for i am born to be what i must be and i must be.

[obediences]

WHO: Luther Hargreeves & you!
WHAT: A government enforcer, obedient to the wrong people because at least they weren’t as bad as his last authority figure.
WHEN: Catch-all for throughout the plot, will add prompts as needed
WHERE: In the streets, at government facilities, with his team of fellow enforcers, at home, wherever.

[ RATIFICATION CELEBRATION | OTA ]

After a decade in the City, Luther Hargreeves knows how this dog-and-pony show goes.

The meta known as Space is a steady and reliable appearance at public events throughout the month: he smiles politely for photos, he haunts the Archangel Gabriel’s side as a bodyguard, and he parrots the right words, the PR lines he’s been drilled into saying, the party line. Order and stability is more important than ever these days, now that the Porter’s spewing chaos back into their well-ordered life.

Or so they say. Or so they tell him.

You can find him working security, most likely, or watching the celebrations with more hawk-like attention than cheer (probably keeping an eye open for trouble). Parades, parties both public and private, his schedule’s packed with them all.

[ GOVERNMENT TEAMBUILDING | OPEN TO OTHER ENFORCER PALS ]

The truth is, though, that they’re stretched thin. Pulling long hours, doing the usual work of hunting the resistance, but also trying to track down new metas now, all the ones who slipped through their net when the Porter started working in overdrive.

His teammates can start to sense the change in the air when Luther’s stomping around the government complex, glowering at their map on the wall with pins of known resistance activity, or throwing himself into obsessive training and punching the punching bags a bit too hard until they spill stuffing all over the floor. Even the Ratification streamers hung (in an obligatory sort of fashion) around the office don’t improve his mood much.

[ WILDCARD ]

get @ me! i'm on plurk at quadrille if u wanna plot or if you want me to add a personalised starter for you :> will match prose or brackets, too.
also of note: he’s still 6’5”, but looks human in this AU and doesn’t have his half-ape physiology!

Comments

[obediences]

The increased crowds for the ratification celebrations means that, on top of all the new arrivals and extra work trying to keep them all processed and in line and readjusting to this world, there's increased petty crime, too. The work never ends.

So the thief goes scurrying off through the crowds, jubilant in their successful grab, already speeding away before anyone can stop him—

Until he crashes facefirst into an immovable wall.

One second ago, the street had been empty air and a clear escape. Now, suddenly, that wall is Luther, teleported into place and a fist snaring the other man's collar and lifting him straight off the ground.

"We'll have that back, thanks," he says, with a brilliant smile that's cut right from the newspapers. Luther takes back the wallet while the other man's feet kick and windmill; he deposits him with the police along the parade route, like handing over a child throwing a tantrum, then starts working his way back through the crowd looking for the owner who shouted.

When Luther finds her, his smile's gone down a watt or two, down to blandly polite as he holds out the wallet. "I think this is yours, ma'am?"

[choosetruth]

She's already cursing herself for yelling. It's not like she carries cash. Everything there could be replaced easily enough, and now she's condemned someone to the government's less than tender care. No one deserves that. Especially not a pickpocket who likely was only stealing because he was hungry.

She smiles blandly back, her sunglasses keeping her distress well contained, and takes the wallet.

"Wow, saved by a real superhero. Lucky me."

She mostly manages to keep the sarcasm out of her voice. Mostly.

[obediences]

Luther's normally not the best at reading people, but he does know the sound of an actual, proper fan. He's spent enough years back home and now in the City to recognise it; it was their bread-and-butter for a while, after all, the bright eyes and hitched breath and enthusiasm to see a real live superhero in the flesh. The excitement, even when it's bitten down and hidden.

This woman does not have it. Her sarcasm is withering.

And for a second, it actually reminds him of Diego's acerbic humour. And so instead of just smiling that bland, bland smile and letting her get on her way — no need for him to needle the bystanders — instead of all that, Luther actually takes a moment to flash a glint of dry humour back. "You sure you don't want my autograph?"

He hasn't recognised Georgia yet, but he's recognised her lack of enthusiasm — and rather than be offended, he's just bemused.

[choosetruth]

"Gee, too bad I left my framed picture of you at home." She's laying it on a little thick, but she can't resist. He's so... square jawed and superheroic. She doubts he's ever had to consider complex moral problems in his life. Why should you, when everyone immediately tells you you're the good guy?

[obediences]

It's one of the occupational hazards, growing up sheltered under the wing of an entity like this particular government. And therefore Luther is entirely lacking in proper self-awareness or irony — he can tell that people aren't his biggest fans, but still has trouble wrapping his head around someone hating him or what he stands for, or what the government stands for. He's still just so convinced that they're in the right.

But he does have a sense of humour in this world, and so he adds: "The PR office can probably hook you up with an extra print, if you need one."

[choosetruth]

She raises an eyebrow. He's probably joking, but she's too good at her job not to at least ask. "Is that something they do? How often does it come up?"

[obediences]

"Not all the time." It's not quite the publicity gauntlet that his childhood was, cameras and interviews and comic books, their public image honed and sharpened by the Monocle.

"But every so often. We become recognisable. There aren't that many metas left, what with no one getting resurrected anymore and no new ones showing up— well, until recently, anyway."