text

[hackitude]

Hey all. Quick PSA:

Over at StarkTech there's a team of us that are working on a solution to some of the weird ~memory shenanigans~ that you might have seen around lately. We're no closer to a cure, but I'm pretty sure we HAVE now successfully got a working prototype for a "vaccine" of sorts. Basically we've figured out how to upgrade the imPort nanites to protect anyone else from getting false memories implanted in their head and believing that they're real.

If you want to swing by StarkTech any time this week, we'll be happy to fix you up. Free lollipop for people who come in, and it doesn't take any time at all. You can pop in over a lunch break.

The project's being headed by Jemma Simmons, Hiro Hamada, and me-- hi, I'm Skye, if we haven't met before. We'll be rotating different shifts, so you might not see all of us, but one of us will be around.

[Kick off for the memory sharing plot! Again, you don't have to have commented to this post to participate. Feel free to assume your character went in and saw one of them, or if you aren't comfortable handwaving having met one of them off screen, you can always say a random faceless lab-tech saw to you instead! Feel free to comment in here if you feel your character would though, or if they have questions, and network threads can always transition to action threads if you feel like playing it out. Skye, Hiro and Jemma will be out and about in places. Peace out!]

Comments

[soldiarity]

I don't know who that is, but for whatever that knowledge is worth. Um -- I don't mean I'm expecting anything to go wrong.

[hackitude]

Oh. Cap, he's like, this big time superhero from my world. He's here, if you want to look him up. He's sort of-- well, let's just say if you took the boy next door, apple pie and a super soldier serum and mixed them up in a blender, he'd be the result.

[soldiarity]

Oh. [ Reiner pauses to put together that mental image in his head. Then he laughs briefly. ] If the "super soldier" part has anything to do with the regeneration, then it sounds like you're probably right.

[ He's not sure if he should sit down, so he just stands there. ]

[hackitude]

Oh-- sorry, please, take a seat.

[Skye preps the needle, chatting as she goes-- she figures even if people aren't afraid of needles, it's good to keep them distracted so they don't tense up. She's not the bio-wiz Simmons is, but at least Simmons drilled her pretty thoroughly on how to give injections ages ago-- before they came here, even. You never know when it's going to become necessary in the field, after all.]

Anyway, the backstory there is that World War II was going on at the time-- I don't know if you've learned about it in history class here, this world's version is reeeasonably similar to mine, in broad strokes-- and so the government was trying to find a way to create an army of super soldiers. They came up with this experimental serum that would genetically enhance whoever had it injected into them-- make them stronger, faster, heal quickly and so on and so forth.

[soldiarity]

[ Reiner smiles and takes a seat, holding his arm out carefully. He isn't afraid of needles -- per se -- but he doesn't have much experience with them, outside of the limited memories he has of his childhood. ]

I've learned a little bit. Some of it I still don't understand that well, but I'm doing my best to keep it all straight. There's a lot of history to remember. [ He nods, though; the super soldier serum sounds eerie similar to the titan shifter serum, or whatever it could be called. Not that this in particular was in any of the history he's learned about so far. ] They created them to fight in wars?

[hackitude]

Well, it was meant to be "them," anyway. But that's not how it worked out. Steve Rogers-- Captain America-- he was the first test subject. And also the last. The scientist in charge of the program was assassinated, and his research went with him. Since then, people have been trying to recreate the formula for decades-- without much success, I might add.

[At some point during that she preps Reiner's arm and sticks a needle in, but she manages to carry on talking like they're sitting over a cup of coffee in a cafe.]

[soldiarity]

Oh. Maybe that's for the best, though -- isn't it?

[ Reiner tenses very slightly when the needle goes in, but keeps himself from reacting in such a way that would cause his skin to harden in response. He exhales slightly, through his teeth. ]

They might have considered it necessary, but I don't think things like that are always good ideas in large numbers.

[hackitude]

Yeah, I'll say. Still... it's gotta suck being the only one. Poor guy's probably going to outlive everyone he knows.

[soldiarity]

[ That's a good point; Reiner's never considered that angle of it before, but it's different, really. ]

It can't be easy, I don't know what I'd do if I was in a position like that. Outliving even one person is hard enough.

[hackitude]

... Yeah.

[Sneakily, she slaps a cute pink bandaid on Reiner's arm at the injection site, even though he doesn't really need one.]

There you go. All done.

[soldiarity]

[ He doesn't notice the bandaid, but he does kind of glance over for a moment when she applies it. ]

That's all? I didn't know it'd be so quick. [ He smiles, briefly but easily, and stands up. ] Thanks. That's a huge relief.

[hackitude]

Hey, no problem. Injections are usually pretty quick. You've never had one before?

[She doesn't sound judgmental. Only curious.]

[soldiarity]

Not in a long time.

[ Now he glances at the bandaid on his arm, looks at it for a second, and then pulls his sleeve back down. ]

So I don't really remember much about it.

[hackitude]

[That gives her something to think about.]

Huh. I wonder if imPorts get vaccinated, before they wake up here. It seems like it'd be dangerous not to...

[soldiarity]

Vaccinated?

[ Whatever that means. ]

Why would that be dangerous?

[hackitude]

Oh. Vaccination is when doctors deliberately inject you with a harmless strain of a virus. Your immune system then understands how to fight the virus, so if it encounters the real thing, it fights it off and you don't get sick.

Having people vaccinated stops the spread of disease. Conversely... [She leaves it hanging. She's sure Reiner's smart enough to figure out what the opposite is.]

[soldiarity]

Oh -- all right. I think I get it. With a big population, I guess disease has to be a pretty major concern.

[ Not that it isn't with smaller populations too, but... it will just be a bit different. Within the Walls, Reiner's main experience with preventing disease was helping to clean up corpses. ]

If they did that I don't remember it -- but they also had to get the nanites into us somehow.

[hackitude]

Oh-- huh. That raises an interesting question of whether the vaccines come part and parcel with the nanites...

Wow, listen to me. I'm starting to sound like Simmons. Sorry, this must be really boring to you, huh.

[soldiarity]

Oh-- [ He smiles sheepishly. ] No, it isn't boring. I might not understand it all, but I like learning about this sort of stuff.

[hackitude]

Pssh. Nerd.

[She says it fondly, though.]

[soldiarity]

[ Wow. ]

You're the only one that's ever called me that.

[hackitude]

First time for everything.

[soldiarity]

Yeah -- apparently. As long as I'm not supposed to be offended, I don't mind.

[hackitude]

Offended? Nerds are totes cool.

[soldiarity]

[ Reiner nods, not in disagreement even if he doesn't know what "totes" means. ]

I wouldn't mind being as smart as one.