brokenweapon | 034. - Video

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034. - Video - Just Desserts

[OOC: Co-written with Milbury. Thanks for being awesome! There is also a scoschy bit of time fuckery in here because real talk, nobody can be held hostage on the Barge for two weeks without being found. The ship ain't that big, not like it's Tora Bora or anything.]

[The screen flicks on, and the face of Jason Bourne appears - though anyone would be forgiven for not recognizing him at first, due to the haggard look and the beard that he’s sporting. He’s a right mess, with a healing split lip and bruises all over every place the camera can see, and quite a few more besides.

He speaks, and his voice sounds hoarse and rusty from disuse.] “As of the morning of June 5th, I have not been myself. I was kidnapped and impersonated by my inmate, and held captive in another inmate’s quarters.” [He glances off-camera.] “Come here, David.”

	[Sullenly, reluctantly, David walks into view. While not as disheveled as his warden, David’s seen better days himself - his normally straight hair is matted to his head and the shirt he’s wearing is torn at the collar. He’s also got his hands clasped together behind his head - clearly he’s not here of his own volition. He doesn’t look at the camera. His attention is focused entirely on his warden, and the look he’s eyeing Bourne with is a dangerous one - bitter and resentful. He says nothing.]
	“Show them.” [Bourne’s voice is flat and level. His left hand is nearly out of frame, and there’s a gun in it, and it’s pointed directly at his inmate.] “Now.”
	[Gritting his teeth and looking away from the camera, David begins to change. Slowly he begins growing, both in height and mass, his lean teenager’s body bulking up into the body of a man fifteen years or so older. It’s a bit like watching aging flash-forwarded, except that David isn’t just growing older. His entire facial structure is changing as he grows - his ear-length blond hair shortens and darkens, while his eyes go from dark brown to steely blue.
	When the transformation’s complete, no trace of David can be see in the man he’s become. Now Jason Bourne appears to be holding his twin double at gunpoint.]
	[Anyone watching Bourne rather than David would see the anger and hate in his eyes as he watches the transformation. There are two of him now - one whole, perfect, and fake; the other beaten, broken, and the genuine article.] “Demorph,” [he says, and there’s such bitter loathing in his voice it’s surprising he hasn’t pulled the trigger out of spite.
	Looking back at his warden with undisguised hatred, David does as he’s told. Jason Bourne’s form recedes back the way it came, exposing David’s secret for the entire Barge to see.] “Happy now?” [David asks, and while his sullen bitterness can’t match the utter loathing his warden expressed in that one-word command, his own voice is quivering with anger. His hands are clenched behind his head, and it’s quite clear he would enjoy nothing more than seeing the man he just became torn apart, perhaps by rabid lions.]
	[Bourne doesn’t respond to his inmate’s question, but the answer is obviously ‘No’. Though he refuses to take his eyes off of his inmate, it’s clear that he’s addressing the camera:] “I apologize for anything he’s done while using my form since then. This will not happen again. He will be receiving a punishment that fits his crime.”

[He reaches over with his right hand to turn off the feed, the gun still trained on David, and now it’s clear why he’s using his opposite hand to hold a gun on his inmate. His right thumb is still broken and hasn’t yet been treated, hanging down grotesquely. It can be seen for just a moment before the feed switches off.]

[Private to the Admiral, just after Rathammer commences:]
Please revoke David's morphing ability entirely. When I see fit to restore his powers, keep him from being able to acquire or morph any Barge denizen.

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I'll explain it all shortly.

Please. He deserves it, but I'm not a monster.

[Costigan arrived a few minutes later (post-David thread), allowing him time to leave a quick note with his warden. As soon as the inmate came upon the door, he attempted to let himself in. When he found it locked, he pounded twice.] "It's me. Open the door."

[Bourne opened the door with his left hand. It had been bitten up by his inmate the rat, but he'd had time to apply antiseptic and gauze since that had happened. The clothes David had shed have been raggedly folded and placed in a drawer.] "Come in. Check the gun, if you want. I haven't fired a shot."

"Jesus, guy." [Costigan muttered as he entered, closing and locking the door behind him. The inmate accepted the invitation and moved immediately to where the gun was resting, picking it up. First he touched a hand briefly to the barrel to test for heat, then opted to count instead. It took no thought to flick the small lever that released the magazine for him to count ammunition, so the inmate's eyes were on the gun, but his mind was on Bourne.] "What happened and where is he?"

"He's been punished," [Bourne said, explaining nothing.] "He's in no danger. He's not hurt. Which is more charitable than I should be."

[He went to the other end of the room to check on David.] "He is sleeping, though. Or he looks like he is." [He stared at the white rat in the cage, trying to decide if his inmate was truly worn out from his frenzied attempt at escaping/attacking his warden, or simply faking. The lack of the mental tirade that had been hammering him for several minutes seemed to indicate the former, but as he well knew David was crafty. And as he well knew, rats had excellent hearing.

Nothing sensitive would be discussed in this room until David was released.]

"He's a fucking inmate, Bourne. Have you lost your mind?" [Costigan asked darkly, voice taking on an aggression he hadn't released in quite some time. The anxiety in him had been building for weeks with no proper outlet and now that he had an excuse, his friend might be receiving the brunt of it.

Then he put the two and two together, realizing the rat was David.] "Fuck.. How long are you planning on keepin' him like that?"

"Really? An inmate? I wasn't aware," [Bourne said, indicating the healing bruises on his neck with rare sarcasm. It didn't sound right coming from him, especially not in that halfway-bitter tone. Costigan was not the only one with anxiety issues right now. In response to his friend's last question, he picked up a pad of paper with his right hand and awkwardly wrote with his left:]

"That depends," [he said aloud for the benefit of any listening Animorphs.]

[Costigan pressed a few fingers to his eyes in a gesture of anxiety before lifting his hat and running a hand through his hair. He read the paper as he refitted the cap on his head. He got that Bourne had been beat to shit, but Costigan didn't quite see David as having been the one to do it, at least not alone, and he glanced from the paper to Bourne. He understood the code.]

"On?" [He asked, taking the pad to write a response while ensuring it was out of line of sight of the creature. He didn't know shit about rats. Then he returned the pad to Bourne.]

No. That's way too long. This is revenge, not wardening. Keep him like that 4 days if you have to. After that, let him out. I'll ~~fucking~~ watch him if I have to.

Edited 2011-06-14 18:23 (UTC)

[Strange, because Costigan would say it had been Sullivan's first.]

"How pissed I am," [Bourne said nonchalantly as he wrote. If the rat was listening, let him sweat. He knew just how pissed his warden was and could figure it'd take quite some time for him to cool down.]

[Costigan was quiet as he read, feigning time to think for the auditory conversation. He knew that Bourne was overreacting, but getting anyone else involved would just make the warden more defensive than he already was. The former undercover crossed his arms for a moment, then took the paper back to write a response again.]

He's no ringleader. Trust me. He might have had the idea, but he followed someone else. He's not innocent, but you're talking about keeping him trapped like that for a week.

[He paused, sighed, and shook his head lightly, continuing to write almost immediately after speaking.] "He's a good kid, Bourne. He just forgets that sometimes."

4 days, then you make him human again and I'll take him. You tell Slick's and Hoffman's wardens today. Follow up on them. Then you recover while I'm watching the kid.

[Bourne exhaled as he read. Costigan's head was clearer than his on this. He was pissed - but in his own way he was tired of this. He'd let David know just how much he'd fucked up when he'd attacked him back in Hoffman's cabin. This was to make it stick.

And honestly, if he had to live for over a week with the psychically screaming rat he'd end up having a psychotic break.]

"Good kids don't take hostages," [he said, scrawling on the pad.] "Then again, they might have called me a good kid once. And look at me..."

"You and me both, guy." [He muttered. Costigan was more grateful than he would begin to let on that Bourne was being almost reasonable about this, at least with him here. It had been awhile since the two had really talked and the inmate had been worried Bourne might not trust him like he used to.]

4. That's me compromising.

[The inmate gave Bourne a single look to emphasize the solemnity of that statement on the paper. Costigan had no idea what he could do if Bourne persisted, but he could -- and would -- get others involved if he had to. Dick and Howie could take his side, he was pretty sure, and then Bourne's ability to warden might be called in to question. Neither of them wanted that, but it loomed as a silent threat for Costigan to try to get his way in this. Four days as an animal seemed too much as it was.

As an afterthought, Costigan scribbled:]

I'm not going to let him roam around. He'll still be punished with me. If you get rid of his filters -- and you should, if you don't add yourself to them -- do me a favor and let him keep his filter with me.

"Nothing we can't recover from."

[Bourne looked down at the new statement on the paper, and met Costigan's eyes. A threat. A veiled one - something he really did not need right now - but it was a threat on the side of the angels. No matter how pissed he was, no matter how justifiable the punishment, other wardens with softer hearts would disagree.

The asset wasn't a law unto himself anymore. He was part of a hierarchy again. And from what little he could remember of that Army officer he had been, Captain David Webb, he knew that such harsh measures would not have flown.

But you were never a hostage, were you David? You walked into Treadstone - into Blackbriar - of your own free will.

I did, countered his rational side as his former self - perhaps he was cracking under the strain - but there's a fine line between punishment and revenge. You're crossing it. You have a higher authority to answer to - your fellow wardens and the Admiral. Trust Costigan. He's trying to help you.

Help. Now that was rare. He wasn't used to that. He wasn't sure how he felt about it either. A phrase flashed into his head from his Army days: Battle buddy.

Help was okay if it came from a person you trusted implicitly. If he trusted no-one else on board, he trusted Costigan.

He took the pad back.]

"Sure, yeah." [It was an automatic reply, just something to continue the verbal conversation while the written one stalled for a moment. The inmate watched Bourne's face in silence for the entire interim, hoping that the man would come to reason and extremely relieved when he did. There had been so much potential for that to go poorly if Bourne had fought him that he really didn't want to think about it.

Costigan nodded at the note and, at the end of it, replied aloud in a way that ambiguously covered both conversations.] "Thanks."

[Then he scribbled a quick note, satisfied for the moment, and cast another short glance over at the rat.]

I want to be here when you turn him back. I'll take care of him from there for 3-5 days. Whatever you need.

[And that was all that really needed to be said.]

"Anyway, he's here if you want to check up on him," [Bourne said aloud.] "I'm not going to hurt him. I don't like animal cruelty."

[Costigan nodded to both before stuffing his hands in his pockets. There wasn't much else to say, so he cast another glance at the rat and then looked back to Bourne again.]

"Sure. Thanks, guy." [The inmate hovered there, an invitation for any last sentiments before he departed.]

"Yeah. No problem." [Bourne was back to being a little bit distant. Too much time alone with nothing but his thoughts and his jailers for company didn't do much for his conversational skills.]

"See you later."

[The inmate nodded again before turning to take his leave. He moved forward to the door, seeing himself out, and disappeared down the hallway with more on his mind than there had been before.]

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034. - Video - Just Desserts

Private, a few minutes later (post-David thread). Enjoy the locked door you'll be meeting, Costigan.

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Spam - Why is this sounding like a bizarre custody battle?

Spam - Because they're mommy and daddy now that Donny's gone. :C

Spam - And Bourne is the strict ex-military stepdad the kid doesn't like. :c

Spam - Costigan's the concerned mom. :C MY LI'LE BABY DIDN'T MEAN IT.

Spam - xD

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