Heroes: The Road of Good Intentions

[LadyTevar]

Not the right impression she wanted to make, but it got her off the hook for a bit. Still, something compelled her to at least try a defense. "As I said, Blackheart, I don't think he did this."

Garth. Ghost had an idea of who the intruder was, and expected Garth to be there.

Nah.. can't be the same Garth.

But he did make a deal, must have got off the shuttle before it blew up so they don't look for a body.

Would Garth have done it for Ghost?

Argent shook her head, chasing dark thougths away. But another thought, one she could voice, came to mind. "Would Kyosuke have chosen Gazer to make a point to Ghost?"

[Cynical Cat]

"I barely knew Gazer and the only face Kyosuke showed me was a false one?" replied Blackheart. "How the fuck would I know?" He cocked his head. His voice became cold. "You're deflecting the conversation. Why?"

[LadyTevar]

The chill in Blackheart's voice froze the base of Li Na's spine and crawled its way up her back. "Away from what?!" she blurted with more than a touch of fear behind it.

[Cynical Cat]

"You don't think a black ops killer who was so mentally distraught that he was thinking about eating his gun could have done this," said Blackheart. "They tend to murder and murder-suicides, not just plain old fashion suicide. The only reason you wouldn't think Ghost couldn't be behind it is if you know more than you're saying."

[LadyTevar]

There was something she could say there... "I overheard him asking people for Gazer's home address!" she blurted out. "They wouldn't give it to him which pissed him off more."

[Cynical Cat]

"Jesus fucking Christ!" Blackheart shouted. He got up, looming over Argent. "He was stalking the fucking man and you not only didn't do anything about it but somehow think that exonerates him?"

[LadyTevar]

Eeep!

Li Na shrunk back and away from Blackheart's rage. "Ultima knew about it! They were watching him, he bitched about it!" she exclaimed, once again in a childish 'Ididn'tdoit,don'tblame/hurtme!' reaction. "I just said I didn't think Ghost would torture and mutilate the man like Kyosuke does! He'd have just walked up and shot him!"

[Cynical Cat]

Blackheart subsumed slightly. "Possibly. How did Gazer die?"

[LadyTevar]

"Let me get the laptop," Li Na answered, sliding around Blackheart in a rush to escape and get a breather.

She returned soon, already logged in and searching a couple forums. "Rule 34," she said, getting close enough that if Blackheart's eyes were healed enough, he could see. "There are people who find death attractive, the more freakish the death the better. If Gazer was found in public and someone got pictures......... oh. gods. A whole thread dedicated to him...." her voice trailed off in obvious disgust and nausea. "he wasn't shot....."

[Marcao]

He left the bathroom after having gargled and peeked at his arm. The arm did not look any better and more importantly did not feel any better but it was a discomfort he could live with. It was moments like this that he envied Blackheart's ability to regenerate from injuries. The thought of Blackheart was immediately met with a test of his link with Li Na. He strained to feel the emotions that bubbled through that tenuous connection and could feel nothing amiss in the surface of those waves.

"yes, they are playing nice together after all." He said as he made his way to the bed and sat down. It was strange, the conflict between Blackheart and Li Na had not brought him any joy. A lesser man in his position would have been thrilled, for that would have meant that he would have Li Na all to himself. He had felt no joy in their conflict and while he was still shocked that he had managed to be entangled into a relationship of this manner it felt...right. He understood that there were things that he could not provide Li Na.

He laid down and sighed softly, his eyes focusing on the ceiling of the bedroom for a few precious moments before his eyes closed. Now, about that sleep.

Eep!

The emotion behind the message was impossible to miss, a frozen iceberg of emotion beneath the once warm and calm seas that represented Li Na's link. His eyes snapped open immediately and he groaned.

"Damn it, what does a man have to do to get some sleep around here?!" He muttered, displeasure momentarily overruling his concern for Li Na. What the fuck had happened now?! He forced himself to sit up and rolled out of bed bare feet making contact with the ground. He did not bother looking for the bath robe, that was in the bathroom where it should be. Instead he walked out of the bedroom wearing nothing but a pair of black boxers. It would not take long for him to reach the living room...again.

[Cynical Cat]

"What is it?" Blackheart asked. "You're little stunt left me blind, remember?"

[LadyTevar]

Li Na had to swallow back bile a couple times before she spoke. "They're not ... the best pictures thankfully... but he's ... hung on the wall with rebar, and his body...

FUCK Blackheart! the Demons didn't look this sickening! It's like they deliberately twisted every bone backwards and popped it through the skin!"

[Cynical Cat]

"Nasty," said Blackheart. "Which doesn't mean Ghost didn't do it. Anyway, not our problem. The feds will be all over him."

[LadyTevar]

She slammed the laptop closed, glaring up at Blackheart. "Your mind just gets fixated on one idea, doesn't it?" she stated more than asked. The old joke of a mind like a steel trap remained unspoken. "After Blast gets back, after you're healed up, after we hold a funeral for Legacies... would you like me to take you to talk to Ghost?"

[Cynical Cat]

"Why?" asked Blackheart. "So he can throw another bug on one of us? He isn't part of the team and he never was. He's a fucking spy and we were his assignment. I don't know him. You don't know him. You don't know the people he knows or who he reports to."

[LadyTevar]

"Who isn't a spy in Ultima?" she asked rhetorically. "Isn't that why we're out here, and not back there? Ultima's as buggy as InternetExplorer!" She sighed, running her hand through her hair in annoyance. "Shit... why can't we have just -one- ten minute conversation outside the bedroom that -doesn't- wind up with a shouting match?!"

[Marcao]

He made it to the edge of the living room and slowed aware that he was no longer feeling the same urgency through the link that had drawn him here. He hesitated for a moment uncertain as to what to do exactly until then he did not care anymore. He strode into the living room, his eyes flickering from Li Na to Blackheart and back before he found a spot to sit.

"So, what are we talking about?" Since it did not seem that he was going to get much sleep until this discussion was over, he might as well become involved in it as best he could.

[Cynical Cat]

"Because emotion is everything to you," said Blackheart. "Saibot was like that as well. What you feel is all. I can kill with a look. I can literally punch through a man's chest and rip out his fucking spine. In fact, I have done it. It's easy. A moment and its over. No time for second thoughts because its over. A man is dead.

"I can't afford emotional blinders. Look at Saibot. He violated your mind with his ring because he couldn't control his impulses. He brought down a good chunk of a city block and killed a score of people because he raged. He's a self-indulgent, selfish, mass murder who doesn't concern himself with anything but what he wants. That's what its like to live with our powers and not be ruled by reason.

"When I can look into the mirror again, I will respect the man I see looking back at me. I will not hurt others for personal gain. I will not kill because I feel like it. I know rage and hatred, but they do not dictate my actions. I will use what power I have responsibly. I will err and I will fail, but it will because I'm human and not because I refuse to embrace the emotional maturity that my powers demand I exercise.

"I don't know Ghost. I don't know who he works for. I don't even know that his wife and child really died. I do know that when we last saw him he tried to bug us. I do know he's an ex-military meta with black ties. I don't know that he wasn't involved with this killing. I do know that any contact with him carries a significant risk of being tracked."

[LadyTevar]

Li Na looked to Tachyon and gave the abridged version. "Ghost found out Kyosuke Shingure is the MetaKiller. He sent his wife out of town, wife got killed by Agent Gazer who didn't look where he Gazed. Gazer just wound up one of the MetaKiller's victims ... pictures on the laptop there beside you. Blackheart thinks Ghost is still suspect #1."

It said a lot about her state of mind that she didn't even notice Elias was only in his boxers as she turned back to Blackheart to continue their ... discussion. "Of -course- emotion is everything to me, Blackheart. I AM AN EMPATH! If you don't know that by now, you (several rapid-fire unrepeatable chinese insults), I'll take you to the bedroom and remind you again!"

[Cynical Cat]

"I'm sure Tachyon appreciates the sentiment" said Blackheart as he turned and walked away.

[Marcao]

He regretted his smug question almost instantly as Blackheart once again displayed his uncanny ability to make him feel like a child, especially when Li Na was involved. The fact that he was the newest member of Team Mirage did not go unnoticed to him, half of what Blackheart said did not make a lot of sense to him but how could it when he had not been present when it had occurred? He did more than hear as Blackheart spoke. He listened.

In the end however, there were only so many answers that he could offer the man. He disliked the feeling of being in over his head, he disliked knowing that Team Mirage had so much history that he was not part of. Nonetheless, he could do little more than accepts those facts for what they were. He closed his eyes for a moment and sighed softly, he wanted to sleep but could not. His eyes opened and slid from Blackheart to Li Na and back again before he finally heard himself speak.

"Not all emotion is a bad thing Blackheart, although I acknowledge that for people in our position control is paramount." He said.

He had glanced at the pictures on the laptop, heard her words about Ghost. He did not know Ghost, not really. He had tried to remove him from the team when his dual loyalties became clear but of the man himself he knew little. It was Li Na's final outburst that caught his attention and he blinked. Hmm, there was an idea. Why had he not thought of it earlier?

"Enough." He stated flatly, letting his words hang in the air for a moment before he contiuned.

"You two have the potential of arguing back and forth all night, and we all don't need that right now." He took a deep breath and stood. "I trust that Blast and the others will return to us safe and sound. I trust that this mess with Ghost and Gazer will still be here in the morning."

His lips parted and he was about to say more when Blackheart spoke. He almost winced, there was truth in those words and yet the way that Blackheart had delivered them stung. He had never once complained of the unusual arranged between the three of them, and it had been difficult and yet the tone just now had seemed as if he was less than. He glared at Blackheart for a moment as he walked away from them.

Damn it Blackheart. Why do you have a talent for making things more difficult than they had to be?

His thoughts shifted as a new focus took hold. If he had reacted in that manner to Blackheart's venom intended or not how would she react to it?
He walked towards Li Na and reached out to her, his left hand brushing her cheek as he sought to make her look at him. The passion that had been brewing for her had deflated somewhat beneath Blackheart's words. But the love he felt for her was still there shining in the depths of his eyes.

"Come on. Now that you two have stopped arguing maybe we can get some sleep." He whispered.

[LadyTevar]

The angry retort on Li Na's lips died as Elias reached out and touched her, gently guiding her eyes up to his. The shroud around his mind kept her from sensing his emotions truly, she only felt what he allowed to surface, or what he pushed there, but he got his message across either way.

"Come on. Now that you two have stopped arguing maybe we can get some sleep." He whispered.

Li Na could protest that she wasn't finished, that Blackheart shouldn't have said those things ... but she deflated under Elias' calm gaze. " ........ sorry," she whispered, taking the step that closed the distance between them. Blackheart riled her up. Tachyon calmed her down. To her, the solution was simple: keep both of them.

Life was never simple. She should know that by now.

Quietly, she let Elias lead her back into the master bedroom and into bed.

[Marcao]

"Don't be. David has a penchant for getting under my skin, there are times when I..." He paused for a moment unwilling to go where that thought led. It wouldn't be fair to her. He led her towards their bedroom, a place where comfort could be sought and shared. A refuge from the world and the many dangers that seemed to be arrayed against them.

He said nothing as they walked towards that sanctuary, but it was difficult for him to be ignorant to the reaction her nearness was having on his body. The mind could lie, but the body was far more honest. The words from Blackheart lingered in the back of his mind. David would not touch her this night, so he had tossed her to him as if discarding a toy that had lost its appeal. That was what the words implied and he did not like the implication. He was not the lesser of the two in the relationship. Or was he? Did he have Blackheart's endurance? Did he have his knowledge? Did he have his perseverence?

The thoughts were not pleasant ones. Li Na had known Blackheart far before she had known him. The presumption was that she loved the Meta far before she had loved him. Did she love him? Yes. He believed it and he had no reason to doubt it. Still, there were moments in time where doubt gnawed at his insides. If that was not the case why should David's words bother him thus?

They arrived on the bedroom and he let Li Na slide deeper within as he hung back in order to gently close the door. His eyes lingered on her as she moved and appreciated what he saw. He moved towards her, his left hand reaching out for her and brushing against her hair.

"Li Na..." her name escaped her lips but when his eyes caught hers he stopped. What could he tell her?

show her, don't tell her.

Yes. That made sense, there were things that could not be adequately explained through words. Even if he had doubts, even if there were moments such as the one that had transpired mere minutes before where he doubted the ability of their tripod to work. Even through it all, he loved her. He knew that in his bones. He had believed himself to have been in love before, but it had never been this vivid. It had never been this real and he knew that she was not using her power on him.

His lips descended against hers in a kiss that did not have his usual qualities. The love that he felt for her was there, somewhere in the undercurrent but it was hot and wanting, his hands brushing against her waist before his nails slid against her skin just shy of drawing blood. David be damned. He would not let the meta run his life. He wanted Li Na and made no apologies for his desire.

His body pressed against hers before they found the edge of the body and tumbled into it. His lips withdrawn from hers long enough to look at her eyes before his lips and teeth made a trail down her neck and towards her shoulder.

[LadyTevar]

This sudden aggression was a new side of Elias, and it both surprised and thrilled Li Na. He was usually the gentle one, the quiet one. This sudden outburst of passion was exciting, and quickly catching.

The physical separation between the main house and the master bedroom was enough to keep their privacy, as the forgotten TV set droned on with Live Reports from OmniCorp and the battle still raging.

[Cynical Cat]

Blackheart sank into the chair and continued to listen to the radio. Argent used her empathy as an excuse for her actions. She could read others emotions, but she indulged her own. She treated Tachyon like a dog when even a blind man could see how he felt about her. Even this blind man. Well, he might have an unfair advantage in that area. He knew more than a little about rejection.

He felt his cares slip away. It was trivial stuff, the baggage too many humans took too seriously. The cops would be all over Ghost, he wasn't Blackheart's problem. Raising Cain, the infiltrators, and that bastard Kyosuke were. He closed his eyes. Resting would speed his regeneration.