trans_9 | In the jungle, the quiet jungle [Closed]

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In the jungle, the quiet jungle [Closed]

To say Nightwing was unhappy with his orders was an understatement. He absolutely didn't agree that protective custody was the best way to handle this. Yes, the kid and the Yeerk needed to be protected because there were far too many people on the crew that had been affected and still weren't dealing with it well. He just wasn't convinced that this was the way to do it.

Of course, in order to get him into protective custody, Dick had to find the kid, first. Not the easiest of feats in Hydroponics, but he figured the boy might not be anywhere near the beer tree. Too many people were around there on a daily basis. So he went the opposite direction, looking for places that would be good to hide in or provided good cover.

And was still a little surprised when he stumbled into the right area. "Tom?" he asked, straightening slightly. "Tom Berenson?"

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"So, allow me to make sure I understand this. For my own safty, because people are trying to defy the rules and kill me, I should allow you to stick me in a jail cell. I've committed no crime, I am the victim of an attempted homicide and am doing my very best to both abide by the rules and make others more comfortable with my existence. Tell me, Nightwing, does that sound fair to you? It sounds more like species selective racism to me than something to be done 'for my own good'."

< He won't break promises....not at all. >

"In all honesty? No, it doesn't." Nightwing was going to be honest about this. If he wanted Iniss to go with him, he needed to be. "It's not fair in the least that there are people who want you dead for something you weren't involved in and had no part of.

"However, it's equally unfair to leave you on your own to deal with this." Tom didn't look like much of a fighter and Iniss had said he was an information guy. "It's a crap situation, one of the highest order and I'm sorry that you have to go through it. But at the end of the day, it's easier to keep you safe in one place than for you to need to look over your shoulder all the time."

He leaned forward slightly. "You don't have any real reason to trust me, I know. But I hope you do, anyway."

"I've accepted the challenge of trying to stay alive on my own and with the support of my friends and allies." The tone was soft, he didn't want to get security angry with him. "But I'm not being given the option of saying no, am I?"

His hand found the tiny communication device in his pocket, withdrawing it after a moment and messing with it briefly before returning it. "You're right, Nightwing, I have no reason to trust you."

< Except because he's awesome. > Tom corrected. But the yeerk ignored him.

"Why should I trust that you and your friends, after all, not to do the same things the last humans who took possession of me did? It would be an easy thing, to make it legitimate and lock my host in a cell until I starved."

"Because if that actually happened, I'd break you out myself." Nightwing reached up, flipping something on his mask. The protective lenses slid out of the way so that his eyes showed. Taking the mask off except around family just...didn't really happen. It was a thing and he was here as Nightwing, not Dick Grayson. Dick Grayson might have had an easier time of it, though.

"You said that your host knows me. Or at least knows of me. So he knows that the one thing I value above pretty much everything else is life. I don't kill." Memories of Blockbuster's death flashed before his eyes, but Nightwing pushed them away. Not now. "I don't condone the taking of a life, not even the life of the man who killed my family." Zucco, yes, but the Joker too. When he was thinking clearly, at least.

"I'm not saying this is going to be easy." Honesty. Always honesty. "You don't have to like me. You don't even have to entirely trust me. Just...believe your host. I'm not the kind of person who would leave someone in that sort of a situation."

< You can trust him. >

< Excuse me if your faith in someone isn't a ringing endorsement. You would have me trust Marco too. >

< He's telling the truth, Iniss. Find my memories. You might not be caught up, but you'll still... Batman doesn't kill, and none of his students do either. >

"He thinks you're a hero." His brow furrowed a bit when Nightwing flipped off the mask. "He's rather confident that you're a hero, actually. But my experience with people wanting to take me places on this ship has been less than favorable. Even if you went into it with the best intentions, can you go against an entire ship howling for my execution? Throwing me in a jail cell, after all, is the best way to lead into a trial. And I know how well that went for the last yeerk that was held in your possession."

Well. One of his students, but Jason was...well, Jason.

"I do my best. It's not always good enough, but keeping going even when you fail is part of what being a hero is about." Nightwing raised one shoulder and let it drop. "I have before. I would again. The last yeerk was a special case in that he was the last of the colony that attempted to take over the ship. And he's still alive. Just in stasis." Nightwing frowned slightly, then shook his head. "I'd find a way. Between Batman and me, I figure we could manage." Somehow. He was pretty certain at this point that it wouldn't come to that, though.

In Tom's opinion, Jason didn't count.

"Would you want to go back to stasis, Nightwing? Back to not knowing if you were going to live or die, your very existence at the mercy of people who would gladly have killed you? I don't have the same faith you have in humanity. Or in their ability to look past my race and see that I wasn't involved in any of the rather foolish and destructive issues others of my species caused."

< You can trust him. I mean it. He's Nightwing >

"If you fail, I die."

Don't let Jason hear that, Tom. Or Dick, mostly because Dick DID count Jason.

"I know." Nightwing's face was absolutely serious as he said it. "But they would physically have go through me in order to get to you. Which probably means I'll be living at the precinct for a while." He'd do it. To make sure he didn't fail Tom and Iniss, he absolutely would.

Iniss stared back at the 'hero' face equally serious. "Am I a prisoner, Nightwing? Or the victim of a crime?"

He wasn't allowed to say no. They would take him regardless. "I have no rights as a crew mate, or so it seems. Only my host does. You can hold me, even though I have committed no crime and have no intentions of doing so...And even if I tell you no, and try to leave, you'll take me in anyway, won't you?"

His mouth twisted into a grimace of distaste. "I've been told to bring you in, no matter what it takes," Nightwing said ruefully. "And I'm pretty sure I've annoyed the hell out of Kennedy by questioning him.

"I will say that whatever else Kennedy might be, he is fair. He knows the security team and if he wanted you dead, he'd have put somebody else in charge of finding you." Because as much as Leon probably disagreed with the Batfamily's non-lethal methods, in this instance, it probably came in very handy. "I'd rather you came with me of your own accord."

"But you have no problem taking me by force." His lips pressed into a thin line. "And your commanding officer wants me alive, for whatever reason."

Despite popular belief, being wanted alive wasn't always a good thing. At times it was the worst thing possible. A quick death verses torture for information and then quite possibly death, a slow, lingering death of starvation, a trial, or the farcical representation of one, verdict decided before the court even assembled... none of them were favorable options.

To walk into his prison and wait for the dice to fall or to resist?

Obviously, if it came down to it, giving the appearance of cooperation would look better for him. "I'll go. I just escaped the last jail cell someone tried to kill me in, why not accept another one?" And if his voice was a little bitter, who could blame him. "Would you like to frisk me too? Or am I allowed to keep my possessions this time?"

Nightwing certainly didn't blame him. Not in the least. "I never said that I wouldn't have a problem with force." Just that he'd use it if he had to.

He looked Tom over before meeting his eyes again. "Do you have anything that could be considered a weapon?" He wasn't worried so much for himself, but it was a good question. "Other than that? You're not a criminal. I don't see a reason to keep your belongings from you. Kennedy might see it differently," he warned. Because Kennedy was...not Nightwing. Or Batman. (No matter how much he sometimes REMINDED Nightwing of Batman.)

"My side arm was taken by the last group that took me prisoner." His voice was dry, but he stood up. "I don't even have a pocket knife on me, just the com devices Stacy gave me and the data pad." He hefted the flimsy thing briefly, lips twisting with wry humor. "I think I might be able to use it to squish a bug."

He stuffed the thing in his pocket, and considered briefly extending his wrists in a gesture of submission. He settled on stuffing his hands in his pockets, looking at Nightwing briefly. "Where are we going?"

That was something, at least. Nightwing nodded, leaving the lenses up on his mask for the moment. "The City," he said. "Security headquarters, more exactly. That's where Kennedy will be. It's also the most secure building down there, as far as I know."

Which didn't mean that there weren't people who could get in there. The building was hardly going to keep out Superman or some of the others. But it was safe enough from the normal, unpowered folk. Except for Batman.

The City. His face twisted briefly in a grimace, but he nodded. "Lead the way then, I don't know my way around well enough to say where that is. Do you know what your boss wants with me?"

He didn't think he'd get the answer, and even if he did, he didn't think he would get the true answer. Just the one that seemed the most PC to give.

"To paraphrase Kennedy, you out of the line of fire." Which was exactly what Leon had told him. "After the last trial, we had a rather large contingent of crew members who disagreed with the verdict to let the Yeerk live. They attempted to enforce their personal desires and got a lot of people hurt. Thankfully, nobody was killed, but it created a lot of problems and some of the issues are still simmering, especially amongst those who were...forcibly taken as hosts."

He wasn't going to use 'infested'. Not to another Yeerk. Especially one who was cooperating. "It's possible he'll want to question you. Make sure that you really aren't part of what happened before. I doubt it'll be an issue since Jake's pretty much said you came to the ship in Tom's head."

Tom laughed softly, silently. < How very politically correct. >

"And how does Kennedy feel about Yeerks?" He sighed. "I get annoyed when members of my species have little to no understanding of the concept of subtle. It sounds like it was utter chaos and useful to no one. As well as counter productive to everyone." He shook his head. "You can say infested, if you want. We're parasites, Nightwing, it's like saying you ate a steak."

He kept his hands tucked in his pockets, thoughtful and serious. "So long as he doesn't ask me to leave my host, I'll be happy to operate with your organization in whatever way you see fit."

"I'm not sure what he'll ask of you," he replied. He did nod at the admonishment of what Yeerks were. He still wasn't likely to say it. "As I said, I wasn't here for it. Everything I've heard about their attack is second hand. What happened after the trial, however, I was very much involved in and it was chaos."

He glanced over at Tom/Iniss. "You seem to be on much better terms with your host than what I'd heard from others."

"I suppose I'll just need to find out, then. Joy." For someone who specialized in information, not knowing something was frustrating and stressful.

< Not really. > Tom responded, though Nightwing couldn't hear him.

"Do you want me to lie and tell you he's over the moon about the situation? That he doesn't wish I was elsewhere?" He shrugged his shoulders. "Tom has been a host for three years now. We've been assigned to each other for two and a half of those years. To say that he tolerates me is generous. But, unlike those other yeerks, I didn't go out seeking him, he was assigned to me and we've adjusted to each other as much as possible. It's very much like living with an annoying roommate. I keep my deals with him, he doesn't throw a fit every time I do something he doesn't like and we go on living. Compared to some? Yes, you could probably say I am on better terms with my host than most. But he's not voluntary and I'm not Peace Movement."

Nightwing wasn't entirely certain what to do with that information. He frowned as he turned it over in his mind, shaking his head. "But you're willing to leave him if another viable solution comes to light?" Given everything that the science department had at its fingertips, that was certainly a possibility.

It took a few minutes as they walked, but Nightwing finally shook his head. "I don't like it," he said over his shoulder. "You probably expected that, I'm sure. I've seen too many friends possessed over the years and forced to do things that they would never do of their own volition.

"That said," he continued. "Tom should know the kinds of guys I normally go up against. I'm willing to take you at your word, right now, that you'll leave him once there's a safe way to do so that allows you to retain your autonomy."

Don't disappoint him, Iniss.

"I've already been speaking to science department, and another solution is being sought. For the moment, I'm simply attempting to find a way to make others less willing to kill me while such a solution is found out." He allowed the silence to hang between them, walking calmly and quietly.

It was almost a test. But the truth, in many situations, was all he had to offer. Lying would only come to light sooner or later. "Very few people like it. But it's how we evolved. You said you were there for the trial, did you see what the yeerk looked like? In our natural state we are blind, deaf, helpless. A human toddler could kill us without much trouble. We can't speak, no the way you think of it, and communicate instead through sonar. It's beyond limiting. You can do nothing but exist. You can't learn, you can't experience anything." He kept his hands firmly tucked in his pockets, one hand curling around the data pad. "The problem with lies, Nightwing, is that all too often they come out and it looks worse than even the gritty nature of the truth. I could have lied to you, and told you my host was as happy as a clam and glad to not have to worry about anything anymore. Glad to let someone else take the reigns of his life. And you might have believed me. But all it takes for a lie to turn on you is one of those psychics to walk past and read my mind and the lie is reveled. I need help and allies. Not more people snarling that all Yeerks do is lie. So I won't lie to you. If another viable option is presented, and it needs to be an organic option, not a mechanical one, I will take it."

He will attempt not to.

Nightwing looked over at Iniss for a long few moments before he nodded. "Organic option. Got it." And he would remember. Though how they would manage it, he had no idea.

Iniss had no idea either, really. But the option was a good one, and even if it did prove impossible to do, his willingness to try spoke well for him. "I think a more intimidate fix would be figuring out some sort of indicator. To identify who was in control."

"Doable." Hey, with all the science they had on the ship? "It's easier and less taxing than assigning a telepath to you." Not that they had many telepaths, as far as he could tell.

"As well as much preferred to assigning a telepath to me." The shudder was very real. Iniss hated telepaths. "Though I imagine there will need to be some sort of announcement just to explain what it does." More annoyance, for someone who operated under cover, having so much of his life made public knowledge was frustrating and made him feel exposed.

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