driftfleet | [broadcast] it will come for me

Entry tags:

psycho mantis

[broadcast] it will come for me

Who: Mantis and All

Broadcast: Yes

Action: On a smuggling ship

When: Today

There's a figure lying on the floor, just within the bottom portion of the feed. Mantis tilts the communication device upwards, putting him into full view. He has a knife in his hand and is wiping it off with a damp and somewhat dark cloth. For a few seconds, he says naught and simply cleans the blade. Then he has a seat and takes a deep, deep breath.

"It looks bad, and for some of you, this is going to be unforgivable regardless of what justification I can muster. Allow me, then, to say this much:

Yes, I decided to try my hand at a bit of piracy. No, I didn't start this mess. Yes, I damn well finished it. No, I have no regrets. The crew I found was attacked by a rival of theirs and I took the opportunity to take down both sides once shots rang out. As far as I am concerned, this is two birds with a very violent stone."

He points the knife at the camera when he finishes his speech. Then a small bit of laughter begins to shake his shoulders. His volume does not increase much, but a certain flavor of unhinged joy manages to take it over. Mantis tosses the knife into the air and it makes a sharp turn before flying off behind him. A dull sound is made when it lands in something.

"Almost like being home again. I'll alert the authorities in a bit."

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

[The Doctor's heart thumps in his chest as he braces against the wall in the shadows of the cargo ship. The recently slaughtered smugglers cargo ship. It's just Flug's luck that the one pirate crew he agreed to do some odd jobs with would fall into a gang war only to get brutally taken out by a mysterious assailant. No one knew Flug was with them of course, his years of identify theft notwithstanding, it was easy to blend in with the crowd when this system's climates offered an excuse for anyone to wear a reflective helmet.

When the broadcast turns on his communicator, he nearly freaks. If he can distract the killer through chatting on the device though, maybe they won't notice him trying to sneak away before the authorities arrive. Flug flicks the transmission over to audio only.]

"And that's something you do back home? Remove... obstacles?"

[Mantis is a bit of a force of bad luck like that. It's nothing overtly malicious. Yet. Once the violence becomes a threat to his life, it's hard for Mantis to not react in kind. One doesn't survive the chaos and bloodshed by being a coward, after all.

He tilts his head at the questions. Not too judge-y, but he can tell the man is trying not to let on the full scope of his emotions.]

"Human and otherwise. Former soldier and spy. This is nothing compared to what I got up to at home."

[Flug could beg to differ, surviving through cowardice has been a very useful tactic, in his opinion!]

"Former?"

[He echoes. Okay so possible millitant training but not entirely a hero. Flug cringes as he nearly steps on what he is fairly sure was a body. Yeah, definitely not a hero.]

"I-I can imagine, I doubt Atroma will even air this. You're not following orders then."

[Oh joy.]

"What motivates you now?"

[Useful, if you're into that kind of thing. Mantis looks up in the feed and breathes slowly.]

"I don't care what they air. I care about being myself in this forced get-along scenario."

[He gets up slowly and the feed shifts as his communicator goes with him.]

"Huh. I missed someone. Minds are so hard to read with all the different species and kinds of people floating around on these ships. Sometimes people slip right under my notice if I'm not careful."

"Mind reading! Impressive!!"

[The Doctor chokes out, hoping his feigned excitement will override the panic. Even more reason to keep talking. Surely Mantis can't pinpoint his thoughts if he has no chance to concentrate?]

"Can't say I run into that often."

[Sucking in a breathe Flug carefully- oh-so-carefully makes sure to only begin turning the wheel on one if the nearby rusty doors when speaking to hopefully cover some of the noise.]

"How does that work? Please, tell me more!"

"Very impressive. Trouble followed me for years because of it. Now I am the trouble."

[Flug would be surprised. Mantis held a spirited conversation with a soldier right before dying. In fact, he's reaching out now to listen for the hints of another presence on the ship.

His head whips to one side and he drums his fingers absentmindedly on the wall closest to him.]

"Oh. You're not far at all. Don't worry. You're part of the Fleet, aren't you? I won't hurt you. That would make me the kind of pariah I am unwilling to put up with."

"Naturally! W-we're only speaking, it is not as if I'm there."

[W-who said he was?! Yeah, okay, even mentally he is kind of kicking himself for how unconvincing that sounds. Have fun picking that up. Flug does pause in his wheel turning, however, chancing a look towards the other's direction.]

".. You won't harm the fleet, any of them?"

"You could stand to work on your lying. I get it, though. It's a hard skill to master."

[Mantis lifts lightly in the feed and his body twists in a circle that is gar too smooth for feet on the groubd to have accomplished. He lets his fingers drag along the wall as he sails over the scattered bodies.]

"We are all stuck in this twisted show together. All of us desire to go home for one reason or another. What good would it do me to bring harm to prisoners like myself who have done nothing to warrant being brought to harm? I save my ire for those who would attack me and try to take my life. Far more satisfying."

[He pauses at a corner and looks around.]

"Come on out. I swear upon my mother's grave that you're safe."

[Although disjointed, Flug's thoughts start to flow more freely.
--Why find me at all, if not to--
--is this a rule 539 or 37 situation?--
--He doesn't know--
--well.. I could always--
--hope he doesn't hate his mother--

Even over the camera feed, it is easy to see how Mantis is tracking him far more easily than the average human. Abandoning the escape route, Flug instead reaches for the light switch. At the pace he is being stalked by, it makes more sense to simply wait for the other. When Mantis turns the corner that is where he'll find Flug, sitting down by the door, regarding him. Despite being in sight, he continues to speak through the communicator.]

"I see. You're in it for the challenge. You enjoy your work, but you won't go out of your way to enforce it."

[Well, Mantis is right to believe Flug won't provide much fight in this scenario. Not that it stops the inventor from keeping a strange form of pistol on his person. You found him, you didn't ask him to be disarmed. Fair compromise?]

[It's an interesting collection of concepts and logic sorting itself out. Mantis wonders what the rules are for and how Flug came to come up with enough to number in at over five hundred. He floats on into view and crosses his arms, his own communicator bobbing right behind him.]

"Take a deep breath, Flug Slys. My mother gave up her life to ensure that mine could start. I happen to hold her in high regard compared to most other people back home."

[He lands back on the floor and crouches down to look at the man more closely.]

"Nice gun. Never had much use for those back home. My codename is Psycho Mantis. I'm now a former psychological warfare specialist from a military unit called Foxhound."

"Psychological warfare unit..."

[Flug nods, trying to even out his breathing as requested. To say Mantis caught him offguard is an understatement, the last thing he expected was to see the Operative midair and flying when he entered the hall. Okay, telepathy AND telekinesis then. Hearing his own identity was hardly a shock after that. It wasn't often the name Psycho actually referred to the less violent definition, though Flug could wager this man fit both. He taps his fingers rhythmically together to soothe his nerves.

'You have your weapons, I have mine.'

He deliberately thinks, at the mention of his firearm. Experimentally, he decides to take it a step further and bring up his memory of drafting the blueprint for it aboard his ship, curious how much Mantis will pick up on.]

"So you, uh, tracked down secrets? Drove men insane? That sort of thing? What made you leave?"

[He's six feet two of malice wrapped up in leather and a bit of latex. Mantis maintains his balance while crouched down and tilts his head slightly to one side. A test of his telepathy. He admires the willingness to even try. It takes a certain personality to not express fear so much as curiosity.]

"I was killed in combat during my Commanding Officer's rebellion. We were doing so well until our torture expert accidentally killed a hostage we needed. The the boss' brother showed up out of the night."

[He sighs and straightens up before going airborne once again, one leg crossed over the other.]

"Spy work suited me. As does technology for you. How many of those blueprints did you create to the final product? Enough to have a weapon at your disposal."

"I'm sorry for your loss."

[Which loss out of all that he means, even Flug isn't sure, but it feels appropriate to say.]

"This one is fairly basic, I modified it using the casing from a model I aquired on Yadrolla and some of the scrap from Drade. Since their aircrafts utilize a lot of steam, I thought it might reduce issues with overheating."

[He sets it back down. ]

"Back where I'm from, I built things like this daily. Many, many things."

[It almost hurts to think of the manor now. Its long sprawling halls and black and red decor are cast in a nearly ominous light, when Flug thinks of how he may never be allowed back and live to tell the tale. Although the halls are lined with portraits, bizarrely, its nearly impossible to make the subject out.]

"I've created robots [a flash of a hat-bot sentinel], weapons [The manor's defense system springs to life at the touch of a red button ] devices most Universes couldn't hope to crack on their own." [Among other things.]

[There may be a bloom of an ego popping up in there, but between all he has shown, it is at least a little deserved. He stares Mantis down, cautiously awaiting judgement.]

"I could invent for you too. There must be a way to amplify that power?"

[Mantis nods his head and makes a quiet noise to the condolences.]

"You're a real scientist. Never stopping in creating one new machine after the other, even if just to test if a vague idea might work."

[A manor. A man in the manor. In the painting? Mantis leans forward a little as he tries to pick out any kind of feature about the man, but it's a blur hidden with deeper thoughts. There are easier ways to figure out a name.]

"A jack of all trades. You don't specialize in a kind of machine so much as machines in general." [He laughs.] "I would like to meet this man that you build them for. As for my powers, I already have a way to amplify them. I wrote a hymn ages ago to saturate the thoughts of others from top to bottom while using my telepathy. Unless you have a better idea?"

"Many think they do. Meeting him is, ah, s-something else entirely."

[He chuckles somewhat nervously; it's both exciting and startling to realize Psycho Mantis can probe even deeper than he already is. And indeed Flug does appear to thinking about his employer... at least it seemed like that at first. Strangely even outside of the portraits, it's hard to make him out. A few memories flash through the Scientist's subconcious but the person he is speaking to remains just out of focus, like garbled, corrupted footage. Only one detail sticks out: a B̷̢l̴̨͡͝͏á̵ć͟͠ḱ̕͘͢ ̨͡H̡̢a̸̢͘͠t͢͡. It's turning to look now... Does it see you?]

"I was thinking more something along amplifying the range. If Atroma is unaware you can access their thoughts, we could focus our efforts on getting you closer."

[They have so few chances but it was something to work with.]

"Once you're in someone's head can you, um, alter.. change things?"

"If he commisions someone like you to create weapons for total destruction, his personality isn't far from my own. You must be one of those 'mad' scientists."

[Mantis sits back suddenly, surprised and slightly alarmed. A memory so vivid it nearly seemed real... Right? As familiar as he is with the concept of adapting even the smallest part of another's mindset, could Flug really not be completely aware of what is in his head?

Fascinating.]

"Hmm. I have managed entire buildings before with minimal difficulty. Music has worked in the past, but what you are suggesting might take a level of control that I don't think I've ever quite attempted. It would come down to how far the distance is between me and the target."

[You have his interest and attention, skinny man.]

"Changing small memories, forcing them to do and say things as I desire. If I try hard enough, I can induce a psychological break or the beginnings of madness."

"Yes, certifiably!"

[Got his Evil Doctorate and everything!]

"That's quite the array of options."

[And really reinforces the mixed sense of trepidation and relief Flug feels when he considers everything Psycho Mantis could and has willingly chosen not to do to him, at this very moment.]

"Plenty useful."

['And if you read thoughts like this... we have ways of speaking outside of Atroma's reach. One way, at least?' It will mean Flug has to guess responses, of course, but at least he can be assured the other man might get whatever intel he is trying to send him.]

"You used music to channel your power? Interesting. Has Atroma tried anything to restrict you in the past?"

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

[broadcast] it will come for me

[Audio/'Action']

[Audio/'Action']

[Audio/'Action']

[Audio/'Action']

[Audio/'Action']

[Audio/'Action']

[Audio/'Action']

[Audio/'Action']

[Audio/'Action']

[Audio/'Action']

[Audio/'Action']

[Audio/'Action']

[Audio/'Action']

[Audio/'Action']

[Audio/'Action']

[Audio/'Action']

[Audio/'Action']