( open ) hunger games, bats ver

[reneger]

Who: jason todd reneger, island kidnapees, and pals
What: survival: the hunger games and other misc january plots
When: early to mid january
Where: an island, central city,
Content Warnings: comic book violence, probably more things eventually.

Comments

[levelshift]

[Even though he's the one throwing the punch and even though his form is slightly improved, Accelerator's hand still screams at the impact. Unfortunately for him, it turns out having underused nerves doesn't go away overnight. This doesn't hurt as much as his fight with that Level 0 (that pain had been unimaginable, even though that kid had been throwing speedy jabs for most of it), or the fight with Amata, but he can tell from the way his whole arm twitches that his hand is going to be sore for a while after this.

Is it even worth it? He isn't sure, he's getting praised, which is nice for about a second before the usual disgust caused by his self-loathing settles in. Accelerator tries to ignore it and focuses on Jason's voice. Keep his wrist straight. Who knows if that Level 0 was thinking about that kind of thing in the switchyard.

That thought doesn't last for long. He sees Jason's fist and despite it stopping well before it can hit him he still flinches. It can hit him, is the thing. He isn't inclined to re-blacklist someone after they've been whitelisted, certainly not someone like Jason, so he could have easily followed through on the punch.]

... Yeah. I get it.

[He tries to keep his voice level, at least able to acknowledge what Jason is trying to show him here, as he pulls his own hand back.]

[reneger]

( accelerator flinches, and jason - understands where it's coming from. he's used to communicating with fists and violence with his family, that's just how they are. or how jason is, at least. accelerator isn't one of them, not really, even if jason has taken him in under his wing. he's used to not being hit, given his own powerset.

his hand uncurls from the fist he'd made with it. reaches out to ruffle accelerator's hair, choreographing every movement so accelerator could pull away if he wanted to. )

'll clear out a few more, then you're gonna have to take me down.

( to finish the game. jason isn't precious about winning and losing as long as he reaches his end goal, and he's not taking down accelerator here. they'll - talk through ace's reaction to jason swinging at him later, this isn't the place for it. )

[levelshift]

[... Honestly, as embarrassing to him as it is, the hair ruffle helps settle his mind down a bit. Which is probably part of the reason why it's embarrassing to him -- an esper with a mind that's rattled or unstable is dangerous, and given how much more powerful he is than the typical esper, that's downright deadly for him.

So he doesn't move, just clicks his tongue and looks away.]

What a pain in the ass.

[And then, because feelings are hard, he's darting away from Jason and lunging at the nearest opponent, just grabbing them and throwing them straight into another fight that's going on.

When in doubt, violence against strangers!]

[reneger]

( ah well. jason doesn't care if accelerator runs for it. he figures - they've got a bit of people to remove from the equation before they have to worry about it. so he turns around, and refocuses on other targets. takes them down, knocks them out, does whatever's reasonable to get them out of the game. he keeps an eye out for accelerator, but doesn't go out of his way to keep close to him. ace is a smart kid, he doesn't need jason backing him up.

by the time he's cleared out everyone closer to his level, jason's - beat up. there's a few nicks in his suit and a nasty bruise forming at the corner of an eye, but the point of wearing gear that covers most of him? the bruising isn't visible, no one can see the harsh twist of his lips as he starts to wear down because his mouth's covered and the voice modulator covers any strain audible when he speaks.

he's running out of tricks up his sleeves, too, which - hadn't been planned at this point, but eh. could be worse. a meta with super strength runs at him, and jason easily twists out of the way of the hit, before grabbing onto their arm and flipping them straight over him, foot coming down hard on their sternum once they're down on the ground.

turns his attention back towards accelerator after, idly taking count of how many they've got left before it's down to just them. )

[levelshift]

[It's a hell of a lot easier focusing on the remaining contestants than thinking about having to take Jason out. While the other fighting that's been going on has whittled their numbers down there are still some opponents left, either the tougher or the smarter ones. Accelerator had said he needed to vent before -- he really needs to vent now.

So he focuses on the more powerful opponents. There aren't any he's sure he can go all out against, which means he's still keeping his own power reigned in, but it's kind of nice to be able to beat the shit out of someone and not worry about the morality of it. Throughout the rest of the fight he's back to his crazed laughter and the occasional bad joke or pun (apparently he has a sense of humour under all that grumpiness, and it's terrible).

By the end of it he's looking the exact same as when he walked in, not even so much as a speck of dust on his clothes. Hell, he doesn't even look tired. The only real change is what's been going on in his head, and the fact that his choker's battery has run low. Acutely aware of that, he's kicking up a massive, nearly hurricane-level wind around the last couple of competitors, knocking them into the nearby trees.

Which leaves just him and Jason.

Once he realizes that he drops the whole villain schtick. There's no point to it anymore, and whatever enjoyment he gets out of being theatrical has faded, just leaving him feeling sick and hollow.

This isn't fair. This really isn't fair. He's only doing this for the slim chance he can get some equipment for his choker. It's selfish, but he doesn't want it to run down to nothing. It's not like he asked to get kidnapped and dumped on some shitty island game show.

It's even worse when it comes to Jason. He should've told the guy off and done this on his own. He doesn't want to fight him. It's incredibly unfair to expect a normal person (who looks beat up) to be able to take on the #1 Level 5 and not die. If that announcer was able to give his full title earlier, then they should be aware of that.

It's unfair. It's unfair and cruel and it makes him want to destroy this whole island and rip apart every person who made this whole thing.]

This is bullshit.

[reneger]

( and then there were two.

for all intents and purposes, jason looks completely unbothered. he's fought gods before, aliens, he's wrestled with supergirl on occasion. accelerator's abilities are a little different than he's used to, but ace has already given him his weakness: all jason has to do is outlast him. he's mouthy, knows how to get the hell out of dodge when he needs to, how to maneuver his way around those with meta abilities without taking his own into account. he's good at it. would have died a long time ago if he wasn't.

it's no big deal. hitting and punching each other, breaking a few bones, going hard during a fight to make it seem real, that's just - all part of the job, isn't it? he's fucked up tim worse for less. taken down bigger and badder than what should have been in his weight class because jason's hardy. or more like, he's too stubborn to let anyone take him out.

but none of that matters right now. jason doesn't need to go hard right now, because he doesn't need to win.

so he raises a hand to gesture accelerator to come closer instead. )

You can't hurt me unless I let you. You know that, don't you?

( it's not a lie as far as jason's concerned. but it's also a hint: he'll go down as easily as he expects would be seen as reasonable, given all the damage he just did. )

[levelshift]

[Accelerator isn't sure if it's better or worse that Jason looks unbothered. The kinds of people he's used to fighting are the terrified ones, the ones who realized they're up against an unstoppable force, and the ones with too much confidence, and that confidence was always temporary. There were a couple outliers - they were the ones who could actually beat him.

So he doesn't like it. His expression is tense, curling his hands into fists before stepping towards Jason.]

Shut up.

[That's the kind of thing Kihara Amata would say to him, and the last thing he wants to do is start conflating Jason with that bastard. Better to just get this over with quickly, though he's pulling the same move as before - launching himself straight at Jason to punch him, though this time he has a proper fist and he's keeping his wrist straight.]

[reneger]

( jason's not a statistics guy, that's what he has tim for. he's an alright strategist, but he's not the best of the best. he's a trained detective, but he'd argue he's not all that great at that either. there's always someone better. better trained, faster, more clever, and he's just fine with that. but this?

this is his area of expertise. he could just let accelerator have it, but that'd be way too easy. instead, he's waiting for the kid to get closer. counts down the seconds as that fist gets nearer, when it almost, almost manages to slam straight into his solar plexus again.

but jason doesn't let it. at the last moment, he's sidestepping the hit and reaching out for accelerator himself. knows already from his earlier fakeout that his guard isn't up against jason despite them being in a fight ring, so he takes advantage to try and grab hold of his wrist and twist it around accelerator's front. a means to pin him against jason's chest with both arms wrapped around his scrawny frame, if accelerator doesn't throw him off first. )

[levelshift]

[He honestly isn't sure what he's expecting with a slightly improved version of his punch from earlier. That he'd get the one hit in and that'd be it? That's pretty laughable when you think about it. Why would it be that easy.

Jason dodges like it's nothing, grabs his wrist, and Accelerator gets that he could re-blacklist Jason right now, blow him back and that would likely end the fight.

He doesn't. That isn't something he wants to do. He's seen what happens when a person hits his reflection thousands of times, he's seen it here with Leo, and he doesn't want that to happen with Jason.

Back home he had threatened to shoot Yomikawa and she had taken the bullets out of the gun even as he pointed it at her. It'd be nice to have that luxury right now.

Fortunately, he can still at least manipulate the vectors of his own body to increase his durability and strength. With a few calculations he does just that, aiming a kick at Jason's knee as he yanks himself backwards.]