revivalproject | Public Network Video - (Plus Two Private Messages)

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Public Network Video - (Plus Two Private Messages)

Public Video - [Posted During Ship Lock-Up]

[The video comes on and there's Tommy, a touch blurry around the edges. The background changes behind him constantly. One second he's pacing in what was clearly the dorm of the ship he's on. The next second he's in a mess hall, the protein paste machine in the background. Then the hangar. Then the bridge. Back to the mess and dorm and mess. This will be true for the whole video. There is no denying that he's very agitated, like ready to run up the walls. Or through them if he could.]

Dudes, who in the world decided this was the best plan that there was? Like, seriously, this plan? It's bogus. Being locked up on a ship is one thing. I wanna go to space. Space is fucking cool. All the stars and planets and traveling and that shit. But here, on the fucking ground, and there's like no way to go and travel between them and the space is small and itissosmallandthewalls are everywhere andican'tgetthrough

[He's shaking harder now, as he comes to a stop. This is miserable.]

Yo, Agrii or whatever. I don't fucking CARE about making friends. I can do that on my own time. But I want the fuck out. Let me go back to the greenhouse. I swear I just found a door that led to a whole section of a floor that was just fucking MINT. I like mint. Let me at the fucking mint.

justletmeoutofhere!

Private Message to Billy - October 13th

[He's calmed down a bit at this point, and it's important that he does this. That he seems calm for this. Because Billy deserves it.]

Yo, happy birthday, bro. Was gonna make you this whole salad with things from the Garden. But some ASSHOLES in charge here absolutely decided to blow birthday plans. I'm sorry this all sorta got blown up. Who you on wherever you're on with? I'm with Wanda. Which, you know, awkward. You know where V ended up? Whatever, not like it matters. Just be okay, right?

Private to Vision - October 13th

[This one has a more nervous looking Tommy. Like he isn't even sure he should be sending this.]

It's today, right? You sorta said that the math would come out to today, yeah? So you know, I don't hold it against you. Forgetting. And not, you know, doing the whole thing you said you would. But it's fine, right? I get it, that you'd want to. So don't worry about me, okay? Just make sure you wish Billy a happy birthday. This will probably be the first time he has to celebrate it without his family or friends or all that. It would mean a lot, I think, for you to reach out.

Because, you know, it's a good Dad thing to do. And he's used to having a good dad. So, you know Vision, do your best. We're nineteen now, so I guess throw that in too?

[OOC: If anyone of Tommy's cohort wants to run into him while he's recording messages, that's cool too. Just hit me up at

churbooseanon and we can set it up.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

White. He never understood why they chose white. White scrubs were perfect for showing off things like blood, dirt, soot from the explosions. They always chose white though. White scrubs, thin white sandals because they would wear out too fast for him to really get anywhere or do anything. It's always white, and that goes with the sterile walls and the sterile scents and the sterile everything.

It's all so close, it's all so familiar. He's in a hall, like and not like where he was. Right for training. Conditioning. Treadmills and walls of increasing strength and stand-ins for human forms. To the left...

No. He can feel it around his neck. The collar. It holds, restrains, controls. Suppresses all that makes him special. They used it for transfers before. They'll use it for transfers again. And he doesn't like that. Doesn't like this. It's a mess. What's he supposed to do?

"I don't want to be here anymore," he says, backing against the wall and sliding down it, pulling his legs up against his chest. Can't run. The Mandroids will get him. Their little almost-sentinels. There's only so much he can do. And right now he can't do any of it because there are footsteps. There are footsteps coming and he doesn't know where they're coming from, but they're going to find him.

He has to move. He's so scared. But he rolls to his feet and starts shuffling on. Got to find a way out. Not to the left. Never to the left. He turns right and starts down the hall. There has to be an out.

Wanda continues shuffling barefoot down the hall. She's cold and getting scared by the stillness. There are always so many people watching or poking and prodding her and the only true privacy she's had is in her mind. She can see so much of what they are; more, she suspects, than Strucker would ever have wanted her to see. She knows he lied to them. She knows how many Sokovians he's killed in his quest for power. And she knows exactly what he wants from her.

He won't let her out of his sight for long.

She rounds a corner and sees someone up ahead of her - not Pietro but close and even though though he was never here, dream-logic means that she doesn't question it. "Tommy?"

Her voice is hoarse from either disuse or screaming or both, and this is probably the most disheveled he's ever seen her. The olive hides more than the white he's wearing does, but her hair is a complete mess and the bandage wrapped around her right hand is getting dirty. She's more than a number to them now, but she's still not a person who needs a basic standard of care and it shows.

"We need to go," she says, trying both to be quiet and to catch up with him, but finding that she's too uncoordinated to move at any significant speed. "If they find us..." Well, her neck is littered with enough tiny bruises from needles to sedate her and she's not looking to collect any more.

"Wanda," he gasps, and immediately he shifts to head for her. It's backwards. It's toward the left. Doesn't care. Gotta get her safe.

He wants to break things, to see how she is. How they treated her. But he can't. He's powerless. He's just a kid. But he wraps an arm around her waist to help keep her moving.

"If they find us, it'll be bad."

Because of course it will be bad. It was always bad before, and it's going to be bad now. "Gotta... get out. Can't get through the walls. Sorry."

She can feel something newly awoken inside her, but it's not something she can shape well enough to break out. One day, maybe, but for now the best she's been able to do is move (or destroy) various objects in her cell. Blasting down the door, or a wall, is out of the question no matter how much she wants to.

"I don't want to go back to sleep," she murmurs. But at least she's able to walk faster with his help. "But I have to find Pietro once you're somewhere safe. I can't leave him with them."

If he didn't have the collar he could find his uncle. Pietro would be good enough to get them out. But Tommy wasn't. He wasn't good enough for anything.

"There's nowhere safe for mutants. There's no where safe while I have this," Tommy insist, his fingers coming up to pull at his collar.

Except Pietro had even less control over his powers than Wanda did. He could barely stop himself from crashing into the walls of his cell.

"Mutants..." Wanda says the word slowly, like she's trying to place Tommy means. Her eyes widen and there's a spark of red in her irises. "Then he hasn't used the Scepter on you. He'll kill you if he finds you." She reaches out with her bandaged hand, fingers hovering inches from the collar. "Can't we get this off you?"

Mutants are a thing, and he doesn't know how to take that comment. Scepter? What scepter. It hurts to even think about what will happen if they find him, though.

"Killing would make it stop," he counters, and it's a bit pragmatic. But he reaches up to try and reach at the collar. For half a second his hand shakes and the collar flares and the pain almost brings him to his knees.

"Can't... get it off. Locked. I'm trapped. Death is better."

Wanda tries to support him as best as she can but there's definitely a minute when she's afraid they might both go down. She's never been particularly physically strong but hunger, drugs, and the experiments have weakened her beyond that. "No. No. Listen to me." She grips his shoulder. "As long as we live there is still hope. They can't keep us here forever."

They have no idea what they've woken in her. One day, when she's stronger, they'll find out what they've really made. She's not their miracle and she won't be their weapon.

"Could I...could I break it? Is there a switch, or a key?"

That's a thought. She might be able to. If she could, he could get her out. Protect her. Take Wanda somewhere safe and come back for Uncle Pietro. Save him too. He shakes his head and reaches his free hand up to touch his collar.

"They got a remote. So it's internal. I don't know how it works. But with it, I can't do anything."

"I am...good at breaking things. I don't want to hurt you but I can try." She casts a glance over her shoulder. "But we need to hurry. We can't stay here much longer or they'll find us."

And that, above all, frightens her. They might punish her, but not too badly - they still need her. But she can't let Strucker take Tommy or he'll end up like all the others.

"Here," he answers, reaching out to pick Wanda up into his arms. Sure, he can't make as much use of his speed as he would like to, but he's still strong enough to carry her. "I'll move us. You work on that."

What? It seems like the best answer.

She does squeak a little in surprise, then casts wide eyes around in case it carried farther than is safe.

(But it's never safe here and Pietro can never know just how much danger they're in. If he knew what Strucker had really done to Sokovia, he'd never be able to play the part he'll need to if they're both to survive this intact.)

"Okay." She takes a shaky breath and raises trembling fingers to the collar. In a perfect world she could just pull it apart, but for now...just stopping it from hurting Tommy anymore would be good enough. Carefully Wanda slides two fingers under the collar and lets that strange red power flow between her fingers and her thumb. If they're lucky, she won't need to concentrate it too much for this to work.

Lying to family isn't safe. But Tommy gets it. If Billy ever knew for certain what people did to him here... No, that's worse than just Teddy's life being at risk. Because Billy was family, and Maximoffs, by birth or by soul, protect each other.

Luck isn't his common skill, though. Tommy won't point that out. What he'll do is start walking. It's slower than he and Wanda were walking together, faster than when she was walking along. It's something.

"Be careful."

She'll do whatever it takes to keep Pietro safe. Tommy too, but it grates on her that she can't 'just' fix it. With all the power that's inside her she should be able to and yet in many ways she's almost as helpless as she was before the experiments. It scares her, how she doesn't really know what she can do with it or how to channel it most effectively. At least here, if anyone got hurt, it would be someone she didn't care about.

And it seems she's going to have to use more power to break the collar but she's really afraid of setting it off or making this worse. "I have to do more. Tell me if this hurts?" And then she lets her power slowly intensify. Maybe that will do it.

It's like... a new pressure against his throat. Like something has wiggled between the collar and his neck, and Tommy's trying not to feel like he's choked as he keeps them moving, down another hall. There's a supply closet. Maybe if he could get them in there.

He needs a moment, he needs to breathe.

He needs to be free more.

"Doesn't hurt," he promises. Just feels... bad.

Her power is tingly too, but it's not the harsh crackle of electricity. As much as it does frighten her, it's never hurt her after she woke up from whatever they'd done to give it to her. Wanda lets her power flow farther into the collar so she can get a better hold on it and closes her eyes.

"Get...off--!" She gestures sharply and pulls and the collar separates violently. The pieces hit the metal (metal? but the base was an old castle) walls with a loud, reverberating clang. And this time they're not so lucky - there's some distant shouting.

Oops.

Edited 2019-10-13 23:23 (UTC)

It hurts for a moment. Tommy winces and half stumbles, almost dropping Wanda. But then it's there. His power. His strength. And oh god yes. This is... this is everything.

"Don't worry. I got this," Tommy answers, more energy, more confidence in his voice. "Hold on and I'll get you outside, okay?"

"They're coming," she says, gripping his shoulder half from fear and half to keep herself from falling. "I don't know the way out." The places where Tommy's dream have merged with hers are completely unfamiliar and Strucker's base had been labyrinthine at best. She'd thought about it often - escaping would take either a massive distraction or a lot of preparation, but either way it was a moot point until they stopped sedating her. Her body feels so sluggish and she's dizzy from ripping the collar off Tommy.

Her fear summons a weak orb of scarlet energy around them, but it's flickering in and out of existence and doesn't serve much practical purpose. If one of the guards does find and shoot at them, it might slow a dart or bullet down but it's not going to stop anything. And the more frightened she gets, the weaker it starts to look.

Neither does he. But Tommy's got an edge now. Part of which is that there's a lot less strain in carrying here.

"Listen, we can get out of here quietly, or we can get out of here quickly. I'm taking votes now. But they won't get a chance to shoot you. I'd never let them hurt you."

Because Pietro isn't here to protect her.

"I have to get Pietro out too. Whatever it takes. I can't leave him. But you need to get somewhere safe before they find you."

Neither of them will ever reach him, though. This nightmare is fluid, and elements of both their prisons and deepest fears have melded together. But one thing that can't change is that she'll never get Pietro back.

But if Wanda's aware of that even on some subconscious level, you'd never guess. Each and every time she always fights for him like she's got a chance.

Edited 2019-10-15 16:31 (UTC)

"I'd never leave him here. We're Maximoffs, we don't do that shit," Tommy dismisses.

Thing is, that's exactly what Maximoffs do, just not what they intend. Pietro had left her to save other people. Billy had left him because of the people he couldn't save. Wanda had left to protect innocent lives and save the world, and hadn't been there when Pietro needed her. Tommy... had left because he wasn't strong enough to be there for the guy that had only been confirmed to be his soul-twin for half a day. But he'd tried. Fucking hell, how he'd tried to be as strong as Pietro always was.

His role-model, from the very second he'd learned what his powers were. All he'd ever wanted to do was meet Pietro, be friends with Pietro, learn from Pietro. That wasn't going to happen, not even here.

"Hold on tight, okay? I'm going to need a free hand to get through walls. Tap my shoulder if you need a break. I'll stop right away."

Tommy's got things he can do that Pietro would never get a chance to learn, and it's something he intends to put to use. It doesn't matter that this place is never ending. That there will always be turns back toward his personal hell, or hers. He's going to run until he can't run anymore. He's going to save her. He's going to be a hero.

He shifts Wanda in his arms, putting her more upright with one arm tucked under her so the other was free to deal with doors and walls. And then, after a deep breath, he threw himself with all speed back into the corridors, running and running in hopes of finding a door. Better not to blow things up until he had to.

"Through walls?" Okay, that's definitely not something Pietro can do or he would have done it already. Wanda tightens her grip on Tommy and buries her face in his shoulder. She can't panic if she can't see it coming, right?

"I will be all right. I just want to get away from them." If that's even possible, if there's anywhere in the world Strucker (or someone like him) wouldn't find them.

"Explosive potential. Sorta still suck at phasing. Sometimes the things they make me carry explodes. Don't..."

Doesn't want to do that to her. Of course these words come as he stops at the end of a corridor and looks left and right. Where is he going? He's been down this hall before. Three times. Or was it four? Three times since picking her up. The hallways look the same.

He only knows left and right. This isn't working. He's so angry, because it isn't working. All of the hallways look the same, except the ones that are stone. The stone and glass and plastic around her. For him it's all metal. And here metal corridors turn into stone halls with no explanation, no rhyme, no reason. Around isn't working. Frustrated he puts his free hand on the right wall and runs, keeping always in touch with it. That should lead him out, right? Except the basic maze logic fails when you're, you know, doors are closed.

At last he's left standing in front of a stretch of wall, a dead end. And he's angry. Beyond angry. Still no alarms, still no sign of pursuit, even though he's passed by people.

Frustrated he puts Wanda down, a few paces back from the wall.

"Hold on. I'm done playing by architectural rules."

His hands raise before him and he holds them up, palm out, fingers splayed. And they start to vibrate. He starts to vibrate. The wall starts to vibrate before it explodes outward, breaking through to the room beyond.

Room, not the outdoors he wanted. Room. Where there's a metal table with metal straps and a tray of needles nearby. Room. Where there's surgical lights and all of the metal glints under them. And Tommy backs up, shaking his head.

"No. No no no. Nonononononono!"

He doesn't want to be in there!

Edited 2019-10-16 01:21 (UTC)

For Wanda this is a much faster ordeal. She barely has time to register that they've moved before Tommy's setting her down again but she can feel the spike in his frustration.

"What are you--" she begins, but the question dies on her lips. She couldn't say how he's doing it, but she can see the effect it's having on the wall as it begins to vibrate, warp, and ultimately explode. But instead of the exit they were hoping for, they've just ended up exactly in the kind of place they were trying to get away from.

Wanda reaches out impulsively - she knows that she'll be punished for this later but there's no one here to stop her in this moment and she has to protect Tommy. Her power surrounds the table and it slowly begins to buckle under the pressure. Her fingers may be trembling slightly but here, where no one's chasing her or grabbing her or sticking another needle into her neck, it never had a chance.

Wanda gestures sharply and the whole thing twists inward on and through itself until it looks like something that belongs in a modern art museum. There's no salvaging this - they're just going to need a new table. Or, you know, to stop being horrible excuses for human beings and let them go.

"They aren't going to hurt you," she says, still a little dazed but present enough to make her way to Tommy and gently lay a hand on his shoulder. "Not as long as I can still fight them."

The crushing noises only make him flinch more. Flinch and shake. He's been shaking so hard that he doesn't really hear her at first. It's not until she touches him that he looks up, that he sees it, that he processes. Too much, far too much, it hurts. Oh god it hurts. This is too much.

"They'll make a new room. They'll put on new cuffs and I can't do things with the cuffs. Or the collar. They'll just take me back and there will be needles and wires and all that."

Like he always has, like he always will. They control him. Control them. He shakes and grabs her up.

"At least I know which way is my cell. I don't... I don't know where to go."

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