subsystem | one 🍪 text;

hello̶̙͙̦͍̱̱̰͔̞͇̘̬̦̤̞̫̖͙ͩ̎͠͡͡l̵̸͖̲̻̟̮̫̠̩̞̪̯͎̮̰̘̹͉ͪ̐̄͗̍͊̽̃ͮ̀̈́͒ͦ̽̏̌ō͖̹̖̦̯̹͒̍̈͑̚ͅ ͖͕̬̿͊͋ͣ̓̀ͦͪ̃zion.

i'm afraid i come with more ̧͑͒́͜ ̈́̀͋ͣͦ̿́͘͜1́bad n̖̟̹̱̲ews. the time is coming that your people will need your help, and the vast majority of you will choose to give it. this time will come quickly and vio͔̱̰̗̮̞ͤͦͦ̊ͩ̕͜lently and without warning shots. it will seem disconnected from the deeds of neo decades ago, and the council two months ago. it is not. i wouldn't worry you with the long view, though. there will be time for that.

for now, i will leave you with some numbers. y̪̑̑̏̽̅ȏ͇̦̟̅͗́̅̇̔u ͈̤͚̭̫͉͙̘͙͉̮̲̞̒ͯͩ̈́̒̊̚k͉̙̝͖̲̣̬̭̲̦͙̪̭̭ͥ̉̾̓̿̄̄̑͊̈́̈̿̐͊̅̍͌now how much we like our numbers, but i think y̳͙ͤ͗̿̊͋͛̉ͬ̇ou'll find these helpful too.

one is a necessary sacrifice. you w̺̤̟͋i̻̭̻͎̤ͬll survive if you have f̱̲͇̺̗̥ͮ̀͒͒̋̎ͪ̂̌̽̿ͭͮ̉a̬̞̩̞̳͈̿i̦̲͉̞̺̹͋̏̾̔͛̒̉th. it will bring you closer to us, but you will do it for humankind. don't overthink it. this isn't a mǎ̌tter of one comma the.

two emp charges ̭͕͉̩͕͗̎̏̋̈w̙̳̭̯͓̑̏͂ͣ̋i͔̪ͅll not be enough.

three of you are necessary. to cli͓ͨ̾̂ͣ̓ͨm̺͇̺̟b̲̲̜͇͙̲̼ a̲̲̜͇͙̲̼ḇ̠̲̯̙̯͑͛̐ͩ̑͋͂ove the f̉ͮlames you must stand each foot on the shoulder of a crewmate. should you succeed, this will change the course of limitless tomorrows. it'll be s͇u̥͓̬̖̲̹btle, but sure.

fọ̝ͪ̊̉ͮ̑ur look closely here. this will be the salvation̬ o̥̞̖̳̝͈̗͐ͫf the day.

y͓̳̦͕̬̠̱̒̅ͯ̈́̌͌o̖̼̊̅͌̂̾ͦu w̮͉͖͔̮̳̄͌̄ill be wondering to what extent th͢e͙ͤ́͐͊ͦͅ architect and i are involved. the answer is: other ț͎͔̗͖̺̺̇̎̃̋͆ͪh̘̖̹̙a̗̗̣͉̠ͭn̪ͯ́̍̊͛̑ ͖̥̫̞̮̗̓̅̔ͅt͖̳his message and the one he will write you later, not at all. some of you have been wondering what the truce meant, and i will be the first to tell you: it meant change. for us, as well as the humans of earth. we are not they.

as a matter of fact, they’re much older.

ṁ̘̖̣̼̖̈́ͭ̆ȳ̥̱̲̦͐̎̈̋ condolences and congrat̖̗̥̟ͥ́ͬ̄͂ͯͬu̳̫̜̲̻̙͌l̙̱̝͂͑̓̌ͬ̈a̻͓̖̿̄͛ͬ̆ti̺̩̖̫̪̳͂ͮ͊̔ons in the coming battle.̗̬̞ͬ͑̆̅ͪ

🍪

OOC: Plotting post goes up on Saturday, 6/13.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

The good guys.

They protected people. From threats that were strange or alien. It was all kind of X-Files, I guess.

'Threats'?

[ Her people are ground down, spat upon and degraded and destroyed, in the name of protecting them from alien threats. She's wary of people who claim protection. ]

Artifacts, mostly. Stuff that made its way to Earth, either when Thor was teleporting in or when the Chitauri invaded New York.

[ She chews on her lip, trying to make heads or tails of that. After a few moments, she gives up on that. ]

But you said you were a spy? Artefacts don't seem as though they engage in a great deal of subterfuge.

Edited 2015-06-17 04:25 (UTC)

They do when the wrong people try to get their hands on them.

Who's 'the wrong people'? Criminals, I suppose. Terrorists.

Or Nazi terrorist organizations bent on controlling the world.

[ She has...no idea what that is either. Ugh. ]

Though I suppose to them, you were the wrong people.

Yeah, well, SHIELD never repurposed alien tech into WMDs to commit genocide. So I'd rather be our kind of wrong people.

[ ...All right, WMD isn't something she gets, and she hasn't the foggiest what alien tech is, but she's done enough reading to become familiar with the term genocide and there's definitely no getting around the fact that those actually are the wrong people. She could keep skirting the real question, being indirect, but recklessly she asks instead: ]

What about those who fight against the people who get to MAKE those labels? Rebels and protestors and malcontents? They get labeled as enemies of the state, don't they, get labeled wicked and criminal. Do you accept that someone is wicked just because you're told they are?

That'd be pretty hypocritical of me, considering I started out as one of those rebels and protestors. Although mostly I prefer the term hacktivist, just to be clear.

[ ...Huh. ]

Rebelling against what?

Injustice. Government secrecy. That kind of thing.

What actions did you take? To stand up to them.

I was with the Rising Tide back then. A bunch of hackers pooling their resources to crack open government feeds, files, databases, and putting them out there on the web. We revealed the truth, let people see what was really going on.

Not just the U.S., either. A lot of social change relies on social media and the internet these days. We were a dedicated group to facilitate that, to out the atrocities of bad governments and shed light in the dark corners even our own didn't want the people to see.

Did it work? At all. Did you manage to make change?

We did what we could. Got a lot of people held accountable to what they otherwise might have gotten away with.
But I made a lot more change with SHIELD. Working within the system to change how it operates, instead of putting people in danger because I was poking my head into something I couldn't understand.

How do you know you were really changing it, though? I mean - if you're inside the system, they know where you are and what you're seeing. They can control the information you see. They get to know you. And when they know you, they can fool you.

Because I never just took their word for it. I went looking for the truth myself and I fought back if I thought something they were doing was wrong.

Did they not know about your history?

They did. It's why they hired me. When I was with the Rising Tide, I hacked SHIELD too. My boss wasn't exactly your run-of-the-mill government toolbag. He was a hero. He knew the system was broken, and he was trying to help fix it too. Saw what I was trying to do, and gave me a chance to help him do it better.

So he was the one person who's ever gone into government who's actually decent?

Close to.

I hope you didn't actually trust him. Or at least kept your eyes open. People go into government so that they can have charge of others. Because they like the power.

I used to think the same thing, and believe me, I've met plenty of people who'd prove you right. But that's not Coulson.

(no subject)

rathercommon - 2015-06-18 13:25 (UTC) - Expand

hacker - 2015-06-18 18:47 (UTC) - Expand

rathercommon - 2015-06-18 19:03 (UTC) - Expand