@gaby

[vns]

[ this was supposed to be one of Gaby's days off. in fact, she's not in the safehouse when the message comes in. ]

Turns out that we're missing two new faces around the safehouse.

I'd play a guessing game as to why I wasn't told, but I don't care. These two faces apparently murdered two people that night.

I don't know who they are, but I do know that they're locked up. Any guesses as to what's going to happen to them?

Genuine question. Because I don't know.

Oh, and because some of you think you can do whatever the hell you want around here: don't think the way out for them is a jail break. Don't even fucking try it. And no, Morningstar isn't in the business of breaking people out of jail, because that would be stupid.

[ she's a little angry. no. a lot. but mostly she doesn't know how to handle this one. ]

Look. You know something? Tell me. You won't be "in trouble."

Comments

[retravel]

Absolutely.
A fake history's only the barest bones of a cover.

[ the newbies will lack the anecdotes that a neighbour or coworker could provide, and physical indicators of a presence, besides. ]

And those in captivity may have offered physical descriptions.

[saviorexe]

Then we keep more of an eye on them than usual, if necessary.

However, let’s hope that those being questioned don’t give the authorities reason to go looking for IDs with flimsy backstories. The city is a large one, with an impossible number of people — we at least have that advantage.

[...]

Can I ask you what you make of all of this? All this arguing.

[This whole discordant post. The lack of a singular direction.]

1/2.

[retravel]

I think I have a headache.
And a shift I can't miss.

[ this post is like dumping glass into his garbage disposal brain. ]

private.

[retravel]

We've never been more than people with commonalities, brought together by chance, not choice.

[ they're not a group. not a team, not a family, not SHIELD (his heart aches for them, for the sense of belonging that they foster in him). maybe he forgot that for a moment or two (with certain people, who make him — soft, worried, sloppy). his birthday left him happier than he'd been in months, but he knew that was temporary, the same as the relative period of peace and quiet in his head, which has reached a new, discordant peak as he reads and replies to this post.

it's neural overload, when his circuits are already fried. ]

We're in the moral grey now, Markus. Before this, things have been relatively straightforward, haven't they? Save the civilians and each other. Solve the mysteries.
Disagreement now is to be expected, given the high stakes and dangers this post has made tangible.
And it would also seem that this topic has arrived at a precarious moment for many individuals.

[ that's about more than the obvious, as plenty of their own seem to be fighting with their fellows or unearthing old wounds from other universes. ]

It worries me, but I don't know if a smoother outcome was ever possible, with all these factors in play.

private.

[saviorexe]

We are a group of people with the only commonality between us that matters — the want to find answers, the understanding of how important it is to keep each other safe. All of us. Even a self-centered mind would be able to see the cold reasoning behind that, if nothing else.

[Maybe he’s naive. Moreover, maybe he’s simply being Markus — overly hopeful, wanting to sink his feet into common ground between all of them, wanting to feel as if this is a group. To move forward as a team, to understand that each perspective is valuable in its own way, even if they’re bound to disagree on how to proceed.

With Jericho, he had been that balancing factor between the want to stay in shadow, and the want to press forward, sword held high, his comrades orbiting around him, each guided by mutual trust in the other. He can’t hope to fulfill that role here, not in the same capacity, and yet he still grasps at those ghostly threads like it might be some anchor to keep him from feeling rudderless.

Impossible to please everyone. He knows that’s a reality. Impossible to please himself, to feel as if he’s doing what he should, all that he can, which is far harder for him to forgive.]

I hate feeling like there’s more I could do — more than I would do — if circumstances were only slightly different.

[If it were Connor who had been taken in and questioned, for instance. Scared, confused, with no idea of what might happen to him.]

Back in Detroit, I could decide to take action. Here, my hands have never felt so bound; and I know that’s simply the reality of it, that I have to be patient, but that doesn’t making reading any of this easier.

private forever.

[retravel]

[ No, he thinks, it's differences, however small or large, that mark them. That's the way of humanity. Always.

Only he doesn't say that 'cause Markus is admitting to feeling — outmatched by the weight of this. Helpless, in the way he knows they both cannot abide. So, Fitz waits, thinks, considers what his better half would do, if it were her here, reading this. ]

I want to believe you're right about that.

[ Fitz hasn't lied to Markus since he came clean about the Framework (beyond the keeping of secrets that aren't his own to share, as in the case of "Katelin"). He tells the truth now. ]

And no, it doesn't make it easier.
But it's only right that it's hard.
I'd be more worried if it were easy for you.

[ To see this and immediately see the rational route forward and stay that course without second thought, uncaring of the individuals trapped therein. Fitz feels he came to his conclusion hastily (and yet he stands by it; has only budged in his offering to Connor to act, if they receive intel that indicates the removal of other alternatives). Caring, worrying, considering the what ifs only makes Markus human — well, you know what he means. ]

You're handling yourself well, bearing in mind the greater context. It's not just us we risk by acting, it's MS and all the people they've helped and continue to aid in this universe.
If Jemma were here, I think she'd say the steps we take don't have to be big, they just have to take us in the right direction.

[ He likes that one of hers. It helps, even with business as urgent and spiralling as this. They're withholding judgment; Markus and Strange are working towards a plan for a new safehouse; and Gaby is seeking informed answers, not misguided action.

That's not nothing. ]

[saviorexe]

[I want to believe you're right about that, and the message is clear in its meaning; hopeful, but doubtful that it should ever be the reality of the situation. And that's fine, because Fitz is reasonable and grounded in ways that Markus is not -- the android forever wanting to reach higher plateau than where they stand, an idealized form of a group of people trying to achieve the same goal -- and perhaps that's the kind of balance he needs, when he feels the ground upending itself from under the soles of his feet.]

I know you're right. That if I can only take a small step forward, then it's still forward movement. It's still progress.

[If he walks in the right direction, he can hope that he pulls the rest along with him. Yet sometimes he wonders if that's too presumptuous. He doesn't believe himself to hold the same sort of sway here, as opposed to his standing with a group of androids who wanted nothing more than to grasp at their own personal freedoms.

And he realizes, perhaps belatedly, that he's doing Fitz no favors by dumping his uncertainties on him. That he should coil it all back within himself, and use it to straighten his spine. As he always does.]

I'm sorry, I didn't mean to place my worries on you. It'll pass, and we'll make the right choices moving onwards.

[retravel]

[ An overwhelming (and perhaps undeserved) weight has sat between his shoulders for some time now, earned by a life and half of choices. Of course Markus' worries find a home there, slotting alongside the rest. A dear friend's concerns, particularly ones relevant to the whole to their shared situation, always will.

It doesn't threaten to knock him down, however. Not this time.

Finding ways to be strong for others can be an exercise in doing the same for yourself, after all.]

Hey, you don't have to apologise.
It's not placing your worries on me; it's letting me walk with you.

[ That makes one person pulled along in the correct direction. For his part, Fitz thinks Connor was accurate in one his first assessments of Markus: His charisma is a powerful weapon. Frightening, emboldening, liberating. ]

You remind me to try for more.

[ Aim higher, be better, make the right choices going forward. He hopes Markus can see that he has that effect on others, even here, his small steps triggering a wave of momentum that can catch others in its crest. ]