video.

[selfequipped]

Hi, I'm Kate Bishop, and I'm a superhero. [There's a pause before she goes on.] There's a chance that doesn't mean much to many of you. There may even be some of you questioning the legality of vigilantes, but I'm not the type that goes too far. There's a reason why we kind of prefer "superhero" over "vigilante" anyway. For those of you who do know them, I'm an Avenger. But that's meaningless here. And I'm not really here to ... brag, either.

[Her voice is warm either way. There's a reason why she's here.]

Back home, I've got a like-minded group that tends to go on missions like the ones here. I was hoping to form something like that. It won't be the same, but I've got a couple teammates and not the whole set. We'd do pretty well for ourselves, but we need a couple more helping hands. So that's why I'm here. Well, partly.

[There is a question she has about this whole alternate earth business, but she'll get to it. She really wants a cohesive unit working together, as that seems to be the best way to proceed forward.]

The other goal I'd like for our group is to mobilize and help people in need. I can do this myself, and I'm planning on it, but more hands at the deck might help out. We don't just need this in missions, and from what I've read, we don't know what's gonna come next. I know it's risky to put together a group like this with how people come and go, but I'm prepared to deal with that. Plus, I don't just back down from something. I'm kind of stubborn that way.

If you've already got something like this going and wouldn't mind a few more people, I'd love to chat with you. I'm an archer mostly, but I have other gifts. One member is a ... [a trickster? How does one even sell Loki?] ... well, I'm sure he's good at something. And the final is an alien with advanced knowledge of technology that he might share. He's also got bug DNA and is extremely flexible. [That last bit. She really had to add that last bit.] So let me know.

The other question is: in the annals of this world, have people of Earth found evidence that they existed? Back home, alternate Earths like this usually mean ... alternate versions of us, which can either be a good thing, or a very, very bad thing. I'm thinking bad, considering the state of things. I was just wondering.

Comments

audio

[postpones]

I'm not in the habit of Googling myself. But maybe I should.

[the question then becomes, are there any records left to search at all.]

That aside, an alternate version of someone with your...capability [not bothering to pretend she isn't dubious here; who even announces publicly that they're a superhero? (Kate, it seems)] doesn't sound like good news, I'd give you that.

audio

[selfequipped]

I'm less worried about other mes. Well, they're fierce and a little scary. One was even a zombie. [See? Scary. She pauses at that.] This place has the makings of a ... doomed timeline. And I hate that I have experience enough to say that, but it just means more impetus to keep that from being true.

voice

[kneecaptain]

I went to Paris. 21st century. No one knew me there. [ He checked. ]

[ Lighter: ] But there are a lot of people from Earth here who haven't heard of me.

voice

[selfequipped]

So many Earths without ... us. Or even Captain America. I'd figure he'd be kind of a mainstay, since I can't really imagine World War II without him.

[That bit of American history changing does seem ... odd, and weird to imagine. It means there's no first Captain America, and that means there's no legacy for Eli to live up to. Strange. Very strange.]

But I almost feel like this is a set up for a really great hipster joke.

text;

[hashtagyolt]

And after I got a mountain of shit for disrespecting secret identities.

To answer your question though, no. I'm pretty sure this is some obnoxious corner of the multiverse completely foreign to every single one of us.

text;

[selfequipped]

Probably depends on the world. Some heroes like to keep it hidden, others don't. My costume doesn't exactly leave a lot of room for "that's not Kate Bishop because see, she's wearing sunglasses."

[It's something she considered when she set up her new costume, but this one is better for her, and why hide it? Plus, no one really hides it. Sometimes it's weak denial, but ...]

But I'm wondering how that managed to work out. Like if someone went along and snuffed the beginning of the superhero trend out. ... Scary to think of, really.

voice.

[motherofnemesis]

Question. How long have you been a superhero, and how old are you?

voice.

[selfequipped]

Twenty-one. [Almost. It's in a few days. She can claim it given the weird time shenanigans. In terms of time passed, she's definitely reached twenty-one years of living.] And four years.

Audio

[maddeninghatter]

[ He is an eavesdropping eavesdropper.... ]

I wonder if you would kindly explain what you mean by "doomed timeline," and perhaps also how you came to that conclusion?

Audio

[selfequipped]

The long and short of it is that I'm friends with a few people who can jump between dimensions. Doomed worlds, doomed timelines, they're one and the same. Generally.

[There's a beat.]

When it gets as bad as it is here, it doesn't often get better. I'm just surprised there's still some morally upright people left among the population. But maybe the whole experience left me a little pessimistic.

text;

[crab]

[ superheroes, alternate selves and doomed timelines, more like 3x ping combo. ]

SO I'M GOING TO TAKE AN EXTREMELY OPTIMISTIC WILD GUESS HERE AND ASSUME YOU'RE ONE OF THE VERY FEW PEOPLE IN THIS PLACE WHO ACTUALLY GRASP THE WAY TIME DOES AND DOES NOT WORK, AND THE REPERCUSSIONS OF TAMPERING WITH IT THE WAY THE INITIATIVE HAVE BEEN.

text;

[selfequipped]

Yup, got it in one. Honestly, I'd prefer us to go back to square one and ditch all this time-travel business, but I don't think that's possible and I doubt anyone's keen on listening.

video

[manifestum]

Can't really help with the whole superhero thing, but good luck with that one.

But hey, the whole alternate versions of us thing... as cliched as this is going to sound, any chance you're suggesting we have evil alternate universe selves?

video

[selfequipped]

Well, sometimes things go badly, yeah. I don't really blame zombie me for it.

[Video]

[small_berserker]

...does it matter if the person is young? For the mission-group, I mean. I've got combat training and my body heals super-fast.

[Video]

[selfequipped]

No, when my friend got going, she was fourteen. [Which is sad, considering ... everything there. She pauses.]

How young are we talking?

video;

[iphigeneia]

I am not sure where one would even find such information about themselves. [Which is a bummer because if anyone was born to be a star, it's Fee.]

video;

[selfequipped]

Usually some kind of records.

But it'd take someone famous enough to even be in the record books. I just found out a bit one's missing, so that's ... strange. To say the least.

[transuniversal]

[Kate you are the best girlfriend, it is too bad this is imminently doomed to end whenever somebody remembers fake Oubliette.]

I'll agree to share some of my knowledge and tricks. [He already did, a bit.] But some of it will have to remain classified. Nobody but you needs to know just how flexible I can be.

[selfequipped]

Oh, did it sound like I was offering you?

[She thinks that over with a fake thinking face.]

I was just slipping a little appreciation in. Just for you.

video;

[getoffmyearth]

You're an Avenger? [Pause, while he thinks- and comes up short.] ...Which one?

[Look he doesn't know all that many of them well enough to guess who the female archer would be. He's probably never heard of half of them, and he's probably never heard of her. Good thing he's too old to try for hipsterdom.]

video;

[selfequipped]

Hey, at least you know who they are! [Sort of, from what she can tell.]

I'm Hawkeye. I was gonna slip that in there, but it didn't feel like it had a place. No one cares about codenames when it comes down to it.

audio

[vaccination]

[Ellie ignores most of this for--]

A superhero archer? Whoa. That's... pretty cool.

audio

[selfequipped]

It is, isn't it? Honestly, we do pretty well for ourselves.

Oh, and I'm one of two. We're kind of a match pair.

Video

[biwinning]

"An alien with advanced knowledge of technology" oh PLEATHE tell me you're NOT talking about Karkat. PLEATHE.

Video

[selfequipped]

Is he flexible?

[Look, she'll answer the question in a moment.]

text

[gevurah]

[ Hello again from Big Kate. Also she is stalking all her other (public) conversations. ]

Doubtful it's meaningless. Names have power.

text

[selfequipped]

That they do, but I'd rather prove myself than think a name is going to get me respect and leverage when I want to lead a team that helps people.

video

[wordmagic]

Where I come from, we have something similar to that. Magic Guilds that go on missions and jobs to help people. A few of the members of my Guild are here with me, though we're missing a lot of them as well.

[ Levy pauses, and gives a small smile, looking sure of herself and her words ] I'm pretty certain that they'd all like to help you and your group! I know I would, definitely.

video

[selfequipped]

That's definitely something I'd like. More the merrier, right? [She pauses.] Do you all have a leader?

→ video

[controlledvariable]

[There's something about this that rubs her the wrong way, but she can't quite put her finger on it, so she just files it away as something to consider later.]

My home city doesn't even exist, which means I definitely don't.

[She checked.]

→ video

[selfequipped]

What's the name of the city you're from?

VIDEO once again from the next room.

[badnewsboy]

[so internet. amaze.

there are a lot of questions that he has, but he picks up late to read the other responses. it's easier to gain knowledge from them than to ask the same question.]

You've three members? I had thought that it was simply you and your lack-of-shirt boyfriend.

VIDEO

[selfequipped]

You're a Young Avenger. We don't get membership cards. Welcome.

video.

[lucency]

Duplicates, you mean almost? [ belle shakes her head. ] As far as I know, nothing like that has occurred here - that we can tell. I don't think there's an alternate of anyone.

video.

[selfequipped]

Here, anyway, yeah. It's really catching me up. I know it shouldn't be and that's my-universe-centric, but it is.

[video]

[ringbeast]

Huhhh. I'm a superhero! I usually run missions with my partner, but we've been kinda cooped up together on the moon for forever and I don't want him to get sick of me. Maybe I'll join up on a temporary basis!

[He grins, waving at the camera.]

Sup, my names Kousuke Nitoh, a.k.a. Kamen Rider Beast! I'm a wizard and I can transform and use my magic to fight, so that's pretty hand to hand. Also I can heal. Unfortunately, I gotta be careful about using too much magic, but I can usually make it through a few fights without needing a refill. Plus I got this mana stuff the old initiative made me... Some of that's still left.

[He pauses to think about it.]

It's possible if there's an alternate version of any of us around, they just don't resemble us enough to tip us off. I didn't exactly go rifling through a phone book for the Nitoh family the last time I was in the past close to the time I was around, but... The past before my time seems pretty close to what I remember. I know this ain't anything like my world, though. There's no Kamen Riders here.

[video]

[selfequipped]

What's this mana stuff? [It seems like an important question to ask. If they're working together, maybe they can work on a way to get more.]

And what's a Kamen Rider?