maskormenace

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[Beck appears in a professionally serious mode today.]

This is a general call for volunteers to test out an upcoming therapeutic technology, funded by Wayne Enterprises for potential future use in one of their facilities.

Full disclosure, this is an ongoing process of testing and is not perfected as yet although it is very close. These are final tests to iron out any last bugs or glitches in the system. Non humans are especially welcome so I can input any differences with your psychology and physiology since it may affect the results.

I will be taking around five to ten volunteers for this. Serious applicants only and be warned that since this is about therapy, you will be compelled to divulge some personal details and it will bring up negative memories. These will not be made public.

One last assurance. You will not be physically harmed in any way but be aware of the psychological aspects and know you are signing up to be helped but we won't be held responsible for any adverse or lingering effects. You're being made fully aware up front that this is a trial.

Now! Who wants to volunteer?

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Busy.

Fine then. Shall we?

[He leads her to the spare room that once temporarily belonged to Peter Parker. It's full of computer equipment now and looks more like a tech lab space. There's a cleared out area to the side with blue lines taped on the floor.]

Stand in that area.

[He points to the taped out part which takes up about half the room.]

Very.

[She follows him to the room, eyeing the machine critically.]

Before I do that, how does it work? What can I expect from it?

Basically, you won't feel a thing but this will reach into your mind and find the negative memories, bringing them to the surface to be projected before you. They can't harm you, but you will be able to interact with them, if you want to. That way your mind can shape and change them.

[Jane ponders on that.]

So, it's kind of cathartic? You'll be able to redo a conversation or something? See what would have happened if something had been done differently?

[She's not sure how that will allow people to move on from the past, but she isn't a psychologist either.]

Yes. You can shape them to a more satisfactory conclusion and the idea is to get some peace from that. The memory can even be so set that you think it's the original one.

[Potentially dangerous... but he's not trying to sell it as such.]

[Oh, Jane knows it would be dangerous.]

I think I'll just stick to viewing the memory for now. Maybe walk through whatever it pulls up. Shouldn't be anything too horrible.

[Walking over to where he indicated, she stands in the center. She's still uncertain, but it won't be that bad.]

Ready when you are.

Alright.

[He fiddles with his controls.]

So just relax. Let the memories surface, concentrating on the ones you're looking for. The one you want to see.

Okay. Something basic.

[She thinks to a previous 'bad day' she had, which was really more of a bad hour. Nothing major: just some spilled coffee and misplaced papers.

Around her, the memory of her spilling the coffee in her kitchen one early morning begins to appear.]

So far, so good.

[He watches along.]

Now whatever you don't want to happen. Change it. Move the props. Adjust the script. Think of it like you're the director of your own movie.

That's a good metaphor.

[She thinks and focuses, but this is where it goes wrong: instead of the coffee spilling across the table, it splashes onto her hand. The figment of herself recoils back in shock. Jane herself does not feel the burn, but she knows it's there.

And that is when her subconscious latches onto that little thread: pain.

Her memories start to turn red all of the sudden. It takes no time at all for it to encompass the whole room, the program going haywire. Clouds of dust, crumbling cities and planets. Terrified screams. Futile efforts to fight back. The whole of the universe succumbing to darkness until silence overwhelms everything. Jane is unable to do anything but stand there, quaking in fear at what she once saw.]

[Well, that took a turn. Beck watches in some surprise for a moment before he speaks up. Calmly, to break through to her.]

Take control of it. It has no hold over you. You can control what's going on. Use your mind, Jane.

[His calm voice does not break through to her, not when suddenly, she is glowing red from the inside out and doubling over in pain. The clouds and growing darkness get worse.]

Jane!

[It seemed she was too lost in it. He hurriedly pressed some things and froze the program. Depending on how aware she now was, it might continue for her due to her mind filling in the blanks or it might abruptly cease.]

[Jane looked up then, but her mind wasn't thinking straight. Or at all. She acted on instinct, sending out a gravitational wave that could easily knock many objects or people away from her if they didn't resist or weren't tethered down.

But with the images, sounds ... with all of that gone, it doesn't take her long to realize what happened. To snap out of it.]

Quentin! Oh my god, are you okay?

[He should have been better prepared for people with powers losing their sense of reality and there were some safeguards in place with surge protectors and much of the equipment secured but her wave of power did knock a few things over and Beck himself was pushed back, bumping his head against the wall and ending up sprawled on the floor. He winces and rubs the back of his head, temporarily dizzied so he doesn't answer her.]

[She should have thought so as well and suggested doing this experiment out in the open. Thank god she hadn't called Mjolnir. That would have been a disaster.

She rushes over to him.]

Quentin? Can you hear me?

[She then checks the back of his head, trying to be gentle.]

I don't see any blood!

[He winces again.]

I'm... I'm okay...

[He possibly had a mild concussion but nothing was broken.]

Why didn't you listen to me?

[Jane winces and looks away.]

I’m sorry. I wasn’t expecting that—I knew it would look real, but I wasn’t expecting that memory to come up. Or to overwhelm me. I know the mind is a powerful thing, but I literally felt pain.

[She looks back to him, worried.]

Should we get you to a hospital? To make sure you're not hurt?

[He waves away her concern in favor of explaining his tech. It's always his priority.]

I'll be fine.

[Another wince and he manages to get back up to his feet, a hand leaning back against the wall.]

Maybe I should have given you more warning. That's the brilliance of my work.

[No modesty there. He states that as plain fact.]

It's no mere simulation. Yes, it does simulate certain things but so much has been pulled from your own mind and memories and feelings, allowing the entire experience to appear completely real. All the senses becoming alert. It could even become more real to you than actual reality.

[Very dangerous. Could possibly drive people mad. It's no wonder Tony Stark tried to restrict its use. But Beck goes on, now trying to promote it closer to the way Tony had.]

So you can see how, with the guidance of a therapist, you can work through these things. You let it go out of control and override your reason but once you understand what's happening you can pause it, pick it apart and make necessary changes to heal any trauma that you faced. It can reset your mind to believe the revised version.

[Jane considers all of this quietly.]

But it won't change what happened. I completely agree that there needs to be a therapist guiding you, but what if something like this happened again? There needs to be more fail safes. What if I had fire powers? What if I caused this whole place to collapse?

[She crosses her arms, shrinking in on herself, becoming even smaller than she already is.]

And unless what memories will be brought up or someone has a great control over their mind, incidents like that will just keep happening.

[She whispers, confesses: ]

The Aether is still out there. That fear isn't going to go away. I'd better not use this again.

The point is, you can find contentment, regardless of the reality.

[Did that sound like he thinks reality isn't so important? Pretty much, yes. He always wanted to create his own scenarios and worlds, so he could then control them.]

Sure, this becomes more complicated when there are people with superpowers but that part is for Wayne Enterprises to figure out. My technology works. It's up to them to secure the area and find the right people to monitor the therapy.

If anyone can be content with reality.

And you'd really have to screen people to make sure that this would be an effective treatment for them.

[She shudders.]

Again, that's not my concern.

[He's about the tech, not the therapy.]

Really?! You're not the least bit worried that someone could get hurt by your technology?!

Quentin, it felt like my insides were being ripped inside out!

That's not the fault of the technology. That's your own mind reliving painful memories or expanding on them and making it worse.

[Never his fault, he always shifts the blame.]

It can't actually hurt you. That's what you have to keep in mind. It's not actually happening.

[He thinks that's a reasonable argument.]

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