audio

[lyingheart]

[ Annie manages to sound fairly calm through all of this, only allowing her irritation and amalgamation of unhappy emotions show through in the words she chooses to emphasize, smattered throughout her report-like announcement. ]

Loki, you can considering this a love letter for the information age, following up on when you were asking people here to deal in sharing and caring. United States Military, you're welcome to listen in, but all this information is on file with you already, so you may find it lackluster.

Any helpful technologically capable people out there might help me out and work on encrypting conversations below here for the sake of freedom of discussion.

I don't like talking on these, and I'm not good at it, so pay attention. I've included two attachments to this broadcast, and none of the dramatic bullshit we've seen on national television lately. This is all information I've been given by Lieutenant Ananke. Any questions in specific to those contents within should be directed to her, through her contact line programmed onto your device. Or stop by in person. I don't care.

The first is a list of imPorts and native heroes who went missing following events in 2008. Some are reported dead, others only as missing. These names should be familiar to anyone who attended the swearing in last month, where we were witnessing the opening of the memorial graveyard. Not all of these names are there. Not all families wanted a memorial. Not everyone thinks these people are truly gone, or truly dead.

The second is a series of video recordings of a handful of these people. I'm hoping that you can help me identify everyone in attendance - some recordings are labeled with names. They match up to descriptions on file. It also means we have a few more faces to put with names. I've guessed that the young blond man we see in the last two videos is Liam Lawson, a younger native hero. I believe the woman he isn't with, the one sitting down, may be Eleni Wang, who hasn't been heard from since going underground in 2008. I'm not positive, so here's the floor, open for discussion.

Further, myself and several others have been pursuing investigations into the Hornets, localized to the city of Nonah. It's not all swift moving, but I hope that each person will be sharing information on what they learn as they learn anything. I'm presently investigating one of the former students at Phillip North's gym, but if that provides information, I won't know for a while yet. Liam Lawson is also being investigated by another of those who expressed interest, and I'd recommend he share that information, even if it's a dead end, with the imPorts when he has a chance.

[ If there's anything to report, Wally. ]

I don't care how much or little you trust the government. I don't care how often you want to piss into the wind. There's too much shit going on for me to care about bickering over those details, between Russia sitting on ships staring down Alaska up North, to puzzles pointing toward concerns further South and outside this nation, to the fact that Lunatic, one of our own, has been murdering people, and tried to incinerate a seventeen year old civilian earlier today for having been involved in a drunk driving incident that ended another's life.

Cut to the chase. What else is happening that we should know about? Enlighten me.

[ Attachment A: HFILE1.PDF ]
[ Attachment B: Video Files ]

[ OOC Note: Any references within this post to Kara Strydottir should read as Kara Lindholm instead, as that is how her name appears on network. My apologies for any confusion! Please use Kara Lindholm for any references in this post and related comment threads. ]

Comments

[alofts]

This is useful.

[ Neutral as possible. The discussion itself could have been entirely avoided; the bear trap he should have just stepped over instead.

He can't. Those three words are the metal barbs snapping around his willing ankle, sawing into his skin with the inescapable reality of the situation.

Annie's work and goals here align with his own. ]

[lyingheart]

[ A simple exchange for a simple exchange. He says that much; her rejoinder is as simple. ]

Yes.

[ As useful as people can choose to make it. ]

voice;

[sassguard]

[ She sounds wound up, Shepard wants to say, but to be fair, it's not unjustified. There's little that's as frustrating as a sense of how much you don't actually know. ]

Those descriptions aren't much to go on. [ He's not exactly good at gauging ages either when the average human lifespan is a hundred and fifty, that tends to throw you off. ]

Eleni seems like she'd be about the right age. Or Deepali. That jewelry's pretty distinctive, but I don't know if it means anything. Do you know when any of this footage was taken, or did Ananke leave that out?

permavoice;

[lyingheart]

[ There's no immediate response, Annie is back to sounding calm when she answers. ]

Ananke didn't tell me t the time, no, but she just got back to me with these earlier in the evening.

voice;

[selfequipped]

Hey there! I'm Kate. Annie said you were going to do some of the leg work with this, and I wanted to ask if you needed some help? I understand if not, but I figured I'd throw the offer in and see.

[selfimage]

A bit dry, but it'll do the trick.

[ he sounds pleased, despite that. ]

It makes things much more difficult to dismiss when it goes viral. You're not a bad sleuth, despite not taking my other lesson to heart.

[lyingheart]

[ If the other lesson was how to smolder, she'll never have that one down for public consumption. ]

All I'm interested in is not being the only person holding this information. Being aware of parts of the puzzle behind events that have led up to today...

[ Can she shrug in audio? She trails off as if she were. Really, this was getting it out there, and past that, she has one hell of a headache to go deal with. ]

[selfequipped]

How did you convince them to give you information? Because I offered to help and came up dry.

[Offered to Holiday, but she found her hands a little empty after that offer.]

They've also scoured most of these people out of this world. [A second note.] So they didn't want us to know.

[lyingheart]

I spoke with Lieutenant Ananke. Hans was dealing with something related to the families who were left behind, months ago - I asked her about his progress. Those files are privatized and locked down, but the initial list of names weren't. She gave me that, and just got back to me with video footage I hadn't been able to pull up in the library files. Or online... but my abilities when it comes to searching through online records are relatively poor in comparison.

[ She makes a noise of agreement - it's... ]

"They" is a misleading blanket term. Someone doesn't want us to know. If it's the higher ups in the military, if it's a government sanctioned erasure, or what, that I don't know. They haven't managed to be complete. People still remember and talk about all of them, which means they haven't driven them underground enough.

voice;

[godly]

[If he's catching those bits of irritation smattered throughout this post (which he is), he does not comment on them initially. Instead, it would be more prudent to attach to the more official matters of this post.]

And here comes the particularly tedious part of detective work,- [because calling it anything else would be a lie] -the part where one needs to shift through what's relevant and what isn't, followed by the most prominent question: What now?

[lyingheart]

[ Annie has been so fed up with things today, Light. So fed up. Still, her sigh is almost audible when she replies - what now is always the difficult thing to parse. ]

Pick up where Hans and the rest left off. Figure out if we can track any of these people down, to either their final resting place, or to where they've gone underground. If events back in 2008 weren't all they seemed, we need to be talking to the people who were around at the time. For example... did all imPorts get sent back? Captain Holiday told me they were strongly encouraged, but it boils down to being taken in and forcibly returned. These people had families here, ones that couldn't leave, and they were torn away. That matters to them.

Do you know if anyone's been talking to the person who oversees the main Porter's functions? To see what differences there are between now and how it was operating once they could control comings and goings, and if there were ever unsanctioned ones either way?

voice;

[observationalhazard]

What exactly are you investigating with these Hornets?

[Hange laughs (it sounds a bit sheepish).]

I've been trying to wrap my head around everything new, so I haven't been paying much attention to the political scene.

[Seems like governments are all the same.]

[lyingheart]

Each world is guided by politics. You know that.

[ They all live heavily political lives, even if they'd rather not. The microcosm within the Walls exacerbates that fact. ]

I'm investigating how valid their existence is, for starters.

AUDIO;

[forcowardice]

Hey. I can help with encrypting messages if you want. I'm not a communications officer, but I should be able to program something up for you on these [INCREDIBLY PRIMITIVE] devices.

Either way, this is interesting. I suppose.

[lyingheart]

If you can, then please do. It's beyond my capabilities, no matter what some idiots might think.

These are people involved in the history of this world, and what heroes and imPorts are in this world. They're also as much a part of the war we're facing now as before, only they might have more insight into what was going on beforehand than we do. We're what, at most, nine, ten months in this place? They have years, and in most cases native knowledge, of what's happened here.

How long do you think this war will stay cold? Forty more years?

audio;

[andaway]

[After paying close attention to everything she says and the files attached, Clark has infinitely of questions. It’s not just a job thing anymore, having information helps you be prepared and in a land where everything is similar but not, where people expect you to sign in to fight their fight and where there’s no hiding his identity from the government… he needs all the preparation he can get.

But just throwing questions around never helped anyone, so he takes it step by step.]

What, exactly, happened in 2008? I’ve been here for little more than a week, there’s still a lot I don’t know.

audio;

[lyingheart]

Specific details are up to debate, but I can start you off with the general overview. An individual from the USSR, how directed by or loyal being unknown, engineered what he called a Death Ray and threatened to use this weapon against the United States. Seven imPorts were sent to investigate his island, most of them being teen heroes... they were all killed in such a way that Continuum could not be used to revive them. This man was eventually caught and taken in to custody, but was executed by another imPort before he could go to trial. The imPort responsible for the execution was court-martialed. Charges didn't stick.

It started off a series of accusations, first from native heroes that the military segment funding and backing the imPorts had engineered the entire situation in order to strengthen their hold on the imPort population, the government came back saying this wasn't the case, and they had no record of this mission. According to them, native heroes had elected to send imPorts out to investigate, assuming that the properties that allow them to be resurrected would cover the worst case scenario. No one knew the Death Ray would inhibit the process until afterward.

Heroes started to retire as a consequence of the accusations made, which was taken as being self-incriminating by the majority. I don't believe it was a universal sentiment. It's where the idea of Registration for heroes came from, and the divide between the ones allowed - those not from this world, who rely on the military and register through them - and the unregistered vigilantes, who may be imPorts, but by default includes all native heroes. That agency was taken away from them.

[incendere]

Well, you certainly know how to keep yourself busy. I appreciate you sharing this information.

(A pause as he looks over the videos once more. It's interesting to see some of the heroes in action, but the context surrounding each of the videos doesn't allow many conclusions to be drawn. They could be random acts of heroism that were captured--as seems to be the case with the third video--but the fact that most of them are videos of violence could also suggest that this was a tumultuous time in the city. Especially if they were taken around the same time.

The fourth and last video are the ones that capture Roy's attention the most. The fact that the person in question is bruised and has injuries, how he takes down the reporter, the look in his eyes--something must have happened to set him off. But what?)

If these were all taken around the same time, then it seems they were having trouble with the public as well. If that's the case, then there may be more people involved in their disappearances than originally thought.

(But then there's the fifth video, which is a strange contrast to the others.)

Do you have any more information about the man at the end of the fifth video?

[lyingheart]

Freddie Lounds just identified him as Salvatore Quisma. We can see if anyone else who claimed to be visited by his spirit at the cemetery opening ceremonies last month can likewise support that identification - check back on Kara Styrdottir's conversations here. I believe she brought the subject up after the fact, and people were speaking on what he had been trying to communicate at that time.

I didn't witness him personally. As for trouble with the public, yes. There was a lot of tension recorded between the native heroes and the government following the 2008 killings with the Death Ray.

voice;

[redhairring]

[ normally Freddie wouldn't comment on this because ahaha, her day's been shit enough already, but something at the end of the fifth video catches her eye. ]

That's my ghost! [ because seeing Quisma's face on the video is enough to jog her memory, thinking of the conversation she had with the man more than a month ago, at the cemetery...and it's now more evidence pointing to the 'ghost' theory than anything else. And so? Her voice is confused, weirded out, and a little bit scared ] That guy, at the end of the fifth video, I'd bet the farm that's Salvatore Quisma.

[lyingheart]

[ It has been a no good very bad day altogether for them both. ]

The same man you and a few others were stating spoke with you as... a spirit at the cemetery?

text;

[altercate]

Is this what you do when you're not taking dance lessons?

text;

[lyingheart]

[ Who says they're not related? ]

Everyone needs a hobby.

text

[runningstart]

hey im coming over prep ur fridge for decimation

text

[lyingheart]

You can have the leftovers, I'll go shopping again for everything you decimate later.

text.

[glowsferatu]

Youve Been Busy
Honestly Im A Little Surprised Youre Sharing This Publicly
Police Misunderstandings Affecting Your Conduct I Guess
Wanting To Keep Above The Board
Still Its Interesting That Ananke Hadnt Publicized This Already
Perhaps They Felt It Would Be Easier To Accept From Another Import
Which Isnt Necessarily Wrong Of Them
Still
Better That It Got Out Eventually

[ she has to thought-type while her comm's busy with the actual files. she's not a skilled thought-typer, it just all comes out. ]

1/2

[lyingheart]

[ annie cant even thought-type, kanaya is doing lightyears better than what she can manage ]

Ananke is working on her own investigations. She works with us on a security angle, not to keep us informed of anything without us asking.

It's a problem we all have. We ask the wrong people the right questions, or the right people the wrong ones.

audio

[khajidont]

[Jaime's response doesn't come for a good long time until after her broadcast - not that Annie has any shortage of people to talk to. He's been taking notes, and carefully reading or listening to every other response.]

Thanks for sharing, Annie. I hope the others do the same.

[A beat.]

If, ah... [Just a moment as he double checks the name listed] Fulcrum ever isn't available, I know a thing or two about encryption.

[lyingheart]

[ Her own response take a little time, too; in audio, she has to think about what she wants to say before activating the microphone. It's a different kind of thought process than text, and she's... not sure why Jaime is really making that offer. ]

If that's your inclination, it's not an offer for assistance I have the luxury of turning down.

[ By committing to nothing, it allows it to be acknowledged, but never presumed upon. ]

Exchanging information is what we can do. Probably what we should do, even if it isn't all information we want, or that we can do as much with as we like.

[ That is, after all, what the confession back in August had also helped fuel. Exchanges in information. ]

[ferroustigmata]

Now this is what I call an ideal getaway.

[If those letters were laced with any more sarcasm, the network would short-circuit.]

For posterity's sake: we're staring in the eye of potential nuclear warfare, brought here unwittingly by an inept government who can't cover up their tracks or PR worth a damn, and expected to extract justice on "one of our own".

Am I officially up to speed yet?

[lyingheart]

That staring has been going on for decades at this point, but yes. On the bright side, we weren't here in the 1980's. Censorship was much more in fashion, and it was more of a military run country at that time.

But you're up to speed, more or less. There are always more details to add in.

[heartboxer]

[ Armstrong is kind of deep in thought as he reflects on these videos. ]

If these imPorts died wouldn't they be revived by the machines here? [ He's not truly sure what to make of something like this. In fact, he's a little unsettled by it. ]

[lyingheart]

If their bodies were recovered, and it were a standard death. Something involved with the Death Ray prevented the mechanism used to revive imPorts from working. It's not infallible.

[raincheck]

The Hornets?

[ he figures he has some idea of what went down in 2008, but this isn't something that's come up so far. ]

[lyingheart]

They're an urban legend, I believe the terminology goes that way, in Nonah, North Carolina. Back in May some group using that name "claimed" responsibility for a sort of specialized bombing that collapsed the monorail on its opening day. The trains were full at the time, and the damage was sufficient to send several cars below street level on impact.

Historically speaking, they're individuals believed to be former heroes, or those who supported the native heroes, who were not fans of the registration act that passed outlawing native heroics. They've operated underground and been credited for various acts against government sanctioned heroes and events since 2010.

How much is fiction versus how much is truth is part of what we're investigating. Or if it's connected to a larger movement, one that just wears the name "Hornets" in Nonah.

[voice]

[yatagarasu]

I can't believe it...people have been missing for years...

...

I want to help. [With the investigations. With everything. Never mind that ]

[lyingheart]

Shepard and Kate are discussing particulars - I'd say talk to them if you want, or else take one of those names for people who were known to be big there in Heropa and start with that investigation. We have a lot of names to track after.