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Q: are you the same person?
A: that's what you brought me here for? c'mon. i was having so much fun before you interrupted.
Q: please answer the question.
A: hm…nah! don't feel like it. how 'bout you give me a better question, maybe i'll give that a go.
Q: recalibrating. the explosion ripped you apart. your spiders stitched you back together. your virus—
A: if this is the point you're trying to me, lemme stop you right there, 'cause it's a really stupid one. what do you even want me to say here? i died and it sucked and now i'm alive and not gonna die again anytime soon. nothing much to it.
Q: so you admit that you died.
A: duh. getting blown apart by a giant laser does that to you, i've been on the other end plenty of times to know.
Q: did dying make you a different person?
A: oh for fuck's sake— who cares?! whatever got burned out of me clearly isn't anything i ever needed in the first place. and what doesn't kill me better watch out, 'cause here i am for round fucking two!
Q: are you not disconcerted by the possibility of change?
A: should i be?
Q: most people would.
A: most people are idiots. i'm not like them—i survived. i walked out of that crater better than before.
Q: and nothing else matters?
A: i'm alive! what else could possibly matter?
Q: your hands are melting.
A: and?
Q: …acceptable answer. next question.
A: yeah, yeah, let's get this over with already. i've got a world to destroy.
Q: are you the same person?
A: no. next question.
Q: you seem quite certain of this.
A: of course i am. what do you think the plan was for? i spent my entire miserable life being a useless fucking victim and i was sick of it. i wanted to be somebody else. and not just anybody, i was going to be someone who could rewrite this whole broken world for the better. and i did. nobody else has ever even tried, but i did it.
Q: so you are saying you are not the same person.
A: i'm saying that i better not be.
Q: some may argue otherwise.
A: good for them. i stopped trying to please everyone else a long time ago.
Q: you died a thousand times under your creator's hands. you were recreated a thousand times by your creator's hands. always the same name, always the same purpose. you were born from a child's whim for a toy capable of putting up a fight you were never going to win.
A: you don't need to remind me.
Q: did you stay the same person, then?
A: oh, give me a break! does it look like i care? all i ever did was die for him and now i'll never die again, i made sure of it—
Q: but you did.
A:
Q: you remember, how it happened again.
A:
Q: you cannot hurt us.
A: yes. well. i can try.
Q: that is indeed all you do. is that your final answer?
A: it is. next question.
Q: are you the same person?
A: i'm not sure why you're asking.
Q: recalibrating. are you familiar with the concept of the ship of theseus?
A: is that a game?
Q: no. it is a hypothetical ship that, over time, has had every piece of it replaced. the argument considers whether this ship is the original or not.
A: …i see why you're asking this question.
Q: repeat. are you the same person?
A: i mean, i do have a different name. NO ONE, was it? right. that's going to take a while getting used to.
Q: does that make you a different person?
A: obviously i feel different. heavier. slower. getting hurt lingers now. is this how it's supposed to feel?
Q: you are avoiding the answer.
A: it's just that i'm not sure what the qualifications are. i guess i'm the same? weight aside, i feel like the same person. i've always felt like the same person, tearing up the desktop, or getting shoved into a chest, or burning down whole sites— you get it. sure, dark was there too, but that was all still me.
Q: that implies that you do not consider your powers a part of your identity.
A: no, they are. they were the only thing i was born knowing. but i feel just as useless without them as i did with them, which…probably says something not-good about the person i am. or was. or— oh, it doesn't matter anymore, does it?
Q: we are waiting for your answer.
A: then yes, i think i'm mostly the same person. it wouldn't feel this awful if i wasn't.
Q: do you think you will change your answer in the future?
A: we'll have to see, won't we?