01 | All lies and jests; still a man hears what he wants to hear

[sinistral]

WHO: the Winter Soldier (sinistral) and you
WHERE: Calibrations waiting room, calibration room, and network
WHAT: midway through the Calibrations cycle, the Agrii decided they needed another victim "he row"
WHEN: 06/28 through 07/10
WARNINGS: Literally every calibration room prompt will have elements of violence and torture (physical and mental).

---

SECRET TUNNEL
→ Waiting Room;

This is complete bullshit. Complete. Bullshit. The Soldier has strong feelings as it is about waking up in a place entirely different from where he'd gone to sleep. It had happened far too much in his life and invariably makes him tense and irritable; between HYDRA and the Atroma — and apparently these Agrii now — he's just done.

The tunnel looks nothing like the Marsiva or the other ships of the Fleet but has him on guard regardless. He's pretty sure they'd escaped that imprisonment, won their way free of the Atroma. Certainly he's seen no evidence of them in the year since. But perhaps they'd gotten too lax in their freedom, in the rush of exploration and enjoyment of each other's company.

It's possible anyway.

Still, he can't focus on that right now, and certainly attempting to break out hadn't worked. Had the impact of a metal fist against the wall woken anyone? Potentially not, if this really is like the Calibrations he remembers, the way sleepers couldn't be woken once they'd drifted off. Or perhaps people will hear it and come looking. Doesn't much matter to him and he gives it up quickly enough when he sees that it's not doing any good anyway.

Well, whatever.

After a last glare at the tunnel he returns to the interior chamber and proceeds to go over every inch of it. Under the Atroma, it was impossible to escape the Calibrations area until those beings decided their time was up. If this really is modeled after that there'll be no escape, but he still intends to make sure. Perhaps some detail has been overlooked.

→ Calibrations Room;

The room itself is plain, utilitarian. The walls might be grey, or a grimy institutional beige. The only furnishings are a large glass-and-metal tubular chamber in the corner and a metal table in the center of the room with a single lightbulb hanging above it; an old incandescent bulb sheds yellowy light on the surface of the table and not much further.

On the table rests a sniper rifle, a combat knife, and a mouthguard. There appears to be no one in residence.

NETWORK
→ Text;

The Drift Fleet. Atroma. Calibrations. If you know what I'm talking about, speak up.

[That's it that's the message.]

WILDCARD
→ Elsewhere;

Want something else? Have an idea? Hit me up at sometimesamuse or via PM. Open to wherever, whatever, and though I write starters in prose I'm more than happy to switch to brackets if it's your preference.

Comments

[sinistral]

"Lucky us." A storm doesn't truly sound too bad — not that he has any experience with storms on this planet, of course. But he likes the idea of sheltering from a storm better than he likes the idea of close quarters and much better than he likes anything to do with Calibrations. He didn't sign up for this, not at all.

Of course, when there are beings who can just pluck you from your life and drop you elsewhere, there isn't much signing up happening regardless.

"Great. Sounds fun." The sarcasm. Oh, the sarcasm! At least he's not rolling his eyes (yet), although the introduction has him hesitating just for a moment. "I am known as the Soldier."

[hulkintraining]

"Well, kind of, yes?" He's not one to give the Agrii unfounded credit, especially since he disagrees with how they do...pretty much everything. But he also doesn't believe that they're an enemy or trying to cause the rest of them any harm. They're desperate and desperation makes people do stupid things. Like kidnap people.

"The storm I mentioned isn't a normal storm. It strips people of their powers and...it makes you see and hear things. People you know who aren't here calling for your help." He looks down at his shoes, his hands curling around the sleeves of his shirt and clutching them. "We couldn't figure out how to stop it. I'm surprised those of us who went out all came back in one piece, more or less."

When he hears the man's 'name' he almost wants to ask what else he's called, but he manages to hold back the impulse. Still, he looks pretty dubious. "The Soldier. That's...descriptive."

[sinistral]

"Interesting." The storm, as it's described, actually sounds similar to a Calibration room, in a way. That has him wondering about the storms versus the Calibrations, if they could be at all related. There's not enough information to know for sure, but perhaps being in the underground complex is the lesser of two evils.

Still doesn't make it pleasant though.

"What made you believe it could be stopped? I've never heard of weather that could just be turned off." He's never heard of storms with those effects either though, so maybe there's more to this than just weather patterns. What a strange planet though, to cause such effects with a storm! "And have other patterns also had strange effects as part of their occurrence?"

He shrugs. Some people have accepted it as a name; others haven't. He can't — and won't — force the issue. "The designation is appropriate."

[hulkintraining]

And here's where things get tricky. People tend to be divided on how much the Agrii can or should be trusted. Teddy himself is divided on the issue most of the time, even though he tends to lean on the side of getting things done.

"The Agrii thought that we could stop it somehow. They were under the impression that it wouldn't harm us the way it harms them."

Even trying to explain it makes him wince a little because he knows how it sounds. Like it could have been a set-up. And maybe he would be more willing to believe that if he didn't think the Agrii were genuine in needing their help.

"Other patterns? Like weather patterns? No. I haven't seen anything else like this happening."

[sinistral]

"So they based this whole non-consensual interstellar relocation on an assumption," he shoots back. "Great."

Not that it's this Teddy's fault; he certainly looks human enough, and the Soldier is choosing to ignore the idea behind looks being deceiving. That's a whole different area to unpack and he just doesn't feel like getting into the suppositions of conspiracies and lies. Not everything has the layers upon layers of deception that were HYDRA's specialty.

The Soldier runs his human hand through his hair, raking it back from his face while he considers both what Teddy's presented and how to read it against the reality of his body language. There's really just too little information in general, and he doesn't like it at all. "So these effects only happen with these storms, and we're supposed to stop the storms." A beat. "I don't suppose anyone here has weather-related powers or something?"

[hulkintraining]

Teddy shrugs, unable to come up with a better reply. The more interactions he has with the Agrii the more he's coming to believe that they might just be winging this whole thing just like the rest of them. That doesn't bode well for the overall mission they're supposed to be working towards.

"Not that I'm aware of." That doesn't mean there isn't someone with weather-related abilities, just that Teddy either hasn't met them yet or discussed their abilities. Not that he thinks any abilities would necessarily be useful in the case of the storm. "But remember that the storm takes away powers. Like completely. So unless someone has weather powers that can work from a distance..." He trails off, leaving the rest unsaid.

[sinistral]

There's nothing about the feeling of flying by the seat of his pants because of irresponsibility on the part of another, more powerful, group of beings that the Soldier likes. This whole situation stinks of manipulation and a distinct lack of information, and he doesn't think that's just his natural paranoia speaking.

"Wouldn't be the first time I've heard of something like that." Not that he and Loki had talked extensively about what Thor could or could not do to manipulate the weather, but without possessing that sort of power himself, he can't say how effective it would be anyway. And considering that neither of the brothers appears to be here, he supposed it doesn't much matter. "And if someone's survival depended on their supposed powers, I wonder if the Agrii would have mourned the loss or just chalked it up as being within acceptable parameters and moved on. After all, it's not like it would have been one of them who died."

[hulkintraining]

Teddy lowers his eyes, his shoulders hunching. He knows - or at least doesn't think - that the Soldier's words are meant to be reprimands towards him or the others who had investigated the storm. But the words cut him deep all the same. Maybe no one had died, but many had been hurt, including his friend Tommy. And he had been helpless to help any of them.

"No one was forced to go if they didn't want to. But we were blindsided by the effects of the storm. I don't know if that's because the Agrii failed to mention them, or if maybe they didn't know the storm would effect us like that. All they really told us is that they are weak against the storm and it had killed many of their own."

[sinistral]

"Suppose they can't be blamed if they didn't know, but I suppose too there's no way for us to know if they're lying either." All around it's not a good situation, and he's under the impression that Teddy doesn't necessarily want to talk about it. He's holding himself as someone made uncomfortable, and the Soldier knows he tends to be blunt where others would use tact.

"Still seems pretty heartless of them to obtain their cleanup crew via kidnapping." As opposed to just asking for help. Then again, how many people would have actually said yes? "I'd like to know what we're supposed to get out of it. Or if we're just supposed to be grateful to be allowed back to our lives."

[hulkintraining]

He doesn't like the thought of the Agrii being cruel enough to knowingly send them into such a dangerous situation, knowing they could get hurt or even die. But he can't say anything to defend them. The fact is they're basically holding everyone here hostage with the expectation that they will be able to somehow fix this planet for them. But what happens if they can't? And how long would a task like that even take?

"I believe that they're desperate and scared. That's not an excuse for taking us from our homes without a choice, but it's the only way I can wrap my head around why they would do this." He shrugs. "They were looking for heroes. I don't think they've thought about us getting anything out of it."

[sinistral]

Sometimes the biggest cruelty is a result of ignorance, and that only because of the senselessness of it: deliberate cruelty, that with means and motive behind it, can be easily painted as evil. Accidental, ignorant cruelty can hurt more deeply given that one cannot always predict its target or intensity.

Which it is for these Agrii though, he doubts they have any way of knowing for sure.

"I wonder how they define hero." The Soldier certainly doesn't consider himself to fall under that description, though he readily acknowledges how useful his skills can be. "Or if they based it more on convenience of however they bring us here."

[hulkintraining]

"That's the thing. I don't know that they have much control over who they actually grab. Because not everyone here is a hero. Some don't even have powers of their own."

As far as he knows very little is known about the actual process the Agrii use to bring people.

[sinistral]

“Dangerous to think of it in terms of your definition of the word.” Because there’s one thing that seems certain: they’re playing in a game whose rules they don’t know. Even so he frowns at the idea Teddy presents. The Agrii not having complete command over the technology they use (and possibly abuse) doesn’t sound good at all, and he somehow doubts that the Agrii will be the ones paying the price should things go wrong.