The line [invite only]

Silus cocked his head when he heard that Alpha had a question to ask of him. He was even more surprised when he heard what Alpha asked. Silus let out a little sigh before contemplating the fact that Travis even knew that Silus had saved him. So why was he still doing all this? It was clear that the intent wasn't to hurt him, so he should just stop being a jerk and try to work out a business arrangement with Danny, rather than trying to kidnap her. The more Silus thought about it the more idiotic things seemed to him. You're telling me this dude has his own pharmaceutical company and he didn't think to actively employ Danny under some ruse or guise. Wait...maybe he did. Maybe this was all a big waste of time. Maybe they all lived in the Matrix!? No? Dang, dodging bullets would be fun. Silus finally looked to Alpha, finishing his contemplation of the Matrix.

"Because that wasn't the right thing to do. By letting you bleed out I would have left her amongst your siblings after she murdered you. I'd be pretty mad, and knowing my brothers she'd have been in a lot of torture. She'd be a murderer too, so she's no better than you if I let her do that. I did it because it was the right thing to do, because by doing it I saved more people. I save Jason from losing his brother. I saved her from proving she's no better than you. I saved you from dying and saved you from never getting the chance to fix your mistakes." Silus said. Of course, Silus always wanted to be a Hero. From the time he was young he watched videos of his dad flying around in an exosuit, or his other dad bending water for a greater good. "I gotta do what's best for everyone. I gotta save everyone, or try to anyway. I'll always protect and save everyone I can. I'll always stop the bad guys, I'll always protect the people who can't protect themselves. I'll always save as many lives as I can, even the villains. Why? Because that's what a hero does. A hero doesn't have the right to choose if you live or die. A Hero won't sit back and watch his friend make a mistake without fighting for them. A hero doesn't let a victim die just because they messed up. I guess it just sorta comes down to the fact that I don't see them as a villains. Just a victim with a story you probably don't know. But being a victim doesn't excuse what they choose to do, ya' know?" Silus shrugged. His delivery was probably a little sporadic, but he was honestly wondering more about what he was going to have for dinner. That was more important to him right now than explaining what a heroes job is in her perspective.

"So, uh, yeah... I talk a lot. You should talk more." Silus said as a doppelganger appeared beside Danny and removed the rag from her mouth with a little smile before vanishing. This actually had a tactical ploy to it...believe it or not.

Ryan
–
”Um...Omega, I don't wanna bother you, but she's doing more stuff.” Delta relayed to him, picking up a few vibrations through that seismic sense of his.

”I'm more than aware of that.” Omega said with a contained sigh, blinking a couple of times before considering the heroes arrayed before him. Ryan had a feeling there were looking at him, not a very comforting feeling when he thought about it, absent mindedly crossing his arms over his chest and looking around almost nervously. ”This has been turned into nothing less than a mess.” he sighed.
–
Alpha
–
Alpha had been expecting something, perhaps the male to employ that strange trick of his to annoy him, perhaps silence him and then run away with Danny. Maybe finish the job he should have finished not so long ago, which he had been waiting for. If not, Alpha was almost tempted to do so himself. The idea of being made a fool of did nothing for the male, nothing at all. Instead, they answered his question, if not in an overly long fashion, regaling him with what it meant to be a hero, something about saving people. What had caused him to chuckle was the suggestion that he was a victim. Alpha was no ones victim, if anything he was more likely to victimized than to be victimized, those that would try had already learned the hard way that he was not so forgiving. Especially when it comes to something so fragile as trust. True however, he had saved Jason from a great deal more than he knew.

”A victim? Well, that's not something I've heard before.” His tone sounded almost amused by the possibility.”I thought this was the part when you say you won't get away with this, you fiend.” He wasn't mocking him per se, just the idea of heroism in general. ”but I have a feeling anything I could say would be a massive waste of my time. I hate wasted time, and you heroes always seem to waste so much of my time.” Travis shrugged. Normally he would have enjoyed a moral debate, but it was times like these that they ended up going nowhere, save for the hero saying everything he said was both wrong and occasionally stupid. ”Do you have the tablets?”

The conversation continued in a linear fashion, not that Danny could derail it or add anything of her own opinion to it. It moved from a child beyond his years over to one wanting to beyond the same time. Never once did the conversation come back to Danny until a copy of the younger hero appeared next to her and untied the gag around her mouth. Danny shook her head to free herself of the unwanted accessory and excused herself of silence. "What good are the tablets for you anyways? You can't use them and in exchange for them the only person who can use them is leaving."

All of her mobility still laid tied up with being tied up, but Danny continued to stay confidant her situation would look up from here. "Why don't we reach kind of compromise. Things aren't going well for you. What if I go with him-" Danny would motion her head towards the doppleganger, unaware of his disappearance, before turning her head to the real Silus. "With him, and you and your friends and go back to your lair and wait for us to tell you what is in the tablets. I think they want me to go somewhere and I might need help getting there and dealing with whatever is calling me. I could have told you that earlier if you didn't go all 50 Shades of Grey because you were losing."

"I have A tablet. So far you've given me no reason to deal with you, negotiate with you or in any way trust your word that you'll uphold your end of the bargain. If you really want these tablets you'll do business like everyone else does. Not hold a hostage situation. Untie Danny and we can reach an agreement... or at least a mutual arrangement... I think..." Silus said, slightly distracted by his inability to recall if these business sounding terms were actually what he thought they meant. It was like that one time when people told him that the word platypus was a sophisticated way of saying pretty, or beautiful. Needless enough to say his first crush didn't pan out.

"You're a business guy right? Don't be dumb, if you're a villain I'm gonna wreck you. I know who you are, I have proof and you know who my dad is...I have the resources to back it up. That's if I even need to run to my daddy 'cuz I couldn't do it myself. Do business stuffs with me so it can be all civil and stuff. If it's business then there's no broken laws. If it's kidnapping and ransoming then I'm pretty sure you're gonna get in trouble." Silus said, a childlike enthusiasm over the entire debate. Unfortunately the adorable little bastard had a point. His father had just as much, if not more resources than Travis did and the child knew EXACTLY who Travis was. Meaning the child and his father were a rather problematic issue if they were made enemies. Of course the child was also trustworthy and virtuous, therefore his desire to reach a compromise was likely genuine. Unfortunately he only wanted to deal as "business people" rather than a hero and a villain.

"I like what Danny said, we could send you the info, or you could send Jason to keep an eye on things." Silus offered, apparently he felt that he was genuinely attempting to resolve the issue. "Besides, look at her. She's too platypus to keep tied up."

The first words out of his mouth was enough to raise a brow, Alpha considering the male who was only a few feet before him, ignoring Danny for the most part as he considered everything they spoke. It was true, he could not afford to garner the ire of Gene-Tech, which would only be corporate suicide in the long run. He had made too many stupid mistakes, despite his calm demeanor, Travis could not help but berate his sloppy, if not somewhat unprofessional behavior. It seemed that he had no real choice within the matter, deal or die. Omega woulld have a field day with this, not that he could do much in return considering he brought this upon himself.

”While the words you're speaking sound nice enough, there's one thing i've learned in business, it's that words alone mean nothing. You may say that you will do all of that, but for all I know, you could feed me false information, or you could just wreck me anyway.” he started simply, inspecting a fingernail as if looking for something. Regardless of what he was saying. The ropes binding Danny would untie, and couch both were sitting in would split, her side moving beside Silus. Sadly, trust was not something that Alpha gave out so freely, despite any innocence displayed. There was not much he could do really, not unless he wanted to be utterly ruined. The very least he could do was appear unphased, showing weakness to a child afterall would do him no good.

Still, considering the business like nature of this, there could be some room to haggle. After all, he wanted to deal and so he would deal. ”I will agree to your terms on one condition. Instead of sending Jason, I can send Omega to relay the information to me.” His features were cold and hard in a way, dull blue eyes turning almost to steel as they bore into Silus'. ”but I will trust your word for now. Just remember, if you do anything to screw me over, I will destroy you." A pause followed, long enough perhaps to let the promise sink in. " Now, you're free to go.” He said with an almost casual motion as if letting them know they could leave, reclining in his chair as his features would soften to their usual. Though platypus was a proper adjective for a venomous woman like her.

Now she felt better. Didn't have to go through any escape artistry or any of the pain she would need to inflict upon herself in the attempt. She felt the couch split underneath her as the furniture slid across the ground. Not the greatest way to treat upholstery but it got Danny away from Travis. "I don't know which one Jason is, but as long as Zeta stays away from me, we'll be fine." Negotiations turned out pretty well for her all things considered. For the most part she stayed quiet, but she did take some pride in knowing she put forth the compromise. "We're going to keep the tablets under wraps to keep anyone else who might have heard about these events going down from getting to them. I guess Omega can sleep on the couch."

Before turning to walk out, Danny caught the comment of her being a platypus. The cute little, abomination of a mammal really did not appeal to her as much as it may others. "What does that even mean?"

Silus beamed a white smile at Danny and waved a little as she came forth. She apparently had a dislike for that Zeta guy. Which one was that? Well if he had to guess he'd say it was the guy who swore a lot. Bastard needed to get his fucking mouth washed out with some goddamn soap. Silus didn't use those words, but his brain was creative about using oh so many words. Byr creative I mean he failed to be creative at all and just thought the guy was a jerk who should be forced to eat dry dog food. As they exited and made their way back to the others Silus heard Danny ask him a question. "What does that even mean?" Silus scratched his head and shrugged, thinking she was simply asking him why he said she was pretty.

  "I dunno. My brother said you say it if a girl's really pretty but you don't want her to take it the wrong way." Silus said with a little shrug. Silus actually seized up a little and trembled as he hear laughter from behind him. He shook and let out a "Buuurrrr!" before rubbing his arm and looking to Danny. "Chilly in here." He said with his typical boyish smile before pressing on, ignoring the fact that another HalluciYancey passed both of them up and was now walking backwards at the same speed as Silus was walking forward.

 Dude! Who told you that!? C'mon man, you know what a Platypus is! The tanned, Texas accented hallucination howled with laughter. Dude, quick you can save this! Tell her a Platypus is her Spirit animal! Silus didn't show any outward affliction really, he had grown accustom to these hallucinations. He knew they weren't real, so he could just continue on with Danny. How would saying that is her spirit animal help me? Silus thought to himself, knowing the HalluciYancey would respond with some Freudian BS of his subconscious.

  Tell her she's super cute like a platypus, but also super fierce like one, and that she also gives live birth like one! It responded. So Danny was basically just like every other woman on their period? Does this mean all women are Platypus spirits? You could also play it off like she's not what you'd expect. It's super cute, and because it's a girl you'd expect it to be in the kitchen, like you'd expect a platypus to live in a beaver dam. But instead of being in the kitchen, or a beaver dam they roam the waters and kick ass, like Danny! Silus was still nit-picking at his wording. "IT?" It's a girl and you'd expect It to be in the kitchen? "Yeah...it. It's not like girls are people. pfft." Silus continued to walk with Danny and let out a heavy sigh as his brain started to hurt.

  "By that logic her spirit animal is Xena the warrior princess!" Silus finally growled at the halluciYancey that stepped off to the side.

  You're totally gonna get K.Oed by that door.

  "Hu-? OW!" Silus said as he finally started to focus on the hallway ahead of him...just a little too late as he literally face-planted into the door and staggered back before rubbing his forehead and looking to Danny. "Your spirit animal is Xena. That is all." Silus said before stepping forward and pushing the door open, holding it for Danny as a polite young man would.

  "There Ryan, I rescued your girlfriend slash boss-thingy. You, the nice one I actually like: go with Prodigy and live amongst them for Alpaca. Smoking man: learn a more diverse and intellectually stimulating vocabulary. Lady that is a Danny wanna-be pretender: you are to stop playing with snakes. Bad for your health." Silus commanded the other three of the Greek geeks before looking to Xiao and then Ryan, then looking for the strange invisible lady. "I totally swear we had another person..." He said looking around, slightly confused. Did he hallucinate her earlier? No because the others interacted with her... What was going on?

 You live in the Matrix...

...and wasn't there anyway to make this damn thing go away?

[topic is done ]