RP for haughty_alpha

[empirical_data]

Who: Data | Kerr Avon
What: Data discusses Lore with Avon.
When: After discovering Lore was present within the village, and he attacked the Fifth Doctor.
Warnings and Notes: Relating to Lore Plot at hearts_andminds.

Comments

[haughty_alpha]

"Mmm?" A few months ago Avon would have woken abruptly and with alarm if somebody had touched him in his sleep, but he had become used to sharing a bed again, and he woke more gently now. "Of course. Anything wrong?" He peered foggily up at Data, trying to blink the sleep out of his eyes.

[empirical_data]

Oh, he was going to have to make him a pot of coffee, wasn't he? For the moment he just gently rubbed his back to soothe him awake. He continued, utterly failing to sugarcoat the information.

"My brother is here. He was the one responsible for what happened to both me and the Doctor's."

[haughty_alpha]

Avon sat abruptly upright, the information affecting him far more powerfully than coffee ever could. "Please repeat that," he said, "because I must have been having a very odd dream. I thought you just said that your psychopathic brother is in the village and was resonsible for the attacks on you."

[empirical_data]

He moved his hand, shifting to get out of the way of the quick movement.

"That is precisely what I am saying Avon... I will need you to verify that I am me from now on before you interact with me." He held out his hands, palms up, bioplast pinched and blistered in the center from the hasty repair work done after the incident in the Observatory.

"This should do for the moment."

[haughty_alpha]

Feeling his stomach twist with a discomforting mix of apprehension, anger, and a sharp stab of guilt, he took Data's hands gently in his own. "I don't need tests like this to know it's you. I would always know."

He went on in a tight, carefully controlled growl. "Whatever this - relative of yours wants, he isn't going to get it. Not if it involves harming you. He'll have to get past me first. And he won't."

Despite the bravado, the apprehensive shiver in his stomach was increasing. Another android, as strong and as fast as Data, with Data's level of executive function, presumably, but without his morality. It was not a comforting thought. He took a deep breath. "What do you intend to do?" He would like nothing better than to lock Data away somewhere safely until he could deal with Lore himself, but he knew Data would never accept that, not if others were in danger.

[empirical_data]

He turned his hands, wrapped his fingers around Avon's sleep-warm ones. Avon was always confident... sometimes overly so. But he did have enough knowledge about his type of android that if need be, he could defend himself.

Maybe.

"He has already gotten what he wanted, Avon, and threw the Doctor at me after obtaining it. The only thing that can possibly be done is locate him before he accomplishes his final goal... He is planning on recovering the Master."

[haughty_alpha]

Avon let out a long breath. "Damn. I remember the Master...he caused havoc about a year ago, I believe. Not long after I arrived here, in fact. I recall being rather furious to have missed all the fun." He spoke somewhat ironically; at one point he had hoped to use the Master's methods himself to escape the village.

"Data -you mustn't go after him. There are people here explicitly trained for dealing with such situations. Police. Powerful creatures...wizards, aliens, ninjas, all sorts of things. Let them deal with it. Stay with me and I'll keep you safe." He had to try, at least. "You know he'll want *you* to go after him. Don't let him bait you."

[empirical_data]

"I am aware... but I am also the only one intimately familiar with my brother's shortcomings... But someone told me that I 'needn't face it alone', and I do not plan to." He put a hand behind Avon's head, slipping his fingers through his hair.

"I want to be sure that you are safe, though. I plan to ask Captain Picard to check in on you. I know that you are fully capable of defending yourself... however... my brother should not be underestimated."

He looked into Avon's face, expression bordering on fond despite his warnings as he examined those familiar features. He didn't want to refer to Avon as a weakness; most of the time he was a driving force. A strength. But to his brother, Avon would be an exploitable missing chink in Data's armor. A point he could get past.

He couldn't allow him to be used for that.

[haughty_alpha]

"It's not my safety I'm worried about." Avon couldn't possibly just sit still and do nothing in this situation; he had to find a way to take control of it. And he suspected he might know of a place to start. If he told Data what he was thinking, however, he was sure his fiance would discourage the idea. "I promise I'll be careful," he said, in his most innocent tone, "if you'll promise me the same. Don't take any unnecessary risks."

[empirical_data]

"I refuse to allow him to hurt me or use me again, and the same for those I care about," Data responded, determined. Then, because he needed it more than Avon did, he wrapped his arms around him and hugged him against him.

He hooked his chin over his shoulder, eyes shut tight as he tried not to think about what he'd done. What might happen. He tried to focus on the softness of the hair his fingers slipped through, or the drum of Avon's pulse against his chest.

[haughty_alpha]

Avon let out a long breath. Sometimes he forgot, in his desire to take control of unfortunate situations with action, that there was something to be said for the calm before the storm.

He returned the embrace tightly, murmuring, "it's going to be all right." He hoped his voice sounded confident, despite the churning in his stomach.

[empirical_data]

"I do not wish to have to destroy him again," he admitted. After all, it was his brother.

"But... I do not wish for anyone else to be hurt either."

The conflicting urges left in in terrible turmoil. They had been making him sputter over his words and glitch all day.

[haughty_alpha]

"If your safety is to be assured, there seems to be little choice." Everyone else's safety was, of course, secondary to Avon. Even his own, for once. "That doesn't mean you have to do it personally. He isn't your responsibility, brother or not."

[empirical_data]

Data's back shuddered a bit, and he swallowed thickly against Avon's shoulder. There seems to be little choice. "I can not be a coward to this situation. He is my responsibility. I could not allow myself to place it completely on the shoulders of others."

[haughty_alpha]

Avon rubbed gently up and down Data's back. "I understand why you feel that way. But you have *taken* responsibility for him before, even though you are in no way accountable for his behaviour. You shouldn't have to do this again. It would not be cowardice to allow someone else to bear a burden that would be far less onerous to them that to you."

Making a decision, he drew back to look into Data's eyes. He intended to go his own way regardless, but he owed it to Data to make at least an attempt to be open about it before conducting his own private investigation. "Let me do it. Lead me to him and I'll finish the job. Believe me, after what he has done to you, my conscience will not suffer."

[empirical_data]

"It would be unfair to ask you to do that..." he responded. But pulled back as he was, Avon could see that Data's eyes were glassy, and his face flinched from the onslaught of emotion within his net.

"I could not ask you to destroy something that looks like me. And I am the only one with the neural shut-down code, which we would have to use if he was not completely destroyed."