[tommy doesn’t miss what nida’s offering with what he isn’t saying. but as much as he abhors the idea of anyone committing murder for his sake, there’s no impulse to scold or get on a soapbox about morals. there’s a better way to make his point. and what kind of hero would he be if he ignored this opportunity to pay forward the chance billy and the others gave him?]
I wasn’t always a hero, y’know. [his tone’s a hell of a lot more serious than his usual carefree breeze of quick words.] I dunno if Billy mentioned this before, but me an’ him didn’t grow up together - I only met him a couple of years ago, when the Young Avengers busted me outta “juvie.” I got locked up ‘cause I blew up part of my high school - which was an accident, by the way, mutant powers don’t come with an instruction manual. But I’d been in trouble with the law before, dumb teenager stuff, so they sent me to this other kind of facility, run by the government.
[he pauses briefly; despite his claim that he doesn’t have feelings, this is a painful memory to recall - especially in this village, where the loss of his powers is a constant reminder of what he endured.]
You hear about this kinda thing a lot when you’re a mutant - usually passed off as urban legends, ‘cause where’re you ever gonna get proof of something like that? I always figured it was the kind of story parents tell their mutant kids to scare ‘em into behaving - “Don’t use your powers or the government’ll take you away,” that sort of thing. But trust me - those places are real.
[tommy always assumed that if places like that did exist, he’d be able to outrun anyone who came after him. a foolish miscalculation on his part, in hindsight.]
They have a way to suppress your powers, just like they do here. And I guess maybe they thought I was such a bad seed anyway, why not find a way to turn me into a living weapon? You can always use another one of those, right? [he chuckles dryly.] So they did all kinds of tests and experiments on me, and they almost got what they were looking for. When Billy and the rest of the team broke me out, of course those doctors and wardens chased after us. And I was so mad about all the crap they did to me, I just wanted to kill ‘em all. Get my revenge, and make sure they could never hurt any other mutants ever again. And I could’ve killed them, too - I could’ve easily made them all explode, before they ever knew what hit ‘em. Could’ve easily gone full villain then, started using my powers to hurt people, just ‘cause I was pissed off at the way authority types treat us mutants. ‘Cause I never really had anyone care about what happened to me.
[he’s never really admitted that last part out loud, that the young avengers were the first people in his life to truly care about him - not what he could do, not how much of a nuisance or menace he was or could be. they cared about thomas shepherd, and they welcomed him into their ragtag team of teen superheroes.]
The Young Avengers gave me a choice - I could keep heading down that path and become a bad guy, or I could use my powers for good. Join them, and help people instead of hurting them. What I did in the past didn’t really matter - they gave me a chance to be a better person, and I took it. [he laughs quietly.] Maybe that’s what I needed all along - for someone to just give me a chance.
[and that’s why friendship is magic.]
Anyway, I guess what I’m trying to say is that it’s never too late to start being a hero. You just gotta decide that’s what you wanna be, and work to make it happen.
returned private, yay
I wasn’t always a hero, y’know. [his tone’s a hell of a lot more serious than his usual carefree breeze of quick words.] I dunno if Billy mentioned this before, but me an’ him didn’t grow up together - I only met him a couple of years ago, when the Young Avengers busted me outta “juvie.” I got locked up ‘cause I blew up part of my high school - which was an accident, by the way, mutant powers don’t come with an instruction manual. But I’d been in trouble with the law before, dumb teenager stuff, so they sent me to this other kind of facility, run by the government.
[he pauses briefly; despite his claim that he doesn’t have feelings, this is a painful memory to recall - especially in this village, where the loss of his powers is a constant reminder of what he endured.]
You hear about this kinda thing a lot when you’re a mutant - usually passed off as urban legends, ‘cause where’re you ever gonna get proof of something like that? I always figured it was the kind of story parents tell their mutant kids to scare ‘em into behaving - “Don’t use your powers or the government’ll take you away,” that sort of thing. But trust me - those places are real.
[tommy always assumed that if places like that did exist, he’d be able to outrun anyone who came after him. a foolish miscalculation on his part, in hindsight.]
They have a way to suppress your powers, just like they do here. And I guess maybe they thought I was such a bad seed anyway, why not find a way to turn me into a living weapon? You can always use another one of those, right? [he chuckles dryly.] So they did all kinds of tests and experiments on me, and they almost got what they were looking for. When Billy and the rest of the team broke me out, of course those doctors and wardens chased after us. And I was so mad about all the crap they did to me, I just wanted to kill ‘em all. Get my revenge, and make sure they could never hurt any other mutants ever again. And I could’ve killed them, too - I could’ve easily made them all explode, before they ever knew what hit ‘em. Could’ve easily gone full villain then, started using my powers to hurt people, just ‘cause I was pissed off at the way authority types treat us mutants. ‘Cause I never really had anyone care about what happened to me.
[he’s never really admitted that last part out loud, that the young avengers were the first people in his life to truly care about him - not what he could do, not how much of a nuisance or menace he was or could be. they cared about thomas shepherd, and they welcomed him into their ragtag team of teen superheroes.]
The Young Avengers gave me a choice - I could keep heading down that path and become a bad guy, or I could use my powers for good. Join them, and help people instead of hurting them. What I did in the past didn’t really matter - they gave me a chance to be a better person, and I took it. [he laughs quietly.] Maybe that’s what I needed all along - for someone to just give me a chance.
[and that’s why friendship is magic.]
Anyway, I guess what I’m trying to say is that it’s never too late to start being a hero. You just gotta decide that’s what you wanna be, and work to make it happen.