Chapter Text
Technically she had better hygiene then most in the City after all of the work Riley's medical drones had put into cleaning her up, but the girl still looked like a wild animal to Legends eyes as he entered the cell block. He stopped a few feet short of the line that marked the extent of her range from within the glass cell based on previous interactions. All signs pointed to it being much smaller now, but best not to risk losing this opportunity by underestimating her. He was still on well deserved thin ice after all.
The stool was dangerously close to her area, not wanting to nudge it over with a laser Legend chose to stand as he spoke. "Hello Weaver, or would you prefer Taylor?" No response, no recognition, though that glare was the same expression she'd worn on the rare occasion when Legend saw Taylor's face before this. Once again best to air on the side of caution with her.
"You're a conflicting figure for many, me included. I wanted to have a private talk with you for a while. A proper talk, not one done in the middle of triage. Admittedly this won't exactly be a debate. But well, it's probably too late for that." Legend took a deep breath. It wasn't the first time he'd had a one sided conversation like this. He still remembered his time standing over Hero's grave. The grave was gone now, Scion had wiped it away along with the city it was in. But something about having a face to look into made the experience that little bit worse.
Still he'd pushed through far more discomfort than this in the past "I don't blame you for what happened with Alexandria, she was uncompromising. Honestly you two are a lot alike, it's not surprising one of you wound up killing the other." Legend might be imagining things, but he could have sworn he saw the slightest flicker of anger in her eyes. "That's not really what I wanted to talk to you about. I suppose I wanted to thank you. I imagine a great many people want to do the same, and a fair few want to do the opposite, but I wanted to be among the first. I..."
Legend took a deep breath in readying himself to confess this "When you did what you did, I think I was about ready to break, to run home and hold my family while we waited for the end. If I had done that, broken rank and fled after everything I'd done under the excuse of the greater good. Even if the world did survive somehow I don't think I would have. So, from the bottom of my heart thank you Weaver." No response, no recognition, just two gold eyes staring through him. She really did remind him of Alexandria.
With a parting nod Legend got up and made his way to the door. Now that he'd said his piece he truly hoped to never wind up in that room again
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Theo did not forgive her, no matter her reasoning, no matter how right she was to do it, he could not forgive her. That didn't make seeing her like this any easier. Throughout his time with the Chicago Wards, Weaver had been implacable. Barely even reacting to things that had turned the rest of their stomachs inside out. As though she had seen and been worse, both of which were true most of the time. So seeing her reduced to effectively an empty shell in a chair was disturbing.
"How are you?" A stupid question, he wouldn't have gotten a response even back when she could respond. "I don't-. No, I do blame you for making the choices you did, I understand why but there had to be another choice. There's always another road to victory, no matter how good the one you're on looks." He looked down at his hands shuffling nervously in his lap "You told me that once, verbatim. We were training, and I'd tried to bind your legs as an opening move for the fourth time in a row. You were frustrated I think, you're not easy to read. You'd volunteered your time to help me train for facing Jack, and I wasn't keeping up with your expectation. Not that I feel bad about that, after all even Scion couldn't keep up."
Theo chuckled a bit at that, it was the kind of joke that Weaver would have given a huff of acknowledgement. Khepri didn't seem to care. "I should've brought Cuff, she was always better at actually getting through to you then I was. We're dating now actually, have been for about a year now. It's going really well. Romp, Grace and Wanton all made it through too. Romp has actually been talking about asking about you a fair bit. I'm not allowed to tell her unless she signs up with the Wardens. Don't know about most of the others, we're still pretty spread out across worlds. I know Tecton didn't." He was silent for a moment. Everett had been a good friend, one of the only Wards leaders willing to give him a chance and he made sure his team did as well.
"I'm going to go now, if I get the chance I'll try and tell your other team that you're alive. Though I doubt I will, I'm probably going to get a pretty thorough reprimanding for even suggesting the idea. Tattletales operating out of New Brockton now, she's doing well from what I've seen." Theo got out of his chair and made his way toward the exit.
"Th."
A single sound, not even a full syllable, and it stopped him dead in his tracks. The Dragon's Teeth officer by the door rushed forward and hurried him out of the room. Theo really doubted he'd be allowed back in.
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Valkyrie settled into the chair and took off her mask fidgeting with it as she prepared to speak. She wasn't supposed to do that in front of people, but the people assigned to guard this floor likely had access to her file already, and that aside she didn't have much of a civilian life to put at risk anyway. Miss Yamada wouldn't like her thinking like that. Truth be told, she was only here because of what Miss Yamada had said. That it was just as important to acknowledge her past as it was to grow past it.
Taking a deep breath Ciara looked up into golden eyes and began to speak. "They want me to kill you. They haven't said it openly yet but I know. Something about having only one monster to control instead of two. Odd that they'd choose me over you, we've worked with them for roughly the same amount of time, and rough though your joining was. Mine was surely worse." There was no verbal response, but Ciara knew they understood. In truth the words were mere set dressing in this conversation. She was making use of a master power that implanted thoughts in others' heads, used with a subtle touch the target wouldn't even know it wasn't there though. A more brute force approach could turn it into a universal translator. She'd used it more than once to drive off animals, and what sat across from her was certainly smarter than a raccoon, no matter what their appearance might indicate. She was also making use of a combat thinker who had been capable of reading entire battle plans from a twitch of muscle. That was… less effective. Still it would serve well enough for them to communicate.
"It seems unfair. After all you did, they should venerate you should they not? Build statues in your name and songs in your honor. Instead you were lost for years, and now found you have been shoved down here in the dark. Whereas I am held to the light, the beacon of hope, the face of the new generation of heroes. Do you not wish that for yourself?" They simply blinked at her. Seemingly they did not desire such accolades, or mayhaps her Thinker power was functioning worse then she had feared.
Ciara held their gaze for a long time before placing the mask back on her face and continuing "I will not kill you, you deserve more than that. Besides, given your current nature, who is to say I would be the monster that came out on top." Her parting jest was met by a dozen eyes bubbling up in a taunting crescent around the original eye. It seems the fair-, the Shard was confident as to who would win that exchange, the steely gaze of the host suggested similar confidence, or maybe both were bluffing.
What a perturbing thing to witness, actor and role existing truly as one. Miss Yamada would likely not be pleased with how this talk had gone. Even so Valkyrie hoped this would not be the last of their talks.