Quoted By:
<span class="mu-r">“Are you telling me that the whole entire city has been subtly brainwashed, and no one’s even noticed yet? How’s that possible?”</span> you asked.
<span class="mu-r">“I have no idea. But if you ever decide to confront her about it, you should try and see whether she is aware of the scope and circumstances behind the event.”</span> Webb advised. <span class="mu-r">“Who’s to say that the event was only contained to this one city.”</span>
Now that’s a terrifying thought. You’ve never heard of anyone capable of doing something like this. You’ll just have to hope that your “sister” genuinely cares for you, and doesn’t react negatively when you talk to her about it.
After a few minutes of silence, you nodded to yourself, coming to an important decision. <span class="mu-r">“I think I want to keep both sets of memories. They seem pretty harmless.”</span>
Honestly, the idea that your core personality might have been molded by the influence of false memories is pretty fucking wild. And while you don’t like the idea of being controlled by someone, or something else, you quite like yourself right now.
Sure, you might not be perfect by any definition of the word, but you wouldn’t ever want to be anyone else other than Ben Parker. And if Webb purged those memories…you’re not sure if you’d like where you might end up after making such a life-altering decision.
Whatever happens from here, you’ll tackle your problems head on, like you always have.
You sensed a wave of approval from Webb, even if you couldn’t see her face. “Very well. I shall begin the process.” she declared.
<span class="mu-r">“See you on the other side.”</span> you said, right before your mind went foggy again.
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When you next came to, you found yourself laid out in one of the guest beds, still fully suited up. You sat up slowly, going through a few mental exercises to make sure that everything was still in its rightful place.
Your old memories were there, but the altered ones seemed more…”real” somehow. Like you could closely relate the thoughts and feelings going through your head at that time with the appropriate memory. Your genuine memories gave you the impression of being a spectator to a dream that you were vaguely familiar with. It was a strange feeling, but the fact that you could recall both gave you a strange sort of comfort.
It was only now starting to dawn on you how much faith you had put in Cassandra’s abilities. Letting someone fool around in your brainpan was no small thing. According to her, it required <span class="mu-i">absolute</span> trust.
You knew that you liked her, but that level of trust wasn’t something that you handed out on a whim. They had to earn it, first. And time and time again, Madame Webb proved that she had your back.
It was sort of funny how a woman that you knew so very little about could end up being one of your most reliable allies. To go so far as to let you use her home as a base/prison/fortress.
(Cont.)