[ voice ]

[hostage]

[This guy sounds like a total hood, his voice rough and gravelly with a cadence that suggests he's straight outta Compton. (Or, you know, Albuquerque. Whatever.) Even so, he doesn't sound angry. He's excited, actually.]

Yo, so… Oh my god. This shit about -

Hold up. Lemme start again, sorry.

My name's, um, Jesse. Jesse Pinkman. ABQ represent. 'sup.

Anyway, so this shit about superpowers. Like, I get it, but… For real? They brought us here to be superheroes? With like the whole mask and alias thing and everything? 'cause it feels like - no offense, okay - but it feels like some kinda Punk'd thing and any second now some camera crew's gonna jump out and Ashton Kutcher or some asshole's gonna…

[He loses that train of thought, laughing to himself.]

Unbelievable. That's what this shit is.

Comments

[earnedmystripes]

What is it?

[SURELY IT CAN'T BE THAT BAD!]

[hostage]

If somebody gets hurt, I can heal 'em by making it me who's hurt instead.

[earnedmystripes]

[A normal person would probably have the grace to say something like 'wow, that sucks' about now.

Kotetsu, on the other hand, can register to some extent why it would suck, but it's a very distant feeling, because that's something he's been doing on a mundane level for years. Putting himself in harm's way for the protection of others, trying to take everyone's pain unto himself and bury it somewhere deep and dark so it never saw the light of day again. Self-sacrifice is so hardwired into his being it's hard not to see that kind of ability as a blessing, rather than a curse.]

...Whoa. That's a hell of a power.

[Kotetsu no, that is not 'wow that sucks'.]

[hostage]

[It is... exactly the power Jesse's always prayed for, every time someone died when it should've been him. But it's too late to help the people he needed to help, and compared to everyone else's powers, it seems pretty damn useless here.]

It's bullshit, right? Why can't I just heal people? Like... regular healing. That woulda been a little lame but not this lame.

[earnedmystripes]

--Hey, don't say that.

[Kotetsu knows a thing or two about lame powers. He remembers very clearly hating his own when he was young, when being a NEXT meant you were Different and could never go back to being normal. When he could cry every day because he was afraid of himself and his peers were afraid of him. Your powers are meant to save people. It rings in his ears to this day, those words that saved him.]

You know how I said there're powers and stuff where I'm from? I've never actually heard of anyone who can heal, strings attached or otherwise. It's pretty awesome that you can heal at all.

[There's a pause. He is thinking about this in earnest, now.]

...I bet if you could get your power under control, you could get it so you could heal things in like, pieces. So you can help people without having to need help right away yourself.

I could try to help, if you like?

[hostage]

[It's not something he can admit out loud, because he can't explain it without explaining that he's a murderer, but he's secretly grateful that his power is something that'll at least give life instead of taking it. It's just... he could have invented so many better types of healing powers. Why make a price at all? It's got to be karma.]

Yeah, I guess -

Wait. You mean, like..?

[earnedmystripes]

[If he were Barnaby, he'd probably be saying something right now about testing one's powers in a controlled environment, but he's Kotetsu, so what gets said is a more rambly version of the same idea.]

Yeah. Like, starting out small, something like a papercut or something so you could try it out without worrying about hurting yourself too much.

[Yes, Jesse, you understood correctly, he sure is volunteering himself to be an injury guinea pig for you.]

[hostage]

Whoa, no, I don't - Man, I couldn't ask you to do that!

[earnedmystripes]

[A shrug.]

It's not really a big deal. I kinda did the superhero thing for a living back home, so I'm used to a lot worse than papercuts.

[hostage]

What if I screw something up? What if I make it worse?

[earnedmystripes]

[He supposes if anything does go horribly, unexpectedly wrong, he can hit up those military guys. After all, they did manage to somehow take care of the burns on his torso and his injured ribs from being blasted by a laser when he got here. But he doesn't really expect that to be necessary.]

Then it'll be a worse papercut. I think I'll live.

[hostage]

I dunno, man... It feels wrong. Like, hurting you on purpose just for this. Maybe I should volunteer at the hospital or something?

[earnedmystripes]

I'll level with you here--you'd probably see me there at some point anyway.

[He knows he doesn't exactly have a great track record on that front. `_`]

[hostage]

Then I oughta wait 'til then, right?

[earnedmystripes]

[No that is the opposite of what he was getting at...]

That'd be a lot more dangerous for you, though.

[hostage]

Yeah, maybe, but it's better than people getting hurt just so I can practice.

[earnedmystripes]

[If Kotetsu were in your place, he'd probably agree. As it is, though, he's a hypocrite, so:]

But you're the one getting hurt in the end, so it kinda evens out, yeah?

[hostage]

If it even works right.

[earnedmystripes]

Hey, you won't know unless you try. Better to try on someone who's not seriously hurt than run into an emergency and not know what to do.

[hostage]

Jesus Christ...

[earnedmystripes]

Whaaaat?

[congratulations Jesse you get to witness the transformation of a seemingly-sensible adult man into a five-year-old.]

[hostage]

Look, I'm pretty sure doing creepy experiments on people is a one-way ticket to the Supervillains Club, so... like...

[earnedmystripes]

It's not a creepy experiment if I'm giving you permission to do it.

[....Kotetsu no, that's not how it works.]

[hostage]

...

...

Nope, that's still real fuckin' creepy.

[earnedmystripes]

How's it creepy? It's gonna help people in the end, I'm telling you I don't have a problem with it, and it's not like you're gonna go around stabbing people to see if you can heal 'em.