[ it wasn't like this in the beginning. when the ships touched down and the two of them watched from a Starbucks parking lot as half of the University of California, Berkeley, established 1868, crumbled like a wet piñata underneath the Judge's massive constructs - at first, Luke was just scared out of his mind.
scared wasn't a new sensation to him either, from a life of uncertainty and struggle for basic needs and security, but this was a different kind of scared. there's is the power getting shut off today scared and then there's will i watch my little sisters die horrifically scared. the military told him you take that fear and use it to stay alive and hurt the guys on the other side of the trench. oakland taught him to turn that fear into strategy, into willpower and no rest 'til finished homework, fed kids, and loan sharks dodged.
accidentally stealing biotech abilities from the Judge taught him power makes that fear go away - completely, done, no mental alchemy needed. absolute genius that Ian believes he is, becoming a human electric chair has blinded Luke to the thought maybe that natural fear served an important purpose. And now we're here. ]
Kinda busy, dude.
[ but the interruption has his hands pulling away from Cole's wrists, electric burns left behind, and Luke straightens up, staring down at the offender robbing his little sister of the ability to sleep through the night or tough out a hard day's trek with that break still fresh. ]
You finish searching his tent?
[ spoken over his shoulder rather than turning to meet his friend's eyes. Ian isn't Luke's subordinate, and before the group's tension built, and the Judge attacks became hard and harder to dodge, he'd never given Ian something that sounded like an order. stakes rise and luke's grip on control becomes a chokehold. ]
no subject
scared wasn't a new sensation to him either, from a life of uncertainty and struggle for basic needs and security, but this was a different kind of scared. there's is the power getting shut off today scared and then there's will i watch my little sisters die horrifically scared. the military told him you take that fear and use it to stay alive and hurt the guys on the other side of the trench. oakland taught him to turn that fear into strategy, into willpower and no rest 'til finished homework, fed kids, and loan sharks dodged.
accidentally stealing biotech abilities from the Judge taught him power makes that fear go away - completely, done, no mental alchemy needed. absolute genius that Ian believes he is, becoming a human electric chair has blinded Luke to the thought maybe that natural fear served an important purpose. And now we're here. ]
Kinda busy, dude.
[ but the interruption has his hands pulling away from Cole's wrists, electric burns left behind, and Luke straightens up, staring down at the offender robbing his little sister of the ability to sleep through the night or tough out a hard day's trek with that break still fresh. ]
You finish searching his tent?
[ spoken over his shoulder rather than turning to meet his friend's eyes. Ian isn't Luke's subordinate, and before the group's tension built, and the Judge attacks became hard and harder to dodge, he'd never given Ian something that sounded like an order. stakes rise and luke's grip on control becomes a chokehold. ]