one; voice {my mathematical mind can see the breaks}.

[justmath]

[Oh hey, look, it's a (fairly) new kid on the network. And he has a question for y'all.]

Hey, everyone. My name's Alvin Draper and I'm pretty new here, so I apologize if this is a question that's been asked before, but it seemed ... relevant, given some of the more recent discussions here.

[I.e., that whole "should we kill Delight" poll, which Tim is still actively side-eyeing the hell out of everyone here over. Except Lance. Lance is the only sane person here and has the correct opinion on murder.]

I'm just curious - [because he wants to know exactly what kinds of psychos he's landed with] - under what circumstances do you believe it's acceptable to kill someone, and why do you believe that?

[Please cite your sources using MLA format, thanks!]

Comments

voice

[justmath]

No. I don't kill people.

[Like, ever. He wanted to one time, but that was a really special circumstance and he got over it. But he's also met a future version of himself who was fine with killing, and in light of the discussion over Delight's fate, Tim's attempting to puzzle some things out.]

Like I said, I'm just curious to know who here does and why they think that way.

[foundafamily]

[He snorts.]

Lotta people out there barely need a reason.

[But he sighs, and some of the derision leaves his voice as he offers his own answer.]

I don't like that kinda thing, but I'm not gonna say no if my boss says it needs done. And then there're the obvious reasons to do it, like if your family's on the line. You'd kill somebody then, wouldn't you?

[justmath]

[Tim gets real quiet for a long moment. As much as he'd like to say he's the kind of person who'd take the moral high ground and find another, nonlethal option, he can't in all honesty say that if he'd made it back to the apartment in time to save his father from being killed by Captain Boomerang, he wouldn't have killed the other man in order to stop him. After, he'd wanted to kill Boomerang - thought it over thoroughly for a long time, then set up an intricate web of traps to lead his father's murderer to his death through his own series of bad decisions, then intervened and made the attempt on his life himself.

It would have been easy to let him die. Red Robin had him dangling by a cable over the side of a building. Tim could have done nothing, let him fall when he stumbled; he could've let the cable drop and watch his father's murderer die on the street below.

But he didn't.]

... I don't know.

[It's a slippery, slippery slope, and Tim's not absolutely certain he would ever be able to apply the brakes once he'd started down that path. The future version of himself that he'd met, the one who became Batman when Bruce died and enacted his own brand of lethal justice, he believed killing was necessary. He admitted to killing Damian, calling him a monster - how many other lives had his future self taken, in the name of necessity? Tim protested to his older self that he would never become him, but there's a small sliver of doubt, burrowed deep in his heart and his mind.]

Does your boss have a habit of saying that killing needs to be done?

[foundafamily]

[In a way, the admission of uncertainty is a better answer than any Firo might've expected--and is probably the one response that would've kept him from pestering this person more, just to be antagonistic, just because it's second nature when moral questions come up. So he leaves it alone. For now. His curiosity still bubbles up below the surface, of course.]

Not without a reason, if that's what you're asking.

[Don Martillo's word is law either way. Firo trusts that he'd have a good reason for something so drastic, and so pretty much any reason he'd have is a good one. It's circular logic, but Firo goes through life easier if he accepts it and doesn't think on it too hard.]

A camorra Family's not gonna get very far if they're squeamish about that kinda thing. I guess some jobs are different, but that's how our business is.

[justmath]

And by business, you mean - what, organized crime?

['Cause that's what it sounds like to Tim.]

[foundafamily]

[His tone is artificially light and casual, but there's an underlying tension to it, as if asking if this guy wants to make something of it.]

Exactly. We run speakeasies, casinos, stuff like that.

[Well, not so much the speakeasies anymore, with Prohibition over. And then there's the even less savory stuff, like extortion and protection rackets, but this guy sounds like he has the idea already.]

What about you?

[With the terminology he used and his views on killing, Firo assumes that they don't work in the same industry.]