maskormenacelogs | Lucifer vs. Vor master post

Lucifer vs. Vor master post

WHO: Lucifer + the whole damn cast + a bunch of unfortunate victims of circumstance.
WHERE: Various.
WHEN: Starting 5/27 and onward.
WHAT: Lucifer has Mark kidnap Gregor. Shit hits the fan.
WARNINGS: There is definitely going to be torture and violence. Will update with specifics.

Table of Contents (roughly chronological)
Initial kidnapping -- Gregor, Mark, Lucifer
So honey, I haven't told you... -- Aral, Cordelia
Secondary kidnapping -- Lucy, Mark, Kel
Hawke vs. Vorhouse -- Hawke, Miles, Aral, Tex, Jim, Spock, Kel
Miles at the hospital -- Miles, Kitty, Tex, Ed, Jim, Bucky, Ken, Kareen, Mark, Newt, Kel
Location: rubble -- Winry, Miles, Ed, Tex
Ruined date and getting voluntold -- Duv, Kasumi, Aral
Torture log -- Lucifer, Dean, Gregor
Assignment -- Lucifer, Mark
Telepathy -- Aral, Tex, Gregor
Wagon circling -- Miles, Winry, Roy, Ed, Yuri
Requests -- Aral, Jim
Rescue -- Lucifer, Miles, Kitty, Hermann, Mark
Hellhounds -- Lucifer, Roy, Ed, Hawke, Mark, Aral
Main fight -- Lucifer, Aral, Hawke
Swamp mingle -- Tex, Hawke, Ed, Winry, Roy, Jim
Post-rescue at hospital -- Gregor, Miles, Kitty, Duv, Cordelia
Following the trail of burger wrappers and tears -- Duv, Nicolas
Hospital threads part three -- Miles, Cordelia
End of the line -- Duv, Mark
Family reunion & oath swearing -- Mark, Gregor, Aral, Tej, Duv, Miles, Tex, Winry, Ed, Simon
Recovery OTA -- Aral, Miles, Duv, Cordelia, Ed, Winry

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[ He's dressed in a hoodie in Vorkosigan brown and silver. He has a false scar applied to his face. And he's completely terrified.

Twice now already, he's had to stop to try to breathe. He's afraid of a third attack in the middle of this - afraid it'll give him away, almost more afraid that Gregor will try to kiss him better or something. That's a thought that comes back to chill him periodically - that Gregor, mistaking him for Miles, will try some romantic gesture, both because he doesn't want the emperor's hands on him and because he doesn't want to get some kiss that's intended for Miles. He's afraid too that they'll see through him at once and kill him right then and there. He's afraid that they'll see through him and kill him more slowly. He's afraid he'll fail and Lucifer will take him apart. He's afraid that he'll succeed and Lucifer will take him apart anyway. He's afraid that he's going to start to cry, even though his eyes and face feel feverishly hot and dry. He's afraid to succeed.

You don't have to do this. He does, though. He doesn't have any choice. If he doesn't, he'll be killed. And if you do it, they'll be killed - But why should he care? What are they to him? No one ever helped him. So why should he give up his life, subject himself to pain and terror and torture, for their sakes? They're the corrupt leaders of a corrupt world who probably have this coming to them anyway. They're oppressors and monsters anyway. Why should he die so that they can live? He has no obligation to them, not when they've done nothing for him.

But Cordelia loves you. And they're your friends. It's just emotional blackmail. That's all it is. That's all they have on him...

He drives up to the cafe where Gregor will just be ending his shift. Parks. Leans his head against the steering wheel for a few long moments, trying to let his heartrate slow, trying to take in enough oxygen to not hurt all over. Neither actually works. Finally, heavily, he opens the door, climbs out. Comes into the cafe and finds Gregor and waves to him, grinning a Milesish grin, beckoning him over. And as soon as he does that, of course, as soon as he meets Gregor's eyes, he's locked on this path; there's no turning back, because it transmutes him from someone-who-can-plausibly-claim-to-just-look-like-Miles into someone-exploiting-his-resemblance. In a way, the lack of freedom helps. The fact that he has now forfeited all opportunities to make other choices is less terrifying. ]

Edited 2016-05-21 14:42 (UTC)

[ Gregor is unsuspecting, initially. There are in fact some few moments wherein he believes fully that this is Miles, shoots him a warm, amused look, a natural sort of openness to his cast as he takes his apron off, hangs it up, ambles over from around the counter. He looks exactly like Miles, and that grin is unmistakable, and it's not the first time Miles has met him when his shift is ending. Gregor's been expecting him to do something romantic at some point, anyway, with all their talk of him catching up.

Fortunately for Mark, Gregor is not prone to public displays of affection, and makes no move to kiss him. The link is the sort of pleasantly drifting half-open that lets it remain background noise without being too loud and interfering, and Gregor hasn't turned his attention to it yet. ]

I assume you're here for me and not your father, [ he says in a light tease, since Aral is somewhere in the back. ]

Oh, is Da here?

[ He says that with a cheerful sort of curiosity. He knows that Aral Vorkosigan is here, of course. He has their work schedules memorized, of course. He's not letting anything be chance. He wants it visible - to the rest of the staff, to the Butcher, to video cameras - that Gregor is leaving with Miles. Because Gregor might go off with Miles. Gregor might go off with Miles to have fun and not let anyone else know, in a way that he wouldn't for anyone else. It buys time. ]

Anyway, I'm definitely here for you. I have something great to show you. Come on.

[ And with Miles' trademark hyperactivity, with Miles' accent curling in his mouth, he bounds out of the cafe, coming to stand in front of the car he'd brought with him - rented, another model of the car that Miles wants so badly - and gesturing towards it with open enthusiasm. ]

Impressed?

[ There's... something a bit off about this, very subtly. At first Gregor wonders what it is that Miles is hiding-- maybe something happened that he's trying to distract himself, or them both, from. Kareen's arrival would be a neat explanation for that, so that's one possibility. Miles doesn't ordinarily direct this much showmanship at him, who he knows is already a receptive, appreciative audience. He saves that for others, mostly.

He raises an eyebrow at the car. ] By a thousand year old groundcar? Well, we do need one. [ He glances at him sidelong. ] Were you getting sick of us not having privacy?

[ What with Kareen driving them out of their normal modes of interaction, Miles having to sneak into his room at night... Gregor reaches out to gauge his mental state, and finds something completely, radically unexpected: the low thoughtful hum of Miles's thoughts at a fast clip, distracted, taking in information from someone and carrying on a conversation. Emphatically not the sort of warmed interest that usually comes from making sly inferences at him.

This... isn't Miles. Gregor stills for what feels like a very long full second, and then, suddenly, mentally snaps into alertness like being splashed with cold water. It's not Kitty; she's never tried to prank him like this. Could be someone else with that power. Except... That accent. That grin. Da.

'Peter Kane'. It must be him-- and it must be a clone. Mustn't it? He needs more information, can't spook him off. He needs to be careful. ]

[ There's a brief moment where Gregor's expression tightens. Where there's a moment where his face twitches in the wrong way. The clone's own face, his attention on Gregor's, is functionally identical to the face Miles uses when he's a little anxious for approval, when he's trying to read someone's moods out of emotional neediness - he's more practiced at this. There's nothing in the way he stares at Gregor that's not-natural. And so he sees that wariness, sees that stillness, and he plans how to incapacitate the Emperor.

(Or kill him. Maybe that would be enough. Killing Gregor quickly, painlessly, coming back to Lucifer, grinning like a fool, sorry, I guess I'm not so good at this, but I tried. Would that be enough? Would that do it? To show he's a poor tool? But...not everyone who dies returns. And to deprive the Countess of the man who's like her son...And who's he kidding? Lucifer will hurt him regardless.)

Gregor's stillness fades, though. Maybe it was just surprise. Maybe he wasn't expecting to see something so extravagant. Yeah...That's probably it. Right? Because if his guard was still up, he'd be calling for security already, and Aral Vorkosigan would already be boiling out the door, bare hands outstretched to wrench the clone's oversized head from his half-crippled body. ]

That's part of it.

[ His grin is sly and confident. He wants to recoil within himself, bury himself deep, scream his throat bloody, over flirting with a man - flirting with this man - flirting with anyone - but he's watched Miles and knows what he'd do. Fortunately, he's able to bound away from Gregor in the next moment and wrench the door open. ]

The other part is what we'll get to, in this. Come on. Get in.

[ And, Miles-like, he climbs in without another backwards glance, full of apparent confidence that Gregor will just follow. ]

Edited 2016-05-21 23:15 (UTC)

[ It's been months since he's had to do this. But he'd spent more time with Cavilo than he's spent here-- he's spent practically his whole life lying in tiny ways, besides, conveying a person he wasn't to people who barely knew him. This isn't that different. Gregor gets smoothly into the car without a backward glance, although he does open up his link with Cordelia, bracing himself to handle two conversations at once. At least he can leave her hanging if he needs to sell his response as natural out loud.

He stretches out comfortably in his seat. ] I'm more interested in where we're going, [ he admits, completely honest. ] I haven't really gotten to be alone with you in days, not since my mother showed up.

[ Feeding him a line because he's curious to see how far he'll take this. Gregor wants more solid proof than instinct, an accent, and what Miles calls Aral that he knows just who he's impersonating. ]

Edited 2016-05-22 00:03 (UTC)

[ Details of their intimacy, he doesn't know. How much time they spend together, what they do when alone. Watching only goes so far; he only knows what he's seen in unguarded public moments, what he's gleaned from the way they talk to one another. He can't let himself get pinned down too much on the specifics. And how the sudden appearance of the Empress Kareen has affected things...Who knows? So instead he grins dopily over at Gregor, answers with a broadly sappy sentiment: ]

Not that we could ever possibly get enough time together.

[ He puts the car in reverse, pulling out of the parking spot and into the road. He fights the jittery urge to fidget with everything - to fiddle with the controls for the headlights, turn the radio on and scan through channels, to pick at the little blemishes on his face until he peels the whole of his skin away and becomes a mess of raw muscle and bone and can't ever be used like this again. Why couldn't his face have been ruined? When he was young. Why couldn't it have grown wrong, why couldn't it have been burned away with fire? They'd have terminated him, dumped him as biohazardous waste, but at least it would have saved him so much. It would have saved him so much...

Stay focused. ]

I think I've found a place. Somewhere for us to move to.

[ This is still inconclusive, but steering the conversation is exponentially harder while he's simultaneously trying to talk to Cordelia. At least his judgement was right and she doesn't appear to be interested in sending someone after him to recover him... Gregor's nerves are ratcheting upward the longer this goes on and it really starts to occur to him just how nefarious his motivations could be here. His first suspicion that he was working for Lucifer and it's all an illusion might still be correct. Hell, he could be a clone and working for Lucifer.

This could be very, very bad. But he's in too deep now. And the real sticking point for Gregor is: if he doesn't do this, Miles will feel compelled to, once he finds out who this is. If he is. God, he still needs firmer proof, it's not enough to be going on with. Not for something this serious. Because even the suspicion would be enough to get Miles in a position where he could be taken advantage of and utterly dismantled by whoever wanted to prey on him.

Gregor wrenches his brain away from Cordelia and tries to find somehow to get him to reveal more details of Miles's life, that someone from another dimension wouldn't know. ]

With stables? [ he asks, with evident interest. ] Or at least enough space to build them? I know you've been missing Fat Ninny.

Edited 2016-05-22 13:12 (UTC)

Not that there's any replacing him. Or even matching him, since I don't think Gran'da is going to show up to train a new horse for me.

[ His smile softens a little bit with the performance of nostalgia. Talking about things back on Barrayar, the life they shared there, is in a lot of ways safer than the life they share here. For Barrayaran life, the clone had been given access to private correspondence, videos, discussion of the form Miles' life had taken. Critically incomplete, of course - after all, there'd been no mention of Naismith, he'd had to figure that out himself - but there was at least something to go off of. There's no intel regarding their shared memories here.

Then he turns his gaze back to the road, drumming his fingers along the steering wheel as he drives. It's nerves, but it looks like excitement. ]

But yeah. Big stables. Good ones, too. I took a look at them - they're well-built, so no place for the damp to get in and make the horses uncomfortable. So whatever parade-stallion you ended up getting would be well taken care of. [ He gives a rictus-grin, something that passes for a teasing grin. ]

[She usually goes in to check on things in the clinic on the weekends, fast and without a lot of to-do. It's mostly to make sure that everything is fine; she rarely takes anyone with her on these sorts of excursions.

She's heading down the street, taking advantage of the fine weather to dally a bit, when she sees him. Is that Miles? Is that Miles with-

What is going on?]

Hello?

[She waves a bit.]

Admiral?

[ Here's the thing: it would be fine. It really would. Except that she catches him at a bad time. He's leaning against the car, trying to stop his hands from trembling, trying to catch his breath against his impending panic attack, and so he's not prepared. And so when he hears Admiral he jumps - and in his terror he pulls his stunner on her, a terrified and furious look on his face.

Shit.

Shit. He knows what he should do. Laugh about his mercenary fleet reflexes, slide the stunner back into his pocket and grin and shrug and offer her his arm with dashing gallantry. Because he knows who this is: Lucy, the girl with the farm, who he'd paid some attention to as a known associate of Miles' but who he'd never gotten to know. He knows that she'll be able to tell it's not him. But he's so rattled that instead what comes out of his mouth is biting and caustic: ]

Do I look like I have time for you right now?

[She looks sharply alarmed at that. Miles has never spoken to her this way before, and Lucy may have left Dorian alone if he had said such a thing to her, but not Miles. Miles is more her friend than anything.

So she approaches, careful. Not even really thinking to be on the alert.]

Admiral, are you ill? Unwell? Maybe I may offer my aid?

[ Why is she walking closer to him? Why is she getting closer? (God, and how smooth is Miles, really, if someone will decide that he's sick rather than believe he's being an asshole?) Against his will, he feels his feet retreating; his back pushes up against the car. Trapped with nowhere to run. Barely even able to breathe. His breath is shallow and quick.

He brings the stunner up and shakes it at her. Or maybe he just brings it up, and it's his hand shaking. It's a bad move. It's such a bad move. It's the opposite of what Miles would do. But he speaks with Miles' accent, and aside from his behavior everything about him is unmistakably Miles; the way he looks, the way he moves, every part of him. ]

If you were needed, you'd have been called for. [ That at least is lordly, arrogant. His best impression of Vor cruelty. ] You weren't called for.

[ Interesting, that he knows such personal details, from so far back in Miles's life. Down to who'd helped him with Fat Ninny... That's not just interesting, that's eerie, in a way Peter Kane hasn't been since he'd mimicked Miles's handwriting so perfectly. God, that was doubly creepy in retrospect. Yet it occurs to Gregor that fully impersonating someone as damnably complex as Miles must be insanely difficult, like trying to bail water out of a boat with holes in it. You could only just keep up-- you could never win, never be safe.

Damn. Now he's feeling badly for him, which he has no time, or security, for.

Gregor drums up a sidelong amused smile back out of somewhere, although it makes him feel like his skin is crawling with the abrupt visceral reminder of his time with Cavilo. The insincerity of it... ] A parade-stallion, hm? Are you going to pick it out for me? How long is this ride, anyway? [ Easy, an easy question-- but information he wants to pass back to Cordelia. ]

Edited 2016-05-23 00:39 (UTC)

It's about half an hour out. A little more.

[ They're about eight minutes from the rendezvous point, actually, the spot where he's to notify Lucifer. Always feed the enemy misinformation. Disinformation. Lie, lie, lie to confuse them, lie so they can't even guess when it might be that you're telling the truth. Even...people you didn't want to be your enemies.

I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, you've only been kind to me. This isn't even your fight. Lucifer doesn't even hate you. I'm sorry that this is what's going to happen to you. ]

You have the time for that, right?

[ The smile he shoots at Gregor is deliberately manipulative, the vulnerable smile of someone whose feelings will be hurt if he hears no. And yet - Yet it's still a question that shouldn't be asked. Because it allows Gregor the opportunity to say no, actually, I don't. A little window to wiggle out of it. It's not a good question to ask. Please be rude. Please be rude, please be willing to smash Miles' feelings, please blow him off chatters one channel of his brain; the other channel pleads with Gregor - Please be the bait so he'll let me go. Please, please, please. ]

[She's incredibly confused by this. Miles does not act this way, more usually, and her worry is ratcheting up.]

Pardon me, but I do not think you are well.

[And she extends a hand out when she's close enough to touch him.]

[ There is fear slowly seeping in now, nipping at him like the cold water of a tide coming in without him noticing. What is he getting himself into, with this? If something happens to him-- damn Aral's disappointment, the lack of long term consequences with resurrection and healing here won't save Gregor the actual suffering, the experience, and he's not immune to that. He remembers all too clearly writhing on a couch in an empty house, pain assaulting his nerves without a source. And, too... What would it do to Miles?

Is this clone worth that? But... isn't everyone worth at least one chance? Gregor has to find out what is going on here, isn't sure they'll get another chance for that. For all his rationalizing to himself, he realizes a moment later that it doesn't matter, anyway, because he'd gotten in the car, and the idea that he could escape on his own is an illusion. He has to assume his own hand-to-hand won't be enough, that his kidnapper has a weapon. He'd be foolish not to. Even with telepathy, there's a certain response time necessary. There's no guarantee he could escape.

Oddly... having his agency removed is helpful. It lets Gregor brace himself, shore up his strength and his defenses. Mute endurance is his specialty, much moreso than marching himself headlong into the lion's teeth.

So all he says is an easy: ] Of course. I'm off shift. And you know I'd clear my schedule for you. [ He's not actually this brand of sappy with Miles, but 'Peter Kane' appears to think he is, so he'll play along. Gregor has to ignore another roil of nausea at the similarity to duping Cavilo... He'll be inordinately grateful once they're past the pretending affection part, because God, does he not have the stomach for this anymore.

If he'd said no, he doesn't have time, what is he going to do, anyway? The only defense Gregor knows is pretending helplessness until he can get himself to safety. ]

Edited 2016-05-23 12:52 (UTC)

[ Why? For a moment, a tremor of misery rips through him, clamps his teeth together. He tastes bile in his throat. His stomach is cramping. Why couldn't you be smart? Why do you have to trust him, why do you have to trust me - If Gregor would just catch on, if he'd sit bolt upright and then slam at the door, attack him, strangle him, then he'd at least be able to go back with evidence that he'd tried. Or - or if Gregor just caught on, then the clone could pull his stunner on him and then he wouldn't have to keep pretending. Pretending to be dopily in love, pretending to enjoy Gregor's sappy looks - and why, why, is there no one in the world who would ever look at him like that, why will there never be anyone in the world...

He's so distracted by his black misery that he drifts to the side and almost sideswipes a parked car. He goes a little pale, grips the wheel tighter, pushes it back into the center of the lane. Shit. Panic constricts his chest; the next few breaths are labored. He hunches a little to try to hide that. A trickle of sweat slides down the side of his face, but it's the left side of his face, so - small blessings, right. Gregor can't see. ]

Oops. Sorry. Still, pretty good, right? [ He laughs, tries to pass it all off as faint dismay over his bad driving. ] Anyway, it's by a little lake, too. So we can go out fishing and all of that.

[ He doesn't look at Gregor this time. He keeps his eyes fixed straight ahead. ]

[ It's that hand that does it. The terrifying prospect of her touching him. He panics; his finger clenches spasmodically around the trigger, sending a bolt of energy into her middle. The stunner is set high, too; she'll lose consciousness almost immediately. ]

Oh -

[ He stares down at her, eyes wide and terrified. He looks around him, left and right; there are people in the distance, too far away to see what happened, but coming his direction. He flings the back door open and drags her inside - thank God she's so small - and slams it and climbs in the drivers seat. Presses his forehead against the steering wheel for a few long moments before he starts to drive. ]

[ A misstep that large is impossible to fully ignore. Well, he could ignore it, but Gregor's soft heart can't.

He looks straight ahead as well, but the faked affection fades from him, leaving a cold acceptance instead. Whatever happens to him... He'll do what he must. Is this how his mother had always felt, he wonders? ]

Are you actually taking me to a lake, Peter? [ he asks evenly. ]

[ His instinct is to take in a sudden sharp breath, but the constriction in his chest won't let him. He ends up struggling a moment, coughing desperately. His hands are shaking. Even so, desperation keeps him from giving it up altogether. His training is too strong. Discipline enforced even in the worst moments, forcing him not to break character...He turns a grin on Gregor that's weak, strained, but still a recognizable echo of Miles'. ]

What? Oh - You think I'm him?

I have an unfair advantage, admittedly. I have a telepathic link with all my subjects-- but not with you.

[ Because Gregor always goes for broke, always lays down all his cards so there is nothing that can be left to hold against him. He's perfectly composed, almost comfortable, outwardly. ]

Who trained you? Your impersonation is very good.

[ Oh. A telepathic link. So he never even had a chance. For a moment, relieved laughter (he didn't fail, it was circumstances beyond his control) wars with bitter laughter (why, why can't he succeed, why can't he ever succeed) wars with panicked hyperventilation (what has he done, what is he doing, what has he done). They all combine into a miserable little hiccup, a shiver that runs through him.

What does he say? Does he answer that question? God, how can he - admitting his origins will make Gregor question Duv when this is over, when Duv covered for him. And there'll just be so many questions, so many, and he can't...Weakly, he reaches over and hits the door lock button. And, dully, he just says: ]

I've disabled the locks on your door. You can't unlock it from your side. And don't try anything against me. I'm armed. [ And then, his voice even weaker, even lower: ] Please.

[ It's just captivity one more time. Maybe only for a little while-- almost certainly not for months again. Gregor can bear this; he doesn't falter. He makes himself untouchable against these weaknesses that 'Peter' shows, but he's not actually untouchable, can't manage to be in full. ]

I've no interest in that, [ he says quietly. ] You've resisted having anything to do with Miles since you first arrived. If you won't tell me who trained you, then whose pawn are you?

[ Because Gregor is too well trained in seeing through plots not to see through this one. ]

Whose do you think?

[ Because it's not like Gregor won't find out soon enough. There's no sense concealing that. They have no other enemy like this one. This one that they kept fighting, that they maintained this feud with - this feud that grew and spread and multiplied far beyond them. And so, for just a moment, he lets out a little of the fury he feels, a little of the hatred, biting out at Gregor miserably - ]

Why did you have to keep provoking him? I didn't want any of this. I just wanted to live my life. But you had to keep fighting him. Why couldn't you have left him alone?

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Lucifer vs. Vor master post

Gregor and Mark, initial kidnapping, 5/27

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Secondary kidnapping: Electric boogaloo

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