one; voice + text

[worldliness]

Hey, I finally got this working!  Kinda embarrassing it took this long. Can't even work stuff like this and I'm not even old....  Wait, wait, I just might be able to make this a lot more interesting.

[there's that tell-tale static of a microphone being turned on.]  Gotcha!  Man, this little thing is so cool!  It still doesn't make up for, you know, any of this.  Honestly, breaking and entering, kidnapping, forced labor...what the heck would they even need with ordinary people?  Wouldn't they want super heroes or trained soldiers instead?  This all seems way too fishy for me.

First things first...where can a guy find a decent meal around here?

Comments

[worldliness]

Yeah, but they said they can't send us back either. Think about it; if we knew they could pick people at will, we'd all start demanding to be sent home. Some might even threaten to go to the United Earth. Maybe it's how the Initiative's keeping the peace. Eh, who knows. This is all guesswork. Enough about that, though! [adachi whistles in amazement.] Whoa, you drew all this from memory? Nice!

[hostage]

Well, we already got like twenty rebel groups around here, anyway... And it ain't from memory, exactly. I just went around taking notes.

[worldliness]

Hey, no matter how you did it, it's awesome! Thanks for helping me out. [now....] So...what about rebel groups again?

[hostage]

Oh, just every couple weeks somebody new pops up on the network all "we're gonna take down the Initiative" and then a bunch of people get all into it and then they kinda forget about it 'cause it's stupid as hell and I guess they remember the Initiative's the one giving 'em money and housing and weapons in the first place.

[worldliness]

[adachi can't hold back a mirthless chuckle. human nature never changed anywhere, huh?] Trying to bite the hand that feeds. Typical.

[hostage]

They're scared. I get it. But they're just gonna get people hurt.

[worldliness]

Not to mention themselves.

[hostage]

A lotta people don't care what happens to themselves, but they oughta at least give a shit about who's caught in the middle.

[worldliness]

It's the other way around, I think. People keep making rebel groups because they're unsatisfied. They'll be happy as long as they get what they want. But you're right, it's always the people not involved who wind up suffering the most.