maskormenace | [Video] [Shortly after the flood waters in Heropa recede]

Entry tags:

[Video] [Shortly after the flood waters in Heropa recede]

[Jonathan is sitting there, in the comfort of his assigned housing, flood damage clearly visible on the wall behind him. Despite this, and his still wet hair and soaking clothes, Jonathan appears to be trying to keep a calm, professional demeanor.]

You know, I heard some really interesting stories about me over these past few days from some of the natives, things that would put me in places at times I know I was somewhere else. So I was just wondering if anyone had seen me acting unusual, maybe...I don't know, trying to half drown someone and drag them off? Because if you could let me know about anything like that, that would be awesome.

Also, if anyone wants to help me catch him, that would be great, because I'm not sure who would win in a fight between me and myself, but I don't want to find out. The key word here is 'catch', though. I am not cool with anyone killing my clone, because he might have had terrible role models, and he might have been made in a lab, but at the end of the day he's still a person and that's still murder.

So...that said, anyone up for helping me find myself?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

At the end of the day, he might be someone who drowns people or drags them away. If you find him hurting someone, are you going to stop him?

'Stopping' doesn't have to mean killing, you know.

It doesn't have to, but sometimes it's the only choice.

Yes, but sometimes an alien invader has a change of heart once they start thinking about what they've been ordered to do. Look, he's a copy of me. Killing's not going to be necessary.

Getting back to my original question, are you gonna stop him from hurting people?

Maybe I'll teach him the errors of his ways. Or maybe I'll tie him up and figure it out from there.

[She studies his face for a moment.]

And maybe you won't.

But at least you're not planning to join him.

Yeah, there's definitely that.

[And it's not...well, it's not an entirely unreasonable thing to think of. He was reformed now, but he hadn't always made the most ethical choices in the past, and he wasn't sure how the him he used to be would have handled this. It likely would depend on just what his clone was up to, and how far he was going with it.]

Although, it's not like any of us are. Right?

Any of us? I don't trust all the other imports. There's very few people I do trust.

Yeah, but...they're actively trying to ruin our reputations. Why would anyone want to help them. I mean, besides the fact that they're genetically our twins, so sort of siblings?

Some people have very different ways of thinking. If you try to understand the why, it can make you crazy.

Yeah, I guess you're right.

[Jacob looks tired, but still resolute.]

Jonathan? It's Jacob. We met during that bullshit in Heropa a couple months back. I'll help you track him down. Do you have any leads? And do you know how many people he might have targeted?

Hey, Jacob, thanks! Yeah, I don't have much to go on, but I did question a native who was freaked out at first when she saw me. Apparently she saw my other me dragging someone...wait, hold on.

[He turns off the video feed for a moment, but then a little bit later turns it back on. He had a map of Heropa, something he'd picked up when he first got here so he could learn his way around. In red ink, he'd drawn a big arrow marking the general direction the woman said she saw him dragging the man in.]

That way.

[Of course, it was just a general direction of where someone saw his clone going in once, but it was a start?]

Edited 2017-07-23 02:17 (UTC)

[Jacob squints at the map, then shakes his head.]

That's not a lot to go on. But I'll get local cops looking for him. You. You know what I mean.

Do you have any idea what he might want with the people he's grabbed?

Right, but let them know not to attack. He has acid blood, so any injuries could get messy.

And I don't know. Maybe to run experiments on them? That's why alien abductions usually happen.

[...Jonathan might have first hand experience with that one.]

Got it. They won't engage unless they've got no choice.

[If the clone attacks someone, say.]

Experiments, huh? Maybe we can work with that. There can't be that many places in Heropa that would work for that. If you were abducting someone for experiments, where would you take them?

A spaceship. [Pause.] But he doesn't have one of those, so probably some building you know no one's going to go into, and it would have to be somewhere where no one would hear someone yelling.

[Jacob nods.]

Great. That gives us a direction and some idea of what buildings to check. We can work with that.

We'll get everyone out of there, Jonathan. Including the clone, if we can.

Grabbing the clone shouldn't be a problem. There's no reason we can't get him without hurting him.

[He's not even going to consider killing the clone an option, really.]

And once we catch him, we'll just...tie him up, I guess. I'll be able to talk sense into him. Eventually.

From what you've said, he's dangerous. Fair warning: if it comes down to a choice between his life and someone else's, I'm not going to hesitate to pull the trigger on him. All right?

[Jonathan is silent for a minute. He doesn't look happy.]

Sure. Whatever. But don't you keep any non-lethal weapons?

Plenty. But sometimes they just aren't the right tactical option.

It all depends on how dangerous your clone is. Anything more you can tell me about his powers or tech besides the acid blood?

I doubt he has any tech. Being a clone of me isn't going to give him access to any of my tech. Heck, I don't have any access to my tech. I left it in my home universe. The only other power he might have is this thing the porter gave me, and that's just the ability to grow this handsome skin suit you're looking at.

[Jonathan gestured at his face. Jacob might remember the green scales that were exposed by the flying boulder the last time they met, which could give a hint as to what Jonathan really looked like.]

Other than that and the ability to go for a run on a hot summer day without breaking a sweat, there's really nothing.

[Jacob looks doubtful, but nods. He just hopes Jonathan isn't holding any information back out of a desire to save the clone's life.]

All right. In that case, it should be an easy arrest. First priority is rescuing anyone he's taken, second priority is taking him in. I'll give you a call once I've heard something from the police.

Good. And I'll let you know if I find anything more out, in the meantime.

[ Sitting in a hospital bed as he is, Charles looks bruised and battered. But he still smiles politely. ]

It seems it's been going around. I would advise doing something about your clone before it gets out of hand.

Oh. Hey, you're looking way worse than the last time I saw you.

[ Confusion, then the shock of discovery. ] I have never met you, I think you must have spoken to my clone. However he offended you, I am sorry.

That's all right. His questions were more...awkward than offensive. He asked what it was like to be an alien? I wasn't really sure what kind of answer he was looking for.

[ Charles just sighs. He's heard this a lot. With various successful and less successful moments of pushing people's buttons. ] He was probably hoping it would upset you. Or in his twisted way of thinking would help you in some way.

It's nice to meet you, then. I'm proffers Charles Xavier and I would never ask you something like that, or use my powers as carelessly as he did.

Well, then it's a good thing that it didn't work.

I'm Jonathan Walsh. And since my clone's still out there, I'm sure I'll have some damage control, myself, so I feel your pain.

I am glad to hear that. [ At least with this one the clone hadn't managed to break anything. ]

It seems like such a bizarre thing. I've never seen something like this. Genetics is my field of expertise and this just baffles me completely. I do recommend doing something about your clone as soon as possible.

Yeah, I'm going to get on that right now, actually. It was nice talking to you, though.

The best of luck. And likewise.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Video] [Shortly after the flood waters in Heropa recede]

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

Video

Video

Video

Video

Video

Video

Video

Video

Video

Video

Video

Video

Video

Re: Video

video; backdated some!

Video

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject