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FIC: The Price of Freedom
Title: The Price of Freedom
Author:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
wizefics
Fandom: Original Fiction - set inside the Absent Heroes Universe
Prompt: 69 - Confrontational at![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
tamingthemuse
Warnings: Some mild language
Rating: Teen
Summary: It's a world where superheroes are no longer needed. A world where peace finally reigns supreme. For now. But change is on the wind. And that which is worth having is worth fighting for.
Disclaimer: This is a small section set inside a bigger work. I hope it stands on its own well enough to suffice as a story for this prompt. The concept of Absent Heroes is copyrighted and belongs to a select few.
A/N: I'm one of those crazy people trying to make NaNo and TTM prompts fit into the same piece of literature. Apologies if this doesn't stand on its own well enough to be independent.
*****************
The Senate Meeting room was ornate, the rich wood speaking of centuries of wisdom and conscientious decisions. It was a sharp contrast to the chaos and shouting that David’s announcement had brought.
“What do you mean the world is in danger?” Siyu Lin, the Chinese delegate demanded. “What danger?”
“I don’t know,” David hedged, folding his hands. He’d been here for over an hour, and the five member Senate Committee had simply repeated the same questions, alternating which delegate demanded information from him.
“Look, mate, it’s not like it’s an average sort of announcement.” Lachlan Irwin leaned back, folding his hands over his chest. “You’ve got to give us more to go on than ‘the world is in danger and now we have to push the funding bill through’.” He eyed David skeptically. “You’ve been pushing that bill for months and it’s not gone anywhere. Suddenly, just before the vote, the world’s end is nigh?”
Frowning, David eyed the Australian coolly. “Are you accusing me of something, Lachlan?”
Lachlan shrugged. “No.”
“Should he be?” Siyu demanded, angrily. “You’ve got to admit, the timing is suspicious.”
“Be that as it may,” David began, but Natasha Sokolova put her hand on his shoulder and gave him a warning look.
“Gentlemen,” she addressed the Australian and Chinese delegates with no small amount of derision and David was happy to let the slight brunette step in to his defense. He had worked with Natasha for well over five years and he trusted her to see reason. “Let’s not be hasty and speak words we will come to regret.” She pierced all of the delegates with her sharp gaze. “David wouldn’t lie to us. If he says the world is in danger, then I believe him.”
“That’s not a shock,” Ema Wagner, the European delegate replied with disdain. “The two of you are always in agreement. You make excellent bedfellows.” Her accusation fell into an icy silence as Natasha and David both glared at her. Lachlan’s snort of laughter brought him under the same glare, and he retreated slightly from Natahsa’s withering glance. “The rest of us want proof.”
“Of what, Ema? David’s predictions or his sleeping arrangements?” The Russian woman’s voice was sharp, but Ema merely raised a shoulder in an ambivalent shrug.
“Whichever is more pertinent,” she smiled.
“Please, Ema.” David shook his head in disgust, his gaze including both Lachlan and Siyu in his irritation. “Have some faith. Have I ever led this Council astray?”
“You’ve never come in here and asked us to make such a major decision based on so little information.” Ema retorted, crossing her legs and tapping her foot pointedly. “If you want us to vote to spend the money - if you want this Defense Bill, then you’ve got to offer me more than your intuition.”
“My intuition was good enough when I was Paladin,” David snapped, finally angry.
Siyu’s eyes narrowed. “Do not think that you can bully us by bringing up your past exploits. You were nothing more than a vigilante then.”
“I was sanctioned by the existing United States government,” David stood up, unaware that the pen he’d been playing with floated a few inches off the table and began to untwist itself and reassemble rapidly. “I have never acted outside of the law.”
“We are the law,” Lachlan pointed out mildly. “And we are not willing to pass this bill unless you tell us how you know the world is in danger.”
“You have never fought for anything a day in your life,” David ground out between his teeth. “Except for your own comfort.” Leaning forward, David fixed the three members of the counsel who stood against him with a dark glare. “I am telling you that the world is in danger. I am telling you that if you don’t act now, it may be too late.”
“Tell us how you know,” Lachlan stood up and leaned over the table, glaring back.
“And control yourself,” Ema added, nodding at the pen that was still taking itself apart and reassembling. “Your powers and your past have little influence here.”
“I’m beginning to see that,” David stood up, ignoring the pen that fell the floor and rolled under the table. “I can only hope you don’t regret it.” With that, he walked out of the room, leaving the Senate chamber door to slam behind him.
**************************
“David,” the voice on the cell phone was softly accented and tenuous.
“Natasha, I’m sorry,” David apologized. He was sitting in the front seat of his car and had been sitting parked in the corner convenient store for ten minutes trying to calm down. “I don’t suppose I helped my cause by storming out.”
“No,” Natasha answered honestly, but he could hear the wry amusement in her voice. “But you didn’t hurt it either.” She sighed. “Did you really think that you were going to sway their minds tonight, when you’ve not been successful for the past six months?”
“No.” David leaned his forehead against the steering wheel and sat in silence for a long minute. “I’m not going to get the Senate to vote the way I want them to on this bill, am I?”
“David…”
“I can’t even get the Senate Defense Committee to agree to throw their support behind the bill. If you hadn’t pulled in every favor you’ve ever been owed, we wouldn’t even have gotten that bill to the floor.”
“I did not do that for you, David.” Natasha’s voice was amused again. “I did that for the sake of the bill. You are not the only one who remembers how it used to be.”
“I know.”
“Good.” Her voice was stern now. “I like you, David. I’ve admired you for years, ever since I was a youth hearing about your adventures.”
“You weren’t that young,” David protested.
“Be quiet.” He shut up. “I admired you because you never gave up. It didn’t matter the odds, you fought for peace. It sounds like an oxymoron, but instead it’s one of life’s biggest ironies.”
“Freedom isn’t free,” David whispered.
“No. It isn’t. It never has been.” She sighed. “I supported you, David. All these months, I supported you. I will continue to support you, but you are going to have to come up with a better reason than you’re ‘telling’ us that the world is in danger.”
“I know,” David sighed. “What happened with the vote?”
“I don’t know.” She laughed. “I walked out just after you did, before any of those morons could call a vote.” She sounded smug and David breathed out in relief.
“No quorum.”
“No quorum. There has to be four of us for there to be a vote.”
“They’ll call the vote within the week. We’ll have to make our recommendation at the next Senate session.”
“I know. That gives you six days to figure out what to do.”
“Six days isn’t much time.”
“Oh, I don’t know. God supposedly created the world in six days. Perhaps you should ask for divine intervention.” The phone clicked as she hung up, leaving David to stare at it with a disgruntled expression.
“I’ve had enough of divine inspiration to last me a lifetime.”
Almost on cue, his phone rang again. Glancing down, David saw Peter’s name and he flipped the phone open. “David Miller.”
“David, are you near a television?”
“No.” David instantly tensed. “What’s wrong?”
“There’s been a sighting of something no one has seen for twenty-five years.” Pete laughed, delighted. “A man with a twelve foot wing span just flew over the United Nations building in Washington DC. The press is already going nuts and the old footage, from the glory days, is back on the air.” In the background, David could hear the familiar voices of CNN anchors excitedly talking about Azrael’s reappearance. “You looked good then,” Pete mused absently. “But not as good as I did.”
David breathed out slowly. “This could work in our favor.”
“How so?” Pete didn’t sound particularly interested, but long experience told David that he was listening closely.
“I needed divine intervention, but…”
“Azrael’s got a stick up his angelic butt about revealing his origin?” Pete guessed.
Despite the stress of the entire situation, David laughed. “You can’t blame him, really. It would sound awfully ridiculous if we tried to explain that an angel, cursed by God to protect humanity, of which, by the way, he’s not a big fan, shows up every time the world is in mortal danger.”
“Especially given the fact that he usually has no idea what the problem is,” Peter drawled. “Useless feathery bastard.”
“You wouldn’t say that to his face.”
“Hell no! Not even my force shields can stop divine judgment.” Even through the phone, David could hear Peter’s grin. “You two don’t hog all the fun. I’ll be in town by the end of the week. Let Azrael make several judicious appearances; avoid the media; they’ll be begging you for an interview in a week.”
“Peter… you’ve gotten a lot more savvy than the last time we did this.”
“If you thought being a superhero was dangerous, you should spend some time in the corporate world. It’s frigging cutthroat!” He hung up, but his last laugh was echoing through the phone and David shut is phone with a click.
Author:
wizeficsFandom: Original Fiction - set inside the Absent Heroes Universe
Prompt: 69 - Confrontational at
tamingthemuseWarnings: Some mild language
Rating: Teen
Summary: It's a world where superheroes are no longer needed. A world where peace finally reigns supreme. For now. But change is on the wind. And that which is worth having is worth fighting for.
Disclaimer: This is a small section set inside a bigger work. I hope it stands on its own well enough to suffice as a story for this prompt. The concept of Absent Heroes is copyrighted and belongs to a select few.
A/N: I'm one of those crazy people trying to make NaNo and TTM prompts fit into the same piece of literature. Apologies if this doesn't stand on its own well enough to be independent.
*****************
The Senate Meeting room was ornate, the rich wood speaking of centuries of wisdom and conscientious decisions. It was a sharp contrast to the chaos and shouting that David’s announcement had brought.
“What do you mean the world is in danger?” Siyu Lin, the Chinese delegate demanded. “What danger?”
“I don’t know,” David hedged, folding his hands. He’d been here for over an hour, and the five member Senate Committee had simply repeated the same questions, alternating which delegate demanded information from him.
“Look, mate, it’s not like it’s an average sort of announcement.” Lachlan Irwin leaned back, folding his hands over his chest. “You’ve got to give us more to go on than ‘the world is in danger and now we have to push the funding bill through’.” He eyed David skeptically. “You’ve been pushing that bill for months and it’s not gone anywhere. Suddenly, just before the vote, the world’s end is nigh?”
Frowning, David eyed the Australian coolly. “Are you accusing me of something, Lachlan?”
Lachlan shrugged. “No.”
“Should he be?” Siyu demanded, angrily. “You’ve got to admit, the timing is suspicious.”
“Be that as it may,” David began, but Natasha Sokolova put her hand on his shoulder and gave him a warning look.
“Gentlemen,” she addressed the Australian and Chinese delegates with no small amount of derision and David was happy to let the slight brunette step in to his defense. He had worked with Natasha for well over five years and he trusted her to see reason. “Let’s not be hasty and speak words we will come to regret.” She pierced all of the delegates with her sharp gaze. “David wouldn’t lie to us. If he says the world is in danger, then I believe him.”
“That’s not a shock,” Ema Wagner, the European delegate replied with disdain. “The two of you are always in agreement. You make excellent bedfellows.” Her accusation fell into an icy silence as Natasha and David both glared at her. Lachlan’s snort of laughter brought him under the same glare, and he retreated slightly from Natahsa’s withering glance. “The rest of us want proof.”
“Of what, Ema? David’s predictions or his sleeping arrangements?” The Russian woman’s voice was sharp, but Ema merely raised a shoulder in an ambivalent shrug.
“Whichever is more pertinent,” she smiled.
“Please, Ema.” David shook his head in disgust, his gaze including both Lachlan and Siyu in his irritation. “Have some faith. Have I ever led this Council astray?”
“You’ve never come in here and asked us to make such a major decision based on so little information.” Ema retorted, crossing her legs and tapping her foot pointedly. “If you want us to vote to spend the money - if you want this Defense Bill, then you’ve got to offer me more than your intuition.”
“My intuition was good enough when I was Paladin,” David snapped, finally angry.
Siyu’s eyes narrowed. “Do not think that you can bully us by bringing up your past exploits. You were nothing more than a vigilante then.”
“I was sanctioned by the existing United States government,” David stood up, unaware that the pen he’d been playing with floated a few inches off the table and began to untwist itself and reassemble rapidly. “I have never acted outside of the law.”
“We are the law,” Lachlan pointed out mildly. “And we are not willing to pass this bill unless you tell us how you know the world is in danger.”
“You have never fought for anything a day in your life,” David ground out between his teeth. “Except for your own comfort.” Leaning forward, David fixed the three members of the counsel who stood against him with a dark glare. “I am telling you that the world is in danger. I am telling you that if you don’t act now, it may be too late.”
“Tell us how you know,” Lachlan stood up and leaned over the table, glaring back.
“And control yourself,” Ema added, nodding at the pen that was still taking itself apart and reassembling. “Your powers and your past have little influence here.”
“I’m beginning to see that,” David stood up, ignoring the pen that fell the floor and rolled under the table. “I can only hope you don’t regret it.” With that, he walked out of the room, leaving the Senate chamber door to slam behind him.
**************************
“David,” the voice on the cell phone was softly accented and tenuous.
“Natasha, I’m sorry,” David apologized. He was sitting in the front seat of his car and had been sitting parked in the corner convenient store for ten minutes trying to calm down. “I don’t suppose I helped my cause by storming out.”
“No,” Natasha answered honestly, but he could hear the wry amusement in her voice. “But you didn’t hurt it either.” She sighed. “Did you really think that you were going to sway their minds tonight, when you’ve not been successful for the past six months?”
“No.” David leaned his forehead against the steering wheel and sat in silence for a long minute. “I’m not going to get the Senate to vote the way I want them to on this bill, am I?”
“David…”
“I can’t even get the Senate Defense Committee to agree to throw their support behind the bill. If you hadn’t pulled in every favor you’ve ever been owed, we wouldn’t even have gotten that bill to the floor.”
“I did not do that for you, David.” Natasha’s voice was amused again. “I did that for the sake of the bill. You are not the only one who remembers how it used to be.”
“I know.”
“Good.” Her voice was stern now. “I like you, David. I’ve admired you for years, ever since I was a youth hearing about your adventures.”
“You weren’t that young,” David protested.
“Be quiet.” He shut up. “I admired you because you never gave up. It didn’t matter the odds, you fought for peace. It sounds like an oxymoron, but instead it’s one of life’s biggest ironies.”
“Freedom isn’t free,” David whispered.
“No. It isn’t. It never has been.” She sighed. “I supported you, David. All these months, I supported you. I will continue to support you, but you are going to have to come up with a better reason than you’re ‘telling’ us that the world is in danger.”
“I know,” David sighed. “What happened with the vote?”
“I don’t know.” She laughed. “I walked out just after you did, before any of those morons could call a vote.” She sounded smug and David breathed out in relief.
“No quorum.”
“No quorum. There has to be four of us for there to be a vote.”
“They’ll call the vote within the week. We’ll have to make our recommendation at the next Senate session.”
“I know. That gives you six days to figure out what to do.”
“Six days isn’t much time.”
“Oh, I don’t know. God supposedly created the world in six days. Perhaps you should ask for divine intervention.” The phone clicked as she hung up, leaving David to stare at it with a disgruntled expression.
“I’ve had enough of divine inspiration to last me a lifetime.”
Almost on cue, his phone rang again. Glancing down, David saw Peter’s name and he flipped the phone open. “David Miller.”
“David, are you near a television?”
“No.” David instantly tensed. “What’s wrong?”
“There’s been a sighting of something no one has seen for twenty-five years.” Pete laughed, delighted. “A man with a twelve foot wing span just flew over the United Nations building in Washington DC. The press is already going nuts and the old footage, from the glory days, is back on the air.” In the background, David could hear the familiar voices of CNN anchors excitedly talking about Azrael’s reappearance. “You looked good then,” Pete mused absently. “But not as good as I did.”
David breathed out slowly. “This could work in our favor.”
“How so?” Pete didn’t sound particularly interested, but long experience told David that he was listening closely.
“I needed divine intervention, but…”
“Azrael’s got a stick up his angelic butt about revealing his origin?” Pete guessed.
Despite the stress of the entire situation, David laughed. “You can’t blame him, really. It would sound awfully ridiculous if we tried to explain that an angel, cursed by God to protect humanity, of which, by the way, he’s not a big fan, shows up every time the world is in mortal danger.”
“Especially given the fact that he usually has no idea what the problem is,” Peter drawled. “Useless feathery bastard.”
“You wouldn’t say that to his face.”
“Hell no! Not even my force shields can stop divine judgment.” Even through the phone, David could hear Peter’s grin. “You two don’t hog all the fun. I’ll be in town by the end of the week. Let Azrael make several judicious appearances; avoid the media; they’ll be begging you for an interview in a week.”
“Peter… you’ve gotten a lot more savvy than the last time we did this.”
“If you thought being a superhero was dangerous, you should spend some time in the corporate world. It’s frigging cutthroat!” He hung up, but his last laugh was echoing through the phone and David shut is phone with a click.