magneticfields | [ic;] inbox

Hey, Henryk. You've seen that list, right? What are your thoughts?

I have. I think we could organize ourselves better on our own rather than slotting ourselves into that list.

I also received another message that I'd like to forward to you. I have some concerns.

Sure. It doesn't need to have any bearing on how we organise ourselves. I'm interested in what it means about the station crew who were here before us. Did you see it said 'warden'? And spec ops?

Forward it on. Like this place could get more concerning...

Also "Gun Commander" and "Force Commander", whatever those are. But if this was a prison, why would Spec Ops be here? Or an R&D department that included Geoscience?

I've attached the video. I don't believe it addresses any of those questions, unfortunately.

[ The video plays:

A young man in the Reverie Terminal jumpsuit, his expression very stressed, standing at one of the consoles in one of the corridors. Behind him, the wall has been opened, its wiring revealed. An open toolbox and a screwdriver next to it stand by the panel on the ground. “—need immediate help,” he’s saying, voice panicked. The reason for the panic? Probably the fact that behind him, another man (middle-aged going by his features), is halfway into the ground and sinking further, as though the ground has turned to liquid. He’s scrambling, shouting (“Get me out of here!”) — and then he’s sinking further down to the neck and the shouting turns to choking.

“It’s this place.” That’s the young man again. “It’s killing us, fuck!”

And then the panel from the ground, the toolbox and the screwdriver all go flying. The panel hits the older man in the neck, his eyes roll back. The screwdriver hits the young man. Impales him, the tip of it coming out of his front. He makes a gurgling noise, reaching for something — and the message cuts off. ]

Gun commander at least means there might be some offensive gun capability to this thing...

[ AND THEN: WHAT THE FUCk ]

oh, shit. You've got to share this with the rest of them.

I don't plan to keep this a secret. I just don't know how to tell the others about it without causing a panic. The last thing we need is some kind of riot.

Especially right after we talked them out of starting a security team.

[ Still the right decision, even if they sometimes find themselves in situations like these. ]

I hear what you're saying. But maybe panicking isn't such a bad idea right now.

[ He's joking. Mostly. ]

How the fuck do we defend ourselves from telekinatic attack? We can't give everyone armor and shields.

My kind tend not to fare well when the mob gets frightened.

[ And he's not going to bother with specifying what he means by "kind" because there's several demographics he fits into where that's true. ]

I don't know. I'm going to share this publicly on the network. Perhaps others have also discovered information like this. Or could offer insight on how to defend ourselves.

If nothing else, I think it proves the concept of a Security Force to be utterly useless. We all have to be able to defend ourselves against a threat like this.

Definitely. I hear what you're saying about station-wide panic but the sooner this is out there, the sooner we can pool resources to defending ourselves from it. And somebody out there might actually have an answer that explains what we're seeing in this video. Because I sure as hell don't have a clue.

[ Everything he says is true. Aggravatingly so. ]

I suppose one more thing on the "terrifying things" pile won't make that much of a difference.

As for what we're seeing in the video. I've seen something like what happened to the older man before, but it's not what I'm familiar with. The man I knew would send people partway through walls and kill them. He was still alive, somehow. Until the telekinetic attack.

[ Or ferrokinetic attack. But better not to introduce that possibility. ]

Nasty way to die. That guy sounds like an asshole.

He was. But he is also no longer a problem.

Although if anybody large and blue with a deep, sonorous sort of voice who is given to speeches about how he wants to remake the world into a better one shows up, let me know.

[ wait wait wait WHAT ]

Large and blue? Tell me more.

[ Because wow THAT SOUNDS FAMILIAR ]

He went by the name Apocalypse but also claimed to have been known as Elohim, Pushan, and Ra over the years. One of his favorite tricks was turning people into sand.

A real asshole.

[ Okay, sand is new. And Regis would never take any other name; he was too proud, too vainglorious. Apollo lets himself relax a fraction as he types his reply: ]

Why are the blue people always assholes? Sounds like it's an interdimensional thing.

They aren't all assholes.

[ Hank and Raven are... ok maybe they're assholes, but in different ways. They never tried to take over the world at least. ]

The worst people I've known have all been perfectly normal looking.

Yes, good point, well made.

Going back to the video though: what the fuck are we meant to do to defend ourselves from something like that happening?

I don't know. We can start by not leaving tools lying around, I suppose. Though I'm not sure if that would stop something capable of so much.

No. It feels a bit pointless, really. How the hell do we defend ourselves from something we know nothing about?

At this point we can try to find out more about it. This video was designed to frighten us. And it was probably given to me in an attempt to further that goal. It is in our best interest not to succumb to that fear.

I think people would have a lot less to fear if they knew how to fight back.

But you're right. We need to know more.

I think what I ought to do is make some kind of record where we can all keep track of what is happening. With any luck if we share information, we'll be able to draw some conclusions that could be helpful.

I think I saw a few people mention something like that on the network. It's a good idea.

I guess I'd just feel a whole lot better if there was something I could punch.

I'll make you a dummy.

Don't say that, I'll hold you to it.

I'll surprise you with it when you least expect it. And when you punch it before you realize what it is it will be like a double surprise.

You're a man of many talents, Henryk. But you have no idea how hard I punch.

[ Now it's a puzzle to solve. ]

I wonder if we could construct something you could use as a punching bag. Do you have any figures for the amount of force you can exert on something?

Not really. But I threw London Bridge in the Thames once, and I think I'm running at about a quarter of that power right now. Does that help?

If you could estimate how fast it moved after you threw it, I could start making calculations.

Oh, God. I don't think I can do that. It was a while ago and there were quite a few things going on at the time...

That's a variable I would need to start work on it. The mass, the velocity, the distance traveled, or the force of impact itself. I need figures for least three of those variables, or at least an estimate, before I can start work on something like this.

[ If he wore glasses, he would adjust them. ]

How good's your hand to hand?

I was trained in krav maga by Imi Lichtenfeld. So. Pretty good. And I cheat anyway.

Why do you ask?

[cheating. cheating's good.]

Looking to for fight. You seem like you could hold your own.

Being willing to fight dirty is a bonus.

I think that can be arranged. Meet in the gym?

15 mins. I'll see you there.

[ Erik shows up at the gym at the requested time, not entirely sure what to expect. Other than a sparring session, apparently. He looks around, not seeing Midnighter immediately. Or anybody else. Strange. ]

Hello?

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