
"He took over this whole facility. We've got space… For whatever good it does us." He breathes out, glancing at Atom Eve's monitors. "We can, but-" A couple of the others look like they're about to object, but quieten down a she makes eye contact with them. "-you need to know what you need to do if there's some kind of problem. And obviously, if anything happens to her, we're all dead… And you are too."
Heh. A little hope is the greatest poison, isn't it? In a situation like this, anyway."Don't worry." I wave my right hand. "I can rearrange matter. I'm gong to fix everything except her spinal column. And I can monitor everything in real time, so I'll see any problems faster than the monitors will."
"You can-?" He breathes out slowly, shaking his head. "Don't do this to me."
Well, I'd hope for the better result, at least. Mark used to be a superhero, I doubt he'd kill in cold blood like that."Don't..?"
"Don't give me hope. If you do that, half of us aren't needed. He might let us go. Or he might kill us, I guess, but I don't think he'd kill our families at least. Either way…"
I guess that's a little cause for celebration, I suppose."Um." I stare blankly at him. "I don't-." Okay, these people… Plenty of food being produced in the world outside, not counting that nutrient paste which appears to be what viltrumites feed their auxiliaries. I reach into subspace while feeling out their canteen area. A decent meal is the least I can do. "Anything… Anything else I need to know?"
That's probably a psychosomatic thing. Those mental blocks mentioned above. Probably the same reason it doesn't trigger, say, in her sleep. Or in the middle of sex."We don't exactly know how her power works. She hasn't used it since she's been here, and she hasn't been drugged the whole time. It could be she needs to move her hands…" He shrugs. "She doesn't have extra organs or anything, but if you heal her, she might just blast her way out."
But she can fly, right? I'm guessing it's more of a telekinetic thing she does to her clothing. Literally hauling herself about by the bootstraps, if you will.I nod. I've seen recordings of her firing energy pulses from her hands and feet and creating simple constructs. For a while I thought that she might have a power ring, but… No flight aura.
"I'll bear that in mind. Now take a break."
Big display of trust there. Better live up o it, Lantern.He regards me for a moment, several of his colleagues heading out immediately. Then he looks down, nodding to himself before following them out.
Alright.
No easy healing in the 'Invincible' universe, right? So she's had to recover from the usual pains of the heroing life the old-fashioned way... Even the best regular human heroes end up with roadmaps of scars...Sound baffle and scan.
Ekh.
Yes, she's been in the wars alright. And laying in bed all day isn't doing her much good ether. I start patching-.
That's concerning. An effect of her power, clearly. Some of those mental blocks retracting in response to the perceived threat.Alert!
What?
The aura I had forming around Atom Eve… Fractures!
Given she blew off that aura, I have to wonder how much protection the Ring can provide against her powers...
And besides, don't you want to be able to talk again?Construct armour appears around me and-. And there's no one here. That was the ring-. Usually, whatever it translates is making some sort of noise, but given the state of her neck…
"Didn't you hear?" I drop my armour. "He might let some of your physicians go. There's a lot of work for doctors outside."
Not that she would actually die, it seems. I have the feeling Omniman would have to reduce her to paste, starting with her head, to have any chance of keeping her down... And even then it'd be a toss-up?Let me die.
"I'm not doing that. It would get a lot of people in trouble."
And we know Paul is compassionate enough to not want that.Her eyes open slightly, assessing me. Telepath.
"No, I've just got a really good translator. Look, whatever you've got planned, most of your injuries can't kill you. They're just crippling you and causing you pain."
Well, looks like it falls to diplomacy, then.No.
"Alright." I pull out one of the chairs standing against the wall and move it into a position where it's easy for her to see me. "Now-."
Not off to a great start, but it was kind of obvious, given the lack of panic in her doctors.
Which says a lot about how powerful two Viltrumites are. Especially as a single proficient Lantern could also easily conquer a planet.Her eyes harden further. Traitor.
"They hardly needed my help."
And while fear is a great teacher, it would work against him in this case, with his Ring shutting down due to mortal terror.You could have fought-.
"I'm not that strong, not that fast, and I have no training. I've learned how to slowly rearrange matter. That's not something that can really hurt a viltrumite."
She snorts, and turns her eyes to the ceiling.
Heh. The best sinking to the bottom, and the least suited ending up rising. Typical fascism, really.Right. "Do you know who General Franco was?" She doesn't look at me. "Fascist ruler of Spain for a good chunk of the twentieth century. Didn't join in the Second World War because after the civil war Spain was in too much of a mess to really do anything except send Germany a few volunteers, which is why he lasted so long. But as he neared the end of his life he wanted a successor. And having done the traditional fascist dictator thing of playing his subordinates against each other and only promoting people who couldn't challenge him, he didn't have anyone available who could do the job."
And the people rejoiced? Though after fifty years of his rule, a whole generation would end up having to find their feet in a suddenly different land..."But he'd been a monarchist is his youth and… The son of the deposed king seemed to be his sort of person. Young Juan Carlos made all the right dictatorial nationalist noises so… Franco nominated him his successor, Juan Carlos became head of state and then king once Franco died… And then revealed his true colours, abolished the fascist dictatorship and transitioned the country to democracy."
A pretty clear example, really. And the roles are just as obvious."Then there's the Book of Esther. Haman persuaded King Ahasuerus to have all the Jews in Persia executed… Until the king's wife Esther persuades him not to, saving tens of thousands of lives without killing anyone."
Oh, she's looking at me now. No.
Yeah, she worked that out quickly enough.
She'd probably rather be dead right now... But once she thinks about it, well... She probably won't like it, but she'll end up doing it. For Humanity's sake.I shrug. "And of course if the king didn't care about her, they'd all be dead. And if she'd let the fact that he was about to have her entire ethnicity exterminated stop her from 'persuading' him, they'd all be dead." I sit back a little. "I did.. hear about Omniman and Invincible finding your resistance group. Aside from one guy who teleported out, they all died. So I'm going to ask. You're clearly happy to sacrifice your life. Are you willing to sacrifice your pride?"
He always was after his father's approval, right? Becoming a superhero, following his dad into conquest...Tears leak from her eyes, and she squeezes them closed to try and keep them clear.
"I was wondering how it would work, being conquered by an alien empire. I mean, Omniman acting as a scout and then destroying resistance once he realised that we couldn't beat him… Okay, that's efficient. No sense wasting resources when what's on site can do the job. But one man can't run a planet. All he's really done since then is destroy potential sources of resistance. Invincible's the one who made the broadcasts. I don't… I don't think he knows how to run a world. And clearly the Viltrumite Empire didn't have a team ready to go when it happened. In my role as a toady I've been asking for the reconstruction plan, and I don't think there is one. Omniman kills without hesitation, but I… Got hold of some of the Global Defence Agency's recordings. In the early fights, before he… Internalised the victim-blaming, Invincible looked at his father for… Approval? Before killing his opponents."
Ooh, hitting her where it hurts. Emotionally, anyway.You disgust me.
"Yeah, that's fair. But having not fought them, and played the part of willing collaborator, I've been able to give millions shelter, food and sanitation. How many people did you help by resisting? After we lost at our strongest, how many did you think you could help by fighting at our weakest?"
Because it's a safe bet as to what Mark wants.You do it, then.
"We went bowling last week. I think he's trying to make a friend, but he's gotten so far into his alien overlord persona that he keeps being inadvertently terrifying… Then deciding that it was intentional." I shake my head. "I couldn't pretend to be you well enough. Couldn't hold your shape or match your power."
Hopefully, she can look past the anger, and consider it rationally.
Right, then... It might take a few more discussions like this, but I think he got under her skin, so to speak. I get the feeling the next time we look in, she'll be letting him heal her and reluctantly playing her part. Whether she can bear to, that's up to her... Hopefully we won't have to wait too long to see that.
Buggered internet, eh? That's always a pain, especially when it happens on a weekend. Hopefully @Mr Zoat can get onto his provider and get it back up promptly. Makes me glad mine's device includes a cellular backup, slow as it is.