034. - Video - Just Desserts

[brokenweapon]

[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.

Comments

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

[brokenweapon.livejournal.com]

"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.]

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

[lostundercover]

"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.

Spam - xD

[brokenweapon.livejournal.com]

[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."

Spam

[lostundercover]

[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.]

Spam

[brokenweapon.livejournal.com]

"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."

Spam

[lostundercover]

[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.]