capeandcowl | 24 ⊗ video ⊗ might've liked to know this earlier

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† hank mccoy | beast

24 ⊗ video ⊗ might've liked to know this earlier

[Hank is huddled over his worktable, playing with a small camera.]

I've always been something of a tinker, even since I was a child. [He gives the lens a momentary smirk.] But you'll know this already, you've seen it.

Even with having some sort of block this past month, wondering if I was doing something wrong when all the pieces seemed like they were in place. I know that because I checked, double-checked, ran diagnostics, tried alternatives. Took the every prototype apart and rebuilt it numerous times, trying my best to isolate and work out any kinks.

And even then, we never detected a single Skrull until they revealed themselves. But see, there was still one thing I'd never gotten to tinkering with. Funnily enough, the first thing I noticed when I returned.

[He points to the camera.] I keep this remote camera for Network interface when I prefer to work hands-free. It shorted out while I was gone, and I hadn't had time to repair it. Doing so would require familiarizing myself with the circuitry of the new communicators, in order to copy it.

So, tell me. How many of you had your communicators in Times Square last night? [He holds up a small silicone tube to the camera, almost buried in his large fingers.] And who can tell me what this is?

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I couldn't exactly help noticing.

But it's a cover. It has to be, they're just using all of this to turn people against us. I don't care. It was only a matter of time anyway. They never should've shown that feed on TV, but even if they hadn't it would've happened some day.

[ You have to know that, Hank. Mutants already know how this story plays out. ]

Yes, it is a scheme they have running, and yes, it was perhaps inevitable. Politics and perceptions have never been a stranger to us. But it's also working.

It can't be ignored, either way. If we let it sit, things will only grow worse. We'll need to do our part to earn back that trust.

Earn it back? [ Julian's voice is raising now. He's only partly aware of it, but this is a sore point. ] We've done nothing but protect those people! Everything we did to the Skrulls was protecting them! If they can't see that it's their problem. We shouldn't have to earn back anything because we haven't done anything wrong.

[Hank sighs as a peels away the jammer in Julian's comm. He doesn't look like he's slept very well the past few days.]

Were we trying to protect them, or was it just ourselves? We certainly hadn't done so well at preventing civilian casualties on this one.

Sometimes public relations will require you to take actions you'd otherwise disagree with, because the deck's already stacked against you. Is it fair? Heavens no! But that makes it no less necessary.

Whose side are you on? We protect them all the time. We weren't the ones that killed those people, you know that. We did what we had to do, there wasn't any choice.

[ He sounds irritated. This is how he justifies it all. He has to. Because if he can't justify it like this, then there is no justification.

And he might have to feel something close to guilt about being in a fight that got civilians and alien children killed.

That can't happen. So this is how it is. ]

And we never chose to come here in the first place. They wanted heroes, they got 'em.

[Hank turns away, looming over his desk. Brooding. He isn't trying to justify it, and that's left his mood even worse.]

They weren't the ones to ask for this, either. That was Lachesis.

But our job remains to protect them, and we failed to do that. We got in a brawl with our own enemies, and the public paid the price.

[He glances back at Julian, and it's a mix of exhaustion, grouchiness, and a little despair.] Can you really blame them for being afraid, given all that?

Yeah, I can blame them for that. And so should you! All of us know where that leads.

We got in a fight with the aliens who wanted to invade their world, what else were we supposed to do? Seriously, what would they want us to do, let it happen?

I'm not about to concede that the collateral damage was necessary, Mr. Keller.

It's not like it was deliberate.

Not all harmful actions will be. This does little to erase our culpability in them.

This is like the Registration Act all over again. We do what we have to so that we stop whatever's trying to kill us or hurt the City or both. And whatever collateral damage there was, it's still a hell of a lot less than there would've been if we hadn't done what we did.

This isn't about registration, Julian, it's about being responsible for the results of our actions. Things are never as black and white as you'd like them to be!

That's what they said registration was about! Except it wasn't. I don't think things are black and white. [ That's exactly what he thinks. ]

I just know they can't have it both ways. If they want us to protect them, this is the risk they take.

And how much of it is really their desire for our protection, rather than our entitlement that we should be able to place ourselves in a position to give it?

Are you kidding me? The bad would be happening whether we gave enough of a damn to stop it or not.

If one person has to die so I can save a hundred, I'm making that call. Tell me you wouldn't do the same.

That isn't for me to choose. I'd rather save one hundred and one.

[And he can't help thinking who else would abandon the one for such a thing.]

There isn't always that choice. This time there wasn't.

[ He has to justify it. To do anything else would mean admitting their actions were wrong.

And if their actions were wrong...then those deaths are on their hands. That's not something he can deal with right now. ]

Because we never looked.

[That's just part of the job, Julian. Every death is on their hands.]

Because not acting would've been worse and we didn't have a choice.

I never said that we shouldn't have acted, only that we could have acted better.

By doing what?

If we collectively devoted half the energy to it as we did paranoid self-sabotage, we certainly could have formed some plan of action.

They tried that, and ended up putting a bunch of the wrong people in jail.

That's what I meant by paranoid self-sabotage. We caught one, but the others weren't uncovered until they saw fit to be so.

That was them trying to organize. You can look back on it and say we should’ve done better, but everything they tried just didn’t work. So we did what we had to and saved whoever we could.

I won’t feel sorry about that. I’d do it again. If we had to.

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