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[She looks tired, a little strung out, like she's sure most people do right now, but this is important, and it's important that people listen, which means she's using video, in the hopes it'll help make this message stick.

When she speaks, it's steady enough, though there's hints of worry and desperation in her tone, at times. Indications of how serious she's taking this, how hard it's hitting her.]

I know everything's a mess right now, but if you're seeing this, I need you to take the time to sit and listen, please, because I'm trying to help all of us and that won't work if everyone ignores me. Some of are probably going to hate me for this, but that's okay, as long as you keep listening while you hate me.

[a beat; a breath]

We're not abandoning the Exiles.

[This might seem a little on the fly, but she does have a rough idea of what she wants to say, and getting that across first took priority.]

And I don't mean that in a 'we're going to ignore the Initiative and stay to stop the bomb' kind of way, because, well. Let's say we stay, we've got some heavy hitters here, powerful people, so maybe we manage, in the short time we've got, to find a way to stop the bomb. We save us, we save the Exiles, everyone's happy.

[Her smile is sad, before slipping away, attention focusing more on the camera.]

Do you think the United Earth are just going to let that be the end of it? "Oh, our nuke failed, I guess we'll leave 'em alone"? Or do you think they're going to keep sending them until they wipe us out?

[You all know the answer.]

So we stop the first, maybe the second, hell, maybe even the third. Maybe they even run out of nukes, but they still won't stop, which means they'll likely start using regular bombs, and we've seen what that does to the city, or they send in the Masked. [another pause, this one to let the implications of that sink in.] There's about 500 of us, and we're good fighters, some of us work really well together, but there are five hundred thousand Exiles. Do you think we can protect them from wave after wave of Masked? Can we protect them inevitably? Can we protect the Hold, so that it doesn't get destroyed and we've lost our only any way of ever going home?

Because I hate to be the pessimist here, but I don't think we can.

[Sorry, team.

Steph sighs, running a hand through her hair before starting again.]

If we stay, if we stop the nuke, we're just inviting more trouble down on ourselves and the Exiles. Trouble that's going to keep us fighting twenty four-seven, trouble that won't leave us the time, energy or resources to fight this war the way we've doing since our arrival. We can't face the United Earth in an all out battle; we tried that, and a world was lost. If we stay, we're gonna lose the Exiles slowly, and we're gonna lose our own, and we're probably gonna lose them for good.

[There's no smiles now, not even sad ones, she just looks grim.]

We've been fighting this war using time travel, by going back and changing things to make the present a better place for everyone, and that's what we need to do now. That's why we need to pack up and go to the moon base, where we can keep fighting, no matter how much it feels like a retreat. We're not abandoning them, we're going to save them, they won't be gone forever, neither will Exsilium, but we have to do it the Initiative's way, not our own.

I know it's hard to put faith in the Initiative, all it seems like we do is react and run without winning any of our battles. But the reason we've even got a moon base to use is because of us. I'm sure those of us who were here remember that mission to the American Frontier? All it took was changing one election and now we've got a base on the moon that wasn't there before. And that's not all, the Initiative let me look over their files, and we've taking funding and supplies from the United Earth, weakening them, we've made their military less effective, and I know it might be hard to see the effects now, but we're playing a long game, here, and all those little changes will be what lets us win, in the end.

[She isn't sure if she believes all that, about the Initiative being effective, but she has to say it anyway, because she does believe they need to get everyone on the moon base to fix things.]

We've got better technology, better medicine, better health care and they've even improved the environment with the missions we've undertaken. We even have more information on the United Earth and it's AI than we did before, and none of you can tell me that isn't going to help us win this war. Information is everything.

[And she does believe that, at least.]

If you want more proof, I can share it, but I think I've gone on long enough. And I'm not gonna say this won't hurt, losing the Exiles, that we won't feel guilty, that it won't be hard living with limited resources on the moon, but if you really want to help us stop the United Earth, if you really want to save the Exiles, please take some time to think about this logically and strategically. All us Transports need to get to the moon base, and we need to keep working with the Initiative, because using the transporter and stopping the United Earth before they can become so strong is how can save everyone.

[She looks straight at the camera, falling silent for a moment to let that sink in.]

Please stay safe, everyone. If you're not too angry with me for this, know that I'm here to help with anything you need, and I hope I'll see you once we're settled up there.

Good luck.

[And the feed cuts.]

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[She's aware that this is public, and that Medusa might be a smart woman, but the way she's framing things... isn't going to win any points.

Steph just sighs.]

The Initiative haven't exactly given us a lot of reasons to put our faith in them, s'why I went and got some actual evidence of results. I don't blame people for questioning them, I'd be more worried if we weren't.

[Meanwhile: a teenage girl with issues with authority.]

( this is why crystal is in charge of swaying the population - medusa has really bad people skills. )

May I ask if there is anything specific that has made you doubt them? As far as I am aware, they have only shown a desire to work with us instead of against us.

( she's honestly curious - the initiative may not have been the most forthcoming, but she can't think of something that would have justified a copious amount of distrust beyond the expected norms. )

Edited 2013-09-29 18:12 (UTC)

[The question honestly leaves her stumped for a second, and then she makes the feed private, because she doesn't need everyone else to see this answer.]

You mean aside from how they kidnapped us and force us into battles? Force kids onto a battlefield? That we're given the bare minimum of training, absolutely no tactical organization and expected to fight their war for them, against highly trained soldiers? Aside from the fact they seem to have no interest in smoothing things over between us and the Exiles, despite the only reason they hate us being the fact we're the Initiative's pawns? That we've brought plagues and bombs down on them while it seems as if we're barely making a dent in the United Earth?

[Shouldn't this all be obvious? Isn't it how everyone feels about the Initiative?]

Because that's, you know, another thing. The way they seem to keep making decisions that just screw things up more than they already were, that all we seem to do is react to the United Earth and barely survive.

[They lost Elmer's world, they nearly lost to the plague, to the bombs. It feels like all they do is run and hide.]

They brought us here against our will, they ask us to die for them, again and again and again, for a war that they seem to have no idea how to fight, and you can honestly ask me why I have trouble putting my faith in them? Really?

I ask because it is my job.

( this she can handle. medusa's response is cool and composed, hair spreading out over the background of the feed to give her more presence. it's a habit from speaking in person, and one she doesn't intend on stopping any time soon. )

We all dislike the Initiative for what they have done - but do not forget that our worlds have always been a target for the United Earth to strip for resources. What happened to Elmer's world only proved that. You would also do well to remember that his world was targeted because the Initiative wanted to help find a way those unwilling to fight home. At the request of the transports.

( a wave of her hand. )

I will make no excuses for them on the matter of forcing those who do not wish to fight, but I will ask you if you have ever commanded a war in your life. It is an all consuming thing, Stephanie, and when one is losing there is nothing one will not try in order to protect the place one calls home. They have done what they can with the resources they have, and we must be the ones to do the rest.

( there's a weight to her words that comes with experience, tinged with a certain amount of sorrow. )

Untrained individuals? Train them - they've provided the means. And if we manage to save the Exiles from death by going back in time and changing events so this never occurs? I have no doubt they will think of us far more fondly than they do now.

( she's just saying. )

I do not have to like them - nor do I have to trust them - but as they are the only ones capable of returning me to my universe, my people, and my family I find it in my best interests to take them at their word. If it is not the same with you, then you have my apologies - but perhaps you should ask yourself what you can gain by playing their game, and if you think it worth it.

Edited 2013-09-29 19:21 (UTC)

[Nope.

She can't do this, there's anger curled painfully in her chest and she nearly throws the tablet across the room before managing to simply set it down, isntead, so Medusa gets a view of the ceiling of Steph's apartment. That lasts for a moment, Steph out of shot as she drags her hands through her hair and tries to get a grip on her composure again.

There's a lot she wants to say in respones, but in the end she only focuses on one thing, too angry to try to deal with the rest.

She props the tablet up on her desk, fixing the screen with a flat look.]

You think I'm not playing their game? [She gestures at the screen, apparently indicating the announcement she just made.] Why the fuck do you think I'm wasting my time arguing with people when all I want to do is hold my girlfriend and tell her it's going to be okay? What do you think I'm doing trying to tell people the Initiative aren't completely useless so that they might listen instead of running off and screwing things up for all of us?

[Because the suggestion she's, what, not interested in getting back to her loved ones? That she doesn't want to save this world and others?

It rankles.]

Maybe this is all a novelty for you, Queen Medusa, having to let other people make decisions. Or maybe you're happy with your little position of power with the DITR, I don't know. But I've spent my whole life as nothing more than a pawn for people to use, and let me tell you, I'm really fucking sick of it.

[Her dad, Bruce, Leslie, now the Initiative. It gets old, fast.]

So I'll play their game if it keeps the people I love safe, I'll even keep dying for them if that's what it takes, but I'm never gonna stop questioning them. And I'm sure as hell never going to take them at their word.

[That implies putting faith in them that they haven't earned, and that they can't earn, not when they kidnap children to fight a war for them.]

I thought you had seen the wisdom in the Initiatives' decision rather than simply wanting to do damage control. What position are you in to argue for the choices made if you do not believe in what you support? Your arguments will be weak, flawed, and they will crumble.

( her expression and her voice hardens, hair curling tighter. while it serves mostly as simply ornamental, there's a hint of more violent uses for it in the way it twists. )

You think you are the only one who has to deal with their fate being decided for them?

( the inhumans have always been at the mercy of other people - the aborted result of kree experiments, trusted and disliked so much that they left the planet they called home for first the moon and then the stars. where they've torn a place for themselves by force and great cost. )

Do not insult me - you do not have the right. You know nothing of my life, of what I have loved and lost and sacrificed. And I did not do so in order to subject myself to the misplaced frustrations of someone barely of age for her species.

Perhaps you would be better served by taking out your anger at those who deserve it and leave the politicking alone if you so truly detest it. There are others here that are more than capable of doing what you have done, and we have a lawyer on staff who would no doubt enjoy the chance to practice his art in defending you from the Initiative's wrath.

( as he'd been so eager to start something earlier, medusa figures he'd be happy to take some of his own anger against the initiative that way. )

Thank you for your continued efforts for the cause, Ms. Brown.

Edited 2013-09-30 19:02 (UTC)

[Things she really doesn't like: the threat in the way Medusa's hair moves. She sees it for what it is, and it raises her hackles more than all the words could.

Other things she doesn't like: the mention of Saul, and her jaw clenches so tightly she's worried her teeth might crack.]

I think this option is the best we've got for now, that doesn't mean I have to agree with anything else the Initiative does.

[She should address the way she insulted Medusa, because she knows it wasn't fair, but she's too angry and on the defensive to think about acknowleding it out loud. The best she can do is keep her mouth shut on that particular topic.

(A sense of self preservation keeps her from saying anything about Saul.)

That doesn't stop her from throwing a sarcastic salute Medusa's way after that thank you.]

Getting used is just what I'm good at, ma'am, but you're more than welcome.

[and she hangs up.]

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