[video]

[fantasticforcefields]

[On the screen is a blond woman, to all appearances human and doing a not-quite-perfect job hiding the kind of resigned annoyance only seen in those for whom getting hauled across space and time is just a bothersome day at the office. She's instantly recognizable to people from a wide number of related universes—it's Susan Richards, the Invisible Woman, visible for this conversation and wearing a black-and-white version of the Fantastic Four's classic blue uniform with the distinctive "4" logo on the chest. It's been almost two days and there's no sign of her teammates, so it's time to cast a wider net.]

Hello. My name is Susan Richards. I'm going to swallow my pride and assume that doesn't mean anything to most of you. [The necessity of doing so doesn't seem to bother her, even though the idea of not being known on sight is strange. Sue laughs a little, and lets go of her irritation. The only real problem here is that her family isn't, and that's always been a self-correcting state of affairs.]

If it does, however, do me a favor and check in? Avengers, X-Men, SHIELD—I'm not picky. [Sue's already run into two people from home. Maybe there are more. She'll even take villains, if only so she can keep an eye on them.]

Everyone else, nice to meet you. Lovely weather we're having, isn't it?

[OOC: Fourth-walling is okay as long as your character's not going to be a jerk about it. Canon fail post is thisaway.]

Comments

[reconnaissance]

Jesus.

( She's murmured it softly, under her breath, glancing back at Sue with some confused mix of awe and horror and whole big mix of other things. )

How are you not-- ( A giant jerk, basically. ) How are you nice?

[fantasticforcefields]

I refuse to change who I am to suit a few awful people.

[That's almost everything you need to know about Sue right there. No force in the universe can move her once she's made up her mind, and even after all she's been through, the bad guys are still only "a few awful people."]

[reconnaissance]

( Ellie's not sure if she thinks Sue is kind of amazing, or completely bizarre. Can it be both? It's probably both.

Something in what she says gnaws at her, though. )

Sometimes it's not you that changes you, it's the stuff around you.

( Right? Because they've all changed, and not for the best. )

[fantasticforcefields]

There's always a choice, Ellie. I've had the man who sent my son to Hell helpless in front of me and let him live, because I will not become a murderer.

[Sue's so iron-willed even the supervillain in question respects her for it.]

The choice isn't always that stark, but it's always there.

[reconnaissance]

( A long silence, because there's not really a way you can compare what they've done to that. Having someone you have such a personal vendetta against and letting them live. Lee wouldn't do it. She wouldn't, not if there was Major Harvey. And there were more people than she had a figure for whose lives she's already claimed. )

I guess you've just made better choices than me, then.

( The admission is slightly hoarse. )

I bludgeoned a guy with a rock because he was going after my friend. I don't know how many people I've killed in the last eighteen months, if you want the truth. So that guy you talked about, he wouldn't have had a chance, with me.

( She attempts a smile, but it's hardly an effort that could be noted, all bitterness. ) Honesty is the best policy, yeah?

[fantasticforcefields]

[Sue is not used to eliciting actual confessions, except from her family, and that's usually about who ate the cookies without asking first...when it's not about her husband doing something ridiculously ill-considered and dangerous. Anyway, it's rarely about killing.]

...Yes, it is.

[There's really nothing Sue can do to bring back the dead, and coming over all sanctimonious at Ellie isn't going to help.]

[reconnaissance]

( She isn't sure what she was expecting. Some people said it was different because it was war and she was a civilian and some things had to be done to survive, but they'd chosen to go and fight, and they'd chosen to blow up Cobbler's Bay, the airfield, to stalk into town and kill if they had to, to allow themselves freedom, even if they could have just stayed in the safety of Hell. )

Sorry.

( It's about all she's got. Exactly what she's apologising for, though, is up for debate. Blurting that out? For the deaths themselves? For not knowing how she feels about them? )

I'll see you around, I guess.

( Or possibly not. She might go crawl under a rock. )

[fantasticforcefields]

All right. I don't think any of us are going very far.

[Sue's not going to condemn Ellie, but at the same time, she's not going to pretend she's okay with killing people when there's even the slightest possibility of mercy.]