Daredevil Prompt Post #8

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Comments

Re: Slave!Matts get swapped into each other's universes

[(Anonymous)]

hahaha Opposite is so bad at faking being a pet and would probably have actual panic attacks at that because he *killed* an owner for trying to make him into a pet before, and if this owner wants that too--well, Matt really isn't a match for Frank at all, not with his obedience reflexes and Frank being wary, heavily armed, and young and healthy, unlike Master Robert.

And maybe Frank actually reacts nicely/calms down at the fact that Matt killed Master Robert to protect himself? That's a fairly reasonable not-criminal reason to kill someone. (And Matt doesn't even let himself think about it, but at least part of the reason was because Master Robert had quite literally had a younger house-slave girl beaten to death two days earlier for dropping a chicken on the floor. In front of Matt. who at first tried to soothe him, calm him down, and got beaten for his troubles. Master Robert was the same master who had a slave's back whipped off for smiling at his sister (out of friendliness and also because the slave was a child) and definitely would have had the slave's hands cut off for touching her hair.)

Re: Slave!Matts get swapped into each other's universes

[(Anonymous)]

oh Frank would DEFINITELY approve of that, plus he'd be so relieved that there IS a fighter under all that brokenness and rationalization

and Matt's kind of confused about why Frank's happy with him but look, he'll take it

and this is the beginning of some actual weird rapport between them

Re: Slave!Matts get swapped into each other's universes

[(Anonymous)]

hahaha Frank's holding Matt at gunpoint when Matt blurts it out frantically, because it's a long shot but if this owner hates his other owners maybe he'll be happy to hear Matt hated at least one of them too?

And then after that confession pleases his owner, maybe Matt tries to give a whole itemized list of Disobediences That Were Never Punished (except by himself)--maybe once he kept an alcoholic owner drunk at an event so he could convince her her order to have him beat a baby slave to death never happened, maybe he fucked with an overseer so thoroughly the overseer attacked Matt in full view of the owner, who promptly sold him off, because the overseer pressured/raped the other slaves?

And the whole time Frank is calming down Matt's abasing himself more and more because in his experience that's the only thing to calm an owner down for sure, but all it does is make Frank angry as fuck like, who did this to you kid???

Re: Slave!Matts get swapped into each other's universes

[(Anonymous)]

ahahah, oh god, I kinda, sorta, really want to see this scene as a mini-fill now, Opposite thinking that if he behaves like the Matt with the Issues he briefly saw in the other universe, he'll please Frank and give an absolutely uncanny valley performance. (and ooooh, oh god, I just remembered! What if the Avengers then show up eventually and opposite!Matt is confronted with *them*?? And then he'd even find out that no one even currently, really legally owns him, because he was basically rescued/stolen by Frank from his previous owners/abductors? How'd he deal with *that* situation? Like, would he just want to consider Frank as an owner by default, because that's a world he can work with? Or would he actually be interested in being owned by Tony, because, hey, genius, billionaire, dangerous day job, not obviously cruel, that sounds like a pretty non-boring owner to have?)

Re: Slave!Matts get swapped into each other's universes

[(Anonymous)]

I think Opposite might be very interested in being owned by Tony Stark, but a) the hulk is fucking terrifying, Matt has no real desire to die, and b) the Black Widow also lives with Tony Stark and Matt would freak the fuck out because she would figure out almost immediately that He Was Not Who He Pretends He Is, and so Matt would have to fuck up the Avengers tower so very much to distract from that.

And also the idea of not being legally owned by *anyone* would make Opposite lose his shit in a big way. Like, in the fill of 'all slave Matts meet in Matt's place', Opposite is just ignoring that he's in a world where he's not actually owned, because otherwise he'll have more of a nervous breakdown than he's already having, and so he flatly refuses to deal with it. Being in a world where his entire mindest and mentality and training and sense of self and foundation of his self-esteem is completely useless and worthless? Yeah, Matt would not cope well.

Re: Slave!Matts get swapped into each other's universes

[(Anonymous)]

Tony would turn out to be kind of insidiously terrible for him, I think, just because the things Tony wants, needs, and actually asks for with his words are all pretty different. Opposite would love the hell out of crisp, direct, organized, pragmatic Pepper, though. She probably reminds him a little of Summer, too.

Re: Slave!Matts get swapped into each other's universes

[(Anonymous)]

Probably! Both are morally lacking people. (Pepper worked for a weapons company, the biggest in the world, and Summer's done all sorts of wrong things for good reasons.) And both, at least, when they give directions, actually want them to be followed.

Tony would be awful for Opposite, you're right. He'd probably say one thing, want Opposite to do another, and then need Opposite to do it in a specific way but never say how. And sure, Opposite can banter if he's, like, writing a short fiction story for a gen ed class, or even gossiping with Summer about owners (he has a totally hilarious story about a very dumb owner's son and a cattle prod that he tells her every time they meet and they both crack up hard), but with Tony? noooo.

Re: Slave!Matts get swapped into each other's universes

[(Anonymous)]

Ah, true. I wonder how Natasha and opposite would get along, though - either really well, because they're both no-nonsense assassins, or they both repulse each other *because* they're so similar. Tony in the pet!Matt universe would likely want the same as Foggy from Matt, i.e., stop acting like a pet and behave like a normal person, you're freaking me out - so I wonder what Matt would make of that.

Also, I just realized that Opposite would make a perfect accessoire for a Wesley-less Fisk, and everyone should be glad that Fisk isn't participating in the slave!Matt secret Santa.

Re: Slave!Matts get swapped into each other's universes

[(Anonymous)]

NA, but I was under the impression that Summer was that AU's Natasha. Maybe Opposite would have a bit of a turn at how a free Natasha is so similar to his Summer?

Re: Slave!Matts get swapped into each other's universes

[(Anonymous)]

She's not the same person (Natasha Romanoff exists in Opposite's universe, just without a reputation attached to her *name* specifically), but yeah, he might feel sad that she's not his owner because they're similar (vicious and ruthless but with edges of compassion. Also very, very good at fighting and using sexuality/looks/men's weaknesses against them. And probably both love fancy foods and tea, and understand the power of makeup/fashion/appearances. He might feel sadder because he can tell Natasha either is asexual and/or definitely finds him beautiful, and it's what he wants in an owner, but Frank *is* his owner and disloyalty is not useful in a slave).

Re: Slave!Matts get swapped into each other's universes

[(Anonymous)]

Really?? Well, the characterization would *kinda* fit, but I thought they were original characters! Then the dude with the metal hand would be either Doom or Bucky, probably. Dear Lord.

Re: Slave!Matts get swapped into each other's universes

[(Anonymous)]

Natasha might be jarred by how similar they are as people--except, of course, Matt gives in instead of Natasha pushing back until she got out of the Red Room. It's never fun to realize that a crazy, brainwashed, proud-of-being-a-slave person is so similar to you.

And Matt would find it very odd, but not exactly the worst? He'd assume, I think that it was a whim, and/or a test, because billionaires generally have those.

(screams with laughter at the secret Santa) I imagine at one point everyone looks at each other like 'thank GOD none of the villains have him' and then the Avengers panic because oh wait, Frank Castle, who in their eyes basically is a villain, has him!!

Re: Slave!Matts get swapped into each other's universes

[(Anonymous)]

um. Just....wondering, but...if Foggy was abducted, would opposite Matt feel compelled to rescue him...?

(glad you liked the secret santa, btw, I was laughing at the idea myself! XD) I'm just imaginig Opposite Matt, sitting grumpily (but obediently) beneath a Christmas tree, feral!Matt having torn through his wrapping paper, kid-Matt being terrified, because this is insane, and Ipad-Matt having secretly wriggled out of the ribbons around his wrists and now contemplating on whether if he managed to topple the Christmas tree and set the house on fire, they could all escape in the chaos.

Re: Slave!Matts get swapped into each other's universes

[(Anonymous)]

idk, even if Matt doesn't exactly like Frank, and feels vaguely insulted by Frank preferring a badly-trained pet instead of him, he still will be on Frank's side, so the avengers intensely disliking Frank would make him not really like them either

Re: Slave!Matts get swapped into each other's universes

[(Anonymous)]

Ah, of course he would be on Frank's side, as long as he considers Frank his owner by right. What if the Avengers tell Frank in his presence that he has no right to keep Matt, that they're the ones who have jurisdiction and usually help victims afterwards, because they're a sort semi-public peacekeeping force...?

Re: Slave!Matts get swapped into each other's universes

[(Anonymous)]

I think it would be along the lines of "Ah, I see, but I'm terribly sorry sirs and madam, but I'm not a victim--victimhood is a state of unfortunate being reserved for people, and I am a slave, which is entirely incompatible. And if the Matt of this world was truly owned by you, he would have woken up in one of your beds."

Aaaaaaand CHAOS

Minifill, Opposite versus the Avengers (tbc)

[(Anonymous)]

Matt kept his attention focused on his new master.

They were surrounded; he didn't know who the other people--all free--were, but they were surrounded and his master didn't seem to think that they could easily get out.

Well, Matt could be distracting enough for them to get out of this. Beauty was a weapon, and he turned his on, smiling faintly the way he'd been told, lips licked to make them red. He aimed all the subtlest allure at these people--who called themselves the Avengers, how ridiculous--and took two steps backwards, closer to his master's side.

"CASTLE," the robotic one--strange heartbeat, possibly a pacemaker, or something similar but more technologically advanced?-- said. "Let Matt Murdock go."

Matt felt a second of intense disorientation--he wasn't a Murdock anymore, he hadn't had a last name since he was twelve--but then felt a steely resolve. The version from this world had been a slave, too, Matt knew that from the first five seconds with him, so they must be the kind of either abolitionist or traffickers, so Matt's resolve steeled, and he said, calmly, "I'm not Matt Murdock."

There's an awkward second where everyone appears to be staring at him incredulously, and his master hisses through his teeth, so quiet the rest probably can't hear him correctly (barring hearing as good as or better than Matt's), "I hope you have a plan here, kid."

Matt ignores the kid--any term of affectionate dominance is something he likes from an owner or at least something he can learn to like--and then the robotic-suited man speaks again.

"Okay, so why don't you just come over here and tell us all about yourself then? We can have an entire sleepover without Mister Murder McMurderface here."

Matt twitches. They must really think he's stupid, or else one of those slaves who's so broken they obey just anyone. And Matt has known better than to have sex with anyone who's not pre-approved with genuine permission by his owners, or to be much of anything but blithely disobedient to people who hate his owner and his owner hates back.

He takes a quick internal stock of himself and the situation as the others exasperatedly scold the robot-clad man, saying things like "Tony" and "Oh my god, you can't say things like that".

He's not hungry enough for it to be a real hindrance, he doesn't have any weapons on him, his master ordered him to not touch the guns. But the tall, strange-smelling man with a large metal thing that's probably vibranium (hard to hear) had enough on him that Matt could steal one, maybe, if he darted forward and then back, but on the other hand, the shorter, more coolly evaluating woman has many, many knives on her than almost anyone else Matt's ever know. If she got close, he could grab one, and that would be more useful of a weapon anyway.

The robot-clad man says something like, "Come on, I'll show you the way, the Tower's not far" and darts forward to try to grab Matt's wrist, and Matt dodges without thinking, getting backwards, not quite going behind his master but getting out of the range anyway.

Matt thinks frantically, trying to calculate, and he comes up with this: if they're traffickers, he's valuable to them, and if they're abolitionists, they might be sentimental enough for it to work anyway, so he maneuvers himself quickly to stand directly in front of his master, directly in the line of fire from all of the other free people, the enemies.

There's a soft voice then, saying, "Hey, come with us, we can help you, there's no need to do that," and his new master says very quietly and determined, "Kid, get out of the way, you don't need to do that, don't get yourself shot for christ's sake."

Matt would whisper, but he's facing the free people, who move like they're sighted, so he just grits his teeth for a second. He's not going to get shot, the free people seem confused and flat-footed (he's not what they expected? Does he look different than the pet version?), but an order is an order, so he carefully moves his side to show his master that he can be out of the way of a gun, if his master wants to shoot.

Then he focuses on the Avengers again. The soft-voiced one--who seemed to be much larger only a minute ago, that's very strange--says again, voice mild, "We can discuss this somewhere else, if that's okay with you."

Matt thinks--the free person's not lying--and says, his voice as edged with insolence as he can get it to go, "If you're willing to put down your guns, and to not try to steal me like uncivilized people, we could talk," and deliberately, insultingly, leaves off the proper addresses, and he thinks his master's about to slap him for a moment by the tension in his body, but instead his master just says, just loud enough for Matt to hear, "I guess I underestimated you, kid," and Matt feels a pleasant flush at the praise.

--

The robot-clad man takes off the armor at the soft-voiced one's insistence, and the others all stop aiming guns at them, and they agree to meet in fifteen minutes at a restaurant (Matt's new master gruffly says he knows where it is) that the robot-clad man (severely rich by Matt's estimation, very entitled) will buy out.

The man with the large metal thing turns his head as he follows the rest of the Avengers out, facing Matt's master, and Matt keeps his body still and steady in front of him until the man leaves too.

Then he calmly kneels in front of his new master, and says, through the wobbles of the adrenaline leaving him, "I apologize for disobeying your orders, master, please punish me however you see fit," and bends to kiss the boots, but his master grabs his head. Matt's obediently still.

"Jesus christ, don't do that," his master says. "I don't even--look, okay kid, you did a pretty damn good job out there, alright? You got the situation defused and a negotiation set up. Maybe I can get them to calm their shit and not panic when Trouble gets back and doesn't want to go with them, anyway. And even if you didn't, don't fucking kiss my shoes, alright? You don't have to do that, it's fucking creepy."

Matt blinks at that, and feels secondhand embarrassment on the pet-version's behalf--good lord, what slave had a use-name of Trouble--but smiled a tiny bit. "Thank you, master," he said, and instead kissed his new master Frank's hand in gratitude. He had always liked praise.

"Fuck, what the fuck am I gonna do with you," his master mutters, and Matt feels his whole face go relaxed at his mental command as he says, low and full of heat, "Anything you'd like, master," hoping the ploy works.

Fill cont'd, Opposite versus the Avengers (tbc)

[(Anonymous)]

It doesn't. Instead, his master goes still and purposeful with rage, Matt barely has a second to panic, then his master and says, "Kid, don't do shit like that, I'm not taking advantage of you, ever."

Matt makes his face soft and dreamily happy, even though he's confused, and says calmly, "Yes, master."

"Fuck," his master articulates, pronouncing every letter. His hands, warm and calloused from guns and knives, stop holding Matt's head, and Matt misses the warmth for a second. He thinks he could like this master, someone who could understand his value, someone who might want him to cut some throats or sharpen knives instead of just speak French like a party trick or crawl like a mountain lion on a leash.

Of course, this master also doesn't seem to understand proper slave protocol or appreciate Matt's value just yet. But that's fixable. Even Matt's owners who were more skeptical always came around once he did just the right thing for them. Perhaps when the new master was pleased with what he could get from the Avengers, he'd fuck him tonight, and Matt feels his spine quiver at the thought. Nobody who's fucked him had ever preferred anyone else again afterwards.

Matt thinks over it, and murmurs, "May I speak to them, when you are negotiating for them to stop harassing you, master?"

Master Frank twitches, and sighs heavily, and says, voice still full of a kind of anger that Matt doesn't quite think is directed at him, "Kid, you can talk to whoever you want, jesus fuck, you are fucked up."

Matt blinks, because what. But it's an owner's right to say what they wish, so he demurely says, "I apologize for not being up to your standards, master," and he would kiss the boots but his master had said not to.

His master is completely silent at that, his muscles tense and stiff in a way that reads as cold fury. Matt tries to keep his budding fear off his face, he's not sure where he's misstepping.

But he has to know what the objective is to carry out the task, so he asks, "The objective of the meeting is to--what, master?"

His master says, voice flat, "Don't call me that, I'm not scum like whoever did--this to you--" and his arms gesture, and Matt tries to decipher it but his master keeps speaking, "And anyway, I think I'd like them to butt the fuck out of my business, it's not like I'm holding Trouble against his will--but don't, like, put yourself in danger again, fuck. You're not a human shield."

Matt nods. He doesn't know how long this will last, and he's starting to regret that this owner will be temporary, but he doesn't let himself really feel it. That would be impractical and inappropriate.

Re: Fill cont'd, Opposite versus the Avengers (tbc)

[(Anonymous)]

I'm really loving this so far! And yeah, Frank COULD put Matt to good use, but (un)fortunately he does have some morals. But I'm sure Matt is smart enough to find a way around that minor detail..

Minifill, Why Frank didn't kill Opposite

[(Anonymous)]

Frank wishes badly he wasn't in this fucking situation.

It's bad enough with Trouble, what with the lack of talking. This weird-ass alternate-universe-version of Trouble is actually worse.

He didn't think so at first because this version talks, but given that the first thing he had said after Frank's flat, wary, "You're not Trouble, are you?" was "I can assure you I'm not any trouble, sir," it's not any better at all.

And then the whole creepy fellating-one-of-Frank's-guns thing (what the fuck was that, why the fuck did he do that, what the fuck was he thinking), and the whole 'master' thing (which Frank can't even address, jesus god, he knows he'll blow up and scream if he actually lets himself say anything about it), and the whole 'trying to seduce Frank while eating' thing, and now the fact that apparently this version of Trouble is a fucking assassin as well as (former? probably not former, Frank knows better) sex slave and 50s housewife.

He pushes away the low building anger at the sex slave thing (god, he's going to find that scum and fucking kill them, even if he has to kill this poor bastard first), and holds the gun to the fucked up version of Trouble's head. "So you're telling me you'd kill anyone if I told you to," he says, voice empty.

"I will do anything my master asks of me," the poor bastard says, voice half-pleading. "I will follow every order, master."

So that's that then. Frank clicks the safety off, and sees the sudden widening of the eyes. "I'm sorry, kid," he says. "I can't in good conscience let you go out and murder people just because somebody told you. It's not right."

The poor bastard's whole face goes white and then his mouth opens and he babbles out, sounding panicked, "I--I killed an owner, my owner, once without any orders, nobody told me to but I killed him because he was cruel and awful, he was going to make me into a pet and he had a girl--Charlotte--beaten to death because she dropped a chicken and he had a baby slave's back whipped off for smiling, I killed him without orders, I'm not just--I didn't--I'm not a murderer, master, I promise."

Frank feels dumbfounded. "What."

The poor bastard sucks in a deep breath and says, "Master Robert was the worst owner I'd ever had, and he had this girl--Charlotte--she was ten, she shouldn't have been asked to carry an entire chicken by herself, but she was, and she dropped it--she was ten, I could have held it when I was ten but not her--and he had one of the overseers beat her to death for it, I was there, I tried everything to calm him down but he wouldn't--and a week earlier he'd had a baby slave's back whipped off, completely off, there was barely any skin left, all he had done was smile at the owner's sister, he was a child, children smile all the time, it wasn't his fault, he didn't deserve that. And he was going to strip away my mind, make me into just a pile of ass and mouth--wall me up inside my own body--I couldn't let him--he was old and sick and nobody would notice, so I injected him with air, over and over again, I think it was fifteen syringes until he died, and nobody ever suspected anything and we went to auction but that was better than him, and I'm sorry master, I'm so sorry, I will serve you until the end of my days but please, please, please don't kill me, master."

Then one hand came up and he clamped it over his own mouth, eyes wide and horrified at himself.

Frank blinked slowly, and put together the words, and then said, "Well, I guess Trouble's a fighter everywhere," and clicks the safety back on and holsters the gun, staring at the guy, who he's going to call Talking Trouble in his head, as much as that's inaccurate.

"You are not what I expected," he remarked.

"Thank you, master," whispered Talking Trouble, and leaned forward and unhesitatingly kissed Frank's hand, which felt bizarrely nice, those soft lips. Frank jerked his brain away from those thoughts, and took a few steps away.

"So, uh," he said. "What's your world like?"

Re: Minifill, Why Frank didn't kill Opposite

[(Anonymous)]

Hmm, looks like Frank is going to have to keep him to make sure no one who would give him orders to kill gets their hands on him then?

Re: Minifill, Why Frank didn't kill Opposite

[(Anonymous)]

Frank's decided at this point that as awful as a person as he is, he at least knows he won't fuck the poor kid, so he's not going to just release him to the wild, god knows what he'd do.

Minifill, Why Frank didn't kill Opposite, pt 2

[(Anonymous)]

Talking Trouble blinked, still on his knees on the carpet. He slowly lowered his hands submissively to the floor, palms up, fingers deliberately relaxed, and said, "I'm not sure what it is you want to know, master?"

Fuck. Frank decided to reorient himself as if this were a mission, and instead said, "Who enslaved you?"

A pause. Then, with the air of someone who very much did not want to talk about it, "Do you mean the intake officer at the government office, master, or the guardian who first signed me over?"

That raised way more questions. "Intake officer? Government office? The US government in your shithole universe runs the trafficking ring?"

Talking Trouble looked more confused than before. "I'm not aware of any trafficking rings running out of the United States Government, master, I apologize--"

Frank's eyebrows raised, and then a suspicion arose. "How did you get sold into slavery? The process, not just the people."

Talking Trouble's face goes briefly pained and then smooths out into complete calm, and he recites like he's practiced, "My guardian--Stick--took me to the government intake office and signed me into slavery. Then the intake officer started the initial examination, and upon finding my blindness transferred me to the defectives unit of the bureau's branch in New York--"

This sounded way, way more official and bigger than any trafficking ring. "The government is involved is this. You being enslaved is legal in your universe?"

"I--yes, of course, master, I'm not a captive or anything of that sort, I'm a slave, class M--"

"Explain what that means. Detailed."

Talking Trouble looks like he's swallowed a lemon when he says, "Class M slaves are unable to be freed in any capacity for any reason in any circumstance due to the potential threat to society they pose if freed. According to the Constitution--sorry, master, I don't recall the number of the amendment, please punish me as you see fit."

Frank shakes his head, forces himself to just go after the intel. "Keep going. It's fine."

"Thank you, master," and Talking Trouble bends further to the floor and tries to reach out more to kiss Frank's hand, and Frank goes still. Apparently recognizing the slow burning something in Frank's gut, he quickly goes on, "According to an amendment of the Constitution, put into practice immediately following the conclusion of the Civil War, slavery became legal only when a human is enslaved based on the punishment of a crime, the rights of guardians to surrender their children into slavery, the payment of a debt, or the dependency of the human being such that they could only survive in slavery," and here his voice sounds like even he can't quite believe the last point, "And while many other classes of slaves can be freed, depending on various legal processes and practical circumstances, class-M slaves are such that they have performed any single violent act as slaves and thus cannot be trusted with free will as free people."

Frank breathes in and out, something icy in his gut, growing. "What qualifies you as that?"

"The slaves which qualify as class-M are those with any work in butchery, slaughtering animals, executing runaway slaves, performing overseer duty and thus using physical violence to punish fellow slaves, bodyguarding and thus being able to use retaliatory or preventative physical violence, any contact sport such as mixed martial arts, any form of interrogation or killing work and/or experience in any military or private army, and any knowledge of any form of self-defense. I was immediately placed into class M when sold due to the fact that Stick attempted to teach me forms of martial arts as well as some bodyguarding work, master."

Frank zeroes in on that. "How old were you?"

Talking Trouble, eyes lowered, says "Eleven and eleven months, master."

Twelve. Frank feels a faint static in his muscles, an itch. He ignores it, gathers more intel.

"So let me see if I understand you correctly," he says. "Your world has legalized, socially acceptable slavery in the US, where parents can sell their kids, criminals can get sold, people can be seized to pay debts and sold, and people with disabilities or something can be sold. And if they have any 'experience' with basic things, if they butcher a single chicken, they can't be free. Ever."

"Yes, master," Talking Trouble says. Frank hears nothing but a very quiet scream for a minute, and then the sound of the shitty air conditioner and heating comes back, the hum of the minifridge, the way Talking Trouble's collar--and he's wearing a fucking leather collar, fuck--hangs around his throat, brushes just slightly against the too-big T-shirt.

Frank makes himself look at the T-shirt, and sees the logo 'PROPERTY OF AMEX AGENCIES' across the front. It's not a joke like those 'property of Harvard' shirts.

Something inside of him clicks into place like a safety, and he knows, he just knows that if he ever gets a chance, he's going to go into that world and kill every single slave-owner, everyone in the US government too, every 'intake officer', every parent that has ever sold one of their kids, starting with this Stick.

It doesn't even feel like rage, it feels like cold, something inexorable and unstoppable. It's a force inside of him, a wind whistling in his ears.

That's when the six mooks start shooting.

Minifill, Why Frank didn't kill Opposite, pt 3

[(Anonymous)]

Frank's fucking pissed, first of all, that he managed to get so focused and distracted that he completely missed six assholes being right outside his door and carrying guns.

Second of all, he's calculating as fast he can how to help Talking Trouble, so he grabs him and in a flash he thinks they're both dragged behind the bed, except that he can't see Talking Trouble anywhere.

The first of the six walks in, sneering, saying something like Come out come out wherever you are and before Frank can fire through the bed at him, there's a blur of movement, a crash and then a scream as an arm shoots out and drags him into the bathroom.

Then what happens next is very, very strange--the second one gets thrown forward, Frank shoots him through the head as the third one also disappears in the bathroom, the fourth one runs in and Frank gets his legs and then his chest, Talking Trouble steps right behind the fifth one and slices his throat with something shiny, and the sixth one tries to run but Talking Trouble grabs him by the beltloops and in one smooth motion throws him into the room and shuts the door on them.

Frank walks over to the sixth one, gun aimed, as Talking Trouble comes over as well, head cocked. Frank sees the bathroom out of the corner of his eye and stomps on the sixth one's wrists, breaking them, and then Talking Trouble crouches down and holds a knife--taken off one of the mooks, no doubt--to the sixth one's throat.

"Keep it there. He moves, cut it," Frank says before he can consciously decide to. Talking Trouble seems competent enough.

He goes to look at the bathroom, and sees that Talking Trouble must have smashed the second one's head into the mirror, then cut his throat on a mirror shard. The third one's neck is broken cleanly, and the esophagus looks crushed too.

He looks down at the dead bodies, and then Frank looks at Talking Trouble, crouching obediently still, knife to the sixth guy's throat. Not a single hair is out of place. He's not got a drop of blood on him.

Goddamn, Talking Trouble is good. Frank ignores how much he likes that--it's difficult, he keeps having to punish idiots who don't understand how to fight--and walks over to the sixth one.

He stares at the asshole, stone-faced.

"Look," the mook starts begging. "I only came here to collect. I don't have no beef with you. We just want the bitch. That's all. I work for anyone, they told me, we got a pretty bitch that's gone and gotten stolen, come and get it back. I got my boys together. We didn't know it was gonna be with you, I swear to god. Maybe we can work something out? I pretend the bitch is dead, you cut off some of its fingers, I take em back?"

Frank doesn't bother to talk to the soon-to-be-dead man. Instead he asks Talking Trouble, "Would you like me to cut off your fingers so this little coward can go back and get paid?"

Talking Trouble, whose face had been relaxed during the whole babbling, says softly, "No, master, I like my fingers where they are."

"Wrapped around a knife?"

"That too, master," he murmurs.

"Hrm," Frank says, turning to the mook, then raises his gun and tells Talking Trouble, "Move backwards out of the way of blood splatter, don't get any HIV infections."

Who knows how alternate universes' diseases are different.

Talking Trouble gracefully gets behind Frank and sidesteps the dead bodies, like Trouble compensated for his blindness too. One toe sounds wrong.

Frank focuses more on the mook, and starts to interrogate him. It's quick and easy and the guy only tries to lie once, during which point Talking Trouble murmurs, "Master, he's lying, I can hear his heartbeat," which, holy fuck is useful.

Frank then shoots the guy when he's done with him, double-taps him and all the other corpses, grabs his go-bag, leaves behind the cooling and blood-splattered food, and they hightail it out of there.

"Kid, let's get some food," he says, and Talking Trouble doesn't perk up quite as much but does smile a small amount.

Minifill, Why Frank didn't kill Opposite, pt 4/4

[(Anonymous)]

They get five blocks from the motel and start taking semi-random turns until they get that one place with fried chicken everything, where Frank gets them both three sandwiches, each a thing of fries, and a large coke for him, icewater for Talking Trouble. If he's anything like regular Trouble, he gets sugar-high, and Frank doesn't want to deal with that with this poor crazy bastard.

Frank thinks over what to do next as he gets to a safehouse, changing routes frequently. He can't leave Talking Trouble with the Avengers. God only knew what they would do with someone like him. Probably throw him in jail for defending himself against those guys in the motel, and Frank knew that people as conditioned to be submissive as Talking Trouble ended up dead in jail fast.

He sighed to himself, got to the safehouse, and got them both inside fast. Then he put the food on the kitchen table, sat down, and ate quickly.

Talking Trouble hadn't touched the food and was sitting up on his knees next to the table, looking expectant.

Frank resisted the urge to scream, and said instead, "Why don't you eat up, kid, you look hungry."

Talking Trouble smiled and fluidly reached over for the food Frank had piled at his place, said, "Thank you, master," and started to eat in some strange way; Frank stared at him, trying to decode it. He took very small bites and chewed with his mouth shut, eating almost silently, and licking his fingers ostentatiously after every six bites.

Frank realized he was trying to be seductive and almost recoiled in horror. He absolutely would never fuck somebody as completely and utterly brainwashed as Talking Trouble, someone who could never, ever do anything but perform whatever he thought Frank wanted. The idea made him lose his appetite.

Instead he started cleaning his gun and the knife, and after Talking Trouble had eaten (which was surprisingly quick for such a performative, deliberate eater) and drunk everything, looking annoyed at the grease, he said, "Is there anything I can help you with, master?"

Frank took ahold of his temper again and said, "Tell me about this Stick guy more, I need to see if he exists in this world too, and how to find him if he ever comes to New York. And then later we'll get some surveillance done on those assholes who sent someone after T--the other version of you in this world."

Talking Trouble nodded, and gave him a very detailed description. Not a whole lot of what Stick looked like, but that was kind of to be expected, with a blind guy.

Then after that they went out again--Frank wasn't leaving behind Talking Trouble at a potentially compromised safehouse now that he knew Szarek's sending guys after him.

And that's when the Avengers show up.