[What is the whole deal with the beat up teenager?]
[But there's no time, because he's running right into the memory and Robbie is suddenly crushed by the weight of it.]
[There is only Penance now.]
[He's deploying from a fancy airship onto a city street with a group of people that look fairly supervillainish. One of them is a massive alien monstrosity with too many teeth - the alternate version of Venom, a version far more hostile than the one currently in residence in the world outside. Then there's the Swordsman, an amoral aristocrat who only cares about having his sister cloned. Moonstone, a menacing and manipulative former psychiatrist that used to talk patients into suicide for giggles. She's the team leader.]
[Hiding off in the shadows is Bullseye, an nearly-uncontrollable psychopathic murderer, who can kill someone with just a thumb tack.]
[The only two on the team that have softer perceptions around them are Songbird (another new recruit to the world outside), whose costume looks more superheroic, and Radioactive Man, who's wearing a radiation suit but looks more menacing than he actually is. He and Songbird are generally well-meaning and not here of their free will. Chen's on the team at the mercy of the his government; China wants him to be here. Songbird's fitted with a nanochain, an internal shock collar, controlling her. They both try to cause as little harm as possible to whoever they take in, nice clean takedowns even if they have to be a little rough. The others are fine with death or maiming.]
[Robbie doesn't have a nanochain, he's chosen to be here, to do this. He knows it's bad for the people they bring in, but what's more important is that it's bad for himself.]
[They are the Thunderbolts, they take their orders from Norman Osborn a "former" supervillain known for throwing an innocent young woman off a bridge, and they're on the hunt for a hero. It's entirely legal but entirely wrong. Penance knows that's what their target is, a hero, someone who tries to help people. He doesn't care. These are heroes that refused to be good little boys and girls and sign up with the government. They're the ones thumbing their nose at accountability, insulting the memory of 612 dead, including 60 dead children, because they're just like he, Penance, was.]
[They deserve to be punished just like Penance does.]
[At Moonstone's instruction Penance blows up a chunk of city street, injuring Jack Flag. It's fortunately been emptied of civilians or Penance at least wouldn't have done it. This leaves Flag vulnerable for Bullseye to stab him in the spine in a nearby building.]
[Penance watches Flag, in agony, get loaded on a stretcher on the T-wagon. He feels not even a twinge of guilt. He feels absolutely nothing, like the whole world is washed out, empty, and gray.]
[He feels nothing emotionally, at least. Physically, he's in agony, skin pricked by hundreds of points of pain. The source of his power. The source of blood from the blood vents. The only thing he deserves.]
[His penance.]
["Walking iron maiden" is more right than Jason knew. It really is something a Gotham rogue would do, this disturbing mix of punishment and masochism.]
[Present-day Robbie looks out from the suit's eyes, aware again.]
[He lets out a roar.]
GET! OUT!
[There is a blast of power - and will - knocking Jason right out of his half of their connected brains, but the gesture accidentally drags Robbie to go tumbling with him right into the other half. His mental projection changes back to present day Robbie who looks enraged, horrified, humiliated, and betrayed.]
cw: brief mention of suicide + more self-harm.
[What is the whole deal with the beat up teenager?]
[But there's no time, because he's running right into the memory and Robbie is suddenly crushed by the weight of it.]
[There is only Penance now.]
[He's deploying from a fancy airship onto a city street with a group of people that look fairly supervillainish. One of them is a massive alien monstrosity with too many teeth - the alternate version of Venom, a version far more hostile than the one currently in residence in the world outside. Then there's the Swordsman, an amoral aristocrat who only cares about having his sister cloned. Moonstone, a menacing and manipulative former psychiatrist that used to talk patients into suicide for giggles. She's the team leader.]
[Hiding off in the shadows is Bullseye, an nearly-uncontrollable psychopathic murderer, who can kill someone with just a thumb tack.]
[The only two on the team that have softer perceptions around them are Songbird (another new recruit to the world outside), whose costume looks more superheroic, and Radioactive Man, who's wearing a radiation suit but looks more menacing than he actually is. He and Songbird are generally well-meaning and not here of their free will. Chen's on the team at the mercy of the his government; China wants him to be here. Songbird's fitted with a nanochain, an internal shock collar, controlling her. They both try to cause as little harm as possible to whoever they take in, nice clean takedowns even if they have to be a little rough. The others are fine with death or maiming.]
[Robbie doesn't have a nanochain, he's chosen to be here, to do this. He knows it's bad for the people they bring in, but what's more important is that it's bad for himself.]
[They are the Thunderbolts, they take their orders from Norman Osborn a "former" supervillain known for throwing an innocent young woman off a bridge, and they're on the hunt for a hero. It's entirely legal but entirely wrong. Penance knows that's what their target is, a hero, someone who tries to help people. He doesn't care. These are heroes that refused to be good little boys and girls and sign up with the government. They're the ones thumbing their nose at accountability, insulting the memory of 612 dead, including 60 dead children, because they're just like he, Penance, was.]
[They deserve to be punished just like Penance does.]
[At Moonstone's instruction Penance blows up a chunk of city street, injuring Jack Flag. It's fortunately been emptied of civilians or Penance at least wouldn't have done it. This leaves Flag vulnerable for Bullseye to stab him in the spine in a nearby building.]
[Penance watches Flag, in agony, get loaded on a stretcher on the T-wagon. He feels not even a twinge of guilt. He feels absolutely nothing, like the whole world is washed out, empty, and gray.]
[He feels nothing emotionally, at least. Physically, he's in agony, skin pricked by hundreds of points of pain. The source of his power. The source of blood from the blood vents. The only thing he deserves.]
[His penance.]
["Walking iron maiden" is more right than Jason knew. It really is something a Gotham rogue would do, this disturbing mix of punishment and masochism.]
[Present-day Robbie looks out from the suit's eyes, aware again.]
[He lets out a roar.]
GET! OUT!
[There is a blast of power - and will - knocking Jason right out of his half of their connected brains, but the gesture accidentally drags Robbie to go tumbling with him right into the other half. His mental projection changes back to present day Robbie who looks enraged, horrified, humiliated, and betrayed.]