maskormenacelogs | fresh out of box, the latest model.

WHO: Kaidan Alenko & Danger.
WHERE: Cape Canaveral military base grounds.
WHEN: 06/03, afternoon.
WHAT: Kaidan needs more positive (?) robot influences in his life.
WARNINGS: TBD.

[ It was rare that Danger wore her flesh-and-bone body for business. The work that she did for Homeland Security usually took advantage of her capabilities as a machine-- data processing, investigating suspects, surveillance. But now and then, there was a meeting to attend or presentations that needed to be made, and Danger had learned that while humans were generally happy to use a machine, they were sometimes less comfortable being made to sit too long in the same room with one.

She was still distinctly alien, even masquerading as a woman, but less threatening in some ways. Her meeting went as smoothly as such things usually can go. As the heat of the Floridian midday set in, Danger found her way into the cafeteria. She didn't like eating as a process, but her organic form required a little snack now and then, something to keep headaches and fatigue at bay. She walked away from the cash register with only an apple and a bottle of water, very much intending to be on her way rather than linger.

That was when she recognized him-- a familiar face from the Network. Danger paused, eying him a moment before she chose to approach. ]

Major Alenko.

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[ Ah. His powers. That would make sense-- though truthfully, it just makes her more curious as to the exact nature of his powers. Questions for later, perhaps. Danger made a low, thoughtful sound in respond. ]

Acknowledged.

[ Idly, she lifted a hand to brush the thick cords of her hair back over her shoulders. ]

I suppose there are worse prices to pay for power.

Yeah, there are.

[ Hell, he knew what a bunch of them were -- he'd seen it. Time and time again. Being an L2 meant he had seen a lot. Especially when it came to the side-effects of power. ]

Good thing this is pretty mild, right?

[ It was better, he decided, when he moved to take another bit, to not talk about his other side effects, especially with someone he'd just met. ]

Yes, I would agree.

[ She resumed watching him eat. Perhaps it was something he would simply have to learn not to be self-conscious of. Observation was a habit she wasn't likely to give up, even for a budding friendship. ]

I live among mutants-- a subspecies of humans that have evolved superhuman abilities. Many of them are incredibly powerful. But it is not uncommon for a mutant to be crippled by the side-effects of their abilities. Many are even physically altered by their mutation in a way that others reject out of repulsion.

[ She pauses slightly. ]

I imagine it to be isolating, at times.

[ It was something he'd have to eventually get over, but when he looked up at her, there was...maybe not sympathy, but understanding. ]

Yeah, I understand that one. It's gotta be hard, to live like that.

[ Hell, he was an L2, he knew that all too well. They'd been treated badly, not just by other people, but also by the Alliance. It was hard, to live like they did, with the mental imbalance, physical defects, and the fact that people didn't trust them. They were freaks to the rest of the galaxy still.

The only place they really had a place was in the military -- or with merc groups. ]

Do people keep them that distant? Alienated?

[ The plight of mutants was one she had come to accept as her own-- though many of them still considered her separate, not a mutant in the way that they themselves were. She understood their isolation, the struggle they faced in determining who they were and where their place was. ]

To a point. Ordinary humans fear them, obeying human instinct to fear what is foreign. But the mutants seek solidarity with one another as well. Some even consider themselves to be superior, and thus no longer associate themselves with powerless humans by choice.

[ Politics. ]

I am sure your universe has something analogous, or similar-- with or without a mutant equivalent. After all, humans have a special talent for prejudice.

Yeah, we do.

[ He rubbed at the back of his neck, a little awkwardly, after setting down the food. ]

Discounting the fact that there's always aliens -- and humans aren't always so accepting of other species -- but there are people within our own ranks too. Biotics.

[ He shook his head. ] We're not -- we can be accepted, but... It's been a long fight to get there.

[ Biotics. Danger cataloged the term in her mind, learning to associate the two syllables of this new word with the man sitting across from her. If she were in her mechanical form, she would have been curiously letting her sensors do their work-- to see what was physically different, what separated a biotic from other humans. ]

I assume you are a biotic yourself, given your use of the word "we."

[ She paused, watching him a moment. ]

Are biotics born or made, Major?

[ Now there was a hell of a question. He nodded, slowly. He wasn't even going to try to cover up his biotics. They weren't something he could hide, at least with enough talking to the people from his world. It would invariably come out, that, and Reapers.

He still winced, trying to think of the right way to say it. ]

Both? We're not -- We're exposed to something before we're born, but...

Well, we have technology, to harness it. It's been a learning experience for us humans, to make it work.

[ Different from mutants, then-- but similar enough. It was interesting conceptually, an idea that piqued her curiosity as Kaidan elaborated, filling in her mental definition of this new word. She wondered what that meant, exactly, for technology to be used to harness a human being's powers. Her thorough knowledge of the mutant race-- all the variety and diversity of their powers-- brought to mind those individuals whose abilities were just as dangerous to them as to others. ]

What necessitates the use of technology to control a biotic's abilities? Are you unable to control them yourself?

[ Perhaps it was a degree of projection then, when she went on, slightly more quiet: ]

Or is it simply because your fellow humans were afraid of what you might be capable of?

We could...maybe bend spoons, a kid might get really angry, and a door might slam a little too hard. Nothing major -- until you get an implant.

[ He tapped the side of his head. ]

Without it, we're almost useless, but they started...experimenting with them, back when I was a kid. They've been improving technology over time, but...

Well, you've probably got a better idea of how technology progresses than I do.

[ A rare flicker of emotion crossed Danger's face. Muted disgust, maybe. Or annoyance. Something that drew her mouth down at the corners and made her eyes narrow faintly, briefly into slivers of white. ]

You were weaponized.

[ Her interpretation was concise, offered a quiet but sharp voice. ]

You were used as no better than lab rats and then objectified by your fellow human beings for your destructive potential. Is my understanding correct, Major?

[ He hadn't seen danger angry, and his hands stilled, while he tried to think about the best way to describe what had happened. ]

Yeah, essentially. They wanted to figure out biotics, and the rest of the galaxy already knew how dangerous they could be --

But at the end of the day, it paid off, once they got past the early stages -- the, ah, L2s got the worst of it.

It paid off for whom exactly, Major?

[ Maybe this was hitting a little too close to home. Danger was rarely protective of humans that had no relationship with her, let alone some population of humans that she'd only just learned of-- but the idea of it annoyed her, reminded her of how she'd been used as well.

She didn't understand it. How Kaidan could talk of it in such a conversational way. ]

Why do you not feel resentment for the way your kind has been treated?

I do.

[ He said it simply. God, did he. He hated it, he hated being called what he'd been called, looked at more like a weapon than a person. Something to be used, but that was long and far away. Things had gotten better -- for him at least. ]

But I've been fortunate, really lucky. For an L2, I made it further than...most of us. [ The furthest, really. There weren't many L2s not just with his power, but his control. They're too inconsistent. ]

I don't like what they've done, but... they've been working hard to make things better. We've made progress. A lot of it, and I don't want to dwell, when there's so much more work we need to do. People who focus just on the bad, they end up bitter. They do things, like join terrorist groups, mercs, or they spend their entire lives blazed out on Red Sand. I don't want that for me.

fresh out of box, the latest model.

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