maskormenace | ▙oo1 . video▜

[When the feed clicks on and the machine hums, darkness envelops the figure standing in the middle. It's either nighttime or he's found himself a nice, dark place, shadows projected on dimly lit skin.

The glow of the tattoo is obvious on his forearm, turned to the camera for everyone to see. It's clear the man wants it to be the first thing people pay attention to.]

This thing.

[It reads 'UNSETTLED'. He lowers his arm.]

Never been a fan of being branded.

[And he's been branded, more than once. First by his brother's last breath of revenge, then by Kaena's ownership. He was a slave and he was tortured, and this reminder of her scars is in no way welcome to the man who's barely gotten a footing in his freedom.]

I want it off.

Name your price. I'll tell you where to meet me.

[Since he imagines there has to be a way, and he imagines the government doesn't want the imPorts to know about it. But where else could he approach people about it? General population doesn't seem the way to go, so this will have to do.

The feed disconnects, now as quiet as the man behind it.]

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[Ancient warrior, doesn't get much more knowledgeable than that. Well, except maybe a weaponsmith.]

Cut someone's arm off before? Naw. But how hard can it be?

[She's obviously not serious about any of this.]

[Neither is he, so this is a productive conversation!!]

Pretty hard.

Not sure I can trust a newbie.

Well, gotta learn how at some point. Might as well have a willing subject.

So you'd do it for free.

Just this once, sure.

But if you don't trust me I might be able to suggest someone who probably has more experience.

That's all right. Think I can manage.

[a pause.]

This ain't ink.

Aw, oh well. Guess I'll have to find some other blood to christen my Legend Killer. [It feels a little weird to her to call a blade by such a name. Boy does she miss her Geraldine.]

Yeah, no kidding. Cutting shit off probably wouldn't fix the problem.

[Legend Killer. That was probably the name of some supervillain from his youth.

Anyway.]

Not since last I heard.

Take it you got one too.

[He hasn't quite figured out if everyone in this network is in the exact same situation.]

All of us got one. It's handy for letting people know you're an imPort but in that same vein, it lets people know you're a damn imPort.

Not interested in being anything. [And while he's at it,] Hero days are long gone.

Well obviously you don't have to be a hero since you went with being unsettled. Personally always found this hero thing to be silly.

[You should have seen him decades ago, Kenzi. Sporting a silly, shiny red jacket and everything.]

Ain't for everyone.

[Obviously.]

You unsettled too?

[Fashion faux pas.]

Of course. Not interested in playing hero for a bunch of folks that don't give us the truth and treat us like prisoners.

Never thought I'd see them sponsored by the government. Ain't a good thing where I'm from.

[They were all just branded vigilantes. Practically as bad as the criminals they tracked down.]

Superheroes don't exist outside of comic books where I'm from.

[Oh. What?]

Where are you from?

A world without superheroes, duh.

I was thinking more specific than that.

What's there to say? It's just a world, a normal world. No heroes, so superpowers, just standard Earth in the year 2014.

[That's partially a lie. That's the world most humans know, those that don't know anything about the Fae.]

[A pause.]

You said 2014.

Yeah. Is that a problem?

[He's thinking.]

Two-thousand twenty-five for me.

Oh, mister future man.

I remember 2014. Nothing like this place.

Yeah, home is nothing like this either. Not all stuck in the Fifties.

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