Cosmic Boy wasn't the only one who took the number six like an arrow to the heart but Brainy carefully schooled his expression as well. Fortunately, even in the state he was in, it wasn't the most difficult. He'd been good at hiding his feelings from practically infancy onward.
"Allow her to keep her belongings. We can take descriptions of any of her allies she doesn't want killed so she doesn't feel as much of an urge to caution people." He shook his head as he walked back towards them. "I won't. There are lines. We may need to bend to their will to survive, like we've so often done in the past, but there are still things - still areas we shouldn't bend unless forced to."
He stepped forward out of the mist, so that Sandy would see him better, and knelt in front of her, though not close enough to get kicked. It took all of his tremendous will to stay coherent but he managed because right now he needed to so that a child wouldn't be even more terrorized than they'd terrorized her already.
"Sandy, we're going to let you go but we're playing the game. You know plenty of people that do because they need to for their long-term survival. We can take descriptions of your any friends you want released, but if we find out you warned anyone openly about us, there will be retribution, even if it's not during this arena."
It made him sick. Threatening a child, even when it wouldn't be followed up on, even as part of an act, made him sick. But they had to work this into their image somehow. A rare merciful act could be hardened slightly by a threat of death. They'd already styled themselves as villains with an honor code.
"They...damaged me. My mind," he told her honestly. "I'm quite vulnerable at the moment. We need a tactic in response to that that isn't reliant on my being fully functional - and we're villains." His expression was almost rueful here. Her father had been a villain and she was a smart enough child to know that some might be people that felt trapped by their own mistakes. "It's what's expected of us. Death traps. Ridiculously slow dipping mechanisms into pits of superheated plasma. Sometimes one has to play their part to survive. Do you understand?"
And now emotional manipulation. Trying to create sympathy, trying to make their actions seem justified - as if they were surviving and scheming like everyone else. Playing to the viewers how it was expected of them.
He wasn't emotionally equipped for this, for this kind of deception when what he really wanted to do was give her hope, but honestly, which of the three of them truly was?
no subject
"Allow her to keep her belongings. We can take descriptions of any of her allies she doesn't want killed so she doesn't feel as much of an urge to caution people." He shook his head as he walked back towards them. "I won't. There are lines. We may need to bend to their will to survive, like we've so often done in the past, but there are still things - still areas we shouldn't bend unless forced to."
He stepped forward out of the mist, so that Sandy would see him better, and knelt in front of her, though not close enough to get kicked. It took all of his tremendous will to stay coherent but he managed because right now he needed to so that a child wouldn't be even more terrorized than they'd terrorized her already.
"Sandy, we're going to let you go but we're playing the game. You know plenty of people that do because they need to for their long-term survival. We can take descriptions of your any friends you want released, but if we find out you warned anyone openly about us, there will be retribution, even if it's not during this arena."
It made him sick. Threatening a child, even when it wouldn't be followed up on, even as part of an act, made him sick. But they had to work this into their image somehow. A rare merciful act could be hardened slightly by a threat of death. They'd already styled themselves as villains with an honor code.
"They...damaged me. My mind," he told her honestly. "I'm quite vulnerable at the moment. We need a tactic in response to that that isn't reliant on my being fully functional - and we're villains." His expression was almost rueful here. Her father had been a villain and she was a smart enough child to know that some might be people that felt trapped by their own mistakes. "It's what's expected of us. Death traps. Ridiculously slow dipping mechanisms into pits of superheated plasma. Sometimes one has to play their part to survive. Do you understand?"
And now emotional manipulation. Trying to create sympathy, trying to make their actions seem justified - as if they were surviving and scheming like everyone else. Playing to the viewers how it was expected of them.
He wasn't emotionally equipped for this, for this kind of deception when what he really wanted to do was give her hope, but honestly, which of the three of them truly was?