The Midnighter (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
grouchinleather) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
maskormenace2015-06-04 09:42 pm
grouchinleather) wrote in maskormenace2015-06-04 09:42 pm
Entry tags:
- jonathan crane | scarecrow,
- n/a | the midnighter,
- † billy kaplan | wiccan,
- † bruce wayne | batman,
- † clark kent | superman,
- † frederick chilton | chief of staff!!,
- † hal jordan | green lantern,
- † hank schrader | n/a,
- † harry hart | galahad,
- † hayley marshall-kenner|andréa labonair,
- † kanaya maryam-lalonde | psychopomp,
- † kitty jones | n/a,
- † lapis lazuli | n/a,
- † loki laufeyson | n/a,
- † mitchell hundred | the great machine,
- † ripley | n/a,
- † robbie baldwin | speedball,
- † tony stark | iron man
001 | Video
[The camera clicks to show a close-up of a nice shot of leather crotch, which quickly whips upwards to show a white crescent insignia on top of a gray upside down triangle. Look, he hasn't exactly needed to frame himself for a glorified skype conversation before, all right? The Authority would usually just headmail each other.
After a moment more of fidgeting, showing off some various shots of the strangers black trench coat, the camera finally makes its way up to his cowled face--a very, very unhappy cowled face.]
Look, you can all just skip the multiverse pep talk. Until yesterday I lived in the goddamn Bleed between realities, and me and four alternate versions of myself play poker every other Thursday. I'm familiar with the concept.
What I want is how exactly they brought us here. An Earth alternate too stupid to get itself out of the cold war shouldn't have the technology to snatch people from other dimensions.
[Especially without the Authority knowing about it. But he decides to keep that little piece of information to himself, because it's none of their fucking business.]
I tried asking the woman that brought me here, but she was too busy trying to explain to me what a gee golly great place America was. Give me answers and maybe I won't find trying this thing a major waste of my time.
[Goes to hang up, but stops at the last second, and adds:] Speaking of, don't tell me any of you actually bought that bullshit. There's no such thing as a free lunch, kids.
[And with that, he turns the feed off.]
After a moment more of fidgeting, showing off some various shots of the strangers black trench coat, the camera finally makes its way up to his cowled face--a very, very unhappy cowled face.]
Look, you can all just skip the multiverse pep talk. Until yesterday I lived in the goddamn Bleed between realities, and me and four alternate versions of myself play poker every other Thursday. I'm familiar with the concept.
What I want is how exactly they brought us here. An Earth alternate too stupid to get itself out of the cold war shouldn't have the technology to snatch people from other dimensions.
[Especially without the Authority knowing about it. But he decides to keep that little piece of information to himself, because it's none of their fucking business.]
I tried asking the woman that brought me here, but she was too busy trying to explain to me what a gee golly great place America was. Give me answers and maybe I won't find trying this thing a major waste of my time.
[Goes to hang up, but stops at the last second, and adds:] Speaking of, don't tell me any of you actually bought that bullshit. There's no such thing as a free lunch, kids.
[And with that, he turns the feed off.]
no subject
Yeah, but it's also Canada.]Jesus wept, you're literal.
[Kid you're severely underestimating how many times he's ripping someone's head off. Ugh, you're from one of those "no killing, just rehabilitating" universes, aren't you?]
One of my teammate's has 9 pints of nanites instead of blood in her system, I'm familiar with the concept. And I appreciate the concern, but this isn't my first tussle with a major world power who thought they could control me.
Okay, I'll bite. What exactly happened in your universe? [And why are you comparing him to venom?]
no subject
There's a horrified look while Midnighter describes a teammate whose blood has been entirely replaced with nanites. Robbie doesn't know how that would work, but he won't ask. It's probably painful. ]
My world had a powers-related disaster, just like this one did years ago. It... was a huge mistake on the part of the team that was involved, but... no excuse for what happened. The government overreacted by making anyone who wanted to be involved in vigilante-style work register with the system. Same as here, where they let you register regardless of past crimes. They created teams to go after the ones who weren't registers - and now here, they're 'asking' us to help them with any unregistered vigilantes.
The team that I was on... the members weren't all exactly... willing. Some of them were controlled by nanites, and here we are with nanites. I don't like it.
And I really don't like that you keep throwing me in with the guy who ran the whole thing. Just freaking quit it; it's not funny.
no subject
But what about the other SPBs? They just let this happen? [He's trying to imagine what would happen if any of his world's governments ever tried to pull this shit. Despite their differences in opinions, he can't exactly see the Wildcats or Stormwatch (even that Team Achilles version) sitting back and doing nothing.
Midnighter had known it was making the kid uncomfortable, but he didn't know why. Ugh, it was like if someone tried to make jokes about him and Bendix.] ...All right. I'll knock it off. [There might even be an unspoken "I'm sorry" in there.]
no subject
[ Robbie drums his fingers on the table, trying to figure out what an SPB is. He's not used to the acronym. Then, the tattoo stops. The light bulb went off. ]
Super-powered beings? [ Obvious, now that he's said it. ] Some did; some were for it. When 612 people die, it changes the way you look at things. The people for it - they wanted everyone to be held accountable, to make them more cautious, and they wanted proof that everyone had been properly trained before they started putting themselves in bad situations. On paper, it makes sense. Until you realize that registering meant "giving your name, face, contact information, and powers to the government. I don't know about your world, but, in mine? A lot of people consider their real ID almost sacred. That's why we call ourselves things like Speedball, but everybody knows I'm Robbie Baldwin now.
[ A silent pause. He hears the apology - or knows enough to know guys who keep pushing like that don't come any closer to one. ]
Thanks.
no subject
Got it in one. So basically your government tried taking advantage of a tragedy to draft their own posthuman army, and mass Catholic guilt over said tragedy blinded some of the other SPBs from seeing it for what it really was. They still blind?
Most of us back home have got code names, but I can't say "secret identities" have really been a thing since World War II. There might be a few people left, but I can't say there's anyone that springs to mind. For most of us, what you see is what you get.
[Gives a slight nod of the head in reply to the "thanks."]