[Though Carlisle seems to notice that conflict ebbing its way into Qubit, he keeps pressing, his visible features impassive, but his tone firm.]
How do you stop a wrathful god? [Yes, he knows Tony wasn't a god, but with the phenomenal powers he had and the scale of destruction he caused, he might as well have been. He holds up a hand, hoping to preemptively halt any protest Qubit might have for that turn of the phrase, and keeps going.] At what point is your hesitance an equal danger to those still alive? When are your principles more important than the living who may yet be saved?
[His eyes squeeze shut for a moment as he contemplates those words himself; neither he, nor his bloodline, is a stranger to such moral quandaries. The fact he's even here, animated and wandering Anchor freely, is an absolute conflict with his own principles on every level, and Qubit knows it.]
While I argue that everyone has a right to exist, I also believe that there are those who forfeit that right. Sometimes, the greater good requires sacrifice... for better or for worse. Unfortunately, there are times it comes at the cost of a good person, or the life of a hero. Or one who was once both, in this terrible case.
[Ah, there's that sympathetic gentleness he usually has — particularly for Qubit — creeping back in.]
No choice you made would have been fully just.
[And therein lies the answer to Carlisle's question, he supposes inwardly: what Tony inspired in Qubit after he turned was doubt in his own actions, and an overwhelming feeling of responsibility for those around him, those looking to the Paradigm for salvation. He inspired guilt so heavy that it weighs Qubit down even now, makes him feel as though he, too, is a monster for doing what he felt he had to do. He was trying to save lives, the Paradigm, and Tony all at once — and there was simply no way to accomplish such an impossible task.]
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How do you stop a wrathful god? [Yes, he knows Tony wasn't a god, but with the phenomenal powers he had and the scale of destruction he caused, he might as well have been. He holds up a hand, hoping to preemptively halt any protest Qubit might have for that turn of the phrase, and keeps going.] At what point is your hesitance an equal danger to those still alive? When are your principles more important than the living who may yet be saved?
[His eyes squeeze shut for a moment as he contemplates those words himself; neither he, nor his bloodline, is a stranger to such moral quandaries. The fact he's even here, animated and wandering Anchor freely, is an absolute conflict with his own principles on every level, and Qubit knows it.]
While I argue that everyone has a right to exist, I also believe that there are those who forfeit that right. Sometimes, the greater good requires sacrifice... for better or for worse. Unfortunately, there are times it comes at the cost of a good person, or the life of a hero. Or one who was once both, in this terrible case.
[Ah, there's that sympathetic gentleness he usually has — particularly for Qubit — creeping back in.]
No choice you made would have been fully just.
[And therein lies the answer to Carlisle's question, he supposes inwardly: what Tony inspired in Qubit after he turned was doubt in his own actions, and an overwhelming feeling of responsibility for those around him, those looking to the Paradigm for salvation. He inspired guilt so heavy that it weighs Qubit down even now, makes him feel as though he, too, is a monster for doing what he felt he had to do. He was trying to save lives, the Paradigm, and Tony all at once — and there was simply no way to accomplish such an impossible task.]