A Discussion of Morals

[notrosesshadow]

Characters: Martha Jones and Eddie Brock
Rating: PG-13
Time Period: Modern
Location: Martha's room: The Loft
Relative Date: After the meeting with Dree, Elly, and Eddie in the Time Room
Status: Closed

Comments

[eddie_plus_1]

"Sure, that makes sense. We showed up near the end of the party. We danced with a woman named Harley but otherwise, we didn't learn a whole lot." He frowned. "Did you fare better?"

[notrosesshadow]

She looked over her notes. "I met Jack. It seems that he did contact me about the bodies and that in his timeline, everything happened without a hitch. I was never gone. Met the Doctor... met the host. The host seems to be a bit of a nymphomaniac... or just a womanizer... I'm not sure. Also, there are aliens who can change into whatever you want them too. Oh... and I met another one of the Doctor's companions whom apparently I will meet later. Essentially, it looks like no one notices I've disappeared."

She looked over the notes again. "Which means... well any number of things. The fact that they all remember me doing things that haven't happened to me yet is disconcerting to say the least."

[eddie_plus_1]

"You sound like your experience was a touch more interesting. It sounds like a number of people from your world are here. That's very good for you! Like your friend Jack. I certainly hope he sorts things out with that Lou fellow," he added. "I don't want to have to have another talk with him myself. I promised Dree I wouldn't hurt him. But if he starts a fight, we'll be forced to intervene," he explained diplomatically.

"Maybe they snatched you from a moment in time and when you get free that's where you wind up, back in time? That would explain the whole thing... with how they remember you doing things you've yet to do. That makes sense, right?" Eddie scratched his bristly jaw thoughtfully. "Hmm..."

[notrosesshadow]

"Yes, about the other man. You said Jack thinks he's OK. Jack's a good judge of character. So tell me: What exactly happened... from the beginning." She face had a no-nonsense look about it. She realized that after meeting her once, she couldn't expect Eddie to follow her mercy rule. Still, perhaps she had become his friend prematurely.

[eddie_plus_1]

Eddie tilted his head to the side for a moment in a way that almost came with an audible 'click' as things fell into place. A sudden caution sub-lit his body language like a deer who thought perhaps it had indeed heard a sound

[notrosesshadow]

She listened carefully to his story, not interrupting until the he finished. The Witch peaked her interest and she smiled at him when she heard how he had dealt with her. Two things were niggling at the back of her head though. "When you reached the landing sight, you said he had driven the sword into the ground? So he wasn't using it to attack Dree? Couldn't you have pushed her out of the perceived harm's way rather than going straight for him

[eddie_plus_1]

"I said he took a few swings and then drove it into the ground," he corrected her. We couldn't possibly have gotten to her in time if we'd alerted him to our presence.

And being angry does not give him a right to threaten and harass a woman who's just been stolen from her own reality. I--" he paused, looking down then back up, looking her in the eyes.

"When did we become the villain here?" he asked gently. "And no. The chopper was gone by the time we arrived on the scene. He was still yelling. But hypothetically," he said, beginning to look frustrated, "what if you're wrong? What if we had asked questions and he had struck her? Her skull would have split like a melon a man of strength like that. We're certain death would have been immediate from that sort of trauma, we've been hit by trucks with less kick. She had her hands up and appeared to be under duress. We made a decision and we are not sorry," he said plainly, reigning in his frustration with a cool reserve of insistence

[notrosesshadow]

"You're not a villain Eddie... otherwise, you could have attacked me while I slept in the hall. It's just we now have to do some serious damage control."

She sighed and decided that it wasn't worth getting in a fight over it. Clearly, there were two sides to the story. She highly doubted that this Lou was completely in the wrong here, especially if Jack vouched for his character. Still, everyone was alive... though she wasn't so sure about Lou with the massive amount of blood in the time room. She felt guilty about the fact that she didn't go see if he was OK. Some doctor she was.

She turned to Eddie again. She had two questions for him. One was really quite easy, the other... was super uncomfortable. She mulled the two over and finally decided to go for the more difficult one: "Eddie, what does your other... um... Venom look like?"

[eddie_plus_1]

"We would never attack you, Martha. You're a good woman. We would take a bullet for you. Bullets do not hurt us but even if they did..." he insisted earnestly.

But then she asked the magic question. "Alien," he said. "Black. Wet. Beautiful." Eddie frowned. "Impossing. Dangerous. We strike fear into the hearts of the wicked with a face that is razors and night..." he said very softly. "Monstrous. If you saw our other, you would judge it poorly. It does not look human. But it is good," he went on. "Together we protect the helpless. Keep them safe from abuse, from manipulation, from the people who would take everything."

[notrosesshadow]

He spoke about Venom in such a loving way. It was... so alien

[eddie_plus_1]

Eddie shrugged his broad shoulders to indicate his indifference to her her. She had ignored his point entirely. Because she was no longer listening. And she'd made her decision. And it hurt. Friendship was a mistake the way it had always been a mistake. Connecting with people beyond the other was the surest route to disappointment and to pain. But it had been so good to dream, so good to hope, that this place was what the letter had said it was

[notrosesshadow]

Martha opened her mouth to speak, then just left it hanging. It was as though he slapped her across the face. Martha was smart, and she realized exactly what was happening. She was pushing him away, and she really didn't want to do that. She liked the guy. She put the phone away and sat down at the table.

"You're right Eddie. I wasn't there, so I don't know what happened." She was trying to figure out how to not sound patronizing. "I am sorry that I jumped to conclusions and made you the bad guy. That was not my intention, but I can see how that became the outcome. And I do believe everything you're telling me. I promise not to disown you at Lou's word."

She took a breath before continuing, "I am sorry for pushing you away. I reacted badly. I don't want to lose your friendship..."

[eddie_plus_1]

He looked surprised. Genuinely surprised. He hazarded a weak smile at the notion that perhaps she hadn't already thrown him to the wolves. "We really were protecting her..." he insisted gently. Because thats exactly what they'd been doing. They saw a threat. They got involved. The situation escalated quickly and the rest was just organic as far as Eddie was concerned. "We're sorry if we responded poorly. Where I come from that sort of talk and action leads to people dieing. That's just how it goes. We didn't want to see her hurt," he explained, now just repeating himself really.

"We don't mean to put you in a bad position, Martha. We know you're trying your best to do what's right. You're the first friend we've made in some time and we would never do anything intentionally to jeopardize that. What should we do?" he asked.

[notrosesshadow]

She understood protection. "The guy I'm dating back home... he died during the Year that Never Was," she responded. It seemed out of the blue, so she continued on. "The night before we defeated the Master, I was back in England, and this man Tom was helping me get around. The Master found me, and was going to kill everyone unless I gave myself up. So I did. And when the Master threatened my life, Tom ran out and was shot instead. And I couldn't even show that I was upset by the fact that someone died on account of me. I gave myself up to protect the world, and people still ended up dead. I think that may be one of the many reasons I called him when time reversed

[eddie_plus_1]

"He sounds like a very good man," Eddie smiled, similarly unsure the context of her tale at the initiation of its telling. It seemed far off base for the moment at hand, as touching as beautiful as it was. "We'd like to get you back to him if we can." He told her for what it was worth once she had finished the story

[notrosesshadow]

"Gene was set on fire!" She was ready to rush and find the man immediately to help him out, but Eddie continued talking. She frowned at his next question.

"Compromise does mean mutual... but you're right. I'm not the type to barrel in head first." She mulled the topic over a few moments. "And if I'm not going to change, I can't ask you to either." She continued thinking over it. "No you're right, either a mutual compromise or not a compromise at all..."

A shadow passed over her face as she then realized why she had told the story of Tom's death. Because innocents would die. No matter how much you tried to protect them, they would die... and it was her fault that so many did die. She couldn't see any other way around it... she followed the Doctor's orders, did what she was supposed to, and became a Saint for a year. And people died for her actions. And that made her a monster. And that was why she had called Tom... she needed to assuage some of that guilt.