ic Scene: Terrifica and Salvo (IC)

[Zeitgeist Blue]

Salvo

 

Salvo stood as Frost exited the room. Folding her arms, she faced Terrifica and listened to what the super-genius had to say. She moved to the side of the room where Frost had sat and leaned against the wall. Her head followed Terrifica's movements around the room and back to their chairs. When Terrifica finished her piece, Salvo stared at the cowl, a few seconds of silence between the two heroes.

 

"No," she finally said, shaking her head.

 

"No," she repeated. Her voice was tight but wasn't raised as it had been before. "Apology not accepted for the second point and apology definitely not accepted for the other points if you would have apologized which, you know, you didn't."

 

She strode to Terrifica, close enough that they were only half an arm's length from each other, Salvo looming over Terrifica.

 

"Do you even hear yourself? So many put-downs and excuses that I know everything you've said is only to stroke your ego." She puched a finger at Terrifica, stopping just short of hitting the other woman in the chest. Every words was spat now and punctuated by a stab of her finger. "For someone who loves to act so smart and rational she is you are an idiot. You're stupid and blind. So why don't you use that brain of yours to actually understand why your fellow heroes don't like you, hmm?"

 

She raised a fist between them and counted off, a finger raising with every point. "One. You don't get to prod and poke and say it's for my own good. Two. You have no authority, no bearing to say what you say, so yeah, soften what you say or will it actually kill you? In fact, let Frost work out my mistakes. He doesn't need a know-it-all rubbing it in his face. Three. I don't need your instruction. I never had and now I know I never will because I know you'll mess it up like you messed up both our applications."

 

"Fourth," And she swiveled her head to take in the room. "Put that all on record if someone's watching. All of it."

[EternalPhoenix]

“You think I don’t understand?” The ice in Terrifica’s voice would’ve done Comrade Frost’s powers proud in chilling the room. If her eyes weren’t covered by the cowl, her glare would’ve actually lowered the perceptible temperature to any exposed skin. Salvo had succeeded where Frost had not. She’d made the supergenius angry. Genuinely furious. “I understand perfectly. Heroes put on the mask to protect, serve, and save. It is a job. It should be done as efficiently and effectively as possible. And yet, because heroes are people first, they sacrifice a significant portion of that effectiveness by allowing their emotions to get involved. They allow personal biases, sensory information, and a dizzying assortment of personal issues to blind them to what is most important. What. We. Do.” She stood up very fast, leaving no space between the two of them. “Why do you think I put on this mask in the first place? I do not put it on to make friends, earn glory, or simply to be liked.” The disdain in the last word was glacial. “I put on this mask to stop crime and save lives. I put it on to solve murders and prevent gang wars. I put it on because the world is full of idiots who hurt each other for incredibly stupid reasons, and someone has to fix it. Someone has to teach them all how to be better. Because they can be better. I believe that with everything that I am.” The ice cracked, and something very human leaked out. “I have to. I have seen a world where I do not. You do not want to visit.” She spoke, of course, of the Emerald Empress. That world still haunted her nightmares.

 

A few seconds passed before she spoke again. Her next sentence brought back the tightly controlled ice, but in the form of a winter gale. “I’m not finished.” She almost yelled, cutting Salvo right off before the armored young woman could speak. “You’re quite correct. I have neither the authority nor the right to tell you or anyone else what to do. No one has to ever listen to me or do as I say. I am one mere human among seven billion plus. Why do you think I’m so caustic?” Again, almost yelled that last line. “So they’ll remember me. So they’ll listen. Tell me, since you’re apparently the intelligent one in the room, when has kind advice from a stranger ever convinced anyone they needed to change? Humans are wired to avoid negative experiences. So when I’m nasty, I spell out exactly why. Now my target knows exactly what they need to never do again in order to avoid the sharp edge of my tongue. Case in point: Do. Not. Call. Me. Stupid. I. Don’t. Like. It.” A breath in, a breath out. You were about to really start yelling, and there’s no need for that. In fact, calm down already. Her brain spun up to rapid speed to sort out the emotional response, and…it was gone. Well, there was a little frost left, but whatever. She even stepped back a pace to be less confrontational. “And if, by chance, I become more than casual acquaintances with someone, I can change my methodology. Because we’ve gotten to know each other to a degree. Because I know they’ll listen to me and value my knowledge and opinions. I have thought this through, Salvo. Miracle Girl and I have worked together for years. It’s not because she’s built up a tremendous resistance.”

[Zeitgeist Blue]

Salvo

 

"You know what I hear?" Salvo asked, not backing down once Terrifica had stood up. She brought her helmet closer, until steel almost touching cloth, and though her face was hidden the contempt in her voice dripped all over. She spat out. "Excuses. All of it. Flimsy justifications for how you are and nothing more."

 

A second passed, the air charged between them with a  hostile energy, Terrifica stepped back. Salvo followed her lead then turned her back on the super-genius.

 

"We're all the same, you know," Salvo called as she walked away. She was so done with all of this. And to think, she used to look up to Terrifica as a hero who did good work, had one of the finest minds in the planet yet who still worked thrice as hard as anyone. Then Terrifica had gone and broken her own image. Pathetic. "All superheroes but everyone's still better than you. But who cares? You won't change because I'm a stranger and no one cares about advice from strangers, so from one genius to another--"

 

She stopped right in front of the room's exit and this time glanced back at Terrifica.

 

"Save your breath."

 

Then she planted an armored hand on the door's speakers. "Frost, I know you're listening! Let me out. I've had enough of your mind games!"

Edited August 28, 2019 by Zeitgeist Blue

[Avenger Assembled]

Suddenly, the door slid open - revealing the chilly form of Comrade Frost. "Hello!" he said seriously to Salvo, giving a little wave to Terrifica. "I have consulted with Freedom League and we have come to decision regarding respective applications for membership." 

[Zeitgeist Blue]

Salvo

 

Salvo stopped in her tracks as Frost came in and announced the Freedom League had made their decision. No matter her distaste for Terrifica, she wanted to know who had made it, or even if both of them were accepted. If it was her then she'd be ecstatic. If it was both of them, she'd wonder how they'd even come to that decision given who Terrifica was. She'd dislike it but there were many worse things in life than a colleague she couldn't get along with.

 

Barely able to wait, she crossed her arms and looked at Frost dead in the eye.

 

"And?"

[EternalPhoenix]

Terrifica wasn’t done talking, not by a long shot. Excuses? Flimsy justifications? Everyone better than me? Salvo didn’t understand. She didn’t understand at all. How could she? Her intellect was only human. She couldn’t possibly understand how it felt to be able to out think entire universities on her lunch break. To look out into the world and see people making such terrible mistakes. Hurting each other. For the most idiotic of reasons. What was she supposed to do, just sit and watch? There was a different between being stupid and merely acting that way. There were better ways to get what people wanted. They didn’t have to hurt others. The stick and carrot approach worked. She was right, damn it. She opened her mouth to try one more time to explain (with the icy fury beginning to return), but then Frost had returned. So she said something else, instead. “Ah, Frost. Certainly. Let’s hear it.” Terrifica would be lying if she said she didn’t care either way, and she outright refused to allow such pretty things as arguments to affect her working relationships. This did not, however, mean that Salvo would be getting an social invitation any time soon.

[Avenger Assembled]

"Ah, well...Terrifica, I want you to understand this is no reflection on you," he said, turning and crossing to the super-genius to shake her hand. "We will put you on reservist list, and you are welcome to try out for Auxiliary League next time." The reservist list would keep Terrifica from interacting with the general public, which seemed only for the best. "And you, Salvo, I want you to come back for another trial next week. Things didn't go so well today but the League thinks you have promise better found under other circumstances." He looked from one lady to the other, hands steepled in front of him. 

[EternalPhoenix]

Terrifica blinked in momentary confusion. She’d honestly expected to be rejected at this stage. Reservist? Yes we’d like to have on the team but not, you know, where people can see and interact with you. It very obviously wasn’t intended as an insult, so there was no need to take it as one. She exhaled, and shook Frost’s hand. “Of course. I’m honored for my own sake and pleased on Salvo’s behalf.” She meant it. She had not lied at any point today. Fine. Okay, yes. She was actually a little insulted. Not by the decision itself, but by the sheer necessity of it. Sometimes she really detested how fragile people could be, socially speaking. She did not think she would ever understand how personal feelings could overrule practicality in most people’s minds. However…it wasn’t like she was that different. Hmm. She considered. “May I ask your opinion, Frost? As someone who’s been a professional superhero for a very long time?” She’d begun to wonder, honestly. Her way was effective, certainly, but well… “I begin to wonder…what is the better and more efficient way to convince someone not to make the same mistake twice? Or not to make the mistake they’re about to make? Or just to advise in general? I have the methods I prefer, certainly, but as I said you have more experience. What do you think?”

[Zeitgeist Blue]

Salvo

 

Inside her mind's eye, Nicole closed her eyes as relief washed over her. She knew she hadn't done the best she could have, and feared that the League would dismiss her on the premise of her test results alone, but they didn't. There was a second chance and that was all that mattered at the moment.

 

She smiled and when she opened her eyes, there was a fire in them. She would show them next time what she was really capable of.

 

All this in her head remained unseen from the world outside her armor as Salvo stood stoic at Frost's announcement. She nodded, her stance less rigid than during her and Terrifica's confrontation. "I'll be here next week, Frost. You can count on that."

 

She was about to turn and leave when Terrifica asked a question of Frost. Salvo's boot stopped mid-step and slowly she turned to the other two heroes. She was conscious enough to keep from speaking. This was between Frost and Terrifica, but she did admit a passing curiosity on what the most experienced hero in the room would have to say.

[Avenger Assembled]

Frost considered several responses on the way back to the transporter before he said, "Consider this. The Centurion was not the strongest of us because he showed us all the things he could lift with his muscles, or because he chided us when we were weak. He showed us how to be strong. Let that be your guide, Terrifica."