maskormenace | 001 ☭ video

[ The bright posters of Nauru island resorts and beachside scenes in Tuvalu on the wall behind her stand in stark contrast to Elizabeth's gray blouse and tired eyes. Ambiguous messages and leaked encryptions that may or may not be a trap don't exactly call for restful nights for people like her; A Soviet spy in the guise of a stressed housewife cum travel agent who clears her throat as she moves back from the camera to take her seat in front of it. ]

Hi-- I'm Elizabeth, your state tourism agent, here to make sure that you, our heroes, have the opportunity to rest and relax between the often perilous yet essential missions assigned to you.

[ Her smile is taut, clearly unaccustomed to speaking to a machine like it's human, and she swallows nervously. ]

As you know, the holiday season is still some months away but that also means we can offer great low-season prices. Our latest promotion is for trips to the beautiful Micronesia: 25% discount for one-week holiday packages to the lovely Nauru island, 30% off for Tuvalu and, get this, 50% off for tickets to the amazing Gilbert islands.

This offer won't last forever, so stop by the counter soon or give me a call.

[ A pause as she considers what else she's supposed to say in this instance, before-- ] Thank you.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

No, I'm not.

[ She can be heard blowing air on her end. ]

You could have advertised that upfront.

You could have been registered, too.

Could have.

Not interested.

Why? The pay's not bad.

I don't like how this Registration business works. Where I come from, superheroes have to abide by the law, but the government doesn't police them as much as they do here.

[ Well, not all branches of the government. ]

I have no opinion either way. Frankly, I just want to go home.

We've been tagged like animals. Doesn't that bother you?

[ With a little more sympathy now: ]

We all want to go home.

If you lived in a civilized world, you were tagged then too. Only the ink doesn't stay in your skin.

--So, why are we all still here?

I don't believe that's true.

[ A snort. ]

For one, the military has the Porter, which they may or may not have any control over. Recent findings are they don't, but that's not exactly comforting.

So the Porter that brought us here has a mind of its own?

[ Ghost in the machine, anyone? ]

A sentient machine. Right.

The Porter from the City was and according to the military, she's synced up with this one.

Do you really believe the government has no control over her?

Is "yes" and "no" a valid answer?

Probably. If you tell me why for each.

They've been able to replicate parts of the Porter technology and its capabilities... at least regarding teleporting. They haven't accomplished transdimensional teleportation, but they can send us without scrambling our atoms or body parts from one state to another. So... it sounds like they have a basic understanding of how that works.

Or they got lucky. Really lucky.

But that's as far as they have gotten with the Porter. Random port-outs still happen, an indication they probably have less control than we think.

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