call me maybe

[nomoneystillproblems]

parker.peter@cdc.org
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[rivalis]

[ Concern isn't an emotion that Green's familiar with. Certainly, he's had his sister, the ever constant presence in his life, the one person who probably loves him a lot more than he realizes - and he realizes plenty of it already. Regardless, outside of that? It's not often that someone shows concern like this - there are his trainers at the gym, who, from time to time ask where he disappeared to the last couple of days, but don't press it when it sounds like he won't answer. There's his grandfather, who -- well, he's busy enough already.

So especially in a state like this, Green's not sure how to react, entirely.

To be fair, he's not emotionally stunted. He recognizes concern when he sees it, it's just ... surprising to see it come from Peter (because the texts to a dead man weren't concern, nope). This is just the hardest part. ]

I saw the message.

It's not a joke - Cortana got transferred. [ "There's a difference", he wants to say. But somehow he might be fixating on the wrong thing. ] Do you know what the punishment is?

[ He still sounds calm, because he can hardly believe it himself. He knows it's not a game, and by this point he should probably be angry; but he can't find it in himself to be, not when he feels so numb about just about everything in his life at the moment. ]

[nomoneystillproblems]

They told us she got transferred. She come to you in person, telling you she was swapping ships? All I know is one day she was in the rover with me, and the next she was totally AWOL. Do you really think we can take everything they say at face value, Green?

[He doesn't even address the punishment itself. He's too locked in on this tirade, too tired of seeing this guy try to shrug it all off, pretend it's hunky dory and he can turn a blind eye to anything remotely amiss, pretend like the world wasn't going down in flames around their ears.

He'd never so much as made a peep about what happened with Peter after he came back. Peter's no psychologist but he knows how crap that's gonna turn out. It's a habit that Green needs to break, and the sooner the better.]

Maybe you're new to this. That's fine. But the fact of the matter was that on that list of like twenty transfers, there were also six people they left dead. They showed us that video of them ripping apart the robot guy to prove a goddamn point. This is how companies — this is how bigwigs get away with all the shady things they do. They have all the information in a stranglehold. If someone says something they don't like, they have the men and the means to find out about it. And they more than have the power to make those problems disappear.

And if you're going to be finding your name on a list of problems, Green, you better start getting worried about it. Because they have our whole lives and our homeworlds in a fucking chokehold, and you better believe they will not let go until you've given them double what they've asked for.

[Furious, his breath has turned manic with the power of the tirade. Because he'd had to spell it out before, and nobody ever seemed to get it. Mary Jane kept on running headlong into danger over him.

And if Green wasn't going to keep his dumb freaking head down, and take this seriously, or even at least acknowledge it? Then he'd snap at him as many times as it took.

The power in him deflates. His lips are locked tight, and he glares at Green for a fraction of a second longer. Then he turns on his heel and stalks away.

What a waste of time.

Then the light from his cuff blinks out. Peter pauses, raising it high and flicking it the inert metal.]

[rivalis]

[ A chokehold - well doesn't he know.

Should Green had been feeling a little more sluggish, there would have been a punch thrown somewhere in here, followed by harsh words of his own -- what does Peter know, anyway? He knows nothing about the Pokemon that are in CDC custody, nothing about the underlying threat that if he screws up, his pokemon suffer first.

He doesn't have a choice but to feel hunky dory about all of this. If he doesn't, if he decides to rebel, it's over for all for all of them, and he can't ... let them down like that again.

But it's not like he'll tell Peter this; he's ... tired, despite the adrenaline that he was surely feeling moments ago. He doesn't want to talk about this anymore, not when he's just felt the threat physically. He just kind of wants to get away from it all, the faster the better.

So when the other boy begins to stomp off, Green doesn't stop him. He doesn't want to stop him, there's absolutely no reason to --

Only his eyes pin point the flicker of the cuffs, thanks years of being a pokemon trainer, and his heart drops. ]

Parker - [ He calls out, scrambling up to stand and somehow finding the energy to catch up to the other, this can't be happening now damn it. ]

[nomoneystillproblems]

[First thing that goes is his spider sense. His head is actually knocked back by the force of it, like getting clobbered by the bells of Notre Dame. It's almost a physical beating in itself and Peter doubles over with a scream, clutching his hair. Threatening to yank it all out. There's a dribble of blood curling over his lip, a silent escape from his nose.

Then the real punishment begins.

He's had this in degrees. In the aftermath of the flood, when the Hulk had gone batso and chased that demon thing back into the portal, then tried to crush the portal and everything blew up and was bathed in white light, all Peter remembers is the crushing force of cement. They'd found him underneath it, they'd said, buried and maskless. They had thought he was dead.

This time, it's like having the whole of the Empire State Building careen into his insides. The bones are left unbruised, the skin unmarred.

But he can't breath. Peter falls to the ground with a retching gasp. Someone's stuck a wrecking ball inside of him and is swinging it around, crushing everything to pulp. He's spitting up blood into the grass, twitching. Gasping. The air is poison and yet he keeps gulping it down. His spider sense won't stop blaring.

Thirty seconds is a lifetime when you've been blinded to time and reason.]

[rivalis]

[ Green's seen dire situations before - there's nothing worse than a grass pokemon that's been burned or frozen, a flying pokemon struck by lightning, or a psychic pokemon suffering from nightmares. It's painful to watch, in some ways, as friendly as the sport is supposed to get.

But there's a difference between what he used to see and what he's seeing now, with the added uncertainty of ... not knowing if Peter could really get better. Because he may have lucked out, but what if -- why did he separate from that girl, again?

(Is this what he looked like when he was going through his punishment?)

So for a moment, he's frozen on the spot as the other teen falls to the ground, body unwilling to move as his brain tries to process the scene in front of him. He understands, yes, he knows what's going on -- but it's about finding the means to react to it.

He's never felt this helpless this many times in a day.

Luckily, some part of him kicks his body into motion, and he's stumbling toward the other to reach for his shoulder. ] Parker-! [ He calls out, in vain hopes that the teen could hear the other; but when it doesn't happen, he takes the next natural step.

He's not meant for this kind of strength - but right now sending Arcanine out is a bad idea, not when he's a bit of a wreck too. A trainer's supposed to be strong for his pokemon.

So it takes some maneuvering, eyes constantly checking Peter's face for something that would give away a sudden increase in pain, but he manages to get the other on his back. It's .. not the best way to carry a potentially dying person over to the medical rover, but Green's not taking his chances with any other hold, not when he's still not sure how healthy he is yet.

Hopefully, whoever they find at medical is capable enough to save him regardless. ]

[nomoneystillproblems]

[He doesn't fight it.

Not after the thirty seconds are up, and he's a ruin, and he's battered off his high horse and trampled into mush by his own steed.

Peter sucks back the gasps as Green grapples to find a hold on him. Sticks his fingers into his shirt when he's succeeded, and clutches the cloth in fists tight enough to mangle steel.

Punishment.

Peter coughs and a line of blood splatters over Green's shoulder, and he has to corral his thoughts for the moment. Focus on weathering through the jostle of being slung over the back of a gangling teenager with no clue how to handle a 911 situation and jogged towards help.

He only barely holds in the noises clawing out of his throat. Peter presses his face into Green's shoulder and hopes the other boy will understand when he feels how short his breath is against his back.

He wants to curl up and die.

Get it over with.

But as the med rover rises into view, he knows it's not going to be today.]