Yes, there's more than enough evidence of that on the Barge. [And hell, Rex has a massive god complex, himself. BUT AS USUAL, NOTHING APPLIES TO HIM.] I don't think I've seen you on your worst days, Doctor.

You wouldn't want to.

Or maybe you would.

I don't know. I do know that even knowing the terrible things I'm capable of and seeing what damage I can inflict firsthand.... I do still have itchy fingers.

It depends on if you would be turning it against me, Doctor.

But you're aware of it. You understand what it's like, to have all of that power. You don't posture and pretend like the other wardens.

To be honest, Rex. I would likely make someone else deal with you, if it were to come down to me standing against you.

I am aware of it. Are there any wardens in particular that you're citing?

Why? [In his experience, after all, his old friends had no problem trying to kick his ass personally.]

I could name a few, but no... I meant in general.

I don't wish to hurt you. [He says it in that, Seems obvious to me, sort of way.]

Ah. Well, it is a valid point. Do you think if you had that sort of power, you'd be satisfied?

...Ah. That makes sense.

[Pause.] I couldn't say for certain. Before the Barge, I only ever focused on my work.

What were you hoping for as the end result of your work?

To do all that was possible with the technology I'd developed. To utilize it to its fullest potential.

That's a very intellectual aspiration.

Sometimes I can see the man that they comment about. The "supervillain". But I don't think you're evil. I simply think you're ambitious, and quite tired of being the little fellow that's always underestimated or having to depend on his friends for loyalties you very well know could wane. And I think you wish to feel confident and in control of what happens to you.

It's not so bad being underestimated, sometimes.

[There's a long silence. The Doctor basically has him pegged right there.]

When do you see me as a villain?

I was underestimated more when... I looked different. Treated as a child, as everybody's little brother. But even then, even though I tried to be a model inmate, I was regarded with more suspicion than the others.

What I'm trying to say is... Even when I'm underestimated, people still assume the worst of me. If they're going to do it to me regardless, why should I let them underestimate me? Why not go all out and be the 'supervillain' they all think I am?

Edited 2011-01-17 12:43 am (UTC)

Right after you've lost someone. Oh, your speeches are impressive. But you're truly frightening in those moments after someone you care about leaves. It's as if, in that instant, no matter who's still here and who still cares about you, you've nothing left to lose.

I don't see why they deserve to be proven right. You're the intelligent one. They're the ones living off petty presumption.

[SPAAAZZZZ:] They're what I hid myself away from! They make up society-- what's acceptable, what's... normal. They get to define who's worthy of acceptance and who's a monster. [SEETHE. There's barely restrained frustration in his voice, then a long silence. Then, softer:]

How can I "redeem" myself if it means I'd have to join a world I have no desire to live in? [BASICALLY, HE HATES PEOPLE, OKAY?] A world that wants me even less than I want it.

[Funnily enough, he's not even talking about his appearance.]

That's what the Barge taught me.

You don't have to rejoin it. [Adamantly] People like that are choking themselves out, destined to be lost in anonymity as they drive their own wretched closed-minded selves into extinction. And they make many others that think quite like you that enough is enough.

One day, Rex you will do great things, whether they be terrible or wondrous. You will be remembered in passing. They will be forgotten. And one way or another, you will make things change.

You've allowed them to define you enough. You're neither a "kid brother" or "supervillain". You are what you are and that is a genius. You'll leave this ship, redeemed or not, and I would greatly prefer that whatever changes you make in yourself for better or for worse were made because you wished to make them, not because some small-minded simpleton of feigned importance thought he could dare define you based on his petty pop culture experience.

Edited 2011-01-17 06:09 am (UTC)

People like that are revered here. They're the ones who are looked upon as so great and understanding if they're wardens, or just in need of a little guidance if they're inmates. I was never given the same chance. It was wardens who-- [He cuts himself off.] I wonder, sometimes, how different it would have been if I were. But that's pointless, isn't it? To dwell...

I've already done great things, Doctor. They're why I'm here. Because I pursued them at the expense of [He spits the word out:] people.

I'm not so certain they're all that understanding. I know a few who very much aren't. Not everyone thinks they're perfect. But I do believe the inmates do stand a second chance... but they need more than guidance. They need a sense of security, and the wardens can't provide that adequately with these dimensional disturbances, no matter how capable they are.

I gather you want to punish them for the way they treat you, and people like you. But once you've done, are there there not just more people finding excuses to give you a difficult time? Picking people that might have had similar difficulties out as, "problem individuals" and "potential threats"? I see wardens behaving like this and it sickens me.

[Reluctantly:] I do. [Then, with more force:] And if those people give me a difficult time in turn, I'll punish them, too. They can experience what I'm capable of first-hand.

It isn't just the dimensional disturbances, Doctor. It's the people. I've had wardens push me far more than any flood ever did, while others stood aside and allowed it to happen. The things I've been accused of, harassed over, had my confidentiality thrown aside for, without so much as a question to my actual guilt or innocence-- if they'd been raised against so many of the other inmates here, the accusors would have been laughed off the Barge. Imagine, somebody claiming Victor Frankenstein took advantage of a boy and drove him to suicide, or Omega experimenting on Infirmary patients? Who would take those accusations seriously?

But when it's me, suddenly, it becomes believable. Without question. And this was before my scars-- before I embraced who I was. When I was still trying to "fit in," be a good, productive member of the Barge.

So tell me, Doctor. You know people better than I do. What is it about me that makes it so easy to believe I'm a monster that even my so-called "colleagues," my own warden can assume the worst of me without a second thought? [To be fair, he confronted Harper about that whole business before, and his warden did admit he was wrong, BUT REX NEVER FORGETS.]

Edited 2011-01-17 07:30 pm (UTC)

[He puts his face in his hands for a moment.] It is not precisely healthy that my first inclination was to ask you to play chess with me. [He pulls his hands away from his face and settles, though, considering.]

I would take them seriously, and it's the same reason that they assume that I'm a good man merely because of my moral statute. One of the reasons that I actually spend time with Narvin, knowing full well what horrors and treachery the CIA is capable of is that he knows the truth. I kidnapped my first companions with every intention of abandoning them in another era. My granddaughter was the one who argued on their behalf. My largest regret about destroying Skaro, is that I didn't destroy all of the Daleks. I've shifted and manipulated and manoeuvred and somehow people are still unquestionably fond of me.

And it's not right. I ought to be questioned. And you ought to be given the benefit of the doubt. And I would make a commentary, but I don't believe you wish to have more attention than normal drawn to you.