Can We Talk?

[Pepper Krasniqi]

“I know everything that Pepper knows, so if Pepper is supposed to know it, then I know it, which makes me asking you anything almost redundant. Right now, She can hear us and see us, the way I normally do. So She will know everything we have talked about as well.”

There was a little pause, and then They stepped out from behind the chair and stepped right up to the desk, resting their hands on the top. Then, with a soft and faraway look on Their face, He asked a question.

“I do have a question, for you, Isaac. The person, and not the agent. You’ve mentioned Cody. I have all of Pepper’s memories of him, and obviously, I have my own opinion of the man that doesn’t match up with Pepper’s view of him. I would like your insight. You know him better than probably even Pepper does. Will he stay with her when She becomes SHE? It’s a selfish question. I want Her to be happy. He makes Her happy, despite how I might feel about the matter. I have chosen to trust you today. So tell me how much you believe in him.”

Hades said it with the tone of someone who was suggesting He could do something about the problem if He wasn’t thoroughly convinced. Whether that thing was a threat to Cody or not, He let that hang in the air. In reality, what He would do if He didn’t think Cody would stand by Her was likely alter Her memories, a thing He’d been refraining from doing any more. It wasn’t ideal, and She would know there was someone ripped from Her memories, but she wouldn’t know it was him.

He kept those thoughts private, the way He had been for the last few days. She didn’t need to know He was thinking of Blitzing Her memory to protect Her from heartbreak

 

[Containment]

Hades asked a very delicate question, at least when asked of Isaac. It was a question to him as a person – more importantly, to Cody’s friend. Isaac, for his part, knew full well what the answer was. To give the complete answer to Hades would be dangerous, not to Isaac, or to the Foundation, but to Cody.

Hades didn’t need to hear what lengths Cody would go to if it meant helping someone he cared about. He didn’t need to know that Cody would throw himself, body and soul, at something he loved, whether that be his research, the people around him, or a stupid prank. Cody would let himself be torn apart if it meant loving Pepper.

He didn’t think that would be a helpful answer to give to the godspark, however. Deities encouraged that kind of behavior until it became fanaticism. And Isaac, not as a security agent, but as a person, couldn’t let anything do that to his best friend.

So he just shook his head a little at Hades, with a you know how he is kind of smile.

“There’s only been one person Codes has ever given up on, and then only because he didn’t have a choice.” Isaac leaned back in his seat, and sighed. “If he loves Pepper – and trust me, I wouldn’t have encouraged anything if I didn’t think he did, and was just oblivious – then the two of you could turn into an eight-foot-tall gorilla, and as long as most of you is still Pepper, Codes wouldn’t care as long as she’s safe.”