Jaime Reyes | Blue Beetle (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
beetlebutt) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
piper902021-03-24 07:41 pm
beetlebutt) wrote in piper902021-03-24 07:41 pm
Entry tags:
big bad beetleborg [video] [locked]
[ooc: This is set just slightly before people return from the plot, so that people on the rig can see it before everyone returns and people in the plot can see it after they return.]
[Jaime is definitely thrown by finding himself here and he already earned himself a few shocks trying to fight his way out. Fortunately, they were only the short zappy kind, not Violations. Eventually he simmered down and thought about what Ted had taught him, about keeping his cool and playing the long game. But even now after getting the talk about where he is, he's feeling suspicious.]
[What if this is some weird game the Regime is playing? What if they're doing...something that they think will help coerce him to work with them long term? Ted had made it clear to him how manipulative and controlling they could. What if this is some kind of set up to try to convince him to join them?]
[That had always been Ted's fear. That Jaime would be strong-armed or manipulated into working for the bad guys - possibly even with threats to his family - or that Batman would recruit him because his people were dropping like flies. So he's feeling slightly suspicious when he gets on the comms, and his frown is pretty cranky.]
[He figured out that encryption pretty fast, enough with the Scarab poking around the comms. He's already told the Scarab to stay quiet and keep his head down.]
Okay, so apparently if you're kidnapped by people from another dimension, you get a free smartphone. Cool.
[It's not cool.]
[He drags a hand down his face.]
My name is Jaime. Just Jaime, that's all you get.
[He might have to use the suit, so he doesn't want his name associated with it. There are plenty of black-haired teenagers named Jaime out there.]
How many other people are in this place? And did anyone get powers or get changes in their powers?
[A squint.]
Also, that slideshow, does anyone know who made that? Because it was either parody meant to insult us or the person who made it was like super old. Like "uses internet explorer" old.
[Jaime is definitely thrown by finding himself here and he already earned himself a few shocks trying to fight his way out. Fortunately, they were only the short zappy kind, not Violations. Eventually he simmered down and thought about what Ted had taught him, about keeping his cool and playing the long game. But even now after getting the talk about where he is, he's feeling suspicious.]
[What if this is some weird game the Regime is playing? What if they're doing...something that they think will help coerce him to work with them long term? Ted had made it clear to him how manipulative and controlling they could. What if this is some kind of set up to try to convince him to join them?]
[That had always been Ted's fear. That Jaime would be strong-armed or manipulated into working for the bad guys - possibly even with threats to his family - or that Batman would recruit him because his people were dropping like flies. So he's feeling slightly suspicious when he gets on the comms, and his frown is pretty cranky.]
[He figured out that encryption pretty fast, enough with the Scarab poking around the comms. He's already told the Scarab to stay quiet and keep his head down.]
Okay, so apparently if you're kidnapped by people from another dimension, you get a free smartphone. Cool.
[It's not cool.]
[He drags a hand down his face.]
My name is Jaime. Just Jaime, that's all you get.
[He might have to use the suit, so he doesn't want his name associated with it. There are plenty of black-haired teenagers named Jaime out there.]
How many other people are in this place? And did anyone get powers or get changes in their powers?
[A squint.]
Also, that slideshow, does anyone know who made that? Because it was either parody meant to insult us or the person who made it was like super old. Like "uses internet explorer" old.
no subject
[He waves a hand vaguely, the one with the clunky bracelet.]
"Just Jaime" means they only deal with just Jaime.
To deal with those kinds of people you gotta get creative when thinking about how low they might stoop.
no subject
I...can see how that would definitely be a problem. It's admittedly a tactic that doesn't take vengeful, calculating, former superhero lead fascist regimes into mind.
[Chewing on the edge of his lip, he goes quite for a moment, mulling over whether the rest of what he wanted to say was worth saying at this point. On one hand he didn't want to sound like he was trying to keep pushing the "you shouldn't making it so obvious you don't want anyone to know you last name" when that cat was already out of the bag and he had a good reason for doing it. On the other hand, it still felt important to know.
Eventually he squeezes his eyes shut, makes a decision, and pushes forward, fumbling to choose his words carefully.]
For any other stuff though...If you just don't offer information about yourself...to the company I mean, they won't go looking for it. They don’t want to humanize us or know who we are beyond what we can do for them and what kind of threat level we are. But if you make them think you have a good reason for not telling them something, they might start wanting to know. Or forcing you to say. If you have something to hide, you have something to take.
Subtle evasiveness can get you surprisingly far with people who don't care about you as a person.
Not to say you won’t still occasionally have to put your foot down and say "it's none of your business" but the fewer people you have to say that to, the better your chances of slipping under their radar.
[As soon as it's out of his mouth, it instantly felt like a mistake, and he quickly tries to change the subject as if that will be enough to move the conversation past it.]
That bracelet...was that something they put on you?
no subject
[Other than the last name thing, there are things he's not telling anyone. Like the fact there's someone in there with him.]
[He holds up the cuff.]
Yeah. They did.
[He's probably going to have to use his powers in front of people at some point, if only to escape this place, and Jorgmund already knows they're there, if they put on something to suppress them. So it doesn't hurt admitting what the cuff is likely for.]
[And honestly, following in the same principles Merton was just talking about, it's shadier to pretend he has no clue why the cuff is there.]
[("You might get backed into a corner someday by some bad people asking questions. You may have to lie to protect yourself."
"Ugggh, I suck at lying."
"Just remember that the best lies are half-truths, my young padawan. They sound convincing enough to stand alone."
"...You're going to keep using nerd words as my nickname the whole time you're training me, aren't you."
"I have no clue what you're talking about...grasshopper.")]
[Thanks, Mr. Kord, he thinks, as he considers how much lying he's possibly going to have to do in this place.]
I have these powers. They're techno-organic. [His powers, not granted by anything sentient, no sir.] This looks...magic-ey. There are runes on it. I think they found something that trumps technology and all it'll cost me to get around it is some light dismemberment.
no subject
Oof! That's weird. I don't think I've seen anything like that on anyone else. Granted I haven't been here long, and I've hardly met everyone.
But they must think your techno organic powers are more of a threat then just the nanochain can handle.
I would say that's cool, but given the circumstances...
no subject
[Yes, they're a threat. Though he's not yet aware of how dialed down they are in this world.]
I can still make the claws and stuff but they said I'd only have a few powers allowed while wearing it due to occasional rig-based "adverse events," which I assume means they'll throw us at threats while they go lock themselves in a safe room somewhere.
no subject
[His eyes briefly light up. Techno organic powers are something completely new to him and his instinct was to ask into it and learn as much as he could, but he quickly shoves down the impulse and excitement.]
Yeah. Yeah, your assessment's pretty on point. I came in on the tail end of an on-rig "event". Bunch of very aggressively nippy cupid's. And from what I've seen browsing backlogs, it can get a lot worse.
[Going quiet again for a moment, he mulls over the bracelet.]
You know, we actually have at least one magic-user on board. Her name is Rowena. I doubt Jorg would have made the magic in that bracelet compatible with any of our magic users, but it might still be worth having them take a look at. If only to see if any of them can tell you more about it.
[Normally he would have offered up his own knowledge in the occult, but he didn't have anywhere near the on-hands experience of a 300+ year old witch, nor did he have any of the books he would normally use for that kind of research. It was a bit discomforting, knowing that even in his normal field of expertise he was basically useless here.]
no subject
[Might be worth a shot. Maybe she can weaken it somehow, let him access more on the rig than Jorgmund realizes.]
And yeah. Claws.
[It's not the whole suit. And this is probably the default the others are going to see at some point, if things regularly attack the rig.]
[He holds up the arm without the cuff and something black and sticky slides over it like something alive, reaching out with little strands to cover more skin. It's not a technology that looks like it was made by humans. There is no circuitry.]
[It solidifies into blue and black armor. He flares out his his fingers and the fingertips of the armor extend into long razor sharp claws. The claws retract and the armor melts away off his arm.]
I sort of kind of accidentally got bonded to alien technology.
no subject
Whoa.
[ It really does live up to the name 'techno organic', one moment moving like something living, almost like a fast-moving mold with the way it spread strands over his skin, then the next, it was spreading out and solidifying into chitin like armor. Claws and all.
He breaths out a barely audible "Cool" a smile tugging at his lips.]
When you say alien, you mean, like, from another planet?
[It's not quite a question. He pretty much already knows the answer. Even if he didn't recognize Jaime's world as some twisted version of the DC Universe, just the alien nature of the tech was an answer in itself. But he still wanted that confirmation. Getting to nerd out over superpowers, aliens, and tech was pretty much the only indulgence he had in this place, and of all the billions of questions he wanted to ask, it felt the safest.]
no subject
I've been up to space before. I was helping the Green Lanterns against the Red Lanterns.
[Yes, that means the suit lets him survive in space.]
The contact with aliens is sometimes a really, really bad thing, but at least still sometimes a really, really cool thing.
no subject
You're a civilian that helped fight a war in space?
[He sounds less like he's trying to call him out, and more just amused, that little smile turning into a teasing smirk.]
You're really raising the grading curve for us civvies.
We have people with powers on my Earth too, but no contact with extraterrestrials. At least, none that can be proven. Can't say I've ever personally been to space. Hardly been outside of my hometown, beyond occasionally visiting family or going to a theater that isn't crumbling apart and practically made of asbestos.
no subject
To be fair, it started with me straight up getting kidnapped and chained to a space motorcycle by an alien so it's not like I chose it. It just kind of happened.
[Just a civilian, sometimes getting into trouble.]
I flailed around and did what I could, then went home.
[It's not like he'd trained for it.]
[It's not like he'd lost the person who'd trained him.]
[He follows the subject change gratefully.]
So you have metas but no aliens?
[He says it like metas are just such a natural part of existence he assumes they exist in most other worlds.]
no subject
[He just vaguely gestures at the room around him. It wasn't the only time he'd been kidnapped but it was one of the only times he'd been taken as anything other than a bargaining chip or a meal. And ending up in an alternate universe, forcefully recruited into a ragtag army of indentured servants was certainly new.
Dad always had wanted a son that would actually follow his footsteps into the military. Guess he finally got his wish in a way. Pretty sure this wasn't how he imagined that going down though.]
I don't know if anyone from my world would fit under the definition of a meta, exactly. Most people with powers where I'm from, sit more on the supernatural spectrum. Vampires, werewolves, demons, witches, and the like.
[Pausing, he contemplates that for a moment, quickly getting caught up in the train of thought.]
Though I suppose Terri would have qualified...maybe Santini. Never really figured out if he just made tech that let him do what he did, or if he had an innate ability that his tech just amplified. He was kind of in a grey area.
[Lost in thought for a moment, he eventually seems to be talking more to himself than Jaime, not quite looking at the camera as he does so. But eventually, he catches himself, squeezing his eyes shut and giving his head a quick shake before getting back on topic.]
But no. No aliens that I'm aware of.
no subject
Our world has magic and supernatural biz, too.
no subject
Telekinetics, mad scientists bent on world domination or using extremely unethical means to push their projects through, and wack jobs that will trap you in a tv if you pirate cable.
But no superheroes, and no one that I've seen willing to specifically label themselves supervillains.
[Tommy might have taken some offence to that. He liked to fancy himself a superhero of sorts. Even if just a small town hero. He even liked to compare himself to Superman. Not that he was going to tell Jaime that.
Just one of many reasons he was glad Tommy wasn't here. He'd hate to see the look on his friends face if he found out there was a universe where his favourite hero and idol had turned into a fascist dictator.]
I actually ended up a "lab assistant" to a mad scientist, once. Or at least, that's what he called it. I would call it being a lab rat. I thought I would be helping with research, cleaning beakers, sorting files, getting some real world lab experience to pad out my college resume. Instead I got shoved into a chemical bath in an isolation tank that smelled like the kiddy pool at The Y.
And to be clear, I wasn't aware he was a mad scientist until after he almost killed me.