xavier_institute

[Being locked up does seem bad, but he's never been trapped anywhere for long. He always gets out somehow.

The scarier part is Adachi's view of death. If it's true, Jack was solving Fontaine's problems by killing him. He figured he'd been solving Ryan's by killing him, Ryan had forced him into it, but considering that Fontaine might not be burning in hell and have been terrified of it every moment of their battle...]

You're- you're lying! That's not what death means! I- [This is the sound of a wrench hitting a wall hard enough to leave a crater in it.] Just shut the hell up!

Why are you so mad? It's a good thing. Less to worry about now, right? Takes a lot of pressure off.

People are just scared of death for no reason. When it happens, that's it! Your troubles go poof!

[If questioned later, Adachi will just say he was trying to cheer the kid up! He sort of is, in his way. People are shit and life is meaningless, and if you just accept that, it makes things a lot easier.

He would take it further, but he is actually reining himself in. What a prince.]

No! No no no no no no! You're lying- you're wrong!

[He doesn't want death to be a solution. He wants it to be the greatest possible form of punishment. Otherwise he missed a huge opportunity to do more damage, and that's the best case scenario.]

I- I'll do worse, then! I won't let you die, just- just keep hurting you until you want to die! And you never will!

[Jack becomes a little bit more like Fontaine every day, it seems.]

Nope! Trust me, I've been around longer than you. I know how things go.

Won't work! I'll use my powers on you if you don't take me by surprise.

Besides, the Old Man would save me.

[It's a bit odd for Adachi to espouse any kind of belief in anyone, but he does think this. What an idiot the professor is, always helping people out, even if they're no good at all.]

You really need to think these things through better.

Shut up!

[Jack isn't built for thinking things through. He was built to have other people think for him. And that makes it very hard for him to reassure himself that Adachi is wrong... which is the main reason he insists so strictly that he is.]

You don't know anything- and Professor Xavier won't save you if he can't stop me!

[And he adamantly refuses to consider being stuck in another illusion pocket.]

He's probably not going to let you torture someone indefinitely like that... Just a hunch.

[Kid, you're so dumb, how could he be afraid of the worst planner ever? What are you, mentally two? Sounds about right. He's not afraid of stupid kids.]

Let me let you in on a secret, though I know you're not going to listen. Nothing's worth getting that upset about. It just doesn't matter.

[This kid needs to relax. Once you realize life is pointless, you won't get so upset.]

[He doesn't need planning when he has a con man using him like a puppeteer!

...Oh wait. He killed the puppeteer.]

It does matter! Everything- everything matters! I matter! What you did matters! Me- me hurting you matters! It all matters!

[Relaxing... clearly isn't going to happen for a while. Now he's freaking out twice as much over not being able to think of a good plan of attack. Damnit, even when he didn't have Fontaine breathing down his neck he had Tenenbaum helping him. What's he supposed to do without any guiding hands?]

Looks like I'll just be living out the end of my natural life, and there's nothing you can do about it. Oh well.

None of those things are true. It doesn't mean anything. You really need help, kid.

[He's a concerned adult, here!]

I don't need help! I'm fine! You're the fucked-up one, not me!

[This is going swimmingly. Jack sounds like he might cry.]

I'll- I'll figure it out! I'm going to!

[It sounds a bit desperate to be believable.]

[Well, he supposes he should do what he's been told to do, now that he's fucked things up once again.]

Relax, I'm just worried about you! Making death threats, freaking out. It's not normal.

[He's not going to argue that he's not fucked up. He is really fucked up.]

I said I was sorry, and nothing's happening to you. So calm down.

[Not like he was being an asshole or anything!]

It's not nothing! And- and I'm fine- I'm normal!

[No he's not, even he can notice that. But he hasn't quite made his peace with Rapture either. Things like their incident just add to that.]

If you were worried you would've let me out of that thing! Fuck you, you're not worried at all- you just wanna sound like it!

I've got news for you, this isn't normal. People don't like it when you go around making death threats over every little thing.

[Even Adachi has social mores figured out enough to know that. He knows that messing with a kid, sure it warrants a reprimand in the mind of the guys in charge, but not a death sentence.]

Yeah, I was going to let you out so you could kill me! You admitted to being dangerous, I wasn't going to take any chances.

[He had started to consider abandoning ship, but then had thought he might not be able to get away fast enough. Inside his illusions, he can all but warp reality itself, especially with such a suggestible kid, but outside of them...]

Sure, I'm worried. You could hurt yourself. Or somebody else. Maybe even somebody you like. That'd be a shame.

I won't- you don't know anything!

[But he's got nothing else he can say against this. Adachi's got a point. Several points. It's frustrating and terrifying but it's logical, and that makes it ten times worse. Jack gives up on speech, and just makes a loud noise of pure rage.

And then... it sounds like he's crying.]

Life is hard, isn't it? I know.

[Adachi almost sounds sympathetic, but he doesn't actually care that the kid is crying, nope.]

People screw us over again and again. And nothing matters, like nothing we do makes a difference, because just when you think things might be getting better, then it happens again.

[Adachi is absolutely right. Jack made a huge mistake assuming things were looking up and nothing was going to go wrong. He had a nice month before he ran back into his past. But there's always going to be people ruining his happiness and Adachi's just proof of that.

Knowing that's not going to stop him from crying his eyes out, though.]

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