Thread: Arkham's Education (Cain and AliceArkham)

Is it alright? she asked, speaking mostly to herself, eyes narrowed. Do I have a choice? Alice mentally scolded herself for being rude to the doctor, even if he hadnt heard her. Those superficially polite faux-questions aggravated her. Still, he was taking out her frustration on Dr. Spelding, frustration he had nothing to do with cultivating, and that wasnt fair. Alice tried to even her expression, looking as neutral as she could manage. Just as she had gotten her facial muscles under her control, she saw the guard set down the tiny box. All of her silent work was undone, overcome with an abrupt frown. The Joker would know if she didnt take it, so she had to do that much at least. Touching it with a gentleness and dislike as though it were coated with broken glass, Alice carefully put it in her jumpsuit. Glaring so fiercely at the guard that he flinched, Alice left her cell and tried to decide what to do with the box. She refused to allow herself to look towards the Joker. Alice padded quietly down the hall, watching the doctor with a detached look intended to mask her apprehension. So focused on trying to determine what to do with the item the Joker had forcefully entrusted her with, Alice was unaware of the jeering of the inmates as she walked by. I have to warn him right? she asked herself. And then her gray hat hacker morality kicked in. Kicked in almost physically, manifesting as a twitch of relief skipping across her expression. Immediately the pre-remorse she had been fearing slipped off her shoulders, replaced by a calming sensation of intellectual apathy. Her godfather had indoctrinated her into the gray hat hacking way of life. Unbeknownst to herself, she quickly took that shaky base of an ethical foundation and generalized it to her everyday life. She could be a good person if it benefited her, but if it benefited her to behave otherwise, shed do that with just as much ease. Alice didnt enjoy doing the right thing or doing the wrong thing she just did things. For fun, for moneyit didnt matter. Exhaling deeply for the first time since the Joker had closed his food flap and ended their conversation, she sighed out the last remnants of the guilt shed been harboring in anticipation of completing her assigned task. Alices dislike at being compelled to deliver whatever it was she was hiding in her jumpsuit had distracted her from the task itself. True, she didnt want to get in trouble. But she also didnt care if the doctor got hurt if that kept her from getting hurt. Her thoughts no longer clouded by the uninvited question of morality that had been lingering since her intake, Alice came up with an idea. A back up plan of sorts. Looking around for security cameras, which were obvious in their placement, she chose a spot where she would be in direct view of the feed. She immediately stopped walking, halting so suddenly that the guard bumped into her and knocked her down. Bracing herself, once on the ground, grimacing at the sensation of her bones connecting with the cold, scarred floor, Alice quickly set the box on the ground in front of her. She counted to two, holding it in plain sight, to control for any delays in the footage capture, and then put it back in her jumpsuit. Neither the doctor nor the guard noticed the boxand if someone was watching the footage in real time, they wouldnt notice it either. And that was the point. As she stood, Alice saluted the camera. If something very bad did come about from her using the box if I choose to use it , she reminded herselfshe could say she was coerced, hoping that the elaborate bit she did there would show that she was trying to indicate that she had the item and didnt want it. Standing on her own, Alice looked up at the doctor. Maybe if he was nice, shed be swayed, but at the moment, she was more than ready to set down the item she had flashed for the camera and back against the wall, leaving him to fend for himself.