Mask Or Menace - IC Contact Post

[helpdesk_hero]

This is David Alleyne, I'm not available at the moment.
Please leave your name, contact information, and what this is regarding after the beep.

Comments

[mysterioisthetruth]

But once you're gone who saves everybody else?

[helpdesk_hero]

The next person? The government? A hero? A bystander. It doesn't matter. The lives I save now are the important thing.

[mysterioisthetruth]

That sounds very much like only living for the now and not planning for the future. Is that really the best way to live?

[helpdesk_hero]

You plan for the future, but you plan for the world continuing. For people you love. For the people who come next. You plan to keep the world moving!

[mysterioisthetruth]

And what if there isn't anyone you love?

[helpdesk_hero]

Do you love the world, Quentin? All the Earth has? Do you love movies and plays and the taste of fresh fruit in the morning with your breakfast? Isn't that worth protecting? If not for yourself, if not for people you love, than for people who you don't hate?

[mysterioisthetruth]

[He frowns thoughtfully.]

And what if I don't want to make an actual dying sacrifice and lose all of that for myself? What if I want to give to the community by continuing to work on my tech for their benefit instead of going down in a blaze of glory - to let everybody else pick up the pieces.

You're implying the only way to be heroic is to self sacrifice for the now instead of helping more people over decades. While that might make a good show and a great story, I don't believe that's the way it needs to be for myself.

[helpdesk_hero]

Then don't be a hero. Be a scientist. Be a researcher. Be something else. To be a hero is to accept that you're putting your life on the line for others.

[mysterioisthetruth]

That is a very limited definition of a hero, David.

[He picks up a slice of pizza.]

[helpdesk_hero]

It's the definition of a super hero. Which is what you're pretending to be.

[mysterioisthetruth]

I have real powers. I am a superhero.

[As if that's all it really takes.]

You can't just call someone a pretend superhero when they haven't yet sacrificed themselves for the world.

[helpdesk_hero]

No, Quentin. Superheroes are the whys of what they do. Not the powers. And you don't do it for people.

[mysterioisthetruth]

I think we'll just have to agree to disagree.

[He says dismissively and eats his pizza.]

[helpdesk_hero]

[Oh well. He shrugs and, having finished his salad, he stands.]

I suppose we will. But I need to get home. There's a lot to plan before Thanksgiving.

[mysterioisthetruth]

[He looks disgruntled.]

What am I going to do with two and a half spare pizzas?

[helpdesk_hero]

I couldn't even eat a quarter of one on my own. But...

[Well, he's got to think of something.]

I could take some home with me? I've got house mates.

[mysterioisthetruth]

At least take one. I bought them for you.

[helpdesk_hero]

[Oh man. He... David sighs. Why does he keep doing this? David nods.]

One. But Beck? When things settle down, we're going to have a serious talk about all of this. Because I think that, in the time we've been doing this, it's achieved nothing for you. I think you should be considering a professional who doesn't know you.

[mysterioisthetruth]

Fine. Whatever.

[He's clearly annoyed, not willing to properly listen.]

Just go.

[helpdesk_hero]

What, where's your friendliness now? Is it not worth making and effort when someone doesn't bow to your greatness?

[mysterioisthetruth]

You said you needed to go, right? You have more important things to worry about.

[He says that as if he's insulted by the idea of anything being more important than him.]

[helpdesk_hero]

Yeah. I have things like planning a Thanksgiving celebration. I have to sleep for a change. I have something I need to make for a friend.

[His boyfriend. Not boyfriend. Someone worth more than Beck.]

[mysterioisthetruth]

A friend. Right. Which I'll never be, so. Just. Go.

[He stands up, hands balled into fists at his sides and abruptly irrationally angry.]

[helpdesk_hero]

[Fine. David gives Beck a bland look.]

For my lover. It's a bit more than that. Sorry, that trumps the man who manipulated me into doing this.

[mysterioisthetruth]

Manipulated you? Right. You didn't offer to help - not for my benefit, but because you wanted to somehow stop me from doing something to your real friends. To Peter.

You don't care about me.

So fine. You were never really hired, as you said this couldn't be official, so I can't fire you. But I can tell you to leave.