1st rat - video!

[princeofrats]

[ There's a new face on the network tonight! Viewers are getting an extreme close-up of the newcomer's eye, then his face, and then the new guy at large once he holds the communicator out at arm's length. Dude is shirtless, and, uh... wearing a bandana on his head that makes him look kinda like he has mouse ears. The name that comes up on the device is 'Jayden Revell'. ]

Virtue, Katharsis, Vengeance Moth, Tremor, Burden! If any of you are out there, come find me! I dunno where you are and none of the rats here know what you guys smell like, so I can't find you! I'm at... uhm... [he falters slightly, and the camera wobbles as Mouse turns to glance behind him. ] ... The lady in the car said this was Heropa, and there's a... there's a bike shop next door. They sell bikes.

[ Suddenly, the camera pulls back and away from Mouse, settling a few feet away from him in an angled downshot that clearly shows the head of the alleyway he's crouched in, along with the nearest street signs. Something that looks suspiciously like a rat's tail flicks in front of the screen, and Mouse brightens up immediately. ]

Thanks, Benjamin!

... Okay, it'll probably be a while 'til my friends get here, so I should introduce you guys - anybody watching, I mean - to some new friends I made in the meantime. [ Mouse settles down into a cross-legged sitting position, and two giant, hairy sewer rats crawl up and over his shoulders to rest in his palms. He holds each of them up in turn. ]

This is Mrs. Nesbit! And this is her cousin, Hebert. He wanted to be fancy today, so I made him a bowtie out of a gum wrapper. [ The rat is, indeed, wearing a bowtie. He's very dapper. ] ... And they wanted to say they'd be very grateful if you'd stop putting poison traps inside your restaurants, okay? You wouldn't like getting poisoned if you were just trying to eat, right? Nobody likes barfing.

... Okay, that's all. I'm done now. [Click!]

Comments

[heliophilic]

Because a lot more people want to help to make their community a better place than most people think. They just need to be given the tools to do it.

One of the reasons I like those kids' style.

[princeofrats]

[Ok, you're officially Good People, M. That, and he's finally realized that his real name's attached to the video feed. Mouse finally lets his guard back down, and openly grins.]

That's what Virtue said. You'd really like her, I think.

[heliophilic]

I take it she's your leader?

[princeofrats]

Yeah, she's the best. Super-smart and organized, and she likes my rats. She always knows what to do.

[heliophilic]

You don't need Virtue to carry on your team's work here.

Look, this place, it's not exactly Coral City but its got its fair share of problems too. While you wait for one of your friends to show up, or until you go home, you can do some good here. ImPorts--it's what people from other dimensions like us are called, if you haven't heard the term--are as divisive to most people here as so-called "superheroes" are back home. It makes a big difference when they see imPorts giving a damn about their lives and reminding them we're not above them. We're not the Justice League.

[princeofrats]

We weren't superheroes back home, either. I mean, the others sorta wore costumes, and Batgirl visited once, but she didn't like us very much. We mostly just fought.

... Nobody's above anybody. Do you do stuff like that here?

[heliophilic]

I didn't think you were. I was referring more to people like the Justice League.

Help people? Yeah.

[princeofrats]

People still call you and ask you to fight people for them?

[ HE'S GOING OUT ON A LIMB WITH THE FIGHTING, BUT... in his experience, that's what dudes in masks usually do! ]

[heliophilic]

You sound surprised.

[princeofrats]

It just seems... I dunno, nicer here. Apart from being kidnapped.

[ To be fair, the only place he can compare Heropa to is Coral City, and it's easy to seem nicer than Coral. ]

Somebody even tried to give me a free slushie.

[heliophilic]

Most cities like to show you their best side, especially after everything that happened with the Soviets last month.

This place is more Metropolis than Coral City--nicer, but not without its dark corners.

[princeofrats]

... Wait, what happened with the who?

[heliophilic]

No one's given you the rundown yet?

In January, Soviets declared war on the US and kidnapped about 50 imPorts. We got them back about 10 days later. Then in February they tried a coup and failed. That's why some of the bridges look like shit right now.

[He'll leave out the brainwashing seminar and the retaliation bombing for now.]

[princeofrats]

[ There's a stunned silence, and Mouse finally just drags a hand down his face in frustration. ]

Nobody told me that stuff had gotten all political! This is why rats are better than people, rats are never this stupid.

[heliophilic]

Stuff's gotten all political.

[He is clearly the most helpful.]

Rats are cleaner than most politicians too.

[princeofrats]

[ WHY M, WHY. ]

Oh yeah, they groom way more often. The politicians I've seen - at least, I think they were politicians, or maybe businessmen, they were in suits - all had super greasy hair, if they had hair at all.

[heliophilic]

[Mouse had to go and say no one had told him!]

In the end they're all the same.

[princeofrats]

Something about being rich makes some people really, really nasty. I dunno. It's like they forget about everybody else.

[heliophilic]

Because they think it makes them powerful. And they love to lord that power over everyone else.

[princeofrats]

It's more like... they don't think other people are people anymore. They're just things that are in the way.

[heliophilic]

Heh, didn't think there was anyone out there more cynical than me.

[princeofrats]

That's what it's like back home, anyway. With rich people.

[heliophilic]

I know. We're from the same place.

[princeofrats]

But you said you weren't from Cor--!

Oh! Right, same world. Nevermind.

[heliophilic]

You had me worried for a second, kid.