voice;

[kneecaptain]

[The voice is coming into and out of focus, but it doesn't seem to care. It's clipped, and determined.]

They really know how to roll out the welcome mat, don't they? I feel— [buzz and static] ain't the Blitz, but— [more of the same]

I heard the Avengers were here, and I wanna sit-rep. This is [more static] Captain America. [While the reception ain't great, anyone who knows him can tell this is Not Steve.]

I need to know what I'm dealing with.

Comments

[kneecaptain]

I never wanted to be Captain America. But that doesn't matter.

I'm guessing people have tried the obvious escape options?

[myownbestfriend]

The planet can barely sustain life, and no one's been able to break into the Hold.

Magneto and I haven't tried yet.

[kneecaptain]

Are you planning to?

[myownbestfriend]

Sooner or later. Likely later, given the circumstances.

[If she gets the vibe he's going to go telling people about this, he's going to find himself forgetting this part of the conversation. Because Emma's telepathic courtesy is primarily extended to other mutants.]

[kneecaptain]

So it isn't like this. Always.

[myownbestfriend]

Reenacting the Blitz? Yes, that's new. It's always a miserable hellhole, though.

[kneecaptain]

Those are getting real old.

[myownbestfriend]

I've been led to believe "miserable hellhole" is the only kind of future Earth has.

[kneecaptain]

Nah, they gotta have one lying around with the world peace and flying cars and the whole Flash Gordon bit.

They just wouldn't let us visit.

[myownbestfriend]

[She chuckles, her mental laugh a momentary pleasant feeling.]

I wouldn't have expected optimism from you.

[The sad part is that counts as optimism by her standards.]

[kneecaptain]

You got expectations?

[myownbestfriend]

Low ones. I find they go consistently unmet despite that.

[kneecaptain]

So, what do you expect these Initative creeps'll do next?

[myownbestfriend]

They're reactive. I expect they'll do nothing more than the minimum necessary to return to the status quo.

[kneecaptain]

They're already at war, I guess.

But I wonder if we're gonna be their reaction.

[myownbestfriend]

I will tell you now, Barnes, you do not want to go into battle with our fellow "Transports."

[Seriously, it is a clown car here. JUST LOOK AT THE BACK ENTRIES.]

[kneecaptain]

I don't think this is really about what I want.

[...]

They that bad?

[myownbestfriend]

Individually, they vary wildly. As a group? Few are capable of working together. No one wants to be here and the Initiative doesn't provide information, so there's no common cause and no motivation to do more than bicker.

I'm not sure yet if the bombings will provide something to rally around, or if no one will care enough because they don't feel any connection to this post-apocalyptic mess.

[kneecaptain]

I wonder who's really behind them. I mean, it's convenient, right? Gives 'em something to rally around.

[myownbestfriend]

[There's a moment of tense silence as Emma remembers what it was like to touch the minds of the Masked.]

No. The Initiative certainly hasn't earned any trust, but they--

[She breaks off, knowing what Bucky's been through...but he needs to know even more, given that.]

Barnes, I've looked inside the minds of the United Earth soldiers. There's literally nothing left but propaganda and their mission objectives. Maybe there never was anything. If I believed the Initiative was capable of that, I'd already have burned their minds to empty shells to match.

[Emma might be a mutant supremacist, and not exactly the most ethical telepath out there, but even she has limits.]

[kneecaptain]

[Bucky doesn't answer for a long time, doesn't even think for a while. It's just white noise, emotions he can't put a name to. Things that don't have a name, maybe.]

So they gotta be stopped, too.

[More quietly, he's thinking that death would maybe be a mercy.]