Every Breath is a Choice
"Life is like a movie, if you've sat through more than half of it and its sucked every second so far, it probably isn't gonna get great right at the end and make it all worthwhile. None should blame you for walking out early."
--Doug Stanhope
( Cut for potentially triggery Suicidal mental processes. Do not click if that's a bad place to go for you, mentally. )
--Doug Stanhope
( Cut for potentially triggery Suicidal mental processes. Do not click if that's a bad place to go for you, mentally. )
Comments 8
He paused in his dive, maybe ten feet from where he'd jumped.
Breep breep breep breep.
That was his helmet, up on the bridge. That tone meant it was an incoming transmission from the Corps.
He floated there, hesitating, wondering if he should just ignore it and let himself drop.
Breep breep breep breep.
Why should I bother? It'll probably just be the Corps hailing me to bitch me out for something I should've or shouldn't've done and wanting to take my powers away. Again. Why should I care?
That was the question.
Breep breep breep breep.
You wanted a sign, didn't you?
That was the answer.
He floated back up to the top of the bridge, pushing his sopping hair out of his face, and picked up his helmet, putting it on with a slight squelch.
"Uh." He cleared his throat. "Nova Corps Operative: 11249-44396/Richard Rider, reporting in."
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He wasn't--he wasn't sure what to do.
You wanted a sign, didn't you? he asked himself again. It was the part of him that was reasonable, the part of him that knew he had a choice in who he was and what kind of man he was.
The part of him that didn't want to die.
"What difference will it make, though? I--"
They're calling back all the Centurions. You've saved the entire Nova Corps, what, two or three times now?
"Four. Counting that Shi'ar infiltration thing when I was up last year--damn, but they do need a lot of saving, huh."
So get up there and help out, then, moron. Make sure some of your fellow Centurions get home.
"You realize I'm talking to myself, right? And answering back. That's crazy."
You just jumped off a bridge when you've got people that care about you. That's crazy. Hate to break it to you, Rider, but you're kinda altogether crazy right now. This is you just trying to coach yourself and pull back together. You've always talked to yourself. So pull together, ( ... )
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"Nova? Nova!"
She has to be on time. She can't be late. She can't be.
She has to tell him. She kept putting it off. She was scared to say the words. And now... she's scared that he'll be dead and she'll never have had a chance to tell him.
"Nova!"
There's no one there. Her heart begins to fall.
"...Rich..."
The bridge is empty. She doesn't stop. Instead, she picks up speed and dives into the water.
If the fall didn't kill him... maybe she's not too late to find him.
The river stinks... the water is foul, and visibility is poor. But still she looks.
Her communicator beeps at her.
"This is Nova..."At the sound of his voice, she finds her voice catching in her throat. He's alive ( ... )
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He stood there a moment, trying to get his bearings when his comm beeped.
This is Nova.He scrambled for his comm, intending to call back when he heard Rich going on. So, no good trying to call him. Knowing that Rich was even alive was a good start. Then the rest of it started to sink in and he had to sit down, doing his best to follow it. And then Nova signed off and there was only silence for a few moments before Nita signed off as well ( ... )
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