batmanschmatman | 090 [voice]

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090 [voice]

[Warden Filter]

Alright, as we're all very well aware at this point, people seem to get kidnapped here a lot. And obviously we can't prepare for everything - believe me, if you'd have told me I was going to get bit by a rattlesnake on board the ship a couple weeks ago, I would have said you were nuts - but it never hurts to know a couple things just in case you get pounced in the gym and end up being held hostage for a couple hours.

So, that said, I'm going to be holding self defense classes, either in the gym or the CES, every day of the week, floods, ports and other natural disasters permitting. Mostly basic stuff, like how to get out of a choke hold and how to incapacitate someone quickly if they come up from behind you, and if people are interested in going a step farther and covering some more complicated stuff, I'd be up for that, too.

For the record, I'm not teaching you how to kill people, just how to hold your own in a fight and incapacitate anyone with plans to make off with your unconscious body. And if you have an inmate you want to get training too, let me know and they're more than welcome to come. I just figured this shouldn't be a totally open invite if anyone's concerned someone's going to use this stuff on them the next time someone cooks up a 'I want to take over the Barge' scheme.

Somewhat relatedly, if anyone just wants to go spar and/or brush up on some technique, I'm always up for that. I've got a background in just about everything, weapon based or not, although if anyone's got a basis in something like eskrima or whatever kind of stick fighting is normal where you're from, I have to admit I'm partial to it.

[Warden Cop Filter - George, Carla, Angua, did I forget anyone?]

So, back when Howie was here - you remember, George - he said he and the other warden cops used to have "Friday night pints". I don't really drink, but it might be kind of fun to start that up again, swap some stories... Would you all be interested in giving it a shot after dinner tonight? Or next week, if someone's got plans?

[Private to Rorschach]

Do you want to go up to the CES with me? [No ulterior motive here at all. Why would you ever suggest that. >>]

[Private to Jim]

So Tim got me a paintball set for Christmas. Want to go try it out? [This seems safer than you shooting a phaser at him and trying to dodge it. :x]

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From one prison into another; will have to excuse if don't share same enthusiasm for the change as rest of population.

That doesn't have to be your only option.

[Have an intent stare, Dick; Rorschach is deeply unimpressed and hugely offended by your implications. ...Even if he's assuming the wrong ones.]

Will not idly stand by while utopia based on deception and genocide continues unquestioned. While the one who orchestrated it is allowed to continue to pull the strings. Do not expect success, but indifference is not an option.

That's not what I'm saying. I just mean staying here forever isn't something you should accept either.

[And here there's a beat of hesitation, because there's a decent possibility this could get ugly.] Can I ask you something?

[The irritation fades slightly, and he returns the bulk of his attention to their surroundings with a brief twitch of shoulders and a neutral grunt.

Go ahead, Grayson; he's listening, although that's no guarantee on an actual answer.]

[That's good enough for Dick, and while he's still sort of expecting this to blow up in his face, he doesn't change his mind.]

So, you were saying David deserved to be punished for what he did, because he attacked me, and that it wasn't important that he was a kid or maybe regretted what he did already. I know you've come face to face with the worst parts of humanity, but how do you justify judging people forever about mistakes they made in the past? What if someone's really changed? And I'm not talking about serial killers or child molesters or rapists - believe me, I'm never going to ask you to make friends with them - but what about other people?

People don't change. Easier to cling to what's familiar than alter behaviors. May fool you for a while, but it always comes out.

[Veidt was always a schemer, always ten steps ahead of everyone else. Rorschach hadn't expected the plan for world domination, but in retrospect it had been almost inevitable, just the next step. Daniel was a coward, he had proven it the day he took off the cowl for good; his betrayal, while certainly a blow, should have been similarly forseeable.

People show you who they are if you only look, and no matter what they do it always comes through sooner or later.]

[Dick frowned. The worst part of this was that he did honestly understand how someone could start making these jumps in logic and coming to these conclusions, but he just couldn't fathom going into every situation and just expecting people to be horrible because of some character flaws or mistakes, or that they could never change from it. Even one person changing was enough for him to find some amount of hope and keep doing what they did.]

Everyone? Don't take this the wrong way, but do you actually like anyone, besides Daniel?

[FFFF WHY DID YOU HAVE TO BRING HIM UP, RICHARD.

The twig snaps in his hand, and he drops the pieces; his words are harsher when he replies, spat out like sour milk.]

Dreiberg was no better in the end. Aging coward, too quick to compromise, give up. Same as everyone else.

[It's easier to tell himself he hates him too.]

So, you're seriously going to write him off, because he sided with Veidt? Even after years of working together? [Or, sort of working together. And while Daniel hadn't backed Rorschach in wanting to expose everyone, Dick didn't really see that as a betrayal, which admittedly, could come from the fact that he was an outside observer and wasn't there when it happened. He didn't have the same emotional involvement as Rorschach.

He might not have made the same choice himself, but honestly he hoped he would never have to. And if he was really being honest here, part of him kind of thought if he ever was, he probably would have done what Nite-Owl did.]

I know Veidt's a monster, and what he did is totally inexcusable, but I can understand why someone like Dan would decide to keep quiet for now. I'd never agree with Veidt or condone what he did, and I'd definitely watch him like a hawk for the rest of his life, but. "The good of the many outweighs the needs of the few"?

[Don't judge him, Tim has made him sit through at least one Star Trek movie (which is weird now that he's bros with Kirk, but).]

What do you think would happen, if the truth was exposed?

"Good of the many" would have been telling them what he did. Not accepting it under pretense of false peace. Killed millions in scheme; would you argue their needs are irrelevant, an "acceptable loss"?

[He'd been trying to remain impassive, unaffected, but the facade cracks just a little at this, expression twisting into blatant disgust to match the venom of his words.]

Peace wouldn't have lasted anyway; truth would have come out eventually. Spread doubt. Corrupt leaders and orchestrators defeated. Order restored. Order not based on a lie. Without compromise.

[He left his journal in good hands, after all; someone would have found out, said something, and the world would have been better off, as far as he's concerned.]

They're not irrelevant, that's not at all what I'm saying. But wouldn't exposing Veidt immediately run the risk of their deaths being for nothing? What if everyone just went right back to threatening imminent nuclear war?

What's your solution for everyone coming out of this with a better future?

Needed to be told. Deserved to know price of peace. Scheming involved.

No point in discussing "might have been". Already decided.

Why did you let Dr. Manhattan kill you? You didn't tell him no or try to walk away.

Futile to attempt to escape man with infinite capabilities. Outcome was inevitable, might as well face it, not cringe away like weaker dogs. Accept consequences of pursuit of truth.

[Dick lets out a heavy sigh.]

If he hadn't done it, what do you think would have happened? To the world, not just to New York or to you.

[He already told you, Grayson. Why do you keep asking, whether or not he was around to see it is beside the point. He grunts in frustration.]

Point to this discussion? Or do you only wish to rehash theoretical events until meaningless?

The point is, I want to know what your ideal end to this would have been. It really isn't irrelevant just because it already happened.

Peace and harmony across globe without basis on lie.

Is that the answer you want, Richard?

Would have preferred return to normalcy. Veidt punished for crimes against humanity, things returned to the way they were. Better a broken system with known failings than peace based on deception and genocide.

But never would have ended any other way. Doomed from start; Veidt was always better tactician than all of us. Just didn't know it until it was too late. Too late to turn back then. Had to try, even if there was never a chance of success.

[Quietly.]

Had to try.

[He doesn't have a real answer for you, Dick, probably won't have one for a good long while; he wasn't thinking of what would come After, only what had been done. He doesn't know what a better ending would have been, only that the one that happened wasn't it.]

I know. [And he does respect that, really.]

It's just something to think about. The hypotheticals matter, here.

[A curt nod.]

Will remember that.

[Except he won't, not really. He'll keep it in the back of his mind, maybe, but he won't really look at it too closely. Not yet, anyway.]

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090 [voice]

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