Violence and pie (Red)

"Not when you have created your fair share of lab rats. Come on, your combination of abilities doesn't just show up naturally in any old metagene. And this is ignoring the transmissions my AI picked up between you and your overseer. They are clearly your boss, and you are clearly the product of a scientist cherry picking." Lucius said. He really didn't have to make his case, because he knew it was true. Powers tended to take a general theme when they showed up naturally. Data was a good example. Lucius and Atlas, they had powers chosen for the purpose of advantage in combat, and solely for that. All engineered metahumans were that way, unless the engineer wanted to make it seem like the lab rat was natural.

"I'm already doing it. I have been doing it since we met. Those ideals of yours are so strong, stupidly so, similar to the relationship between your body and mind...... Tell me, what did they tell you i did that was so wrong? Maybe they said i had a hand in peoples death so i could achieve some self proclaimed goal of the greater good? Sounds quite familiar don't you think? You know how many people you have likely killed in your little bouts with your rogues gallery? Even if you haven't, which i highly doubt considering you recklessly attacked that woman while on top of a public scyscraper, many of your type have." Lucius said, still sitting in his chair looking almost bored.

"You people are worse then me. You get people killed while trying to punch a problem to death without looking at it's roots. I potentially get people killed while getting things that matter done. It's all for some ego trip, all so you can put the villain away and be the hero. Even if rape and murder and war still happen just as much. Maybe you should wake up and see the world isn't getting any better because of what you do."

Well, they showed their scientific knowledge if nothing else, which was something he had been told about by the decent sized dossier. Still, something about the male just made his stomach turn, even if the internal bleeding was doing that as well. They did go out of their way to call him stupid, which only managed to annoy Damian more than anything else. "I haven't killed anyone, if you actually looked into things." He snapped shortly, not liking his professionalism being insulted in that fashion. Afterall, accidentally killing people would have been something that would have been told to him if that happened, well that and the whole arresting thing. Still, regardless of the obvious mudslinging that was happening there was some truth or rather logic to what was being said, which he didn't like more than anything else.

"Let me ask you something. For all the people you've killed, how exactly did their deaths help you? How in any way did them dying do anything for you? I never claimed that what I do makes the world better, not even once but what about you? Are you trying to make me see the light, or see what I'm doing is wrong? If you truly think you're doing the right thing, then what is the right thing to do?" He asked, adjusting his sitting position to alleviate some of the pain, resting his hand on his stomach and waiting for Lucius to respond. "Unless you're just here to say you're better than me, and that's it."

"Well, the fact I'm better then you has no bearing on this conversation. You said it, not me." Lucius said with a simple smile. This was getting interesting really, the kid was questioning him, and boy did he enjoy being questioned. It tended to refresh his perspective. Debate after all was something he had been good at since he was in High School.

"Regardless, death never helps anything. But, as the old saying goes, you can't make an omelet without breaking eggs. No great men in history did what they did without getting their hands dirty, no revolutionists founded free nations without spilling gallons of blood....." Lucius reasoned, then took a pause, looking back up at Atlas.

"The world needs bad men. Men not afraid to touch the darkness so light may shine through and create a new dawn. If you can't beat it, you have to use it. But you wouldn't know about any of that, would you?" Lucius said, waiting for the males response.

Let me guess, you'll either say nothing, say I'm crazy or something along those lines, or simply point out something wrong about me again even though i just said i don't care about my own evil. God forbid you admit you aren't perfect, or that you may have made a wrong choice in the past.

Of course they would take the chance to proclaim themselves superior. Typical megalomaniac if he ever saw one, but then again Atlas was just getting too tired to even bother with arguing with them at this point, though that may come with the blood loss. "And yet you could take over this country without spilling a single drop, guess the whole egg breaking thing didn't pan out, huh?" He noted, resting against the cell wall, resting a hand against his gut which was likely just bleeding out even more, internal as it was. "If you're done, you can go now. You're self justification is starting to grate on me." Honestly while this wasn't the place he expected to die, dying was something he always had to be ready for in his line of work.

Having to hear self important metahumans preach about their moral superiority, well that was just annoying when he thought about it. If I have to hear this guy talk anymore, I swear I'll off myself. He mentally groaned, rolling his eyes.

Which was he? A murderier or someone who can take a country without spilling blood. As with before he was contradicting himself for the sake of sarcasm. Funny how someone can be so blind, he was sticking his head in the sand, literally drowning Lucius out with the least clever quips he had ever heard. He had just about enough of talking in circles with this dude.

"Then I'm doing my job correctly. Regardless, you have humored me enough to gain some much needed regeneration. And don't lie, i know you have it. No one takes hits like that with human level healing and is active a week, or even months, later. So tell me, what's the catalyst? I would be happy to save your life if that is your wish." Lucius said. He didn't really care either way. It was a win win. Either Atlas let him in on some actual information or he died, Lucius gained regardless.

Atlas was waiting for Lucius to leave and yet they asked the question, about what would give him an edge. They wanted to know his power source, and yet Atlas was aware that someone running a meta empire likely had healers of their own. "You want me to tell you how my regeneration works? I'm not surprised by this at all." He said, rolling his eyes and letting out a rather throaty cough. A few flecks of blood clung to his flesh, revealing perhaps that the damage was even more than he had thought it was. Now it was time to decide would he rather die, or accept help from the monster before him. That was when part of his pride began to flare up, something that wouldn't do considering the circumstances and just the part of him that in all reality wasn't quite ready to die yet.

"You'll heal me but we both now it's not about saving my life. You'd rather see me die than otherwise, that much is obvious." He noted, the morally superior tone beginning to grate on him. "Something tells me, that even if you do heal me that won't mean I'll be allowed to leave. I'll probably only be allowed to leave in a body bag or whatever you use around here." One could tell that he didn't trust whatever Lucius had in mind. If they knew how his powers worked, they would easily be able to make it to where they could depower him just as easily. "So If you really want to save me, spend less time talking and get some uv light in here." He said with a dismissive wave of a hand.

UV radiation, that was it. Interesting, it all made sense now. Perhaps Lucius should have expected that when the UV energy beams were sent his way, but then again jumping to that conclusion so soon was not his method of figuring things out. Lucius smiled at the accusations that he would simply kill Atlas, even after finding this crucial information. That made so little logical sense Lucius was surprised, despite the fact this man had proven himself to not be very bright previously. No, Atlas was more useful alive.

"Even when offered help you think it's part of some benevolent scheme to kill you. You know, 'villains' don't do everything with fingers crossed behind their backs." Lucius mused as he got up and moved to a terminal. Atlas was no doubt going to get stronger when embued with thE radiation, so giving it to him while he was still in the facility would be a stupid idea. Regardless, he learned a thing or two, and showed many people who had caught wind of the fight that not even the great Atlas could hope to put Lucius and his goals to rest.

"I'll see you soon. Hopefully next time you aren't such a stick in the mud." Lucius said, activating the teleporter in the cell to remove Atlas from it and by extension the continent. He would find himself in New York, just as the sun was beginning to shine down on the city.