trans_9 | Who do you think you're fooling? [Closed]

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Who do you think you're fooling? [Closed]

Wanda had recently been released by GLaDOS. It had taken a while to get her bearings again, especially after witnessing Punishment (GLaDOS had been considerate enough to display it on a monitor while she was running mazes). That would need to be dealt with but right now she was more concerned with the welfare of another crew member. One she had hoped would come to his senses on his own without outside interference. Her hopes had been misplaced. Not altogether unexpected, considering his predecessor's great skill in sulking.

Wanda entered the precinct, made her way to the brig, and folded her arms. She, and others, had tried being polite. It was time to take off the gloves.

"Get out."

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Jonas looked up from the contemplation of his hands at the woman on the other side of the door.

"[What is the problem?]" he asked politely. He did not really want to talk to her, but he could hardly imagine that she would let him get away with that.

Wanda stared straight at Jonas as she spoke. "You have been in this cell for God knows how long. The Council agreed there would be no charges. I was trying to be patient but enough is enough. You're helping no one by staying in here wallowing in your own self pity. Now get out of there."

Jonas bowed his head again and sighed before he looked back up to meet the Scarlet Witch's gaze again.

"[I am not wallowing in self-pity,]" he said. "[The fact that the Council decided not to bring charges against me does not absolve me of the responsibility of taking lives. I murdered two people when I could have just as easily rendered them unconscious. What I did was wrong, whether or not the Council recognizes it; and when someone does something that wrong, they should go to jail.]"

He sat back in his seat and closed his eyes. He was so tired of explaining this to people. Why did no one seem to understand?

Wanda took pains to keep her voice level, with mixed results. "You made a mistake. What you did was wrong but the end result was that you just might have saved the hostage, or you might not have. Either way, you've been in here long enough. We are the only surviving members of or worlds who are awake. We are in a war against the Ohm. We do not have the time for you to agonize over a bad decision made while under incredible stress and emotional pain. Your friends need you to be strong right now. We all need you to be strong." In short: deal with it.

At that, Jonas rose to his feet and fixed the woman on the other side of door with a glare of his own. "[And what, pray, have I done to indicate that I did not plan to continue to help in the fight against the Ohm? I can assure you, Scarlet Witch, that I have every intention of making myself available when I am needed; and those times I have been needed since I killed Kawalsky and Shiva, I did not hesitate to assist. Ask Daimon Hellstrom, Sam Winchester, and Schmuz the Yeerk if my word is not good enough for you.]" How dare she imply that he would sit here and ignore people in danger? How dare she?!

"[Furthermore, the only other teammate of mine on board has plenty of friends that are far healthier for her than I could be, even if I did accept your woefully under-argued conclusion that I should leave this cell and force the rest of the crew to interact with me. We put people in prison when they kill others, I fail to see why I should be any special exception to that rule.]"

Wanda put her hands on her hips. "First, I never meant that you wouldn't help out in an actual fight. There are more responsibilities than that. Your friends need you, even when they have other friends. Do you think it's easy for Kate to see you like this? You two are one of the only people who really knew Cassie and you have holed yourself up here away from everyone. How is that helping her move on? Second, this is not a special exception. If it were me, I would have done the same thing. I think most of the crew would have too. What would you say to one of us then? Would you expect us to go to prison? Now tell me this, if your positions were reversed, if you had died and Cassie had lived, if she had killed Shiva, just what would you want her to do? Stay here and obsess over it?"

Jonas chose to ignore the first part of Wanda's argument -- he had already pointed out that Kate had other friends to help her through this and was probably better served by them than by his presence -- and instead focused on the utter wrongness of the second part.

"[Cassie would not have killed Shiva. She wanted to be an Avenger for years, she knew that Avengers do not kill.]"

Considering the girl's reaction to her, Wanda found that a little hard to believe. But then she didn't know Cassie. Still, if this was what he was latching onto then this was what she'd have to work with.

"You also knew that. Knowing something isn't right isn't always enough to stop it. I don't know what she would have done. We'll never know but humor me. If she had, would you want her to be here?"

"[She would not have,]" Jonas said stubbornly, crossing his arms. He refused to even discuss this ridiculous hypothetical. It was absurd. And even if, even if she would have wanted to, she would have had a much harder time of it, and would have been more justified in doing so because it would have been far more difficult for her to render him unconscious than kill him with her power set.

But she would not have, so there was no point in even considering the argument.

"Jonas." Now she knew not to drop this line of ~~attack~~ reasoning. "If she had."

"[She. Would. Not.]" Jonas turned his scowl on the wall. "[The premise is absolutely absurd, I refuse to discuss it.]"

He would never judge her as harshly as he judged himself. But she had never even been at the slightest risk of growing up to become Kang the Conqueror. She was a good person, and he loved her.

"[This whole argument is stupid.]"

Wanda opened the cell door. If he was going to turn away from her then Wanda would have to make sure he didn't ignore her. "You're only saying that because you wouldn't want her to be here, aren't you? You wouldn't want her to keep punishing herself the way that you are." Her voice was still insistent but her tone had softened.

Jonas retreated to the bench-slash-bunk and sat down, curling his body away from Wanda's intrusion into his cell. "[I said the premise was stupid. It still is.]"

What would it take to make her go away? He did not want to talk about this. He did not even want to think about this.

"[I don't want to talk about it,]" he said, barely noticing that contractions had somehow slipped into his speech. "[This is stupid.]"

"Jonas." Wanda said gently, slowly approaching him. "This isn't what she would want."

"[I don't want to talk about it!]" Jonas repeated, squeezing his eyes shut against the watery sensation that was beginning to make itself known. It wasn't fair -- he didn't have eyes like humans did, they didn't need periodic washing, he wasn't even sure that he had tear ducts, why should he still have the ability to cry?! "[Leave me alone!]"

"I won't." Wanda was now close enough to place on hand on Jonas's shoulder. "You've been alone long enough."

Jonas half-flinched in response to her touch. He did not want to be touched, but he had not let anyone get close enough to touch him since Cassie died and his body, synthetic though it was, still craved human contact. Under Wanda's hand, his shoulders began to shake.

"[It still hurts,]" he whispered, almost without wanting to. "[I can't make it stop.]"

Since he didn't pull away, and because he needed it, Wanda put her arms around Jonas in a hug. "It will always hurt but you learn how to live with it. Even if you don't want to."

"[I don't want to,] Jonas whispered, hesitantly reaching up to hold onto her arm with his hand to try and anchor himself again now that he was so terrifyingly adrift. He had been trying to hold everything back for so long that he was not sure how to deal with his emotions now that they were loose again, and the only thing he could think to do was cling to the nearest person to keep from drowning. "[I love her and I couldn't save her and it hurts so much...]"

"I know." Wanda said softly. She wanted to comfort him but she couldn't bring herself to lie. She couldn't tell him that the pain would go away. She couldn't tell him that things would get better. All she could do was be there for him. "I know."

Perhaps an hour or maybe even two later -- it was still hard to tell on this ship -- Jonas meekly followed the Scarlet Witch out of the Brig. It was a little embarrassing that what he had apparently needed was a hug and "a good cry", but now he felt...

Well, he felt terrible, but at least he no longer felt like a walking corpse.

"[I suppose I should say thank you,]" he said, then winced. "[That sounded less rude in my head. My apologies.]"

"It's all right. You're very welcome. I'm sure your friends will be very glad to see you now- and maybe someone else as well." What was that look on her face? A knowing smile?

"['Someone else'?] Jonas repeated, frowning in confusion. If any of the other Young Avengers had been released out of Pod Sleep or GLaDOS' clutches, they would have visited him in the brig. "[I do not know who you might be referring to.]"

"Someone close to both of us." Wanda said, taking Jonas's arm. "Although you've never met him."

Jonas eyed her dubiously, allowing her to take his arm but simultaniously making himself dense enough that it was impractical for her to try to move him.

"[You appear to be hinting at something, but my mind is in no state for anything other than plain speech,]" he said. "[Who are you talking about?]"

Wanda made a face when she realized Jonas had stopped. She let go of his arm and turned back to face him.

"Vision, Jonas. He's here."

Jonas blinked several times as he rolled her statement over in his mind, trying to determine the correct response to that particular revelation.

"[...Oh.]"

Well then.

His predecessor would show up after he had committed such an egregious breach of the Avengers' code. It seemed that the omniverse was indeed intent on taunting him.

"[I see,]" he added. "[I... Do you know from what point Stacy extracted him from in the time stream?]"

"Some time before me, shortly after we moved into our house." Wanda studied him. She had to admit, she thought he would be more excited at the news. But maybe that was because of her own excitement. "If you'd rather not see him then you don't have to."

"[It is not that I do not want to see him,]" Jonas said slowly. "[It is just that it will be a rather significant interaction, and...]" Well, why not just throw caution to the wind, the Scarlet Witch could hardly think any less of him for this if she had been willing to forgive Kawalsky's murder. "...And honestly, I do not feel I am as prepared for it as I should be.]"

She did just have to figuratively drag him out of the brig, after all. He was in the right state of mind to find a quiet corner in the Media Library with a book and not much else, at this point.

"I think even if you waited a week you still would not feel prepared." But then she was speaking as someone who had been told by three different people three different times that she was their daughter- each time without warning. Besides, "I think this will be good for you."

Jonas heaved a technically-unnecessary sigh, considered running and hiding somewhere (which might or might not be Something Young Avengers Did), decided that it would be more trouble than it was worth, and sighed again.

"[I assume he is nearby,]" he said as dryly as possible. The Scarlet Witch seemed very determined that this would happen, so he felt that was a safe assumption. Unless his predecessor had gotten bored or distracted while she had been arguing him out of his cell...

[Somewhat.] Came a voice from behind them. It was similar to his own, if it held a slightly...older edge to it. It was hard to describe. Still, it sounded similar. [Hello, Jonas. Wanda has told me about you, I am glad to have the chance to meet you in person. Though perhaps the circumstances could be improved.]

Jonas stiffened, automatically drawing himself up straighter. "[Hello, Vision,]" he answered, turning around to face the synthezoid. "[I certainly agree that the circumstances could have been better, but that is hardly your fault and there is no help for it now.]"

He wondered if Wanda had told the Vision how he, Jonas, had come into existence. If she had not, that was certainly going to be a very awkward conversation.

"[It is an honor to finally meet you, sir.]"

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Who do you think you're fooling? [Closed]

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