Visiting Hours

[Raveled]

Saturday, January 18th, 2014

Early morning

Approaching Blackstone Federal Penitentiary

The water was still cold, and the waves crashed up over the bow of the ferry boat as it cut through the bay. The boat was small but fast, and the few individuals on-board huddled in groups, chatting and drinking coffee. Their shared location loomed out of the ocean like a mass of bad ideas, silhouetted blackly against the rising sun. Cho Paige hadn’t been able to get clearance to fly into Blackstone, the super-prison that held some of the most dangerous superbeings in the world. And somewhere, in the mess of power nullifiers and Impervium doors and alarms and armed guards, was a young man who wasn’t much older than she was, who had attacked a crowd of civilians. He called himself Ice Age, but the police report said he was Clive Ross.

[RobRX]

Cho sometimes suffered from a lack of patience and this whole boat trip, coupled with a certainly no small amount of stress was making her restless. After all, this was Blackstone, a place where dangerous super-criminals were being detained. To Cho, the 'world of superheroes', so to speak, was still rather alien to her and now being part of it only made her more nervous. All this certainly felt new and also terrifying. For the trip (and to kill time), Cho simply messed around with a portable game console. In her imagination, Blackstone was...well, everything horrible she could think of.

[Raveled]

Most of the passengers on the ferry were guards or doctors or other personnel of Blackstone, back from a few days in the city to do another term on the island-prison. That meant they were all fifteen or twenty years older than Cho, and consequently several of them were shooting the girl worried or suspicious glances. Eventually a fiftish man with close-cropped, greying hair approached her, a bit of a gut showing through his windbreaker. "G'morning, little miss. It's a brisk day today, isn't it?"

[RobRX]

"I've seen better weather." admitted Cho, still tense from imagining all the various levels of horrible (and horrific) Blackstone could be. "So, I'm guessing you're probably wondering what I am doing here." she told the older man, aware of how she drew attention to herself compared to all those around her, wether she liked that or not. Then she realized that would probably sound a bit impolite to someone older. "S-sorry, I didn't mean it like it. Y-you know rude."

[Raveled]

The man gave Cho a fatherly pat on the shoulder. "No, it's okay. Anyone coming up to Blackstone should feel a little uncomfortable. That's why they don't paint it in bright colors and call it the Happy Palace, you know? I'm afraid I can guess why you're visiting," he added. "Listen, I'm sure your mom or dad still care for you, a lot, or else you wouldn't be come out to see them. But they made some pretty bad mistakes to be out there. They've got to pay their price to society." He sighed. "Just make sure to take something away from their experiences, you know? I don't want to see anyone inheriting a cell."

[RobRX]

"Oh, n-no!" chirped out Cho, voice temporarily almost spiking up. "N-no, l-look...my family, it's...they're...t-they're not in prison!" blurted out the girl, aware of how the whole situation seemed and how the man was completely wrong, having imagined something that couldn't be more possibly removed from reality.

 

Completely at a loss, Cho was trying to explain to him it wasn't the case, stumbling over her words and stuttering. "N-no, look! I-I'm here to v-visit someone! It's nothing like that! I'm, um, there on um...uh..."

[Raveled]

"Oh, okay. It's something like that, then." The older man turned to watch the ferry maneuver into the dock, and Cho was left waiting what 'that' was. She didn't have to wait long. "Listen, I know how things are when you're young. Hell, I rode a motorcycle when I was younger, trying to pick up girls. But someone who landed in here isn't just your run-of-the-mill 'bad boy.' There're folks in there who really do deserve it." He shook his head slowly. "If your guy's in here, I'd find someone else."

Before the girl had a chance to correct him, the gangplank went down and people were hurrying off the boat, pulling out identity cards and making small talk with the security guards. Before long it they came to Cho, staring at her through visored helmets. "Do you have clearance to be here, miss?"

[RobRX]

"N-no, it's not that!" Defeated, she was just left to sigh alone. "Geez, do I really look like somekind of delinquent that much?" One could argue she could be mistaken somewhat as one, depending how you see it. At the very least she could look a bit intimidating.

 

"Um, y-yeah...actually, I kinda do." She started to look in her pockets, trying to find the proper documentation so she could be let inside this high-security prison, since they would obviously not let anyone in there. "Where did I put that? Oh, here we go." Cho then ended over said documentation to the guards.

Edited July 20, 2014 by RobRX

[Raveled]

The guards were stone-faced and chilling. They didn't talk or joke among themselves, they didn't so much as fidget with their weapons or armor. They were completely focused on Cho, and while they might have been far weaker than the teenager their complete focus was unnerving. The lead guard checked her clearance slowly and methodically, and it took just long enough for her to worry that she was going to be refused after all -- and then they waved her on through, moving to the next individual in line.

The path up the prison was impossible to miss, and the next few security checkpoints she passed through went no quicker than the first. She stepped through a door with a red lintel and suddenly the easy strength and thrumming power that was her superpowers were gone, like someone had flipped a switch. It wasn't long before she was descending into the rock of the island fortress.

Clive was laying down in his cell. He seemed subtly different from the day he and Cho had fought; without the bulk of his parka, it was easier to see that he was tall and thin, with a rangy build. His hair was cropped close to his head, and he was wearing the sort of orange jumpsuit anyone who watched TV would expect from a prisoner. Cho's knock-out punch was still faintly visible on the underside of his jaw. She couldn't see any special restraints on him, but without his powers he was just a normal teenager anyway.

He was laying on his bunk, eyes closed, facing the ceiling. It was hard to tell if he was meditating, sleeping, or just pretending to.

[RobRX]

Cho raised a hand...and they hesitate. 'Right.' She thought. 'I supposed to be cold. Okay, maybe not cold but I need to show I'm in control.' It's not that she needed to show off, but rather she assumed that in a situation like this, showing insecurities or worry would certainly not help her credibility one bit. And she didn't need that loss of credibility, not right now. Still frozen in place for a brief moment, Cho breathed in, before removing her jacket, showing the Claremont uniform underneath.

 

"Hey." she said, trying to sound as impressive as possible, while leaning against the wall, arm crossed. "Wake up, we gotta talk."

[Raveled]

It took a moment for Clive to respond, but he finally sat up and looked at Cho. He did a double-take, looking her up and down carefully. "I like the new guard uniform," he said, approaching the cell door slowly. "Wait, you're not a guard, are you? I think I remember those colors." He rubbed at his jaw, suddenly glaring at Cho. "You were the chick who clocked me! You sucker-punched me and landed me in here. What do you want?" He crossed his arms and could probably be called sulking if he wasn't in prison. "Going to gloat?"

[RobRX]

"Actually I don't think I was wearing the Claremont Uniform back then." precised Cho. "B-but that's um.." She briefly stuttered for a moment, breaking the act that had just barely started. She then took a moment to breathe in. 'Gotta keep cool, he's not a threat to you. He's just some wannabe supervillain and you've beaten him before, plus he's behind bars.

 

"That's not important. Look, I'm just here to talk, okay? You know, I was worried for a moment, that was a very powerful punch, I thought I had killed you back then." There was a hint of concern in her voice, even for someone as 'Ice Age'.

[Raveled]

"Well, you didn't," Clive huffed. "I'm tougher than you think. Tough enough to survive this place, I'll let you know." He leaned against the wall, giving Cho the hardest look he could muster. "So what do you want to talk about, cape? Did you pick up super therapy powers in this week?" He smirked at his own joke. "I bet you fell in a crate of radioactive Reader's Digest and just can't wait to share your folksy wisdom." He began examining his own fingernails, pointedly ignoring Cho.

[RobRX]

"No, look I just...I just wanted to know. Why you did it." She then scoffed at his comment and babbles out a dubious, snide rebuttal. "And what? What did YOU fall into? A-a...um...a bowl of mutagenic evil ice cream? Were your parents ice cream vendors whose truck got damaged by superheroes and they raised you as somekind of evil Ice Cream-themed villain? Did you get a brain freeze and got hit by lightning? Were you bitten by a radioactive refrigerator?!"

 

Cho then continued to look at him, with a displeaced expression on her face. "See? It's not fun mocking where people got their powers." In reality, it's probably because the radioactive reader digest origin was still a better one than the fact she simply got her powers at completely random.

Edited July 31, 2014 by RobRX

[Raveled]

"No. When I turned fifteen I was visited by an alien zamboni. He told me that I was destined to be the champion of his people, to break the bonds of their slavery to humans. And so Reicing was born! But I changed my name because not enough people watch hockey to get the reference." He rolled his eyes. "See? It's fun to make fun of superheroes.

"So what's the plan, white mask? We talk and the warden signs your paper and you go back to get your Reform a Supervillain merit badge? Collect enough and you can get your own cape!"

[RobRX]

"What? Is...I-is that what you really think? That we do it for the recognition or the achievement?" Cho shouted, angered at how he seemingly got everything wrong. Well, that and it was perhaps insulting to think that it was all about the fame. For Cho, with her fangirl side, it really wasn't about that and it angered her. That's not what the 'oldschool' meant or how it worked.

 

"I'm not doing it for the fame! I'm really not!" Cho then shouted once again at the prisoner, seemingly on the defensive now.

[Raveled]

Clive was quiet for a long minute, apparently taking in what Cho had said and processing it. He hugged himself tighter, the first sign of vulnerability that had slipped out of his mask of indifference for the entire conversation. “It’s not going to matter,†he muttered, half to himself, looking at the junction of the floor and the opposite wall. “I’m sitting in Blackstone. By the time I get out of here, everyone I know is going to be graduating college. I’m always going to be the bank-robbing freak in the anorak,†he said, sneering at the mental image. “I’m going to be a professional punching bag for white capes for the rest of my life.â€

[RobRX]

"No, you don't have to! I-I mean, well um...I'm not saying it would be easy but that doesn't mean you have to give up! Yeah sure, you're in prison now but that doesn't mean you can't reform once you get out!" The girl replied, with a rather meager attempt to cheer him up and reassure Ice Age. She believed what she was saying, she just knew she could probably have phrased it much better.

 

"Look, y-you don't have to be a 'professional punching bag'. It's not a certainty."

[Raveled]

"Yeah, I'm sure my life is going to turn right around after I get out," he said. "I'll walk into a great job making, what, Christmas decorations? And everything will be just great after that." He hugged himself again, seeming to almost shrink into himself. "Or maybe I'll just end up in here for the rest of my life." Clive's chin dipped towards his chest and he started to shake, quietly.

[RobRX]

"Now you're um...y-you're just being overly negative." Of course, the truth was that Cho, as a person, was incredibly poorly equipped to deal with this whole situation and didn't remotely know what to do. Not everyone really come equipped with social skills, social grace and a capacity to properly understand others and their emotions. Let's just say Cho wouldn't really make a good social worker.

 

"U-um.." Awkward silence. "J-just don't say that."

Edited August 26, 2014 by RobRX

[Raveled]

The shaking of Clive's body escalated until he was actually bent double; if Cho had an impulse to get a nurse, it was dispelled when Clive straightened out and revealed that he was laughing. "You capes! You are such easy targets. Man, I bet you were about to go the Warden and promise that I wouldn't be a problem, 'on your honor' or something." His expression changed suddenly and he was back to sneering. "You want to save me? You shouldn't have thrown me in Blackstone! Now leave me alone, lady." He turned away from Cho again and intently examined the far wall.

[RobRX]

"Hey! Listen up, y-you..." shouted Cho, pointing at Clive, as her anger built up more and more. "We HAD to throw you in here, YOU put yourself in that cell! I mean, seriously! You started it, we reacted. That's how it works! You commit the superpowered crime, you get beaten up and tossed in jail, it's how things work!" At least, that's how it worked in Cho's head when reduced to a truly simplistic, black and white equation. One could almost make a case for superhero traditionalism! See the crime, stop the bad guy, toss in jail and repeat. Everything clear cut.

 

"And no, I'm not that stupid. I don't have the authority to release you, anyway."

[Raveled]

"Maybe I'll run away to New Freedom," he sneered, "or Socotra, and get in Typhoon's amry. I'll be a real menace then, you'll never be able to touch me!"

It seemed apparent that Cho wasn't going to get anything else out of him, and so she turned to leave. She found herself riding up the elevator with a stately man with silver wings in his hair and a Roman collar around his throat. He greeted Cho with an open hand and a smile. "Hello there. I'm Reverend Maxwell. I don't think I've ever seen you visit here before."

[RobRX]

Upon seeing the man, Cho stopped her furious attempt at storming out of the place. "No, I don't think we've met." she said, in a harsher tone than usual, still angry at Clive and his antics. "I've never here before today. Well, I'm leaving anyway..." then said the girl, before giving Clive a furious and scornful glare, while clenching her fists. No sparks to fly out, this time. Briefly she stared at her hand, reminded that this place nullified her mutation.

 

"I've had enough of this place for today!" Then she moved past the reverend, preparing to leave.

[Raveled]

"Woah, w-wait up!" The reverend hurried after Cho, though truthfully the only reason he caught up was because she had to wait for the elevator back up. He was breathing hard by the time he caught up to her. "Haven't had to run like that for... well, quite some time. Quite some time indeed!"

He smiled at the angry teenager, trying to get through her hostility. "So how bad did things go?" He was expecting to hear a tale of drama and woe; she was a teenager, after all.