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
[ Okay, that’s pretty specific. 100,000 people in ten minutes? Jesus fuck. Her brow furrows and her rabbit ears lay flat against her head as she shifts from laying down to sitting up, crouched in a rather distinctive position, knees up and balanced on the balls of her feet. ]
Fuckin’ hell.
You too, huh? Dinnae ken what I think of all this anymore, but when I first woke up, thought the Union’d got me. Which’d be bad, for a lot of reasons. And a lotta people.
[ Not that being away from her team, from the fight, is better for the war, but the Union getting hold of her holon or even just her would be a whole other level of ‘everything’s fucked’.
At least Jorg don’t seem to have any interest in trying to make her recreate gen:LOCK or something. Still, she’s tried not to mention too much in their earshot though, just in case they take sudden interest or this is a Union trick. ]
I’ll take Jorg over them too, far as captors go.
[ It’s empathetic, and edged with a little bit of frustration at the situation; its weird, to be weighing up which evil fuckers you’d rather be stuck with. ]
no subject
The Union?
no subject
Buncha fascist bastards, been slowly spreadin’ their influence for a couple decades then... [ she makes an explosion noise with her mouth ] Attacked New York, kicked off a war, yadda yadda yadda, everything went to shite.
Been four years since and they keep gainin’ ground. Whole east coast of North America’s under their control and big chunks of other places, too.
[ No continent’s without at least one Union stronghold. Except maybe Antartica, but she wouldn’t put it past them, honestly. ]
Want the world to be some big, monocultural blob or— some shite like that. Try an’ force it on every place they take over. You don’t play ball, and...
[ She’s seen a lot of refugee convoys. She’s also seen a lot of death tolls. ]
no subject
[It is a whole big grab bag of awful.]
I guess, in a weird way, we were lucky in my world, about how they took power. Not with what caused it, but Metropolis getting nuked wasn't from war, it was one lone, lunatic supervillain. I mean the way the Regime rose into power.
See, people have powers back home and some of the most powerful superheroes were in the group that went bad. Including Superman, who could probably kill the entire planet in a day. So it was just, like, over. You know? Almost overnight. Just all of a sudden all the wars stopped and all the criminals disappeared, but so did the free speech. And the right to vote. And being able to walk through the streets without worrying about whether the patrols would pick a fight for no reason and break your legs with the super-strength they'd been given.
[A shrug of one shoulder.]
And nobody could really fight it because they were powerful enough to level a whole army. The Resistance could barely put a dent in for the longest time. So it was fast. Which at least meant there was no war, but it also meant there kind of was no hope?
[A pause.]
So I guess we weren't that lucky, just a different kind of unlucky.
[The sincerity practically radiates.]
But I'm sorry you're dealing with the other kind.
no subject
[ Her eyes widen a little as he describes his own world; talk about a contrast to the last universe with superheroes she got a story about. ]
Was gonna say—that’s not lucky at all, just it’s own unique kinda fucked up. War sucks, especially fightin’ in it like I am now, but the Union’s not got superpowers. Just tech. Scary tech, but tech all the same.
[ The understanding in her face is genuine. ]
When the war started, I saw it on the newsfeeds, live, like a lotta people—Union attacked the Polity at an address they were makin’—til dad turned it off. I was 13, don’t think he wanted me scarin’ myself. The UK’s a Polity stronghold, so...
[ She tried not to think about the war much, at first, but even children can’t escape it forever. Then the Union killed her mom, and her dad died. Then she fell into the trap the Polity set for hackers, ended up in Polity cybersecurity, and there’s no ignoring something you’re involved in.
And now she’s fighting in some of the biggest battles of the war. ]
So I cannae say I know what it’s like actually livin’ under a regime like that, only got second hand stories from a couple of ma squad about livin’ in Union territory, so— I’m sorry it sounds like you do. That’s no way to live.
That’s what we’re fightin’ to stop from happening all over back home.
no subject
I was thirteen, too. When Metropolis got nuked and Superman went off the rails.
[It was a sucky age to see the start of it. He'd been old enough to understand what was going on, so he couldn't just live in blissful ignorance, but young enough to feel scared and completely helpless.]
I'm glad you're able to fight back. People tried back home but it wasn't easy.
[He gets curious as to whether she's struggling with the new power thing, too.]
Do you have powers to use when fighting against your evil overlords or are just stuck fighting with guns?
no subject
[ There’s a flash of surprise in return. God, what an age to end up seeing the world fall apart around you. ]
Hell of a way to spend your first year as a teenager, isn’t it?
[ Her ears both tilt to one side. She almost says ‘just guns’, but gen:LOCK is... weird. It’s no superpower, but it’s not exactly normal military tech, either; Yaz has lasers coming out of her holon’s eyes, Val can turn invisible, they can share their minds. ]
...something kinda in-between? No superpowers where I come from, unless you count having a super unique brain that can be run on like, a giant, glorified hard-drive. Which I do.
no subject
Explain, please. Because that sounds like it's potentially something very cool.
no subject
[ Cammie bounces slightly on the balls of her feet and flashes a grin. ]
Oh, it’s definitely cool.
[ Thank god for the cameras all being busted. ]
See, the doc invented this new technology that lets ye digitise a human mind. Run it, temporarily anyhow, as code. But it only works with certain people's brains, like... the doc explained it as havin’ to do with neuroplasticity and our brain’s ability to adapt, change, and still snap back. Stuff like that.
He only found six of us when he scanned everyone the Polity had medical records for— well, seven, but Leon... [ she frowns, looks sad for a second ] he uh, he was too old.
Anyway. [ don't think about that ] When you’re compatible, yer mind can be uploaded into an electronic brain—like I said, a giant, glorified hard-drive— [ Doc Weller would probably turn in his grave hearing her call it that, whoops ] and the brain’s stuffed into a giant, multi-story tall mecha. That we control. Like it’s our own body.
You’re still you, just, y’know... code and electronics and metal, instead of fleshy bits.
no subject
That.
Is the coolest thing I've ever heard and also what my friend Paco probably wishes was his entire life.
Not the war part, just the getting to be a giant robot part.
no subject
Doc apparently wanted it to be a thing even outside of the war, soooo...
[ Grin. ]
It’s super cool. If ma Ether connection worked here I could show ye what ma Holon looks like, but I cannae even access my old schematics and shite like that without it.
I helped ma team customise our frames and gear. Two of them can fly, Val can go invisible, Kazu... well he mostly just hits super hard and has a big sword, he’s easy to please. I’m extra springy, like... in a rabbit-y way.
[ She wiggles her ears. ]
You get haptic feedback and everythin’, you really just are the mecha.
But what makes what we can do extra special though is the like... telepathic network between us when we’re uploaded, an’ mindshare. Which is like... both super easy to explain, it’s kinda what it says on the tin, and yet hard to describe?
[ It feels like a unique experience that’s hard to get across just how it feels. ]
no subject
[Yes, sharing your brain is very hard to describe.]
Probably feels super weird sometimes.
[YOU'RE WEIRD.]
[Hush.]
[YOU HUSH.]
I can do a robot thing but it's a techno-organic suit of alien armor.
no subject
It’s super weird. Especially cuz it can be all five of us at once if we want? We can like... we sort of become somethin’ in-between the sum of the people sharin’ at the time, when we go all in.
I have memories from all of ‘em, little ones. They kinda come with the experience.
[ She does not, at all, seem to read too far into what Jaime just said, instead just bouncing lightly again. ]
Okay, that also sounds super cool. Yer world has superpowers and aliens, huh?