NETWORK: 01

[bossofspace]

[ The video feed is blurry and laced with visual static, and Carol moves the device closer and farther away a few times until the picture finally comes into focus. ]

This thing on?

[ Tap, tap. ]

Alright - jokes aside, we've finally got a way to all talk to each other. This means we can check in with each other about what's working and what's still broken, and figure out if we can do anything about it.

For those of you I haven't met yet, I'm Carol Danvers. I've been part of the US Air Force, the Kree Starforce, and I've worked with SHIELD and the Avengers; if those names mean anything to any of you.

We seem to be doing alright on resources - food, clean water, shelter. Such as it is. [ She glances around at the room behind her, shrugging before turning back to camera. ] Anyone manage to dig anything up about these people and what exactly happened here, or are we still just working with what that first Data Point gave us?

[ She has about a thousand more questions, and she hesitates before continuing to speak. ]

And if there's anything else that you think everyone should know, well, go ahead and let us know.




[ PRIVATE TO CREW ]

Alright you guys - any of you have a preference for which one of these ships we want? Any ties to 'em, if you were on 'em before?

I also wanna know what you guys know - what are you already good at, what did you pick up here, any special skills or talents, that kinda thing. Clint - I think I've got you covered but feel free to fill me in if there's anything I've missed. If we're going to be working together I think we need to figure out at least where our strengths and weaknesses are and where we can cover for each other if we need to.





[ Carol has been, more or less, fixing what she can when and where she can - after spending a good chunk of time at the Power Plant, helping to get the power restored, she's gathered up as many of those crystal battery rods as she can and tried to charge them on her own power before distributing them throughout town, to see if any of them turn anything else on.

She'll patrol from the air, and you might find her in the forest, carefully (?) blasting through the overgrowth to reveal buildings near sites where the arrow signs popped up. She'll relax at the lake, too, offering to heat it when there's a few people around and she can afford to expend the energy on a luxury like that.

For the most part, she's trying to keep track of where everyone is and what they're doing, but with this many people in a place this big, that gets ... tricky. Therefore, wildcard! options are also in play; chances are she's going to be anywhere you might have also been, in town. ]

Comments

Re: Video;

[bossofspace]

[A look of concern flashes across her eyes briefly - it's not Krista's fault, but the more kids Carol sees here, the more worried she gets about what the Agrii might actually be up to. Especially if anyone is freaking out.]

Hi, Krista.

What's freaking you out about it?

[ladiesss]

[and for once, Krista is actually relieved to have someone worrying on her behalf. she likes to think of herself as a capable, self-sufficient almost-adult, but even she feels like she really shouldn't be trying to sort this out all on her own.]

Okay, well, this used to be...

[she pauses, puts a hand up to stop herself. thinks.]

Wait, let me back up. How familiar are you with these places that just kind of pull in people from all sorts of dimensions into one, central location? Have you done this before?

[bossofspace]

[She shakes her head.] First time dimensions have gotten involved. Space, sure. Time, sometimes.

Guessing it's not the first time for you?

[ladiesss]

[she nods!] Yeah, I've been through a couple. Haven't messed with time yet, so that's a plus...

[she straightens, like she's ready to give a class presentation on her multiple-dimension theory.]

Okay, so then I'm going to say a bunch of stuff that's going to sound marginally crazy, but just... Stop me if I've lost you at any point.

[bossofspace]

[She laughs at this, at least.]

I can fly and shoot energy blasts from my hands. I don't think 'sounding crazy' is something you've gotta worry about with me.

[ladiesss]

Uh, one, that sounds awesome.

And two--great, because this might get weird.

[she takes a deep breath... and starts at the beginning.]

So, I don't actually know what they are, but there are these places that exist somewhere in reality that we think kind of just pull people out of other dimensions and plunk them all down in one central location. Sometimes it pulls multiple, uh, versions of people. And sometimes it pulls people who are supposed to be dead. Which is wild.

But I've gotten pulled through a couple of these places, and sometimes it's like, you just sort of end up there, no instruction, no one responsible, no clues, you're just sort of left to your own devices in some town or a tower or something with all these other people who also got pulled there. Sometimes there's like, this nebulous force that wants you to do stuff, I guess, or like, these weird, magical things that just kind of... [she shrugs.] ...happen for no reason...

I don't know, it's hard to describe. But this last one, before I came here, stuck us all on a fleet of spaceships. You following so far?

[bossofspace]

[With a smirk:] I'd say it's pretty cool.

[But she listens, as carefully as she can, doing her best to give Krista her full attention. She nods soberly at 'supposed to be dead' - because she knows who from her world did and didn't survive the incident - and her worry only deepens as Krista goes on.]

I'm with you. These are the ships that are parked out by the hangar?

[ladiesss]

I see you've already guessed the plot twist...

[she glances over towards something (it's the hangar bay in the distance, but that doesn't make it to the video), before continuing.]

So they called it the Drift Fleet, and this one was actually run by something called Atroma. I don't know if it was a person, or a type of alien, or some evil space corporation, or what... But we were kind of told that the stuff we were doing was being broadcast out to thousands of viewers, like some reality TV show or something. Like Keeping Up With The Kardashians, except we were the Kardashians.

But it was, like, low-key creepy all the time. They put these augment things in everyone's necks and it would like, cause all these weird problems like memory loss, or powers going haywire... And we got shipped around to all of these different worlds, but no one ever seemed to have heard of this stupid show we were supposed to be on, so I don't even know if it was real or just a thing they told us to get us to do stuff...

[Krista sighs... she's said a lot, and starts self-consciously playing with her hair. running her fingers through it while she keeps thinking.]

And I thought I left, because I feel like I was gone for a while... I thought that the Agrii and this... Wherever we are was totally different. But then those ships showed up, and I'm... I'm kind of starting to wonder if I didn't actually leave at all, and something's just messing with me.

[she sighs again, dropping her hands in her lap.]

Does that sound crazy? I'm starting to feel like I sound crazy.

[bossofspace]

[ Carol's hand instinctively reaches for her neck, where her own Kree implant used to be, what seems like a lifetime ago. The years have passed, but that doesn't make it any less awful - especially when other people are still out there, still taking people and fucking with their minds. The fact it was for entertainment is worse, though; at least the Kree had a purpose in what they did. ]

Barnes told me a little bit about them. Not that much, though.

Look - [ And she frets, still, because this isn't the kind of thing any kid should have to go through, especially not multiple times. Being a teenager is hard enough without adding alien abduction and mind control to the mix. ] I'm really sorry that any of that happened to you. To any of you. It shouldn't have. If I'd had anything to do with it, it wouldn't have. But - we're here now. And I don't think you're crazy.

I think you have a pretty strong theory, though. And if you're right, well - we're just gonna have to find a way to break out again.

I've been to a lot of planets. I've spent decades helping people who need my help - because I can. And there are other people here I've worked with, or heard of, who do the same thing. That means we're going to get to the bottom of this, and we're going to make it right.

[ladiesss]

[Krista doesn't really get emotional about things. she keeps her cards close to her chest for a lot of reasons. she's a secret-keeper, she's an observer. it's always been her job to stay alert and think of all the exit routes while her friends screwed around.

but it's exhausting. and even if she's the reincarnation of a thousand-year-old fae creature, she's spent most of the life that she knows as a weak, stressed-out little human who doesn't know how to not put responsibility for absolutely everything on her own shoulders.

so she kind of... brings her knees up to her chest while Carol talks, listening quietly. and by the end of it, she can be caught wiping at her eyes with her sleeves a little before looking back at the screen with a relieved smile.]

Man, you sound really cool. [mega-cool. but seriously...] Thanks, I'm... I'm really glad.

[bossofspace]

I try.

[ And she doesn't always succeed, but damn if she doesn't try, and keep trying. Being able to reassure someone like this - that's a start. Now she has to make good on her promise. ]

Where are you now?

[ladiesss]

[she doesn't know if Carol can get much further than others have in the past, but honestly--she's just relieved to feel like someone has her back. she pushes past her emotional moment pretty quickly, and turns the camera to reveal the view of the same ships she had just been talking about.]

Like, the building right next to the hangar. It's... [she puts the video feed back on herself.] Okay, now that I think about it, maybe kind of not the best place I could be, right now.