maskormenace | case 001; video.

I know what you're thinking.

[ Maybe seeing a tiny blonde face on a video feed isn't the most threatening thing to see. She's not holding a weapon, and there's no glow of energy beams or anything, so it seems to be pretty far from supervillainy. But that frown? The set of her jaw? You don't see that too often on someone who's not determined to say a thing or two. ]

Who am I? Where did we come from? Who's the guy in the American flag and crazy waist to shoulder ratio? Why is there another announcement from yet another crazy new person who's complaining about liberty and personal freedom?

[ The brief moment of hey, let's talk about That Guy is replaced by a definitely not brief moment of angry blonde fury. ]

I don't know about you, but having questions like that kind of pisses me off. I did not take enough International Law or FutureTech 107: Teleporters and You.

[ A beat, then Veronica leans in, more or less until her face is the only thing that takes up the feed. ]

So if you know anything, or you know a Keith Mars, you better give it up pronto. I can think of some tasteful yet excruciating threats, if you'd like a little gas.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

You're giving URL creators way too much credit.

[There's a beat.]

But where would you like me to begin? I can't pass up that offer. Pick a topic, any topic. I have lots of information.

I heard from a canary in a Pink-mine [ haha pinkman get it ] that our evil overlords are more evil than cuddly.

Discuss?

Oh, I'd say it depends. [Which she lets hang for a moment before she presses on.]

Captain Holiday isn't ... I wouldn't say he's cuddly, but he's definitely at the bottom of the ladder. Anyone above him? They don't really see us as people. We're commodities, but we're unpredictable ones. You can't fault them entirely, but the truth is, the way they treat us and make us walk around for the cameras, it's obvious that they want to send some kind of message.

I'd play, "And what message is that?" But instead I'll cut to the chase: they want to make sure that we seem like we're not out of control. And they want to know what we can do.

They keep us on a need-to-know basis with just about anything, and given the era we're ... still ... living in, it's not surprising.

Of course, you've heard that the best way to look at someone is how they treat their enemies, right? Well, a bunch of imPorts caught some Russian spies last July, and instead of affording them the proper procedures and trial, they shut it down. Case closed, those spies were screwed.

So I think that answers it. It's a political situation, complete with all the intrigue and foreboding music.

[ Veronica's quiet. Digesting. Putting it all away into the mental folders in her mind, prioritizing. Trying to find the angle. ]

So we're in an alternate universe. Where we're— we're tampered with, a little, and tracked out, and corralled by the government and their PR machines?

[ Quick, Veronica, make a comment to deflect how uncomfortable you are! ]

You know, I've never really wanted to get into politics. Or shadow warfare.

Of course, you could argue that everything is an alternate universe, but that's the gist of it. [She doesn't blame her for the last remarks.]

I don't think I could find a single person who'd disagree with you. And if they did, well, I'd probably be arguing with them first. [Not that she hasn't found herself involved in her fair share of political spats here, it's not that she wants to be involved in any of this. The place they've landed seems to necessitate it. If pressed, she'd admit that her last heavy run in with this stuff was enough, so this is a very unwanted round two.]