Kon-El | Conner Kent (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
lowercase_el) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
metalogs2023-06-02 12:09 am
lowercase_el) wrote in metalogs2023-06-02 12:09 am
Entry tags:
Out of the night that covers me...
Who: Character lowercase_el and everyone that wanted in on Kon's brainwashed meltdown
What: The Fixer's brainwashing goes awry
When: Vaguely after the Confluence, whenever Fantastic starts beating people up and letting them go
Where: Central City but the location of the fight may move.
Content Warnings: Mind control angst and talking about Fantastic's bullshit mistreatment
[All goes as planned in the beginning. A new villain shows up, he tries to rob banks, he steals from the R&D of tech company, he cackles and monologues and is soundly beaten every time. His only power seems to be very minor superstrength. So minor that Fantastic beats him soundly every time. Giving him a solid chance to get a good monologue in when the cameras are rolling.]
[And then...he's let go, instead of brought in. One might start to think that maybe it benefits Fantastic for him to go free each time.]
[At home, Kon hides the bruises and tries not to worry too much. Bart is going to talk to his friend and he'll talk to his friend and maybe it'll turn out to be something not serious. Maybe his invulnerability is just hella weaker, maybe his healing being slow is just really annoying. Maybe he's not sick.]
[He doesn't keep it from Tim for long. Shortly after he tells Bart, everything hits the fan with Fantastic, then Kon gets sidetracked by a certain confession of feelings and the resulting flurry of relationship stuff after. But he decides to finally tell Tim when he wakes up from a nap he doesn't remember going down for, after he looks in the mirror and sees...]
[He sees something he doesn't remember going to sleep with, something he's rarely ever gotten: a black eye.]
[This is wrong. Something's wrong. It feels like whatever it is is different from a health thing. It feels like something is clawing up the back of his skull like a terrified cat inexorably clawing its way up its owner's shoulder when spooked. There is no getting it down right away, there's only claws digging in before they can be unhooked.]
[He doesn't remember what he was doing before he fell asleep. But a black eye doesn't feel like something that'd happen spontaneously as a health thing. That feels like a "done to you" sort of thing.]
[And that's what makes Kon realize the truth. The strange, haunting feelings of something being off...it's not normal anxiety about his health. It's alarm bells. Not, not bells, an air raid siren. Whatever part of his mind that's on the alert for any manipulation has been blowing an air horn two inches from his metaphorical ear this entire time. He finally hears it.]
[He immediately turns to reach for his phone to call Tim and Bart and maybe the other Bats, to ask for help, to warn them, but he stumbles halfway there, falling to his knees as dizziness overtakes him. It feels like he's being dragged down a long tunnel, only distantly connected to his body. In fact, it feels like before, it feels like what Luthor did all over again. Inside himself, Kon screams in anguish and frustration. And then he is locked away and his villain self is here to stay - for good, if he can help it.]
[Outside where he's locked up in his own mind, Black Zero stands up. He superspeeds out the door so certain bugs planted by certain people who shall remain nameless don't easily catch sight of it. He hasn't been stupid enough to hide his villain costume at home, not with how nosy his roomie is. He's got it stuffed away in a random abandoned warehouse.]
[After changing, even though he's by himself, he pretends to punch a card into a little punchclock for his own amusement. Time to go to work! Within the half hour, bank alarms are going off and he's threading his way past hostages cowering on the floor.]
[His voice is tinny and extra deep from the voice distorter.]
Scuse me, scuse me, thank you, thank you, don't mind me, just on my way to steal for a living. If you all behave yourselves, I'll get everyone an ice cream. And, y'know, maybe I won't kill you.
[He tears through the vault like its tissue paper, stuffing money into the bags he brought. Then he flies outside, waiting, though for what, he's not entirely aware.]
[But this doesn't go the way anyone planned. Because the feeling of being subsumed by something intending to take his place does the opposite of making Kon give up or give into despair. It just makes him more aware of what's happening to him, that something foreign is there like a splinter in his soul, as he recognizes what he'd been taught to recognize by so many telepaths and mystics after he'd traveled the world training to throw off mind control.]
[It also just makes him mad. Outside the bank, both hands start shaking and Black Zero can't shake the feeling that someone else's hands are somehow wrenching his hands away, finger by finger. The bags of money drop.]
What the f - AAAUGH!
[He holds his hands to his head as he fights the feeling that something is punching it from the inside. That was one trick Kon'd learned, visualizing his mindscape as something tangible that he could manipulate. Loserboy Prime isn't the only one that can punch at the edges of his reality until they snap.]
[Black Zero briefly loses control of his own mouth and Kon manages to grit out some words.]
I'm not - a supervillain! I don't know what you are - or who put you in here - but get out!
[Black Zero temporarily reasserts control.]
Oh my god, would you just shut up and die? You lost, bro! Just give it up already!
[The words that follow aren't an argument, though. Black Zero loses control of Kon's mouth again nd this time struggles to get it back.]
My mind - can't be held - in a cage. It is - like air - it is like - nngh, like water. My mind can't be - can't be held in a cage. It is like air - it is like water.
[Multiple people had taught him how powerful different mantras could be for focus, for self control. They'd taught him quite a few, had him practice them, including during times some of them tried to force overbearing control of his mind. (With his permission of course)]
[The only problem with his little back and forth is he's deeply upset right now and his powers have always been influenced by emotion. Against his bidding, his heatvision arcs out through his mask, blowing out the lenses, which weren't reinforced for it. Possibly because heatvision would've been hard to counter by someone with aerokinesis. He tries to arc high, away from street level and lops off the top of a street lamp. A couple underneath narrowly dodges.]
[A blue glow spreads from his feet over the asphalt and starts ripping it up, making it float in the air in chunks. People on the street start running screaming. The hostages in the bank are frozen in fear, though. At risk. The glass on the bank's store front is starting to crack. This situation, though pretty standard for a supervillain to-do, is getting dangerous for bystanders.]
[The problem is he can't fight for control of his body with another whole personality and keep control of his powers at the same time. Not easily. And he has to fight or risk being locked away for good - and risk letting the villain personality puppet him to hurt people. He has no idea how far he'll go.]
[For someone approaching the situation, something is clearly wrong. Rather than trying to get away from the location of his crime, he's clutching at his head, face contorted into a grimace of mental torment. Tears are sizzling and evaporating in the glowing red eyes visible through the blown out lenses of his mask. He's crying because of what this reminds him off, because this happened before. It was one of the lowest points of his entire life.]
[But that's all the more reason to fight.]
Get! Out! Of! My! Head!
lowercase_el and everyone that wanted in on Kon's brainwashed meltdown What: The Fixer's brainwashing goes awry
When: Vaguely after the Confluence, whenever Fantastic starts beating people up and letting them go
Where: Central City but the location of the fight may move.
Content Warnings: Mind control angst and talking about Fantastic's bullshit mistreatment
[All goes as planned in the beginning. A new villain shows up, he tries to rob banks, he steals from the R&D of tech company, he cackles and monologues and is soundly beaten every time. His only power seems to be very minor superstrength. So minor that Fantastic beats him soundly every time. Giving him a solid chance to get a good monologue in when the cameras are rolling.]
[And then...he's let go, instead of brought in. One might start to think that maybe it benefits Fantastic for him to go free each time.]
[At home, Kon hides the bruises and tries not to worry too much. Bart is going to talk to his friend and he'll talk to his friend and maybe it'll turn out to be something not serious. Maybe his invulnerability is just hella weaker, maybe his healing being slow is just really annoying. Maybe he's not sick.]
[He doesn't keep it from Tim for long. Shortly after he tells Bart, everything hits the fan with Fantastic, then Kon gets sidetracked by a certain confession of feelings and the resulting flurry of relationship stuff after. But he decides to finally tell Tim when he wakes up from a nap he doesn't remember going down for, after he looks in the mirror and sees...]
[He sees something he doesn't remember going to sleep with, something he's rarely ever gotten: a black eye.]
[This is wrong. Something's wrong. It feels like whatever it is is different from a health thing. It feels like something is clawing up the back of his skull like a terrified cat inexorably clawing its way up its owner's shoulder when spooked. There is no getting it down right away, there's only claws digging in before they can be unhooked.]
[He doesn't remember what he was doing before he fell asleep. But a black eye doesn't feel like something that'd happen spontaneously as a health thing. That feels like a "done to you" sort of thing.]
[And that's what makes Kon realize the truth. The strange, haunting feelings of something being off...it's not normal anxiety about his health. It's alarm bells. Not, not bells, an air raid siren. Whatever part of his mind that's on the alert for any manipulation has been blowing an air horn two inches from his metaphorical ear this entire time. He finally hears it.]
[He immediately turns to reach for his phone to call Tim and Bart and maybe the other Bats, to ask for help, to warn them, but he stumbles halfway there, falling to his knees as dizziness overtakes him. It feels like he's being dragged down a long tunnel, only distantly connected to his body. In fact, it feels like before, it feels like what Luthor did all over again. Inside himself, Kon screams in anguish and frustration. And then he is locked away and his villain self is here to stay - for good, if he can help it.]
[Outside where he's locked up in his own mind, Black Zero stands up. He superspeeds out the door so certain bugs planted by certain people who shall remain nameless don't easily catch sight of it. He hasn't been stupid enough to hide his villain costume at home, not with how nosy his roomie is. He's got it stuffed away in a random abandoned warehouse.]
[After changing, even though he's by himself, he pretends to punch a card into a little punchclock for his own amusement. Time to go to work! Within the half hour, bank alarms are going off and he's threading his way past hostages cowering on the floor.]
[His voice is tinny and extra deep from the voice distorter.]
Scuse me, scuse me, thank you, thank you, don't mind me, just on my way to steal for a living. If you all behave yourselves, I'll get everyone an ice cream. And, y'know, maybe I won't kill you.
[He tears through the vault like its tissue paper, stuffing money into the bags he brought. Then he flies outside, waiting, though for what, he's not entirely aware.]
[But this doesn't go the way anyone planned. Because the feeling of being subsumed by something intending to take his place does the opposite of making Kon give up or give into despair. It just makes him more aware of what's happening to him, that something foreign is there like a splinter in his soul, as he recognizes what he'd been taught to recognize by so many telepaths and mystics after he'd traveled the world training to throw off mind control.]
[It also just makes him mad. Outside the bank, both hands start shaking and Black Zero can't shake the feeling that someone else's hands are somehow wrenching his hands away, finger by finger. The bags of money drop.]
What the f - AAAUGH!
[He holds his hands to his head as he fights the feeling that something is punching it from the inside. That was one trick Kon'd learned, visualizing his mindscape as something tangible that he could manipulate. Loserboy Prime isn't the only one that can punch at the edges of his reality until they snap.]
[Black Zero briefly loses control of his own mouth and Kon manages to grit out some words.]
I'm not - a supervillain! I don't know what you are - or who put you in here - but get out!
[Black Zero temporarily reasserts control.]
Oh my god, would you just shut up and die? You lost, bro! Just give it up already!
[The words that follow aren't an argument, though. Black Zero loses control of Kon's mouth again nd this time struggles to get it back.]
My mind - can't be held - in a cage. It is - like air - it is like - nngh, like water. My mind can't be - can't be held in a cage. It is like air - it is like water.
[Multiple people had taught him how powerful different mantras could be for focus, for self control. They'd taught him quite a few, had him practice them, including during times some of them tried to force overbearing control of his mind. (With his permission of course)]
[The only problem with his little back and forth is he's deeply upset right now and his powers have always been influenced by emotion. Against his bidding, his heatvision arcs out through his mask, blowing out the lenses, which weren't reinforced for it. Possibly because heatvision would've been hard to counter by someone with aerokinesis. He tries to arc high, away from street level and lops off the top of a street lamp. A couple underneath narrowly dodges.]
[A blue glow spreads from his feet over the asphalt and starts ripping it up, making it float in the air in chunks. People on the street start running screaming. The hostages in the bank are frozen in fear, though. At risk. The glass on the bank's store front is starting to crack. This situation, though pretty standard for a supervillain to-do, is getting dangerous for bystanders.]
[The problem is he can't fight for control of his body with another whole personality and keep control of his powers at the same time. Not easily. And he has to fight or risk being locked away for good - and risk letting the villain personality puppet him to hurt people. He has no idea how far he'll go.]
[For someone approaching the situation, something is clearly wrong. Rather than trying to get away from the location of his crime, he's clutching at his head, face contorted into a grimace of mental torment. Tears are sizzling and evaporating in the glowing red eyes visible through the blown out lenses of his mask. He's crying because of what this reminds him off, because this happened before. It was one of the lowest points of his entire life.]
[But that's all the more reason to fight.]
Get! Out! Of! My! Head!
no subject
There’s only two metas that he can spot. The bank robber, who’s in crisis, and the unfamiliar hero (?) current ripping the window out.
Rook swings over on a grappling line, right through the window to avoid the ruined street.
(Terrakinesis? Telekinesis?)
(What are the odds of it being such a familiar color?)
The line thwips after him like a measuring tape. ]
Keep him busy. I’ll take them through another exit.
[ There has to be a fire exit in a building this size. Something that won’t take the hostages past the villain.
Tim starts hauling hostages up into crouching positions. Hostages first. Then… the concerning power set outside. ]
Any other robbers?
[ A woman gives him the tiniest shake of her head. ]
Who knows where the emergency exit is?
[ No one answers, but the nicest suit in the bank lobby looks at a light grey door behind the teller counter. ]
That way. Everyone ahead of me. Keep low and go.
[ It takes some gentle pushing, but they start to move one by one as he gets them on their feet. None of them seem willing to get out of range of him, though. ]
no subject
[What is going on down there?]
[He gets close enough to see someone breaking down outside a bank and another person mentioning getting them somewhere else, and that's good enough for him. He puts on a burst of speed, weaves between some chunks of pavement and simply shoulders the smaller ones out of the way, and goes for a tackle, aiming to grab the screaming guy around the waist and haul him straight up. It's not the best solution, and it puts Huvrye in the line of fire, but it's better than leaving him down here with the civs.]
Come on!
no subject
[Pete, on the other hand, actually captures Kon's attention. The fact someone is calmly talking to him, talking about getting him away from people, makes him try to listen, trying to regain enough control to ask for help. He starts to open his mouth, to try to force out words - ]
[But then Huvrye flies in.]
[Slight problem.]
[Huvrye isn't the only one that can fly. And there are two people fighting for control of Kon's body right now - and control of his powers.]
[Outraged that someone dared try to stop him, put their hands on him (someone that isn't the person he's meant to be defeated by for the positive press, at any rate) Black Zero temporarily takes control. And stops dead, floating in mid-air, completely immovable, flight and super strength holding him rooted to the spot, invulnerability helping him resist any pressure from Huvrye's speed or strength.]
[He could be hit by a sledgehammer and not budge another inch.]
[After freezing in the air, he shakes his head and tsks, then lifts a hand and without even winding up for a punch, simply flicks Huvrye's forehead. He does it with enough force to knock him through the window of the bodega across the street. Fortunately, everyone already rushed out, and the owners ran through the back.]
no subject
Keep running. Don’t let anyone fall behind until you’re past Market.
[ Fastest route back: zip himself up onto the roof, cut across the building diagonally, and get the street in front of the bank back in his sights.
He catches flying villain delivering a powerful flick that sends a third meta flying.
(Fourth. Tim forgets to count himself.)
And… that’s flight and super-strength and what certainly looked like heat vision and TTK. The math isn’t look so good, but he’s got to find some safe way to ask a potential Kryptonian to identify themselves with giving away his own ID.
Right now, priority is still damage control, and Rook darts over to where the winged man was flung.
(Kon. Conner. Superboy. S.B. Guardian. Bolt. They’re all off limits. Even if this is likely someone else with extremely specific metahuman abilities, he can’t link this person to Kon in any traceable way.)
Tim puts a hand on the man’s arm without permission and tries to just do the worst damage, healing him in fits and starts as he continues to pull his hand back quickly and repeat. Much as he would like to help more, Tim can’t afford the energy drain when there’s a super (?) villain (?) in crisis. ]
Gonna need you to say when. As soon as you can run, I’m cutting you off. I’ll help draw their attention.
no subject
[The warning comes too late to stop the idiot who thought suddenly grabbing a superpowered person in crisis was a great plan.
And now that the winged gu had set everything off again, it looked like Pete was going to have to do exactly that himself.]
oh, this is a bad idea...
[Pete takes a flying leap at Kon and makes his own grab. As soon as he makes contact he and Kon's gravity flips.
Then flips back. Then spins 360 degrees. Up, down, left, right, doubling and halving.
Pete himself isn't affected by vertigo. Hopefully Kon is.]
no subject
[This is the first time he's been that blindsided as to how far in over his head he is. He's not surprised the meta could fly, but normally things that hit that hard are the size of buildings. He's got glass in his back, a nasty concussion, and serious doubts as to whether he wants to stay in this fight if that's what he has to deal with-]
[And then there's a touch on his arm, and the pounding in his head subsides, a bit at a time. That's unexpected and a little weird, but he'll take it. He sits up and shakes his head, then rolls his shoulders. Head's fine; back still has glass in it but that's not stopping him from moving; he's good enough to fight.]
I'm good. And I'm not running.
[They've got better odds if they work together, and he knows better than to throw himself directly at that guy again.]
Any ideas on how to get that guy out of the city?
no subject
AAAUGH!
[Kon slams right into the ground, though fortunately slow enough Pete can still keep a hand on him. The world spins wildly and the fact Kon is so used to gravity only being a suggestion is the only reason he doesn't throw up.]
[Black Zero tries to yank his leg free but then is rapidly overwhelmed by the disorientation. When Kon looks up it's with eyes that are no longer glowing, that are a familiar shade of blue.]
Keep...me...down. I need...time.
[He needs time to fight. Time that he doesn't have to worry about hurting people.]
no subject
Trust me, I got that covered pal.
[Spwitt! Spwitt! Spwitt! Spwitt! Pete fires at each of Kon's limbs, gluing him to the ground.]
no subject
Yeah, I might, but it’s going to be risky.
[ Because he’s going to throw himself directly in the line of (eye) fire. ]
Don’t do what I do.
[ He’s not telling him to sit this out, but he is suggesting that the man not launch himself through the window and scramble across the rubble and glass towards where the meta is being silly strung to the street. ]
Hey, Kid!
[The word has an oomph and a cadence to it. Billy the Kid. Kid Flash. It’s a name, and it’s the only one Rook can risk using to test his theory.
As he gets closer, Tim can make out the eyes behind the mask and he knows . Kon’s been wearing Tim’s spare mask for a year; Tim knows what his eyes look like with the lenses up, so the costume isn’t enough to throw him. ]
I know this isn’t what you want to do with your life, Kid.
[ It’s hard to keep the tone generic. As soon as he realizes who it is, Tim’s struggling to keep the worry out of his voice. This can’t be happening again. Kon can’t go through this again. ]
Tim has long since simplified calling for backup in this world - a series of switches on his belt that set off beacons or send a SOS with his coordinates. He thumbs the one for Kid Flash. ]
Why don’t we go someplace quiet to talk this out?
no subject
Taking in the scene, he blurs to a halt by Rook to try to understand the scope]
I take it we need a change of venue, R?
no subject
[...he has absolutely no idea what's going on here. Definitely not enough intel.]
[He heads back out through the broken window and takes to the air, waiting off to the side. He's not going to go in half-cocked again, but he's not leaving - not when the situation is still dangerous.]
no subject
[Confirmation. And also maybe confirmation to the two heroes that don't know them that the speedster, Rook, and the mystery villain know each other. That this is somehow a familiar situation. Tim used an old nickname, Tim called Bart, Bart already knew what to do.]
[Tears trickle down the corners of Kon's eyes.]
Not alone. You can't. Take me alone.
[There is no way Tim and Bart can handle him by themselves when he'd thrashed the entire Titans by himself once and also been a handful for the Outsiders, even with him being weaker in this world. There are two other heroes here trying to help. He has to assume they're ready and willing to keep helping.]
[It's not like Bart can't make multiple trips.]
Some kinda mental programming. A villain personality. Black Zero. Still...fighting me.
[He'd have no reason to call it a "villain" personality if he was a villain.]
no subject
[Pete, who is behind Kon, still has his webgun trained on him. Just in case Black Zero gets frisky again.]
My uncle always said never to leave a job unfinished, and this one isn't over until your buddy beats this. Let me help.
no subject
[ Bart can’t take Kon first or Tim first, so a three man game is a nonstarter.
Tim points at the spider guy in a familiar colorscheme (it is deja vu day). ]
You first. Then Kid. Me. Wings if he’s up to it. Got it, Blue?
[ Take the guy who took him down first, leaving him while he’s pinned and compliant with the person who can emotionally break through and a flier. Tim second, to ensure Webby doesn’t get too rough (unlikely, he seems attuned to what’s wrong and what’s needed). Than the rest. ]
We’ll get this figured out before it gets drastic.
no subject
Whistle if you need evac before I can return.
[The one problem with company is that he can't run full-out unless it's someone else with powers that will keep the forces from harming them, but he'll blur everyone to a place outside town with fewer things to take out by accident as quickly as he can.]
no subject
[He gently tosses a small spray canister towards Rook.]
That'll dissolve the webbing.
[And he's taken a rushed out of town by Bart to wait for the others.]