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well. that got out of control.
I find that I'm better at working out meta as I fic, which then gets sucked back into whatever I'm writing, but I had a lot of Bourne stuff come bubbling up while I was PWP-ing Aaron and Marta and then my brain skipped off back to play with the Avengers. Before I lose my (semi-)thinky thoughts, I figured I'd toss them out here. Feel free to add on or tell me I'm letting my geeky joy about Norton and Renner in the same movie get the best of my thought processes.
I am possibly reading too much into Edward Norton's eyes, but the level of emotional manipulation that was going on with Cross (and presumably the other Outbound agents) was creeping me out nicely. Even moreso because I was reading how much Byer had talked *himself* into that mindset of "morally indefensible and entirely necessary" (approx.) What really *really* creeped me out was how each level of remove from the field made that morally indefensible realization that much less. (cf, Marta and her geeky joy at how gee-whiz-awesome it was that they could map and target the viruses even right up in Aaron's face.) The geeks back in the computer room were fucking *gleeful* about turning loose the NextGen agent, as though nothing and nobody out there in the blast radius (including that agent) weren't human beings. Byer at least knew that Cross was a person, even if I'm pretty sure he thought of him (Cross) as belonging to him (Byer.) Dita had another remove -- her concern was more for Byer, in that she seemed to have an idea of Byer and Cross having some kind of a relationship and that the longer the hunt went on, the more it was taking out of Byer (noting that Cross didn't really register as a person on her radar either.)
The first gen agents--Treadstone/Bourne, et al --> Nikki said they had a lot of issues and that she was specifically in the field to deal with those issues (textbook case of the physical manifestations of PTSD, even if nobody ever says that aloud.) Treadstone --> dedicated resource to keep the agents from imploding // until Bourne snaps on an assignment.
Treadstone "training" == breaking down the moral processes of presumably intelligent men/women. When Bourne wakes up, he's suppressed that conditioning and the more he remembers of it, the more his earlier, pre-conditioned self is horrified. The asset at the end of the 3rd movie gets partway along that path, wanting to know why Bourne didn't kill him.
Outbound looks to finesse that step by adding intelligence after the pyschological process is underway. Presumably no waterboarding needed, but isolation and probably also sleep deprivation, even if they do couch it in terms of testing the physical boundaries of the greens. Outbound still needs a handler in the field to make sure that doesn't backslide (flashback // sin-eater scene.) The NextGen agents have "reduced empathy" and the only support that asset gets is the female handler giving him keys to the car.
Legacy timeline --> Did Aaron sleep at all after the night he spends in the cabin in Alaska and before he goes under the virus in Manila? Does Marta?
Bourne goes out of his way to not hurt anyone who's not actively hurting/hunting him (chase in Tangier where he physically picks up and moves the guy away from the open fire before the aerosole can explodes); when/how does that moral compass turn (back) on for Cross?
To sum up: it might take me a year, but there is no way I'm not writing the Barton/Brandt/Cross-clones-separated-at-birth crack fic, if only so I can write Phil Coulson confronting Eric Byer and then nearly getting sick at how easily he could have crossed that line himself. Optional: Hawkeye knowing it was never that close. (hah, yeah, like that part is going to be optional.)
the end/omg, WORK NOW
I am possibly reading too much into Edward Norton's eyes, but the level of emotional manipulation that was going on with Cross (and presumably the other Outbound agents) was creeping me out nicely. Even moreso because I was reading how much Byer had talked *himself* into that mindset of "morally indefensible and entirely necessary" (approx.) What really *really* creeped me out was how each level of remove from the field made that morally indefensible realization that much less. (cf, Marta and her geeky joy at how gee-whiz-awesome it was that they could map and target the viruses even right up in Aaron's face.) The geeks back in the computer room were fucking *gleeful* about turning loose the NextGen agent, as though nothing and nobody out there in the blast radius (including that agent) weren't human beings. Byer at least knew that Cross was a person, even if I'm pretty sure he thought of him (Cross) as belonging to him (Byer.) Dita had another remove -- her concern was more for Byer, in that she seemed to have an idea of Byer and Cross having some kind of a relationship and that the longer the hunt went on, the more it was taking out of Byer (noting that Cross didn't really register as a person on her radar either.)
The first gen agents--Treadstone/Bourne, et al --> Nikki said they had a lot of issues and that she was specifically in the field to deal with those issues (textbook case of the physical manifestations of PTSD, even if nobody ever says that aloud.) Treadstone --> dedicated resource to keep the agents from imploding // until Bourne snaps on an assignment.
Treadstone "training" == breaking down the moral processes of presumably intelligent men/women. When Bourne wakes up, he's suppressed that conditioning and the more he remembers of it, the more his earlier, pre-conditioned self is horrified. The asset at the end of the 3rd movie gets partway along that path, wanting to know why Bourne didn't kill him.
Outbound looks to finesse that step by adding intelligence after the pyschological process is underway. Presumably no waterboarding needed, but isolation and probably also sleep deprivation, even if they do couch it in terms of testing the physical boundaries of the greens. Outbound still needs a handler in the field to make sure that doesn't backslide (flashback // sin-eater scene.) The NextGen agents have "reduced empathy" and the only support that asset gets is the female handler giving him keys to the car.
Legacy timeline --> Did Aaron sleep at all after the night he spends in the cabin in Alaska and before he goes under the virus in Manila? Does Marta?
Bourne goes out of his way to not hurt anyone who's not actively hurting/hunting him (chase in Tangier where he physically picks up and moves the guy away from the open fire before the aerosole can explodes); when/how does that moral compass turn (back) on for Cross?
To sum up: it might take me a year, but there is no way I'm not writing the Barton/Brandt/Cross-clones-separated-at-birth crack fic, if only so I can write Phil Coulson confronting Eric Byer and then nearly getting sick at how easily he could have crossed that line himself. Optional: Hawkeye knowing it was never that close. (hah, yeah, like that part is going to be optional.)
the end/omg, WORK NOW
no subject
no subject
(But how can I *not* write clones?)