Fanfic100 Prompt 094: Independence
May. 29th, 2007 06:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
call_me_snakeTitle: Vengence for the People
Fandom: John Carpenter
Characters: Snake Plissken and Brazen with mention of others
Prompt: 094: Independence
Word Count: 1,317
Rating: PG-13 (For swearing only)
Author's Notes: For![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
merfilly's Memorial Day Challenge prompt:
Martina McBride – Independence Day
Today is a day of reckoning let the weak be strong, let the right be wrong roll
The stone away, let the guilty pay, it’s independence day
Contains spoilers for most Snake Plissken media.
Summary: Brazen finally discovers why Snake activated the Sword of Damocles.
Brazen couldn’t shake the curiosity. Of all the things she had ever wished to know about Plissken in the two years she’s studied him it was now LA in the forefront. Sure, she wanted to know how he got loose in Cleveland or what truly happened behind the walls of New York Max but those had been small compared to LA.
Some part of her wondered how long he had been planning. Susan had gone so far as to wonder if he hadn’t known of Cuervo Jones’ plans and set up his own capture to be in the right place at the right time.
Brazen continued to walk through the woods at the edge of camp. She knew he had reasons. Plissken never moved without good reason let alone concoct a plan this elaborate. He claimed that freedom was the reason but Snake was more intelligent and well thought out than that claim let on. He had other motivations but what continued to elude her. Susan also realized the answer was in his actions. If they were put together in the right way, to his logic, the answer would be bright as the neon on old Hollywood nights.
No matter how many ways she put the events around LA together none seemed to add up. To complicate things there was what he said in the field after the chopper crash. He didn’t want either side to win. Was he trying to knock everyone down to his level?
Susan wandered back to their campsite lost in thought. She had to know. Even if it pissed him off and he never spoke to her again, she had to learn why... Seeing Plissken by the fire, cleaning his pistols, she headed straight for him.
“Why did you do it?” Brazen was surprised by the demanding tone in her voice.
“Shit.” He muttered it without any further acknowledgement of her presence.
“Snake, Why?”
“I’ve told you already.” Snake snapped the answer in clipped tones.
“I want the truth.” Brazen had always known he was hiding things from her but this one she couldn’t bare to see remain a secret any longer.
“Whose truth?” Snake asked bluntly as he disassembled the second revolver. “Whose truth you want? Your truth, my truth, the truth the rest of these people believe? Hmmm? Whose you want?”
Brazen felt overwhelmed by the question. She wanted all of them, none of them. Suddenly she lost direction under his paralyzing gaze. He was still waiting.
“Yours.” Susan finally replied pushing the stray hair from her face.
“You’d never understand.” He commented returning to his previous task.
“You’re not even giving me a chance.”
“Do you remember a time without the military state?” Snake asked seriously as he oiled the revolver.
Susan strained to remember anything but defeated finally shook her head.
“Then you’ll never understand.”
“Let me try.” She pleaded.
“Alright.” Snake set his things aside and fell silent but Susan could see his thoughtfulness.
“There was a time when the people could say what they wanted. Sure there was still all the bureaucratic bullshit but if I didn’t like something I could protest it. I could bitch about it and try to make it change. Couldn’t do that under the police state. Get your ass shot. America went from freedom to a bunch of corralled animals waiting for the butcher. It was bullshit.”
She could hear the intensity and bitterness in his voice that previous conversations lacked. She couldn’t quite comprehend his statements. She would never protest an action of the government. It was absurd.
“Did you plan on using the Sword of Damocles?” It was the next logical question to satiate her curiosity.
“No.”
Brazen didn’t understand. Everything she had assumed involved him actively seeking to steal the Damocles controls.
“No?” Brazen questioned with almost child-like curiosity.
Plissken shook his head, lighting a cigarette while Susan waited for an answer in stunned silence. He let out a long stream of smoke and smiled.
“You’re the assholes who gave it to me.” Snake’s brow cocked in a curiosity to match her own. “Why don’t you tell me why they fuck you gave me a device to shut down the world.”
Brazen stared blankly sucking in a breath. She had never thought of the situation in this manner before but he was right. It had been like giving an arsonist a match to start the fire. Her eyes darted about as she searched her memories for a reason.
“We needed someone who could survive LA.” She blurted out as soon as Malloy’s comment about Plissken surfaced in her mind.
“Bullshit. You had a whole fucking police force and goddamned poison gas. Could’ve bombed the hell out of LA. Didn’t give a shit about the people you threw out there anyway.”
He was right again. Brazen couldn’t deny the accuracy of his statements. They could’ve just killed everyone or now that she was thinking, reprogram the satellite codes so the instruction disc wouldn’t work. Susan fell silent and examined her hands clasped in her lap. She had hoped talking to Plissken would clear things up. In truth, it had only further muddied the waters.
“They believed you were too stupid to use it.” Those words were Robertson’s.
Brazen heard Snake snort and stifle a chuckle.
‘Did you tell them what bullshit that was?”
“No.” Brazen admitted wondering where he was going with the question.
“Why?” He asked with genuine curiosity. “Wasn’t that your job?”
Susan’s voice disappeared at Plissken’s revelation. Could she have been responsible for this without knowing?
“They never believed me.” She offered feeling the burn of all the times she had been ignored or her work had been claimed for someone else’s fame.
“Maybe you do understand baby.”
Susan waited to hear more.
“America should listen to its people.” Snake’s inquiries continued. “You were the Force’s chief psych-advisor right?”
Brazen felt her face crumple into an incredulous expression. No one ever used that title when addressing her. To the rest it had become a joke due to her age. Susan nodded to Plissken.
“And they didn’t listen to you?” Plissken shook his head. “See something wrong there?”
Susan was finally beginning to grasp what Plissken was getting at with his questions.
“We didn’t have a president. We had a god damned dictator.”
His motivations were starting to make sense to Susan as she caught up with his train of thought enough to ask her own question.
“Why all the crime before Robertson?”
“You read the history? All the presidents after Leningrad were called puppets. You ever wonder who had their strings?”
Brazen had read that and honestly never questioned it assuming it was just a bunch of bureaucrats fighting for power.
“Robertson.” She stated. Not because she believed it but because it seemed like the answer he was getting at. Brazen watched Plissken take a long drag from his cigarette before tossing it away into the fire.
“He was a lead senator and advisor to all of them.”
Susan’s eyes suddenly felt wide open to what had been happening. She couldn’t deny it. Everything he said she knew was true.
“Robertson suggested Leningrad as a way to revitalize war support.” Snake let out a labored breath. “He didn’t have shit to do with its planning but he was the one who put it into motion.”
Brazen glanced up at Plissken “You had it in for him all along, Robertson?”
Snake nodded “Berrigan told me about it when I found him.”
“This was all about vengeance?” Brazen was shocked to even think that.
“No, independence.”
As Plissken got up from the fire, Susan came to a realization about the man she had been speaking to. He was vengeful but with luck his vengeance and the good of the people fell in line. She was afraid to think what might have been if that was not the case.
Crossposted to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
fanfic100
Fandom: John Carpenter
Characters: Snake Plissken and Brazen with mention of others
Prompt: 094: Independence
Word Count: 1,317
Rating: PG-13 (For swearing only)
Author's Notes: For
merfilly's Memorial Day Challenge prompt:Martina McBride – Independence Day
Today is a day of reckoning let the weak be strong, let the right be wrong roll
The stone away, let the guilty pay, it’s independence day
Contains spoilers for most Snake Plissken media.
Summary: Brazen finally discovers why Snake activated the Sword of Damocles.
Brazen couldn’t shake the curiosity. Of all the things she had ever wished to know about Plissken in the two years she’s studied him it was now LA in the forefront. Sure, she wanted to know how he got loose in Cleveland or what truly happened behind the walls of New York Max but those had been small compared to LA.
Some part of her wondered how long he had been planning. Susan had gone so far as to wonder if he hadn’t known of Cuervo Jones’ plans and set up his own capture to be in the right place at the right time.
Brazen continued to walk through the woods at the edge of camp. She knew he had reasons. Plissken never moved without good reason let alone concoct a plan this elaborate. He claimed that freedom was the reason but Snake was more intelligent and well thought out than that claim let on. He had other motivations but what continued to elude her. Susan also realized the answer was in his actions. If they were put together in the right way, to his logic, the answer would be bright as the neon on old Hollywood nights.
No matter how many ways she put the events around LA together none seemed to add up. To complicate things there was what he said in the field after the chopper crash. He didn’t want either side to win. Was he trying to knock everyone down to his level?
Susan wandered back to their campsite lost in thought. She had to know. Even if it pissed him off and he never spoke to her again, she had to learn why... Seeing Plissken by the fire, cleaning his pistols, she headed straight for him.
“Why did you do it?” Brazen was surprised by the demanding tone in her voice.
“Shit.” He muttered it without any further acknowledgement of her presence.
“Snake, Why?”
“I’ve told you already.” Snake snapped the answer in clipped tones.
“I want the truth.” Brazen had always known he was hiding things from her but this one she couldn’t bare to see remain a secret any longer.
“Whose truth?” Snake asked bluntly as he disassembled the second revolver. “Whose truth you want? Your truth, my truth, the truth the rest of these people believe? Hmmm? Whose you want?”
Brazen felt overwhelmed by the question. She wanted all of them, none of them. Suddenly she lost direction under his paralyzing gaze. He was still waiting.
“Yours.” Susan finally replied pushing the stray hair from her face.
“You’d never understand.” He commented returning to his previous task.
“You’re not even giving me a chance.”
“Do you remember a time without the military state?” Snake asked seriously as he oiled the revolver.
Susan strained to remember anything but defeated finally shook her head.
“Then you’ll never understand.”
“Let me try.” She pleaded.
“Alright.” Snake set his things aside and fell silent but Susan could see his thoughtfulness.
“There was a time when the people could say what they wanted. Sure there was still all the bureaucratic bullshit but if I didn’t like something I could protest it. I could bitch about it and try to make it change. Couldn’t do that under the police state. Get your ass shot. America went from freedom to a bunch of corralled animals waiting for the butcher. It was bullshit.”
She could hear the intensity and bitterness in his voice that previous conversations lacked. She couldn’t quite comprehend his statements. She would never protest an action of the government. It was absurd.
“Did you plan on using the Sword of Damocles?” It was the next logical question to satiate her curiosity.
“No.”
Brazen didn’t understand. Everything she had assumed involved him actively seeking to steal the Damocles controls.
“No?” Brazen questioned with almost child-like curiosity.
Plissken shook his head, lighting a cigarette while Susan waited for an answer in stunned silence. He let out a long stream of smoke and smiled.
“You’re the assholes who gave it to me.” Snake’s brow cocked in a curiosity to match her own. “Why don’t you tell me why they fuck you gave me a device to shut down the world.”
Brazen stared blankly sucking in a breath. She had never thought of the situation in this manner before but he was right. It had been like giving an arsonist a match to start the fire. Her eyes darted about as she searched her memories for a reason.
“We needed someone who could survive LA.” She blurted out as soon as Malloy’s comment about Plissken surfaced in her mind.
“Bullshit. You had a whole fucking police force and goddamned poison gas. Could’ve bombed the hell out of LA. Didn’t give a shit about the people you threw out there anyway.”
He was right again. Brazen couldn’t deny the accuracy of his statements. They could’ve just killed everyone or now that she was thinking, reprogram the satellite codes so the instruction disc wouldn’t work. Susan fell silent and examined her hands clasped in her lap. She had hoped talking to Plissken would clear things up. In truth, it had only further muddied the waters.
“They believed you were too stupid to use it.” Those words were Robertson’s.
Brazen heard Snake snort and stifle a chuckle.
‘Did you tell them what bullshit that was?”
“No.” Brazen admitted wondering where he was going with the question.
“Why?” He asked with genuine curiosity. “Wasn’t that your job?”
Susan’s voice disappeared at Plissken’s revelation. Could she have been responsible for this without knowing?
“They never believed me.” She offered feeling the burn of all the times she had been ignored or her work had been claimed for someone else’s fame.
“Maybe you do understand baby.”
Susan waited to hear more.
“America should listen to its people.” Snake’s inquiries continued. “You were the Force’s chief psych-advisor right?”
Brazen felt her face crumple into an incredulous expression. No one ever used that title when addressing her. To the rest it had become a joke due to her age. Susan nodded to Plissken.
“And they didn’t listen to you?” Plissken shook his head. “See something wrong there?”
Susan was finally beginning to grasp what Plissken was getting at with his questions.
“We didn’t have a president. We had a god damned dictator.”
His motivations were starting to make sense to Susan as she caught up with his train of thought enough to ask her own question.
“Why all the crime before Robertson?”
“You read the history? All the presidents after Leningrad were called puppets. You ever wonder who had their strings?”
Brazen had read that and honestly never questioned it assuming it was just a bunch of bureaucrats fighting for power.
“Robertson.” She stated. Not because she believed it but because it seemed like the answer he was getting at. Brazen watched Plissken take a long drag from his cigarette before tossing it away into the fire.
“He was a lead senator and advisor to all of them.”
Susan’s eyes suddenly felt wide open to what had been happening. She couldn’t deny it. Everything he said she knew was true.
“Robertson suggested Leningrad as a way to revitalize war support.” Snake let out a labored breath. “He didn’t have shit to do with its planning but he was the one who put it into motion.”
Brazen glanced up at Plissken “You had it in for him all along, Robertson?”
Snake nodded “Berrigan told me about it when I found him.”
“This was all about vengeance?” Brazen was shocked to even think that.
“No, independence.”
As Plissken got up from the fire, Susan came to a realization about the man she had been speaking to. He was vengeful but with luck his vengeance and the good of the people fell in line. She was afraid to think what might have been if that was not the case.
Crossposted to
fanfic100
