#(ᴛʜᴇʏ'ʟʟ ᴛᴇʟʟ ʏᴏᴜ ɪᴛ’s sᴄɪᴇɴᴄᴇ ʙᴜᴛ ɪᴛ’s ɴᴏᴛ) ;;; Vᴇʀsᴇ: Mᴀʀᴠᴇʟ

[walriding]

@epocryph from [x]

The immediate threat of getting stabbed has been mitigated at least -- to say nothing of the far more pressing issue of what will happen if they're apprehended. But right now Miles is banking on the notion that the element of surprise coupled with his own abilities will work in their favor, if it comes to that.

He leans around her, as though from here he could possibly see the route she's referring to. The more she says, the less he likes the sound of it. "You sound like you're describing a people dump. Or some kind of high security medical malpractice nightmare." The classic victims go in but they never come out route. Because he's definitely seen that before. What's the alternative, though? They're certainly not getting out the front door. "Alright, yeah, fuck, lead the way."

[walriding]

@dualgraced​ liked for a starter

      “I’m not with them -- I swear.”

      He fumbles for the ID clipped to his belt, yanking it hard on its retractable tether so he can hold it up to her. It’s worn and there’s a definitive blood splatter streaked across the face of it, but the bold typed ‘PRESS’ typed across the top of it is still plainly legible.

      “I’m just a reporter.” Even if there’s nothing just about him, but she doesn’t need to know that. Miles isn’t sure if I’m also some kind of mutated freak like you will earn him brownie points or get him killed faster. “Wrong place, wrong time, but I’ve been after these bastards for a while. Trust me, I’m not on their side.”

[walriding]

@iscariotsdeputy​ from [x]

     “Yes I know what parkour is -- I’m not that old.” He responded like it was a joke, like he wasn’t mentally scrutinizing Staci’s injury, adding it to his internal tally-list of strange behavior. It wasn’t the first time the kid had come into the office sporting some kind of injury. There were previous sprains and bruises, coupled with days where he looked completely and utterly wiped out. Miles was trying to work out a pattern, some kind of correlation between his injuries and any number of potential reasons for them. “You should be more careful.”

     Absentmindedly, he rubbed a hand along his jaw at the sight of the aforementioned blemish. “Oh, this? Yeah, ah... a slightly inebriated altercation. Some guy was being a creep to a girl at a bar, I told him to fuck off, and he didn’t like that very much. You know how it is.” Another joke, just to keep it light. But the truth lay somewhere far away from his words. In reality, he’d been rather invested in the process of tearing a man in half last Friday night, when that fucking kid -- and it has to be a kid, based on his stature and the pitch of his voice -- in spiderwebbed tights swung in and drove his foot directly into the Walrider’s jaw. Which was analogous to driving a foot into Miles’ jaw. His rather rapid healing factor meant that the bruise had almost completely faded just over the course of the weekend, but apparently the evidence still spoke for itself.

     He brushed it off, though, content with his alibi for the time being, and retreated to his desk with Staci in tow. Once settled and seemingly engrossed in his work, he glanced over to the teenager.

     “Pratt? Listen, I’m not-- not trying to be nosy, but... is everything okay at home? After all of the injuries, I just-- I worry about you, kid.”

[walriding]

‘ This is a poor place for Gods. ‘

American Gods starters || accepting

     “What, ‘here’ as in specifically here or ‘here’ as in,” he makes a vague, sweeping gesture with a hand, “the world at large?”

     Miles believes in a lot of things. He believes that people are good at their cores even if that goodness is buried under tightly-wrapped layers of apathy and fear. He believes, too, that genuinely shitty people exist, their humanity rotten away into something dark and festering. He believes that everyone, regardless of their DNA, deserves to be treated with respect. He believes in ghosts and aliens and cryptids and the idea that there are unnamed things lurking out there yet to be discovered. 

     But Miles doesn’t believe in gods.

     “Can’t imagine anywhere’s fit for things that don’t exist. Aliens, maybe. People with powers, sure. But gods?” He rolls his eyes. “There are no gods, just rankings on some universal hierarchy of power. Strength and ability don’t make someone divine.”

[walriding]

@avesgibbous​ asked: “  i  know  what  it  is  ,    you  don’t  have  to  try  and  impress  me .  ”

moon knight starters || accepting 

      “Well good thing I wasn’t trying, then.”  Annoyance momentarily takes the place of unease, the latter of which borders but doesn’t quite enter the realm of fear. More worrying to Miles than the figure before him is the fact that he isn’t outright afraid of it -- most people probably would be. He almost definitely should be.

      He can feel the Walrider bristling, and not in its usual way to suggested a vested interest in a potential victim. No, it’s a more defensive sensation, like a cat arching its back in warning. Not that it’s never been protective of its Host before, but the unexpected onset had taken Miles by surprise. 

      Against his better judgement the reporter slides his gaze upwards -- and there it is, a little pulse of adrenaline in his veins when his eyes meet vacant sockets. Good to know some bit of his nervous system is still functioning. Again comes the slide of nanites along his bones, a rising awareness scratching at the back of his skull that he tries to quickly tamp back down. Maybe the angry cat metaphor hadn’t quite hit the nail -- something about the Swarm’s insistence seems more like a dog peeing on its favorite fire hydrant to prove a point to some other passing animal.

      Not exactly a favorable position for the fire hydrant.

      “Look--” A shift in expression, subtle but distinct, accompanied by a suddenly stiffness of spine and shoulders. “He’s spoken for. Find some other fool, if you’ve already burned through the last one.”

[walriding]

Marvel verse headcanons:

Same backstory applies. Miles is an investigative journalist, doesn’t know when to mind his business and keep his mouth shut, the usual. He’s most likely independently employed by the time the Murkoff incident rolls around, but the story that got him fired is sightly different in MCU interactions, as it focused specifically on criticizing the involvement of Stark Industries in the Afghanistan conflict.

Miles’ presence at Mount Massive is also largely canon-adherent. However, no one outright said it was an asylum for the criminally insane, but most of the ‘patients’ had a record -- and the individuals under Murkoff’s ‘care’ tended to have some extraordinary abilities of their own. Murkoff was attempting to establish their facility as the only place equipped to handle such portions of society. 

Of course, the charity project aspect of the place was a cover for their own, far less humanitarian research. 

The motivations behind Project Walrider are slightly different, though. Wernicke’s research still began in the WWII era, largely in response to the emergence of a particular super solider. His work lead him to discovering the Walrider, though the entity wouldn’t truly manifest until Murkoff had sunk their teeth into Billy Hope. As a whole, the Project was conducted with the intention of being able to make enhanced humans (for the sake of warfare, power/wealth, etc.), but as always, the Walrider isn’t a mindless force to be messed with. It’s very old and very powerful and very much not controllable by any human methodology. Murkoff bit off far more than they could chew.

The rest of the in-facility events happened largely as they did in the game. Miles showed up in response to an anonymous email only to find the place in chaos. He was thrown around, lost two fingers, etc. etc., and was eventually shot and killed in the underground lab. Luckily the Walrider had already found a new Host in the reporter, and the rest is history.

Miles has a generally mixed opinion of ‘superheroes.’ On one hand, he’s not thrilled by the idea of overpowered people running taking responsibility for the world’s troubles, but on the other hand, he doesn’t trust the government to take care of things, either. He tends to judge on a case-by-case basis rather than form opinions towards “heroes” as a whole group. He’s critical of everyone, though, and is unlikely to take anyone at face value without analyzing them to death. 

Probably has a bit of a soft spot for Captain America, though, let’s be honest. He respects people who stick to their values regardless of the consequences (particularly when he shares similar ideas about ethics).

He keeps the Walrider stuff under wraps, though, and leaves the vigilante justice to others -- at least initially. He’s afraid of what Murkoff, the government, or any other power hungry entity would do if they knew about him -- and he can’t control it well enough to trust that it’d stick to designated targets. That might change as time goes on. “Powers” are still the same as his regular post-canon verse, in terms of Swarm bullshit and nigh-immortality, and are usually only used when he’s hunting down employees. 

For more XMCU-based interactions, all of the above generally apply as well. Miles is pro-Mutant, and would absolutely go after anyone who suggested eliminating or otherwise harming people who couldn’t exactly choose their genetic differences. The aggressive expression of those sentiments in a non-approved publication were what ultimately cost him his livelihood, but he’s honestly alright with that. Better to go out for the sake of doing or saying the right thing than to keep the job by compromising your own values. 

You can probably expect some ‘Magneto was right’-esque rants when he’s particularly pissed, even though he is a human. After what he saw at Mount Massive, though, there are times when he really does believe humans are inherently shit.

[walriding]

@dieamonster from [x]

     “Oh, there are sides now?” As though there hasn’t always been sides. Us versus them, the war that never ends. A sigh, then -- something of a resigned sound as Miles shrugs his shoulders and looks almost apologetic.

     “C’mon, you’re a smart guy -- you must’ve figured out where I was getting you all of those samples from by now. I’ve got a little more preserving me than just fear.”