(OPEN | Mutiny Log) Well it's been so long

[alittlesweptup]

Date & Time: Nov. 16 ~0300 through Nov.19th ~0230hrs, 3133
Location: Housing, Cafeteria, VR rooms, hallways etc (read: everywhere)
Characters: YOU!
Summary: Mutiny on the moon base! Vital systems are offline, mutineers are making PA announcements, and there’s conflict and turmoil brewing in the halls. Dun dun duuun!
Warnings: None yet (possible violence?)
Notes: Specify a date and location in your top comment. You may specify multiple dates/locations. A timeline for the plot and the IC PA announcements made during are available HERE.

[In the dead of night - or as close to ‘the dead of night’ as is possible to have in moon base - a small group of transports finally make the move they’ve been planning for weeks. Pre-determined teams, maintaining radio contact throughout, simultaneously take control of the Transporter Room and take multiple systems offline.

One moment things are normal; they next, they’re not. With a last message flagged as ‘maintenance’ left on the network, the network cuts out. A moment later, Transports across the base find themselves losing contact with the ground or shifting in their sleep and gently floating out of their beds from the force as the gravity drops. Lighting flicks over to emergency only: bathing corridors and rooms in a desolate, lonely red. Doors work - and then they don’t. Transports will find themselves confined to housing (and washrooms), the VR rooms, and the cafeteria; it’s plenty of space to be comfortable and largely covers most Transport’s basic needs (unless you’re fond of cheery light or having your feet on the ground in which case you may be out of luck).

Hours later-- Click-HHHSSSHK-click!

A woman’s voice speaks over the moon base’s PA system, echoing through the dark corridors and off the odds and ends gently floating through them thanks to the lack of gravity regulation. The voice is rich and accented, with a certain practiced ease to it - one that sharpens to a point the longer she talks:]

Testing. Testing-- are we good? Christ, I'm not echoing, am I? No?

All right good. Listen up, fellow transports. As you might have noticed, some of the base's general systems have gone offline: this, I assure you, is absolutely intentional. There's no need to panic.

So moving on from the understandably frustrating to the even more frustrating, I'm sure you all have also noticed the fact that we're currently all stuck-- starving and defenseless-- on the bloody moon. In a base that was, up until a few days ago, overrun with zombies. And before that, thousands of lives were bombed right out of existence, and before that, an entire world-- and before that we were all still being thrown at the United Earth for the sake of dying off repeatedly in a war we never stood a chance or had a say in. Transports have been treated like pawns since day one, and I'm sorry, but we don't deserve it.

If we're giving up our lives and our freedom, I'd say it's about time we earned ourselves a little equality.

We deserve a say in what goes on in this fight, and with that in mind, a few of us have decided to hold onto the transporter for a while. Just until the Initiative agrees to treat us like people instead of ammunition. Trust me, we’re not here to hurt anyone; none of this has to end badly. But it does need to end. Things have got to change. And if this is what it takes? This is what it’s going to be.

We need your help; please don’t make it any harder for us.

[The PA clicks off, pitching the base once more into complete radio silence.

Near the end of the first day, gravity regulation is re-established. The network is brought back online the following day, allowing everyone to communicate more freely. Lighting doesn’t come back online until the 18th and the door regulation isn’t normalized or operable until the 19th. Throughout the four days, the mutineers make multiple PA announcements.

In the mean time? Keep your friends close, come to the aid of your neighbors; help with reconnaissance and choose sides - are you neutral in this mess? Are you trying to help bring systems back online and root out the mutineers? Are you sympathetic to the mutiny and trying to sabotage those Transports standing for the Initiative?]

Comments

[unmasking]

Common sense only works so far, you know? Sure, of course people wouldn't be out.

[Peter got lucky, too, in that he has a hard time sleeping at night normally. The idea of tinkering away on some of the work he started seemed more appealing. Yet here he is now, not doing that.

Which is kind of annoying, since part of what he's working on is something he deems way more important. (Those motion detectors, for one thing.)]

And I'm Spider-Man. Did you get stuck with a bug name by choice? Because you look like you could've gone a little wider with the interpretation on that suit.

[khajidont]

Spider-Man? Hey, I've heard of you. Not from my world, but another guy whose world's got superheroes too. [It's a small world when it comes to Nathan, if knowing Jean in addition to his spec-ops leader is of any indication.

That said, he goes on to answer Peter's question.]

Anyway, the name was given to me and so was the suit, so... I just sort of rolled with the bug name. [He shrugs, then flashes three fingers at Peter.] Technically, I'm Blue Beetle the third.

[unmasking]

[There's a moment in which he considers commenting on this guy knowing him, but he doesn't bother. He can figure that out later, especially given the conclusions he's drawing from the rest of what he says.

Got given? That means that someone handed the mask over, right? Peter hopes so, but he figures he should ask. Can ask. Might need to ask.

Is it too rude to ask?]

Did you get to ask version one-point-oh why he went with beetle willingly?

[khajidont]

Um. Version one-point-oh was dead by the time I came around.

[And so was version two-point-oh, for that matter, but he's not going to point that out without being asked. Between being crushed to death and shot in the head, the Blue Beetle legacy leaves something to be desired in terms of longevity.]

He got his powers from an artifact that looked like a beetle. That was blue. So I guess he just sort of went for it. [And now, a wild shot in the dark!] How about you, what's with the whole spider motif?

[unmasking]

Oh ... so much for hoping someone just decided not to keep his belly tucked in any longer in a superhero costume.

[Peter's used to death. Not his, but others. He's used to being aware that people die, but this whole "other people step in" thing is not something he's used to. He's fairly certain there's a new Black Widow, but that's probably because Black Widow isn't exactly a typical superhero.]

Annnnd that makes sense! I mean, it's way better than being bitten by a spider that happened to be genetically modified. [He puts up a hand before Jaime can speak, just in case he's going to give an incredulous answer.] And yes, that is what happened. I was bitten. By a spider. I wish it was a neater origin story, but alas.

[khajidont]

Yeah, that doesn't happen so much in our line of work.

[Which is a sad, sad thing to say from one sixteen-year old vigilante to another, but he's gotten used to brushing by death by now - that, and he saw the state of Titans Tower. The statues of remembrance there are all of people his age or younger. Superpowers or not, everyone's mortal.

He's probably crazy for deciding to keep on doing what he's doing anyway.]

So you went for the literal name there. Right on. [He links his hands behind his head as he floats on through, testing doors here and there as they go, though with very little luck.]

I, uh. I found the Scarab. On the ground. So if we're competing for cool origin stories here, I think we're about even.

[unmasking]

Yeah ... guess it doesn't. [The point of agreement is added hesitantly, without any of the spunk that he usually tries to throw out when he's wearing this mask. Peter figures that'll be the end of that, anyway.

When Jaime goes on to talk about his origin story, Peter can't help but feel a little better about it. There are a million questions that come up, including why the Scarab of some dead guy was lying around on the ground, but it's not exactly ... correct to ask them. Yes, correct seems like a good word. So he doesn't go with them.]

The newspapers named me, so I might be one up on you. Newspapers that didn't even like me. Not that this is a competition of sucky superhero gigs or the lack of control within them.

[khajidont]

[Jaime had never asked to be the Blue Beetle himself, but even if it's kind of lame, he likes the name now. His predecessor was more than a good man, he was a hero. He's not sure how he'd feel about being named by the press instead of by a bona fide hero - even if Booster is kind of a hack.]

The press didn't like you? Why not? [He turns his head to survey Peter, as if looking for something new about the guy that he didn't catch the first time. He sees nothing new.] No offense, but you don't exactly look scary.

[unmasking]

It got better, it really got better, but this guy, J. Jonah Jameson, he had a real hate-y thing going for me. It was founded on some pretty good reasoning, but it wasn't anything to do with me.

[It's weird to talk badly about the guy when he turned around and became better, when he wrote him that eulogy when he was thought to be dead, when things just generally completely improved in that arena. But Peter finds it strange to look back on it now. Those facts seemed to be very small in light of everything else.

He shrugs, or as much as one can from his position.]

But he was the editor of the Bugle, so what he wanted on the front page was ... what everyone got. The other guys who worked there hated it, but he was the boss.

[khajidont]

Sounds like a real piece of work. Unless you're banking on it - [like Batman, whose whole schtick is to be dark and feared by the cowardly criminal masses] - all that does is make it harder for you to do your job. It's not really all that different here - here as in when we're actually on Earth. You're new, right?

[unmasking]

You mean there are jerk journalists trying to talk bad about us? [He'd add that JJ's job probably did bank on fear and all that, but it's not important. They're talking about things that really do matter in comparison.]

[khajidont]

Nah, nah, nothing like that. Exsilium hasn't got newspapers or radios or anything set up.

[Sometimes he forgets to talk in the past tense - but if they succeed, there won't be one, right?]

Just... the Exiles are scared or angry with anyone who looks different, and that includes masks. A couple of them even tried to refuse help getting into the bomb shelters, way back when.

[unmasking]

Yeah, working people up to being used to masks takes a while, and there really isn't room for that in the middle of giant things blowing up.

[Peter just hopes that if the Exiles do come back, they don't find out that sacrificing them at some point was a "necessary evil." The idea still makes him sick to his stomach.]

[khajidont]

Working them up to accept the non-humans is probably more important, anyway. They can't just take these things off.

[unmasking]

Yeah, that's right. That's generally the right place to start with. [He just got caught up in the more familiar side of it for a second.]