Yuletidings (IC)

[Aoiroo]

She let out a sigh,

"Yeah, well ideally people are their choices, but really, every choice is directly influenced by others if not ruled out entirely. But, people should always have the choice, and should always know their options even if most people never really think about it."

She looked over at him for a second,

"Where you were raised, did it feel like you ever had a choice in what you were doing?"

[Flare Knight]

"No, I never had choice." He said quickly, almost right after she finished asking the question. "It was overwhelming, being here and having so much choice. I could go to the store and decide if I wanted one type of food or something different, or if I didn't want food at all." he explained, not bothering to avoid talking about it. "I mean, sure there were times where I could kind of do stuff I wanted to do, but most of the time, I could only do what they said I could, or I was punished. Isn't that how most places with rules are though?"

[Aoiroo]

She looked at him for a second,

"No, it isn't. Rules are usually treated as guidelines for appropriate behavior and you usually have a choice on how you do things. In most work places, free thought is encouraged, and people make most of their own choices within the rules, or around them. I'm guessing loophole abuse isn't something that was freely practiced, why were you there anyway? You say you didn't have any family, was it an orphanage of some sort?"

[Flare Knight]

"Well...I guess it was an orphanage. I think I lived in one for awhile, but after a few years they just put me in the camp like they did everyone. But no, I didn't have parents, I was in the orphanage or the camp for my entire life." He said, then frowned at being asked why he was there. "I was supposed to be one of the World's Superheroes. I was injected with the genes of someone really strong, then I got training for my powers...in between treatment from others and some of my teachers, we were lectured that all Superheroes besides our teachers were the only true Heroes, that any other person besides us who got Superpowers slowly went insane. They showed ups examples...thousands of them." He said, looking at her, then towards where the statue of the Centurion would stand in the bay. "I left, I didn't feel it was right. Eventually, I got away. I came here, and now." He said, raising his hands. "I see that everything I learned was wrong. It's quite a shock. My history? That's wrong too. There were Superheroes in World War II, fighting for the Allies. I was never told that." He said, almost grandly, sighing and putting his hands down. "It's quite frustrating." He ended, crossing his arms. Even though he called it frustrating, he looked more like someone who had been caught in the rain without an umbrella.

[Aoiroo]

Taking a few seconds to absorb the story, she blinked a few times,

"Okay what?"

She put a finger on her forehead,

"So you were held at an orphanage, than sent to a training camp. You were injected with hero DNA? That's, that's really dangerous. Why? Why did they,"

She looked at him again, then her mind flashed to a movie and she muttered aloud,

"If you get them young enough, the possibilities are endless."

She closed her fist and pressed against her forehead letting out a deep sigh,

"This strangely explains a lot. You aren't just ignorant, you're almost alien in your understanding because the world you came from was a lie constructed specifically to control you. They said that the only heroes were the ones they controlled, it means that obviously they're the good guys and anyone that tells you different is."

Breathing out quickly,

"That's, that's absolutely horrible. No that's more than horrible, that has got to be one of the worse things I have ever heard. Being injected with foreign DNA, with metahuman DNA is incredibly dangerous on it's own. It's, it's..."

Her breathing was a little ragged but she held the sounds in quietly and her mask being as dark as it was didn't betray the slightly salty stains as placed her hands over her eyes.

[Flare Knight]

Powerhouse raised an eyebrow at the woman's strange actions as she tried to speak. "You should calm down, Ms. Silhouette, you might hurt yourself." He said, with a smile, waving away her statements. "It might sound bad, but I didn't have a life to compare it to, so it's fine. I might have missed out on some things, but at least I'm not a bad guy. And trust me, some of the people who come from there, they aren't the nicest people in the world." he said, remembering Denton and Dallas and shaking his head to forget them. "Plus, I'm learning fine thanks to you and all my friends. It might take me some time, but eventually, I'll be just like a normal person. No one will ever know I was screwed up!" He add, completely serious. "The way I think about it, I get to be a Superhero and help other people. I mean, there are people who spend their entirely life wishing to be Heroes but can't for some reason, but I get to be one." He said, laughing. "Sure, I have to relearn all the stuff I missed, and sure, I might have been one of the few survivors, but in the end, I'm happy to get to be a hero." he said, with conviction, then his eyes got dark. "But, I know what they are doing is wrong now, no matter what they want, and I'm gonna stop it. So don't worry about it, because when I get strong enough, It'll never happen again." he finished, nodding. "I might not feel bad, but I know it was bad, and I'm not letting them keep doing it."

[Aoiroo]

She looked up at him quietly, and said in a voice that was just a little higher than a whisper.

"It's not fine."

Removing her hands from her face she looked him in the eye,

"It's not okay that you have to eventually learn how to be a normal person, that you've been essentually brainwashed into being a hero, even if you eventually was able to find it's real meaning. You shouldn't be happy that you're just one of a few survivors, you shouldn't have to be a survivor because they shouldn't be f#%king killing people."

Her voice raised a bit as she herself met took a step forward,

"If you knew what they're doing is wrong, you should of TOLD SOMEONE!"

[Flare Knight]

"No!" Powerhouse roared, raising his voice for the first time. "I didn't know it then! I was living there. I was their toy." He said, calming down, slowly. "I got away. Recently, but It's not like it wasn't hard. I'm still bruised. I spent all my life there, unknowing of the outside world, not even caring. I couldn't have contacted anyone if I wanted to. I didn't even realize they were doing bad things until I got here. Who was I gonna tell? The Heroes there? They agreed with it." he said, slamming his fist into his palm. "You want me to go now? Tell the police, tell AEGIS maybe? Why? Let's assume they find it, they break it up, bring it down. It probably won't stop them. They had the resources to do everything they did, they can just start it again- whoever they are-, and it'll be right back to square one." He said, shaking his head, and looking north, towards were he had fled. "I'm not strong. Not there. Here, I'm one of hundreds, some stronger, some weaker. there, I'm the weakest of hundreds." He said, grimacing. It was the first time he hadn't appeared either happy or just uncaring. "What I want is to be strong enough to go back and prove I'm not weak, and show them that no matter where they hide, I'll find them, and I'll shut them down. It's not enough to crush their hopes or their spirit. You have to crush their ideals."

[Aoiroo]

She met his gaze,

"What does proving your the strongest do to their ideals?"

She took a step forward,

"Do you even know what they're trying to accomplish? What their ideals are? Or is it just your own ideal that if you can prove them wrong that it'll all be better. That they'll just suddenly see the errors of their ways because suddenly the 'weakest' is now the strongest."

[Flare Knight]

"Maybe nothing." He admitted, backing down slightly. "Maybe it means nothing. Maybe everything is a lie. Maybe they let me get away, just to prove some insane plan of theirs. Maybe I'm the only successful test, and I'm doing exactly what they want me to do, like a puppet on strings." he agreed, but he stayed firm. "But even so, I don't want to think about it that. Maybe it won't be all right, but there's nothing stopping me from believing it will be." he argued, then sighed, and relented."...Very well Ms. Silhouette. I'll do as you ask. When I next see Mr. Victory, I'll tell him everything, and he can do...something, and then I won't have to worry about if the next time I save the day, if they'll find me, and they'll take me back." He finished, looking down and away.

[Aoiroo]

She sort of deflated when he backed down, it wasn't exactly what she was expecting. Maybe preparing for seeing her family put her greatly on the offensive, but she just stood there and listened before a few minutes of silence passed. When she sighed for the umpteenth time, she put a hand on his shoulder,

"It's rather hard to sort these things, truths and lies, right and wrong. But, what you feel isn't a lie, and you can choose to believe anything you want now."

Clenching her teeth she tightened one of her fists,

"I was mad, but, I can't imagine what you went through, how you lived. It's one of the reasons why it made me so angry, that you went through something horrible and even though your away you have to worry."

Letting go took a few steps back,

"Victory is an excellant person to tell this too, you can talk to other heroes too. There are a couple of teams dedicated to this sort of work, the Interceptors is a good example. This doesn't mean that you yourself shouldn't be part of it either. You can definitely help take down whatever organization is doing this, and I'm sure AEGIS, the Freedom League, the Interceptors any of them would let you do so alongside them. If you work with people, things get a lot easier, and done much faster."

[Flare Knight]

"Yeah, I understand you can't do everything alone. I mean, Mr. Victory's already helped me out a bunch, I bet he wouldn't mind helping me again." he agreed, nodding his head. "But still, don't worry too much about me, because I'll be alright, you know? I mean, I got away, so it's a problem to deal with, but, maybe, by the time it rolls around, there will be people willing to help me deal with it." He said, agreeing. "But, it seems like this would be a long time off though. I mean, I don't want to drag everyone else-whoever everyone else turns out to be- down, but I suppose I can't wait forever ether." He muttered, then shrugged. "So tell me more about your family! You told me about them as a whole, but what about individually?"

[Aoiroo]

She let out a sigh,

"I'm not really worried about you,"

She stopped for a second,

"Okay, maybe a little bit, but I'm rather cynical. You should be fine though, plus time has a way of getting away from us, and before you realize you'll probably have everything you need to them down. I myself am probably going to do some digging, not that you should worry, I'm really careful. As for my family, no can do."

She put her fingers up to her lips,

"Details like that is a bit more sensitive for heroes with a secret identity. Plus the time is getting away from us, it's rather late and I should probably be getting back. I'm probably going to have to get up early tomorrow."

Turning away from him she started towards the roof access door before turning towards him,

"You should probably go and get some sleep too."

[Flare Knight]

"Okay, Ms. Silhouette." Powerhouse said as she walked away, happy enough that she wasn't worried anymore. He waved her off, understanding enough that he shouldn't pry into her affairs, then sighed and looked away. "Alright, don't get hurt Ms. Silhouette. It would...not make me happy, if one of my friends was hurt because of me. See you later." He muttered, then jumped away, off the roof. He'd wait for about an hour, then return to the building, since it was his home, after all.