Log: Garrison and Inez

[x-desperado.livejournal.com]

Garrison tracks down Inez and finds out what's really bugging her about Jean-Paul's admission.



"So, you missed your hand to hand class tonight." Garrison Kane said, turning up unannounced in the near empty lounge where Inez was glued to the television. All the other lights were off, washing everything in the flickering light of the television screen. He already had a pretty good idea what was going on, but figured that meeting her stubborness head on had a better chance of working out a solution then sniping on the journals.

Inez didn't look at Garrison, instead just raising the remote and flipping through channels. "Didn't see the point," she said in a bored tone. "After all, if our teachers aren't expected to control their tempers, why should I? Not like I've killed anyone lately."

"Ah, we're already into sulking." Kane said, and took a seat on the arm of the couch. "Do you want to talk about it, or would you prefer just getting it beaten out of you at the quarrey or something?"

That got a snicker out of Inez. "Please, yo. You must have hit your head or something." She left the television on some old movie and turned to face Garrison, hands in her lap. "Okay, so, it's like this. Ever since that whole thing at the diner, I can't get away from everyone telling me how important it is to control my strength or I could hurt people. That that's why normal humans are afraid of us, right? And Mr. Beaubier's what, in his forties or something? Someone said he used to be an X-Man or something. And we're supposed to buy that he really didn't have any other option than to kill this guy? The guy who he said killed someone he cared about, gee, revenge much?"

She crossed her arms and leveled her gaze at Garrison. "If it was one of us kids, would we get a second chance, or would we be sitting in a cell somewhere?"

"Likely. But if it was one of you kids, you would never have been in that situation." Kane said, fairly comfortable with the conversation. In many ways, it mirrored what he himself had been forced to face only a few months ago. "Look, unfortunately, there's two parts to this whole thing, and you have to look at them separately."

Garrison tended to talk with his hands, gestures being painted blue by the flickering screen. "The point of training is so that you don't accidentially hurt someone and end up dealing with the consequences that come from that. Someone cops a feel in a club, you get mad and your slap tears his head off, you're going to spend the rest of your life in jail for something as simple as not thinking. It's vital to make that part of the training instinctive, because if you don't, you might end up having to live with killing someone for no other reason than simply making a mistake."

"So it wasn't an accident," Inez insisted. "He admitted to everyone that this guy killed his lover or something. I'm no lawyer, but isn't that what they call 'motive' on all those courtroom drama shows? Yeah, I have to train to control my strength so I don't tear someone's head off. So which is it in this case? Did he intentionally murder this guy, or is he trying to say it's an accident?"

"That's where we get into the other part of the whole situation. Jean-Paul is well trained, Inez. Not just in his powers. He spent years with Alpha Flight, and they trained with both military and law enforcement. I don't know the whole story, but the man had hostages. The police agreed to allow Jean-Paul to enter the scene, which means with hostages present, the life of the hostage taker is always secondary. In cop language, any shoot is a righteous one, because the second you threaten an innocent life, you forfiet the right to yours." Kane said.

"Now, did he have another option? Was he influenced by the past? Did he simply see an opportunity there? I don't know that, Inez. Really, none of us can. That why it's something you have to decide for yourself. What I do know is that JP is the one that is taking responsibility for it. He has to live with the decision he made to take a life, rightly or wrongly, and that isn't any easy thing."

"Well then," Inez replied sarcastically, "I suppose we ought to get a list of who it's okay to kill, then. I mean, that's only fair, right?"

"No, it means you're supposed to use your brain as opposed to looking for a simple 'fits all' explanation." Kane shrugged. "You want to get pissed off because fate decided that your body is a lethal weapon and you don't think that's fair, fine. But don't pretend that this is some kind of moral decision, and not an excuse. Jean-Paul was put into a situation in which the police trusted him to make a decision if innocent lives were threatened."

"And you think he made the right one?" Inez asked sharply. "Don't give me the 'cops have to make the hard choices' bullshit. Because you know what? I can control my powers and my temper. I want to know why I should give any kind of respect to a so-called teacher who can't do either."

"Because the decision he made had nothing to do with controlling his powers or his temper." Kane said mildly. "The decision would have been the exact same for a normal cop standing there with a gun, Inez. Do you risk the life of an innocent person by trying to take the person alive? Jean-Paul made a call, and now he has to live with it. I haven't seen him even try to hint that he is somehow not responsible for it, which is why I'm having difficulty understanding your anger. Let's be honest, Inez, I killed a man and you said 'you've got support here' to me. Jean-Paul does the same, and you're claiming a double standard. So what's the real deal here, eh?"

"It's about when a good person ends up sent to prison for making what you call 'hard choices', because no one else will support them, but when Jean-Paul does it and kills someone, he gets to walk away?" Inez tried to keep the anger in her voice from turning into grief. "You know about my dad. He stole a lot of money to try and pay for my mom's medical bills, and things got out of hand after that. He's a good person, he was doing a good thing for his family which should be more important than just some stupid hostages somewhere! So why do I have to grow up without him, but Jean-Paul gets to come back here and go on with his life? Why does he get everyone saying that they understand what he had to do and letting him walk away, when no one, not even my own family, gave my dad a second chance?"

She sniffed loudly and wiped her sleeve across her eyes. "Why don't the really good people get the rules bent for them once in a while, but everyone else can?"

"Because, kiddo, sometimes life isn't fair." Kane dropped from his perch on the arm to sit down beside her. "What happened to your dad is what happens when a person ends up in a situation that they can't see a way out of, and they don't know how or who to ask for help. Both he and Jean-Paul have to take responsibility for their decisions. No one is bending the rules for Jean-Paul. If the police decided that his actions weren't self-defense, or in defense of the hostages, he'd be facing charges too."

Garrison sighed, scrubbing his hands through his hair. "I don't know your dad, but I doubt he wasn't aware of what was going to happen to him when he made the decision to risk everything to try and save your mom. I think he knew what the cost would be, and decided that she mattered more to him. I don't agree with what he did, but I can see the courage that it took. Doing the wrong thing for the right reasons is making a sacrifice, and sacrifices have to cost you."

"And what's it going to cost him?" Inez demanded, eyes wet. "Everyone's just going to support him and tell him it's not his fault and that he's still a good person. Excuse me if I'm not seeing any goddamn sacrifice here."

"He has to live with the fact that he chose to take someone's life. Doesn't matter what justifications that he had, Jean-Paul will never be able to forget that moment." Garrison had gotten quiet, his own experiences starting to creep in. "It may not seem like enough to you, but... well, it's hard to understand unless you've had to do the same."

"You're right," Inez said with a nod, trying to relax back into the couch, turning the remote over and over in her hands. "It's not enough."

"Well, I hope you never get to the point that you do really understand it." Kane said finally, getting up. "Because that means you're carrying around the same weight. Class has been rescheduled for tomorrow. I'd strongly suggest that you don't miss it again."

"What do I look like, Rainbow-lina?" Inez snapped back, but nodded. "I'll be there."