Participants:
| Scene Title | Don't Help Them Condemn Us |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Claire comes across Magnes in Midtown beating up on a guy. She reacts in a way he doesn't expect. |
| Date | February 05, 2009 |
It's still somewhat early in the morning, but Magnes has been out here in Midtown since around four AM. It's getting closer to ten, and he's once again wearing all black, including the mask without the voice distorter, with two Company issue guns. Though there are some slight differences, considering he had one Flint Deckard get these himself.
He said he didn't wanna be a hero anymore, and that much is true, that's not why he's out here in a mask. He's angry, about everything. The world itself, Claire, the Petrellis, Kazimir being gone forever. Sex is a temporary fix, he needs to hit someone. "Who the hell do you think you are?" he asks a slightly shorter man wearing gang colors, hispanic, somewhere in his late twenties.
The man is pressed against a wall in a ruined alley, the surrounding two small shops having been long blown away except for the two short walls. There's a woman with a popped purse and a broken shoe on the ground, trying to hurry and pick her things up. "Hurting women, you can't hurt anyone else can you? Not even with that stupid gun!" The man is up there in a Sylar-esque fashion, arms spread, groaning and unable to move with the force of gravity pressing down on him, Magnes with his arm held out like Gabriel does when he's about to pop someone's head off. It's honestly become a habit, when he's angry at someone. "I'll show you what it's like to be hurt, I'll fucking show you!"
He lets the man down, keeping his arms and legs mostly heavy, then just starts wildly punching and kicking as hard as he can, though not using his ability to do so, just to keep the man subdued. "How does it feel?!"
There is a crunch of boots on gravel and the Cha-chak of a shot gun being cocked before Magnes hears a familiar voice growl out. "I don't know who you are? And I don't give a fuck about what he did… But what your doing now? That will easily get you tossed into some dark hole somewhere. I suggest you stop now before I have to stop you from making the rest of us look worse then we already do."
A glance over his shoulder would find Claire there, holding a shotgun leveled at his head. The look in her eyes is the look of someone who has seen way too much of what is going on. Blonde strands blow across her face as chilled breezes sweep through the area. "I suggest you let him up right… NOW!"
"Claire." The rage in Magnes' tone seems to melt away, and suddenly the man is running away when he finds he can walk again. The woman has been long gone. "Fuck, what's it even matter what we look like anymore?" he asks in a somewhat defeated tone, not turning around to face her, considering the shotgun and all. "Eventually another Midtown is gonna happen, or which ever one of us survives, well great, we get to watch all our friends get killed one by one. Or maybe the government will round us up, or cure us. I don't even care anymore, I just need to hit someone, I'm tired of this, everything."
Something like anger flashes through her eyes at what he says, teeth clamping down on suddenly intense rage as she realizes who it is. Claire suddenly steps towards him swinging the butt of her shotgun up in an attempt to connect with his face. Mostly to stun and hopefully knock him on his ass, or maybe knock some sense into his head. Then he'll be looking at the open end of the shotgun again. She's practically shouting at him. "And WHAT/? You want to speed another Midtown along…. you want to help them to decide to fucking build the camp?"
Claire leans in and whispers fiercely. "What… you didn't want to be a hero anymore.. so you decided to be the villian?" A glance goes in the direction the man went, before she puts the full weight of her eyes on the man before her. "I'm tired of a lot of things too Magnes.. but this is not the way. Get a fucking punching bag."
Magnes, with his still-fading concussion, is wincing and holding his head when he falls on his butt, leaning against the wall with his legs crossed. "What camp? And no, fuck, no, I'm not trying to be anything. It just all makes me so sick to my stomach, that we have to live like this, that I'm gonna go to college knowing that so many people I know, including you, are likely gonna get themselves killed fighting an uphill battle. People keep dying, you can't say it's just a normal part of life, not this many people, not so frequently, all around us…"
He breaks contact with her eyes, instead looking into his lap as he draws his legs up. "I'm so fucking angry all the time, I try to have fun and forget, that's what everyone tells me I should do, but at the end of the day, I'm just fucking pissed. And now you see me just like everyone else does. You have no idea how unbelievably painful that is. Just… go home, I'll find some other way to get my anger out, so you won't have to shoot me. Don't worry about what I do, it doesn't matter, I'll make sure I don't do anything stupid."
"Nothing was won without an uphill battle." Claire says flatly, the shot gun still held at him. "There will always be deaths in battle. It's part of what happens… I will continue to give mine until I don't come back again… but doing what you just were… be littles everything we work to do. Being pissed is not a fucking excuse, Magnes." She practically spits the words out at him. "This revenge things.. this beating up on people cause your pissed. Hurts the fight… and helps our enemy."
Nostrils flare as she takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly. "Cause in the end of the day Magnes, people don't give a shit that a man gave his life to stop an explosion… all they will give a shit about is that you were using your ability on someone and beating them the hell up." There is actually a catch to Claire's voice then, eyes shiny with tears. "The normal people only give a shit about the bad we do and won't see all the good we've done."
"Don't fucking help them condemn us."
"Claire…" Magnes starts to stand, though holds his head briefly when a sharp pain goes through it. He ignores the shotgun and reaches a hand out to wipe her tears away with his thumb. "I promise, I absolutely promise Claire, that I won't be out in public doing stuff like this. I'll figure something out, I don't know what, but I'll figure it out." He lowers his hand to rub his stomach, looking down again. "I just want this to stop, this feeling in the pit of my stomach, like someone's grabbing it and punching me. I just want it to stop. This anxiety, it's not just because I lost you, I admit that's a big part, but that's not it completely. I'm not a soldier Claire, that's why you liked me, I'm a normal guy, I'm not in the kind of life you're living. I tried to be, I honestly did, but it just wasn't something I could do alone, or even with you offering to help me. I wasn't made for this, I wasn't made to worry about the people I care for just, up and dying, all the time. And there's nothing I can do about it, All I can do is try and choke back my feelings, and it's just too much…"
A hand moves to brush away the hand almost angrily, even as the tears start to coarse down Claire's cheeks. "Don't." She hisses fiercely. "I don't want your pity…or whatever" She may be on the edge of breaking down, but the look she gives him continues to unfriendly. "Then leave Magnes.. Just leave the city.. move else where. Get the hell out of here.. cause eventually there will be no way not to fight here." Boots scuff as she steps back to put distance between them. "But don't make this fight more difficult for those of us who will fight."
"It's not pity, I'm just not used to standing here and letting you cry without doing anything. I'm used to being there for you." Magnes' words come out bitterly, and he pulls his mask off to lean back against the wall, arms fallen to his sides. "There's no where to run, Claire. There's no where I can go. This," He holds his hands out to indicate the city, before dropping them down again. "Is the world now. I'm not delusional anymore, I'm not the guy you first met, I know there's nothing I can do. And you know what? Everyone agrees. They've always agreed. You said people should give me a chance, not just immediately judge me, but we're kids, what do we know? I can't even keep government secrets." He turns and starts walking away, pulling his mask back on. "I can't pretend I'll have a normal life again, that I can just go back to college. But I'm not gonna play hero anymore either. Do what you want, I'll stay out of the way. I can't keep arguing with you like this, I hate it, it reminds me of everything that's wrong, and it just makes me pissed at the world even more."
There is no 'Wait, Magnes come back!' or anything like that. Claire just stands there, finally letting her shotgun lower. Now what she does say is, "I find you beating up on people again to just take out aggression I will call in the cops… Or point the Company at you as a danger." She's learned recently that sometimes you have to do things you don't like to help the future be a better place…. even if it means pointing an organization she hates at a man she supposedly once loved. Just like she sent Rene to wipe his memory… she wouldn't be proud of it… she's hate herself later, but… she'd do what is needed to secure the future.
Watching him walk away the anger peels away little by little until the only the sadness remains. Glancing away, Claire turns to leave in the opposite direction.
This day couldn't have started out worse.