bigapplesauce | Exploring the city [OPEN]

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Exploring the city [OPEN]

It's Christmas Day and Bruce could use a miracle or two. He doesn't know how he got here or how to get back. He can't find Tony or Avenger's Tower. To be honest, Bruce is a bit disgusted with himself at how easily he got used to having a team to rely on and a home to go back to. He's been living in a homeless shelter, looking for work. Naturally, he's missing some important papers, so he needs under the table work. That's all right. Bruce has experience at this sort of thing. Right now, he's heading for the docks, to see if he can get some work there.

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Bruce winced a bit, both at being snapped at and the implied threat. He sighs, shrugging, his shoulders hunching, as if he could hide.

"I'm not accusing anyone of not trying," he responds softly. "It just seems like ROMAC would need outside help, very powerful help, to keep something this huge quiet. Leaking information to the press, to the public, is becoming easier and easier. How can so many people be kept silent?"

She's sorry she was so sharp with him as soon as she sees his reaction. Blythe sighs and lays a hand on his arm. "This isn't the only rift, and this isn't the only branch of ROMAC," she tells him a bit more gently. "They have the government's blessing -- they won't kill you or torture you, but they can make you disappear."

Bruce nods, his mouth tightening grimly. He shivers at the idea of people disappearing.

"If they disappear, how do you know they aren't tortured or killed?"

"Because they don't always stay disappeared," replies Blythe with a grin. "There's a benefit to banding together, you know."

"Yes, I do know," Bruce agreed, smiling a bit thinly. "What about the ones who don't reappear, though?"

Her grin dissipates as she pays their way through the turnstile. "We don't know," she admits.

"You might want to find out," Bruce advised, his tone grim. "And what about your side of the equation? What do you do?"

"If you're volunteering to infiltrate Romac, I'm sure we'll be glad to have you," she replies, frustrated by his assumptions that they're not trying. "We help the new arrivals find their places, and we try to limit Romac's power."

Bruce gives her a tight smile. If and when he decides to ally with the rebels, he'll tell them about the Hulk.

"That wouldn't be a good idea. I'm not good at stealth, but "we don't know" isn't a comforting answer, ma'am. How do you limit their power? They seem to have the law on their side."

Blythe gives him a curious look, surprised less by what he's said than by the fact that she can tell it's not a lie just to get out of it. What, she wonders, would make it such a bad idea?

"For starters, we keep new people out of their hands," she explains. "And we sabotage them when we can."

"Sabotage," Bruce repeated, unhappily, his hands wringing together. "Sabotage them how?"

"Take their supplies, disrupt their communications," replies Blythe blithely. It doesn't occur to her for a moment that Bruce might think she means they try to hurt or kill people.

"So you only damage equipment and cause inconvenience?" Bruce asks, not quite ready to feel relieved, but close. "Who do you answer to? For that matter, who does ROMAC answer to?"

"We answer to the people who make up our group," shrugs Blythe. "As for Romac...we're working on that."

Bruce sighs.

"It's not usually healthy, when a group answers to no one, but themselves. How do the people in your group maintain control? Voting for their leaders?"

"Mostly," nods Blythe. "Seniority has something to do with it as well."

Bruce nods, not really surprised.

"And, what about the other way around? How do your leaders control the group?"

He really wants to know what hold the rebels have over their followers...how punishments, if any, are handed out.

"Wouldn't be much point in having leaders if we didn't listen to them," replies Blythe, not answering. Bruce's pointed questions might be reasonable for someone afraid of committing to a group that sounds dubious to him...or he might have more nefarious motives, with the way he's probing at how the rebels organize themselves. "Why do you want to know?" she asks.

"Don't you think it's reasonable that I'd want to know how I'll be treated, if I join your group?" Bruce asked. "Even the best leaders can make terrible mistakes and I don't intend to trade my morals and conscience for theirs. I'll tell you what, though," he stops, giving her a wry smile. "Let's table the question for now. You show me the proof that ROMAC needs to be stopped. If I decide to join, I'll explain why I'm so interested in your ideas of discipline."

She frowns when he answers her question with a question. Questions can't be said to be truth or lies, so it's really unhelpful when people do that. When he goes on speaking, though, she listens carefully. It's hard to say whether his answer is reassuring -- while he's not lying, he doesn't outright say he's not a spy for Romac, which is the lie she's watching for.

She'll have to probe again -- but later, lest she put him on his guard. "That's exactly what I'm going to do," she says, putting on a smile.

Bruce shifts, nodding, not feeling particularly comfortable with any of this.

"Good. I'm sorry, if I seem difficult, but I've made mistakes before. I have to make sure you are who you say, before I can help you. I want to help anyone coming through that rift, but I won't be anyone's pawn."

"To answer your question," she finally replies, not wanting him to get scared off, "There's not all that much controlling that goes on, unless you agree to go on missions or do our work. We need people to listen and work together, but if you don't want to do what we do, we'll still give you a place to live." As long as he doesn't attempt to sabotage them from within.

"And, if I do agree to do your work?" Bruce asks. "I can follow orders, when it's necessary, but...I'm not an easy person to control. I don't trust easily and I don't obey blindly. What sort of missions would you want me to do?"

"That depends on your skills," replies Blythe. There's only so much she can tell him when she's unsure of him in return. "But we're not in the business of springing surprises on people. Not our people, at any rate."

"That's good to know!" Bruce told her, giving a shaky laugh. "Surprises, well, I...never mind. I do have skills. I'm a scientist and have done work as a doctor."

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