week 13, shove baby out of the cradle

[antagonize]

[When the gang arrives, they'll find themselves smackdab in the middle of what appears to be a busy college campus. It seems clean and well maintained; no graffiti, no obvious piles of trash, and a couple of green areas for students and staff members to enjoy. Students move hurriedly from one class to another, bookbags on their backs and overly expensive books tucked under their arms. If Adam, Elizabeth and Luke aren't very careful, they might get run over by some of the more frazzled students. Nobody has any time to watch where they're going during midterms, it seems.

A glance to their left will easily reveal where they are. On a nearby wall, the institution's logo is displayed. Gotham State University, it says, in an obnoxiously large font. Further in the distance, there's a lot more campus left to explore. A glance to their right, however, and they may notice a small group of students amassed around a table, signing and picking up brochures about some subject or another. Some of the students are wearing matching society shirts, pushing a clipboard and a pen at any unlucky straggler they find along the way. One of them, situated further away from the table, seems pretty familiar.

Weird.

What will they do now?]

Comments

[chiseler]

[He doesn't get a chance to say anything about what Adam's doing, if only because he's suddenly distracted. He's worried about Elizabeth but doesn't get to say so, if only because he's watching the tear open and he falls silent when Adam tells Jason to look. It's...a harsh reality, he thinks. He doesn't quite know how Jason feels since he never broke out of his grave prior to the cradle project, but this isn't easy for anyone to watch. He stops fighting and instead steps a bit away to give Jason a clear look into the tear.]

[antagonize]

[He notices the glob of blood trickling from Elizabeth's nose as he finishes denying the truth. While he still believes that the three of them are completely and utterly insane, that doesn't change the fact that seeing someone wince and flinch as they bleed is extremely distressing. He eases up for a moment, unsure of what's happening here.]

Hey, are you—? [Okay, he means to finish. But then everyone looking at something right behind him. It could be a trap. He's aware of that, which is why it's with some resistance than he tentatively casts a glance behind him.

He's just in time for the show.

A second after Jason has turned around, a hand punches through the mound of dirt. The fingernails are damaged and gone, blood dripping down the fingers while splinters of wood bury deep into the flesh. It's every bit the stereotypical horror movie imagery, and the rest does not disappoint. Another hand scrambles out from underneath the ground, digging and tearing and pushing dirt aside to make space for the rest of the body. Slowly but surely, a boy that is unmistakably Jason at a younger age emerges from the ground. He's bleeding — covered in cuts, flash burns, and looking very much like someone hit him with something heavy and metal until he dropped dead. By all rights, he should not be breathing at this very moment.

The older Jason, the one on this side of things, turns around before his counterpart can finish crawling out of his grave. He looks pale and shaken, but also unmistakably livid.]

You— Whatever the hell you think you're doing, stop it now!

[... And in case the three of them had forgotten about where they are, yeah. The students that are still around the area after class changes are reacting. Some of them running away from the display of metahuman abilities, others taking cover while simultaneously taking out their cellphones... and so forth. Jason's friends from earlier seem to be gone.

It might be a good idea to change locations, just saying.]

[baptizer]

[ Elizabeth remembers the fear on the street when she's used her tears - the panic, the disgust - the fear and she tries to shut it out. Her eyes shut and she can't look - she saw the hand jet out from the cold ground and it was enough for her. It's stupid that she cares so much about a boy she knows nothing about, but here she is.

Here all of them were. Jason's raised voice makes her shoulders go up defensively and the tear remains. They see Jason's body crawling out and the confusion and rage in his youthful face. Elizabeth wants to cry, her eyes swelling with tears as the students yell out Who's the meta?! Someone call Superman! in the distance. ]

I'm sorry... I'm so sorry.

[antietam]

[ Adam hadn't cared much about the people around them because they're fake anyway and if Jason would just cooperate, they could leave already. But during that scene, even Adam has to look away, looking at Luke like he's trying to figure out what to do.

Elizabeth seems out of it now so he stands up. He has to get this under control. ] Jason. Take us somewhere we can talk about this.

[chiseler]

[Well this sure is bad. There are people staring and Jason's yelling and without a lot of warning, he rips his arm away from Adam and shoots him a brief look of apology.]

Adam, grab Elizabeth. Liz, close the tear. [This is all hissed more or less as he looks at the fake people, immediately turning to Jason again.] ...seriously man, we need to talk. All of this will stop if you just hear us out.

[antagonize]

["Bad" is an understatement. The beginning of a headache is weakly thrumming away behind his temples, some kind of pressure building up on the bridge of his nose as he tries to understand why he was shown an illusion of a younger version of himself crawling out of his own grave. It's fake. He knows that much. There's no way he died, after all. But it doesn't stop him from running a hand down his face in an attempt to get control over himself. It felt so real.

Explaining this scene away will be hell, come tomorrow.]

Fine. We'll talk. But after that — I want you gone. You have no idea what kind of mess you're causing.

[And without any further prompting, he's turning around and taking them to a more secluded part of campus. A private enough area that they don't have to worry about students or staff members intruding.]

[baptizer]

[ Elizabeth's finally able to close the tear once the younger Jason crawls to his feet. She can't - it's too much. She barely shambles to her feet, holding onto Adam's bicep. Physically weak? A tiny bit, but she wants to get out of here. People were trying to hunt down the meta and frantically trying to call people on what she can assume was portable telephones?

She follows with Luke and Adam who try and diffuse the situation, to move into the area which Jason felt was safe. ]

I didn't mean for that - you have to understand. I had no clue he'd see himself - not like that...

[antietam]

[ Adam wraps an arm around Elizabeth to keep her upright and steady, checking to make sure she's not still bleeding or close to passing out. He follows Jason, glancing over at Luke to try to figure out what to do now. When Elizabeth tries to explain, he shakes his head. ]

No, we get it. It worked, didn't it? [ Maybe that's harsh of him but it did manage to do something. ] Jason, what she showed you was the real you. We told you this was all fake.

[chiseler]

[With Adam guiding Elizabeth he nods and follows after them, but he's shooting her a weak smile anyway.]

We know. But we all knew this wouldn't be easy either. [He looks back at Jason when they finally get somewhere private, folding his arms over his chest.] I'm sure you've got a lot of questions now...we'll answer them as best as we can, but you've gotta believe us. We were brought here to bring you back to where you belong, which is with us. We need you if we're gonna survive.

[antagonize]

I don't give a damn about what you guys need.

[He's blunt, clearly pissed off by now. Gone is the friendly attitude from earlier as he watches all three of them carefully. It doesn't seem like he's armed for a confrontation, but it might not be a bad idea to stay light on their feet. Luke's threat from earlier still hangs in his mind, after all.]

You can't expect me to believe all of this is fake. Coming here, causing a scene, telling me I died — do you seriously believe that makes you trustworthy? [He shakes his head, clenching and unclenching his fists. His hands are uncovered, which is likely a rare sight for two out of three here.] This is real. I would know if I died, so... Whatever stunt you're trying to pull here, it's not going to work.

[Except, the more he thinks about the scene Elizabeth showed him, the stronger his headache becomes. It's better to focus on other things, isn't it?]

[baptizer]

It's not a stunt!

[ That was the last straw. Despite how emotionally and physically draining it was, she takes offense. It's hard to accept, she knows that heartbreak. She knows that despite everything, maybe it would be better to live in this blissful. But since the first trial, Jason did his best for the good of the ship. ]

I wouldn't so recklessly display something like that to you - never to you. Jason, it's hard to imagine but this is all... It's what you've wanted. After dying, I suppose this is what your ideal world would be. You don't remember... But I promise you... We aren't lying.

[ She tries to just stammer it out, get the painful memories out but - ]

Adam and Luke - we're your friends. We met because of... poor circumstances...

[antietam]

[ Adam nods to Elizabeth to encourage her to keep going. He's also becoming frustrated but honestly, he can't blame Jason. They haven't made themselves the most trustworthy or clear. ]

What do you think we're doing this for? All you have to do is believe us. You're stuck in something that's showing you everything you want, we're going to bring you back to reality. That's what you trusted us to do.

[chiseler]

[This is tricky, he thinks. Elizabeth's upset and Adam's doing his best to support her and Jason's being frustrating. He lets the others say their piece and he keeps his arms folded over his chest carefully, hand running over his scar.]

I really don't like being the bearer of bad news, but they're right. You trusted us to jump in here and pull you back out to reality and you know? Reality sucks. But it's a lot better than this where nothing's even real. [There's a pause.] What do you remember prior to this moment? What memories do you even have of this place?

[antagonize]

Yeah. Because everything I want is a normal life with 18 credits worth of classes and an overbearing parent. Sounds about right.

[Come the weekend, this will be extremely hilarious in hindsight. But for now, it's Jason stating exactly what this is all about. A normal life. A normal young adult experience. A normal, if not still slightly strained, relationship with his adoptive dad. It's a stupidly simple desire, and he's totally going to be mortified about it once the gang is successful.

But for now, his face twists as he tries to answer Luke's question. It's— Trying to find the answer makes him feel wrong.]

What are you getting at? I graduated high school. Enrolled here. I have tons of memories of this place. This is real.

I FUCKED UP I DIDNT KNOW YOU TAGGED.

[baptizer]

Think, Jason.

[ Elizabeth knows this all too well - so, she'll take it upon herself to dig into the hoodie and - look, it's a handkerchief. It happened to her in both Columbia and in her cradle, so she offers Jason something to wipe away at his nose if his memories continue to conflict. ]

Adam's right... you trusted us. Sincerely. Try and think deeper. Past this place - dates, times, feelings... They don't add up, do they...?

[ She sounds crushed to be so blunt... so she gives him an apologetic, tearful glance. ]

You died, Jason... before you could have any of this.