sharpememory | [27]

[Here's Barron, looking... basically exactly like himself, except in a rather smart suit with his hair slicked back.]

Mysterio, master of memory, welcomes you to Gotham. [Barron smiles, showing way too many teeth.] I will take away your troubles. I will grant you more years with your young ones. I will draw the pain that has seared itself deep within you from you, in a way that will be so painless that you will forever wonder what had troubled you so.

[He pauses, dramatically.] You need merely to ask. Mysterio rather likes visitors. My price is secrets, impossible things and a little of your past. [A beat, then deadpan.] And cash.

[Barron's a supervillian with his normal power, which is basically to change/add/remove memories. He's basically just your normal working supervillian (including the lapsing into third person) who hasn't quite made it into the big leagues and occasionally gets punched in the face by Batman.]

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From:

buywithme

[Oh god, Prefect has like a million alarm bells all going off at once. Barron grinning. Barron taking off his gloves. Barron telling him to undress... he should probably be more concerned about horrible abuses of his memory, but really right now he's just thinking about the increasing wealth of shirtless moments he and Barron are amassing together.

Still, he carefully unbuttons his shirt and unknots his tie, and strips them both off. Oh god, don't blush, you're not looking very manly or in control if you insist on blushing...]

This is making plausible deniability harder and harder for me, you know?

[Muttered, almost under his breath. It's cool, you don't need to answer that, Barron.]

From:

sharpememory

[Barron doesn't quite hear it, he's too busy assuming that Prefect is being awed by the amazing individual that is Mysterio. He smiles at Prefect, then promptly slides out of his own shirt.]

Just to make you more comfortable. Are you ready?

From:

buywithme

[That does not make Prefect more comfortable, Barron. if anything this makes him feel like kind of a bad warden for letting this happen. But it's not like he knew that Mysterio would like to work shirtless...]

All right, I'm ready.

[He pauses, then holds out a hand in the vain hope that Mysterio will just do what Barron would do, and touch his wrist or something.]

From:

sharpememory

[Barron walks up to Prefect and places both his hands on Prefect's shoulders, before sliding them up to Prefect's hairline. His smile doesn't waver one bit.]

Now, Mysterio will enter into your mind.

[And with that, Barron made the plunge into Prefect's memories.]

From:

buywithme

[Prefect skims his eyes away from Barron while this is going on, because wow this is awkward enough without any intense eye contact going on.

He doesn't feel any different as Barron slips into his memories, but there are a lot of memories, probably ones that Barron himself has lost mixed in with the ones that Prefect is hoping will ring true with Mysterio, somewhere. Their first meeting, all those drunken adventures, the knowlege of who Barron's family is and where he's come from making out, finding Barron after he'd killed O'Brien and Beatty, painting the walls together, more making out, talking about his future...Prefect pretending to be Barron while they drunkenly made out.

All kinds of memories, that should explain what was going on here.]

From:

sharpememory

[Barron takes his hands of Prefect and steps back fast, as if he's been shocked. He stands completely still for a second, before grabbing his shirt and shoving it back on.]

That's the most- [He stops.] No. That's not possible.

[He pauses again. He's had an idea.] Did Dr. Dreamer put that in your head? Did he put you up to this?

From:

buywithme

No one put me up to this, Comrade. If they had then you would have been able to see that, wouldn't you?

[Prefect tried to make the question earnest instead of critical. Mysterio was the memory guy. It was his craft that he needed to trust, rather than Prefect's honesty.]

That's where we both came from, and it's why I'm concerned about you. I don't want you to lose your memories for something that'll be meaningless to you in a few days!

From:

sharpememory

I don't know. [Barron finishes putting on his shirt, before giving Prefect a sidelong look. He frowns.]

You have to have a new power. Some new super villain trying to make his name.

[Barron doesn't look like he quite believes that though. He's looking at Prefect nervously.]

This can't be true.

From:

buywithme

Pretty terrible power, don't you think? To have inaccurate memories... Who else would I even be able to use it on?

[Prefect pointed out gently. He hadn't started getting dressed again yet, but he had crossed his arms over his chest uncomfortably. It seemed like a good idea for Barron to feel like he was still in control of this encounter.]

It's true. You and I are friends, and I am truly concerned for you.

From:

sharpememory

Me, apparently. [Barron spits that out, turning away from Prefect.]

If you and I are friends, that means that means that my family doesn't exist, my friends are nothing and I haven't done anything I think I've done. [Barron puts a hand over his mouth, feeling decidedly sick.] It's Marco's birthday next week. He's looking forward to it.

[Marco, his lead henchmen. Who apparently may now just be another fake memory.]

From:

buywithme

I'm sorry. [Prefect says, softly.] For what it's worth... none of us know how any of this works. It could be that you fill the role of someone who really exists while you're here. The family is still real, your friends are still real, and once you've gone, they'll all continue to live happily here.

[He does advance now, moving carefully.] But it isn't your life. You have another family who you could one day return too, and you have your own life to live, Barron.

From:

sharpememory

[Barron rounds on Prefect, anger clear in his body language.]

My name isn't Barron. It's James Caldwell. I live here, in Gotham. I have a life here and you can't say that it's not my life.

From:

buywithme

[Prefect lifts his hands, trying to be placating.]

Then maybe it is yours. Just like Barrons life is yours. Maybe it's just a reflection of the same thing in a different universe. You still have your powers, you still turned to a life of crime, you're still... kind of... smooth, in the way that you interact with people.

But be that as it may, you are my friend, and you do have another life, and I can't let you forget that.

From:

sharpememory

[Normally Barron would be very interested in the mention of him being smooth, but at the moment it barely registers for him. He opens his mouth to argue, but doesn't speak for a second. Then his shoulders slump.]

Is any of this real? Are the people here real?

From:

buywithme

I don't know, Exactly. I think they are. In the breaches, I think the people only exist because of us, but it's different in ports. When you fall overboard, it's like the world finds a place for you in what's already here.

[They've made progress. That means he can probably safely put his shirt on now.]

From:

sharpememory

Great. So it's just me that doesn't fit. That's really helpful.

[Said with no small amount of bitterness. Still, he looks somewhat disappointed when Prefect puts on his shirt.]

I think I like it here better than I'd like it being on your barge.

From:

buywithme

I'm sorry. But even if that's true, I can't leave you here. You - even if you don't remember them right now - you love your family. And you deserve to graduate and have the world open up to you.

If I just left you here, then you'd slowly do the same thing to your memory as you were doing back in his world, and... Comrade, I just couldn't let you do that to yourself.

From:

sharpememory

[Mysterio smiles, in a way that isn't particularly pleasant at all.]

You can't make me do anything. If I choose to believe you, which is a pretty big if, that doesn't mean that I'm going to go along with what you want.

From:

buywithme

I am not leaving you behind, Comrade. Under any circumstances at all.

[Prefect keeps his tone mild, but there's a certainty in his voice as well. Leaving Barron behind is number one on his list of things which he will never ever do.]

From:

sharpememory

Why don't you stay, then? [Barron pauses, then smiles.] You could be my right hand man.

From:

buywithme

I... Comrade, aside from the fact that I think I'm quite ill fitted for a life of crime, you know why I can't accept that. This path is going to leave you hurt, and I don't want to let that happen to you.

From:

sharpememory

Come on, fighting Batman is fun. You could be our accountant or something.

[Mysterio sounds pretty positive about this. They seemed like good friends in the memories he saw.]

From:

buywithme

[He could be Barron's accountant. He'd make a great accountant, and they could both still hang out together, and... No!]

It seems like fun now! But what about when your memories start going again? How long do you think it'll take for him to catch up with you then, and throw you in Arkham?

From:

sharpememory

I get thrown in Arkham. So what? Sure, it's a nasty place, but I get free food and a roof over my head while I sort myself out.

[Well, someone is a little too comfortable with the Gotham system.] It's great, really. A little like a home. It's not so different from your barge.

From:

buywithme

Comrade... the difference is that eventually you will leave the Barge and actually be... redeemed, Brother! You won't just be brought back over an over until you go insane!