video | a finer world, part 2

[solarcharged]

[ Does this guy ever broadcast to the network from ground level?? APPARENTLY NOT because here's Apollo with yet another video message from somewhere dizzyingly high, this time sat on top of a brightly lit neon encrusted building in the heart of Jeopardy. Over his shoulder the sun sets over the desert in a picture perfect background landscape of bright pinks and oranges, but Apollo looks pensive despite the dreamy setting. He's been keeping an eye out for the so-called ghosts, you see, and maybe remembering a few ghosts of his own in the process. ]

An old friend once told me that saving the world is no good if we leave it the way we found it. She said 'saving the day shouldn't be the same as preserving the status quo'. Because what's the point in saving the world if you make no effort to change it? To make it better than it was?

That's why I joined her team, back home. I wanted to save the world and change it for the better. None of us could have done it alone but as a group... [ He trails off, turning a little wistful. ] As a group we were formidable.

But I know most of the teams currently operating here - [ you know who you are ] - are all pretty much Registered-only affairs. And that's fine if you're the Registering type...

[ Apollo's expression turns grim. Or as grim as you can look when surrounded by neon pink signage. ]

Personally? I've got no intention of swearing my loyalty to the government just because they want tame superheroes. But I still want to make a difference and if being a so-called vigilante is what it takes, then... I guess we'll see what happens next.

So consider this an open call. Is there anyone else out there who's Unsettled and wants to do their bit to save the world?

[ And yeah, maybe change it a little bit too. He hopes you're happy, Jenny Sparks. ]

Comments

video

[knaval]

Weren't you that weirdo who was sulking on the moon a couple of weeks back?

[hi, again.]

video

[solarcharged]

Weren't you that robot trying to do kickflips?

[ he remembers. ]

You fell over. In seventeen percent gravity.

Re: video

[knaval]

Yes, and I had several wild successes. Side note: not a robot.

[he huffs.]

Less embarrassing than zero percent. What's your plan for saving the world? Genuinely interested, promise I won't made any stupid comments.

[solarcharged]

Right. In which case, side note, I wasn't sulking.

[ He was. ]

And God, if it was that easy then I'm sure someone else would have saved the day by now. I don't think there's anyone in this world with a plan right now. But it doesn't stop us from trying.

[knaval]

Noted. My name's Riptide, for what it's worth.

[he won't push into that further, he thinks. he doesn't know apollo well enough to bother.]

No kidding. Well, I mean, I don't mind helping? I have three and a half million years of war deployment experience to put on my resume. Like, literally that long. Not exaggerating. I've helped save my fair share of planets in the past. 'Cept those ones that got punched apart, but that's a long story and not for now.

[solarcharged]

[ Oh, okay. The not-robot was being serious. ]

You've been at war for three and a half million years?

[knaval]

[HE SURE WAS]

I mean, the war technically lasted four million years, but I wasn't commissioned until well after it started. Five hundred thousand years, give or take. You can do the math. Anyway, it's over now! A couple years, actually.

[solarcharged]

[ uh yikes, as the kids say ]

That's a hell of a long time to be at war. What were you fighting for?

[ And he means those words exactly: 'for' not 'over'. Apollo wants to know about ideologies, not objects. ]

[knaval]

It's... complicated. I used to think it was just bad guys who wanted to take over the universe versus good guys who wanted to stop them, but... it's not that simple. It started off as a fight for freedom and to overthrow a terrible government that would physically and mentally mutilate people that were trouble. Then...

[he sighs.]

Megatron went too far. He went from wanting to free the planet to control it, then to do the same to the rest of the universe. Heee... got better? It's hard to explain. I'm not really a word person. Or a history person. Given that-- y'know. I never actually saw what it was like before the war started.

[solarcharged]

No, it's never that simple, is it?

[ says the guy who executed the president of the united states for destroying florida, with a sigh ]

What did you do during the war? And why did it last so long?

[knaval]

Oh, I was deployed all over the place. I'm bottom of the barrel soldier, you see.

[he shrugs.]

Unstoppable force meets immovable object.

[solarcharged]

Which were you? Unstoppable force or immovable object?

[knaval]

Cannon fodder.

[literally.]

[solarcharged]

You saved planets too, right? Pretty good work for canon fodder.

I'm Apollo. Good to meet you, Riptide.

[knaval]

Not alone. Failed to save just as many.

[he shrugs.]

You too. So long as this doesn't end up like the Decepticons did. Good intentions, but then suddenly everything that doesn't think your ideas are good need to be killed.

[solarcharged]

[ Apollo pulls a face at that. ]

Yeah, going to try and actively avoid something like that as much as possible.

So you're interested, right? In theory.

[ Because theory is all they have right now!! ]

[knaval]

I think that's what Megatron thought before he pulled out the previous Prime's spine through his chest.

[ghoulish overkill! thanks riptide.]

Can I offer help without actively aligning myself?

[solarcharged]

...I'll bear that in mind.

[ although hmmmm that certainly sounds familiar ]

That's a good question, actually. I mean, considering that what we're planning to do is probably not going to be considered altogether legal by the American government, I'd say you're either in or you're out. Might be safer for everyone that way.

[knaval]

Good. Though I guess I barely know what peacetime enforcing is actually like... wow, that's depressing. Oh well.

[it's 0 or 100 with cybertronians, generally.]

I'll need to think on it a bit more. I guess if you have more people and have space for a heavy hitting alien I'll be down.

[solarcharged]

[ Apollo spreads his hands. ]

I always have space for a heavy hitting alien.

[ That's, like, the best kind!! ]

[knaval]

Nice.

[a pause, though--] So what've you done before all this?

[solarcharged]

I was in a team up until three or so years ago. Preventing apocalypses, overthrowing governments, seeing off inter-dimensional invaders, that sort of thing.

[ y'know. standard. ]

It's no three million year long war, but it kept me busy.

[knaval]

Honestly, you probably did more than I did. It wasn't all non-stop fighting. There were a couple hundred thousand years where nothing happened quite often.

[he grunts.]

Were you good at it?

[solarcharged]

We were the best. Earth was under our protection and the whole galaxy knew it.

[ 'nobody fucked with us' is what he means. ]

Oh, a couple of hundred thousand year gaps of nothing? [ Apollo grins. ] You bunch of part-timers.

[knaval]

Like, the... galaxy galaxy, or just the Human galaxy?

[...]

Weapon cleaning and setting up base, you know. Not nothing. I'm offended. [he's not.]