bakerstreet | POWERED & SOURCE

POWERED & SOURCE

::Powered/SOURCE

a sci-fi au meme

50 years ago, or 75 years ago,or 20 - it's hard to recall such precise numbers in the haze and hardship - the world almost ended. While the timing itself is remembered by few, the event serves as a sharp divide of before the Fall and after. The Fall, in all its terrible and explosive splendor, sent societies spinning on their heads, no matter if its intimate nature are unclear. Once again, humanity has had to claw its way out of the primordial pit, all its achievements sent to ruin in the face of a nuclear flare. What little governmental structure remain amongst the survivors is tyrannical, but astute. When those in charge noticed that offspring of those who hadn't been killed by the Fall were beginning to be born with unique abilities, they chose not to persecute this "new generation." Instead, they jumped at the chance to have a homegrown army to protect the fragile rebirth of man, learning little from the old mistakes.

These gifted individuals fall into two categories: those with psionic powers and abilities used for offense and those who have healing and rejuvenating properties. Apart, these are interesting parlor tricks, with psionics, called Powereds, being about to move items with their minds for a few inches or pick up heavier ones they shouldn't be able to or healers, called Sources, fixing up superficial wounds. The true potential lies in when a Powered and Source are brought together, however. Each Powered has a Source that is their match and vice versa, the lock to their key, right down to the very genetics. When the right pairing made, a Powered can move mountains or create energy weapons beyond compare, a Source can provide near infinite energy to their Powered or even bring living beings back from the brink of death. To belong to either of these groups is a high honor. So high, in fact, that as soon as a child shows promise, they are whisked away by higher authorities to be matched with their lifetime Powered or Sourced and begin their training, where, despite the risks, they will find better living conditions and more resources than they could have ever dreamed of out in the desolate, dying world.

This pair grows up together, becoming dependent on each other. Even if their personalities clash, the pull in their very nature evens things out; it is, after all, a psychic bond that connects Powered and Sourced. Without the presence of their Source, a Powered might find themselves enraged or worried or unsettled. On the other hand, a lonely Source may become listless or despaired. As two is where they find complete harmony, and their unity shows in the combat or espionage skills.

On record, romance between matched pairs is strictly forbidden. Off the books, though, it happens more times than not, with two people growing up together virtually since childhood who are programmed to be co-dependent, and it is highly encouraged by those higher up due to abilities being strengthened through both emotional connection and physical contact. There's no risk in it, in their eyes, only gain as they can terminate a pair quite easily. A Powered is useless without a Source, so the ultimate weapon has a kill-switch...and a useful weakness for blackmail purposes There are always whispers in barracks of someone who's doing a task because their Powered's or Source's life is at stake.

Once battle training is complete, each pair is assigned to an eight-man cell, comprised of four matched pairs like themselves. What these teams do depends upon their skill sets and training levels, with anything from peacekeeping to public relations to assassination being on the dossier. Yet the imperative is for those on front line is clear: protect your Powered or Sourced at all costs, even on the backs of the others on your team.

Without them, you are useless. Without them, there is no place for you in this world.

tl;dr sparknotes this because we want to get to the meme: Sentinels and guides had a baby with YA dystopian lit. After a near extinction level cataclysm, people began to develop abilities that fall into two categories: Powered (sentinel/warrior) and Source (guide/healer). Their true powers are only revealed when they find their one genetically compatible match. A shadow government kidnaps these individuals, puts them into lifebonds, trains them for combat, then sends them out in teams to do all the dirty work. Codependency, mind-bonding, unhealthy love, and bloody murder probably ensue.

In the subject line, place your character name, canon, preferences, and whether your character will be a Powered, Source, or either. Reply to others! What will your character be doing? Being a late bloomer and only now meeting their partner? Training? On a mission? Enjoying some rare down time? Comforting their partner? Aftercare after the battle? Getting blackmailed? Climbing to the top of the ladder and infiltrating the government? Realizing their partner's getting a little too bloodthirsty? Falling in love with someone else's Powered or Source - absolute anathema. Facing certain death? It's up to you. Thread.

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Sleep was important. Steve didn't realize it was so late already or how tired he was starting to get. He definitely made progress on the sketch. He stood up, stretching his shoulders and he put the sketch down. He would have to finish it the next time there was time. It was up to Tony whether he wanted to peek.

He smiled, "Go ahead. I might rinse off myself when you're finished." No sense in dirtying the bed anymore than they needed to, right?

Tony did peek, but only after he had showered and Steve was in the bathroom. He was dripping, standing just far enough away from the chair so he didn't drip all over it.

But he could see the sketch just fine. He took the image of what Steve chose to draw right with him to bed, digging the heels of his palms into his eyes.

He relieved himself and stepped into the shower, using the same soap from before to quickly wash himself down. Steve was sure he needed it. He dried his hair as best as he could and he stepped back out to find Tony sitting in bed.

"You alright?" he asked as he crossed to the bed.

"Is that how you see me?" Tony blurted out. He wasn't able to keep his mouth shut. It was simply beyond him. He saw such sadness and loneliness in they drawing, half done as it was. The sketches from his childhood were all bubbly.

Now they were lost and tired.

And he looked tired now too as he watched Steve come closer and JARVIS turn off the lights.

He hesitated--what was he supposed to say? He was pretty sure there wasn't a good answer to that question. He didn't expect Tony to look at it yet but he knew how patient he was when it came to this sort of thing.

"Yes?" Steve said quietly, forehead creasing as he crawled onto the bed and now he wasn't sure what he should have drawn.

Tony's hands clutched at Steve's when his Powered joins him in the bed. He was still shirtless, but that wasn't something he bothered to correct. His fingers slipped up to his wrists and finally splayed across his biceps.

"Change it." But he didn't mean the picture. He meant his sadness.

He could see perfectly well in the dark. He wasn't sure how well Tony could see but the movements the man made seemed to be deliberate at least. Steve frowned because he didn't like his Source being unhappy. He just didn't know what he could do to change it. However, he assumed that Tony meant the sketch.

"I can start over," he said, misunderstanding, though he had every intent to try to make Tony happy and to keep him from feeling lonely. Steve hoped it would help that he was actually around now.

"Not with the sketch." He slipped a hand up his chest. His shirt was still damp from putting it on after the shower.

He had to clench his teeth before he said something ridiculous. Maybe he was just tired... No. He was needy. Sources tended to be.

"I don't want to be that man you drew. Not when you're right here in front of me and I can touch you."

"It'll take time," Steve murmured, considering the request and reaching out to gently rest a hand on Tony's side. "You've been through so much. I can't magically make everything better but I'm here. I'll do what I can."

After a moment, he asked, "What can I do to help? Besides just being here." He was asking Tony what he needed from him. Steve could take shots in the dark and be there for him, but it would be easier to pin down if he had some ideas first.

"But that's your job." The touch was comforting. Bare skin to bare skin. He was suffering from years without being with his Powered and now that he was back, it was like he was trying to pack the decades into a few nights to equal them both out.

"I... I feel anxious." His hand cupped the side of Steve's neck, thumb lightly tracing his jawline. "And I'm having thoughts that I probably shouldn't."

"It'll just help if I know where to start," Steve told him, because he didn't want to make it worse either. He didn't mind that Tony wanted to touch him all the time. Steve was just fine with it because it made him feel at home.

"What kind of thoughts?" He asked—it was the logical follow-up to that statement. Maybe it was a little personal but they were a pair. He was more concerned that his Source might be suicidal, especially when paired with the anxiety.

"About you." It was difficult to say and even more difficult to follow that up with anything meaningful. "Us. I wish I could tell you they're new. Or that they don't mean anything. But.. I'm sorry Steve."

He did mean that. He turned out wrong somehow.

"I know what happens to pairs that want what I want. You worked so hard on this bed but I should go back to the hammock."

He didn't need to follow up that rambling with anything meaningful. Steve could follow that train of thought well enough. He didn't realize how Tony felt until now and he still wasn't absolutely sure, but there were few things involving pairs that turned out poorly. Steve knew he needed to be careful here, with how he phrased things, but he wasn't put off. He would actually keep Tony from leaving if he looked like he was going to move.

Slowly, he said, "You know I never bought into the idea that pairs should be separated. It wasn't anyone's business what pairs got up to behind closed doors."

It was a good thing Steve was strong and fast. Tony had tried to leave, unfolding his legs from beneath himself to get out of bed until Steve wouldn't let him.

"That's what caused all of this!" Tony said, half under his breath, clutching at Steve's shirt. "There aren't any more of us for a reason."

"No, society and the government trying to control people caused this," Steve said and he knew it was the simplest version of the events but it was true. If there wasn't such a stigma, they all would have been that powerful. They would have stood some kind of chance. If people weren't afraid of them because of the propaganda... it could have been an entirely different story.

Still, Steve let him go because he wasn't about to force the issue. He wasn't sure how he felt about it anyway but he wasn't going to let Tony think it was wrong either. He added, quietly, "You said yourself you didn't need anyone else. It's in our nature, isn't it?"

"It's more than nature." He didn't quite get out of bed... He should have but the best he could do was drop his hands and sit back on his heels. They had had years together when he was a child but that was more than enough to fuel his teenage and young adult years with enough fodder to keep him occupied and remind him that everyone else could never be enough. "I love you." It meant something more evolved than it had when Steve left him.

He hesitated slightly, but he decided it was true, even despite his uncertainties on the matter and echoed, "I love you too, Tony."

Steve wanted him to understand where his uncertainty was coming from here. He didn't want him to think it wasn't true which was probably how it sounded. So he continued, "This is... strange for me. I know you aren't ten anymore but those are still the memories I have of you."

Tony didn't feel embarrassed or angry or even disappointed. He just felt sad. What had given them their bond was something that could force them to never be together again and that made him feel sick. A lump of bile rose up into his chest and clung to his back of his throat.

"It's fine. It's because you're back. Instead of dealing with my feelings as they came up and dismissed them, I'm just getting them all at once again." He tried to swallow down the lump but it was stuck.

"It'll work itself out," he told him, tilting his head as he watched the other man and he didn't know if there was anything he could do to fix this. He probably shouldn't have said anything but it was important for Tony to know. "I don't mind us staying close. I just need some time to adjust to you being older than me before... well, you know."

Tony stared at Steve as if he had gone insane. He almost felt ill, his gut twisting around inside of him. "No. No, I don't need your charity--". He was embarrassed now, even if he hadn't been before. Tony looked hurt and he took a pillow from this new bed of theirs and left the apartment to sleep in the lab. This might have been the first time that Tony had ever been angry with Steve.

What Tony clearly didn't understand was that one, he was not insane and two, he shared the attraction. It was just strange to him. Was that really that hard to understand? He didn't stop Tony from leaving this time because he could tell that he was angry.

What did he want him to say? Steve didn't feel like there was a way to win that conversation. Either he rejected him and Tony was upset or do what he had done and Tony was upset.

"It's not charity," he muttered to himself and he dragged his hands over his face. See, here he was trying to help and now it was a hundred times worse. So much for getting a good night's sleep. He was pretty sure he was just going to spend all night dwelling on where that conversation went wrong.

All Steve had to do was tell Tony he felt the attraction too instead of let Tony believe he would do his duty for God and Country...or, well, Source. He retreated with a sharp pain in his chest and the hot flashes of fear traveling up and down his back. He was disgusted with himself. He knew he had been leading to this since that first night when he curled up against Steve's back.

He wanted him. It felt right to be attracted to him.

But of course he assumed now that Steve would accept that to keep him happy. And Tony could never be happy with that. He held his pillow to his chest when he climbed into the hammock. It was cold in here. And he shivered even under the blankets. He felt like.a fool, old and useful in ways that only got people killed eventually.

After tossing and turning for what was probably an hour. Steve gave up on trying to sleep completely and just stared at the ceiling instead, trying to figure out how he could convince Tony that he was actually attracted to him. It wasn't some kind of game or forced circumstance. He wasn't just saying it because he was supposed to. It was honest. The man was handsome. Sketching him had been a terrible exercise in not giving that away but apparently he should have.

Another hour and he finally shoved to his feet. This was ridiculous. This was just a misunderstanding. There was no reason this should be happening.

"Tony?" he said, stopping a short distance from the hammock. He wasn't sure if the man was awake but it didn't matter. He could go back to sleep after they talked.

"I'm sorry." It was the standard reply of a child that didn't want to be in trouble and wanted everything to go back to the way it had been before he'd messed up. He didn't lift his head and most of it was stuck under the blankets so that his breath could catch under the cloth and keep him warmer. "Whatever that was, I'm sorry."

He couldn't stress it enough.

"Can we forget it? Tomorrow can go back to normal."

"You never have to be sorry for telling the truth," Steve said first, because he didn't operate that way. He would rather have that over someone hiding something from him or outright lying about it, especially if that someone was his Source.

"And I came out here to tell you I love you," he continued and he knew that could be vague, so he wasn't finished. "You're an incredibly handsome man, Tony. I've been trying to ignore it for the past few days because I just came back and I didn't know anything about your sexuality, or how you felt about me. It didn't help that I was struggling with the fact that you were ten in my head."

Steve took a deep breath, ignoring any interruptions, "It was hard to get around, still is, but I was happy to sketch you because it gave me an excuse to ogle you."

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