exsilium | [video] -- backdated to yesterday (5/22) because of ooc cat-herding >

[Greetings, Exsilium. It's Sue Richards, in her white and black Fantastic Four costume, sitting in the DITR offices. She looks tense, but composed. Guess who drew the short straw on responding to this whole mess?]

Hello. I'm Susan Richards, of the Department of Initiative-Transport Relations.

[She's good at reading from a teleprompter, but this is obviously not extemporaneous.]

On behalf of the Initiative, we would first like to extend our condolences and apologies to those affected by yesterday's events--

[Sue stops, and her expression darkens.]

--No. You know what? I'm not reading this. I'm not making excuses for them.

[Oops. Sue just went off-script, and her spokesperson persona drops in favor of what she's really feeling, a simmering, controlled anger.

There's a strangled noise of outrage offscreen from Saul, but it's rapidly cut off.]

Thank you, Medusa.

Not at all, Susan.

[Sue takes a deep breath, squares her shoulders, and addresses the camera again. This is no longer someone playing the role of a bureaucratic functionary. This is the woman who has stood against gods and won.]

We just watched a world die. Some of us died ourselves.

We've been conscripted to fight a war that the Initiative tells us could come to our homes at any time. It's already come to theirs--and now, to Elmer Albatross'. The Initiative is desperate, and it's a desperation I understand. If my world is threatened--and it has been before, many times--I will do nearly anything to save it. I can't speak for others, but if the Initiative had asked, I would have helped gladly.

Desperation is an explanation, not an excuse. No matter how understandable the Initiative's motives, they've still wronged us, and I don't blame anyone here for not trusting them, or for being outright furious. I'm angry myself.

Unfortunately, United Earth is worse. First we were told, and now we know that they have the capability and willingness to destroy a civilization of billions. We might be able to find the right point in time to avert what just happened--I know a little about time travel myself, and I've seen such things done before. However, even if we can't manage to save that world, there are an infinite number of universes, some of them our own, that could be targeted next.

The Initiative is due a reckoning. I acknowledge that. But if United Earth isn't defeated first, that reckoning will come in a form none of us will be happy to see...if we even live to see it. I'm not asking any of you not to be angry. Be furious. What I am asking is, for the time being, that you to point your anger where it will do the most good--at United Earth.

My colleagues and I fully intend to take the Initiative to task for what a fiasco this turned out to be, from the security breach that caused it to the mismanagement of the response. This cost Adam Jensen his free will and ultimately his life. It also cost the lives of an untold number of people on Elmer's Earth. This cannot happen again. We Transports have an enormous amount of experience--in technology, in government, in logistics, in war--that's going to waste while we're shut out of the decision making.

The Initiative made this our war when they brought us here. Now they need to let us determine how to fight it.

Thank you for your time.

[Well, someone might not be working for the DITR after this.]

[OOC: Pink is Medusa. Medusa and Saul appear courtesy of Ammay and Heather. I'll hit up all the replies, but your comment might also get answered by any member of the DITR. Even Saul after Medusa lets him go.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

All of this because of one dumb mistake.

[ Which he isn't sure the DITR even knows about, much less that anyone could have foreseen this happening, but... ]

At least it sounds like we're in a position to actually demand that kind of involvement now. That always did bother me.

[I don't know if they know the exact details of how Adam was compromised, either.]

That's what happens in wars, which is why I'm pushing to get qualified Transports in positions to catch mistakes. We have soldiers and intelligence operatives here, and we should be using them.

[Which could sound like election sloganeering, but Sue is just too serious about it for it to come off as pandering.]

[ I just realized I don't know if anyone knows that yet either, so quietly being vague on what the mistake is now until we know. Doo de doo. ]

Soldiers, operatives, and a heck of a lot more highly trained people. More highly trained than the Initiative in most cases, I'd bet. [ Any other time he would have complained that it sounded like that, too, but this is a real problem. ] I can see why they wouldn't want us meddling with time travel directly, since they would know their own history best, but everything else?

They shouldn't have tried to recover the world at all. It was a massive tactical blunder.

[Liz says the liaisons know about the nanobots, but I'm not sure if they know how Adam came down with a case of sleeper agentitis, so vague it is.]

I understand the impulse to do something--I went through the portal myself, but I have a lot of experience with things like this. Not everyone can manage on their own in a battle. Nor should they have to.

[ She said anyone who asks around would know, too, since it's not really being kept secret, so I think they can both know? But vague is still good. Yep. ]

The impulse was a part of the problem. Everyone doing their own thing wasn't going to make a dent in the enemy lines! And going in without the kind of intel such a campaign would require... All we learned was we're entirely outclassed by the UE firsthand.

Oh, I made a dent.

[Sue is really scary when she's mad.]

But I agree. Organization would have helped considerably. We're not outclassed, but this time we were thoroughly outmaneuvered.

[ Now arrogance isn't always a bad thing, but in this case? ]

Right. Not outclassed. So long exactly did it take them to destroy an entire planet again?

I don't know the exact figure, but at least six hours.

[She thinks that's kinda slow, actually.]

Maybe it's different for where you come from, but I'd say losing an entire world in less than even half a day is as outclassed as we can get. They also have the numbers, the machinery, and the discipline that we lack in great quantity.

[Sue is really, really trying to understand people from non-superhero worlds, but she has a lot of assumptions that are getting in the way.]

It's obvious I don't understand where a lot of people are coming from on this. Are planetary-scale invasions unusual in most universes?

Are planetary-scale invasions... Yes! Yes, they are unusual! Not even the most militarized nation on my own world has an army that fearsome!

[Pause.]

...Oh.

[Thaaaaat puts a different spin on things.]

We have about one a year.

[Comic book time makes absolutely no sense do not ask.]

That's...

[ What is that even? ]

That sounds like something that needs to be fixed.

[#comics lyf]

Well, the Skrulls aren't a threat anymore, and the Kree just lost an armada, so we might have a few quiet years.

[ comics why ]

That's... okay. Great. Just keep in mind not everyone is from your world, so they might not be taking it in as much stride here.

I'm starting to realize that.

[No wonder everyone's freaking out so much!]

Yeah. Talk about learning lessons on the job. Well, good luck with the rest of this.

[ That is, dealing with any other freakouts. ]

Thanks.

[Next time Saul has to do the announcement.]

[video] -- backdated to yesterday (5/22) because of ooc cat-herding >_>

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