nebulochaotic | video; closed**

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(( **closed to Allison Argent, Scott McCall, Isaac Lahey, Max Richman, Diego Hargreeves, Laura Hale, and Adam Hayes ))

[ When the video feed comes up, Lydia's a little sweaty and still in her workout clothes, her hair pulled up in a ponytail that looks like a brush never actually touched it. But she also looks...determined? ]

Okay, I'm done waiting. If you can see this message, I want you to be a part of a team put together to break into H.E.R.O. Labs and steal some intel. Yes, all of you and, no, I didn't send this to you by accident. I'm tired of the ill-prepared experiments they're clearly doing that keep jerking us around, sending people home, forcing other people's memories onto us, swapping us out for our younger selves; I'm done. I'm just done.

They can't get it right, so now they're going to have to step aside and let the big boys and girls fix their mistakes so that we can send home the people that want to go and keep the people who want to stay right where they are. I'd like to start working out a plan and execute it within the next couple of months. Sooner, if possible.

Are you in?

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I'm not really good at the whole planning thing, but count me in, I guess. I can kick down all the doors.

( Lydia gives him what she hopes is an encouraging smile. )

You don't have to worry about the planning part. I'm going to take the reins on that bit. Knew I could count on you. Thanks, Isaac.

Got a lot to catch up on, I guess.

[ He can do some reading on all the people ported in and out, after all. Context is better than going in blind, anyway. ] So, uh, when you need me just let me know.

Not as much as you'd think, probably, sweetie.

I definitely will.

I’m in.

[ There’s not even a moment of hesitation. Allison had been in rebellion mode, considering she had been on a mission to do the same back at Alpha - find a way to send people home if they wanted to escape. This is just a different setting, but same goal. ]

I knew you would be. Good. ...you should know, I'm way more prepared for this kind of thing than I used to be. Way, way, way more.

I don’t doubt your ability to lead in this kind of thing.

[ It’s said with a knowing smile, because it’s true. Allison has seen her best friend strategize at Alpha. And, even if she hadn’t, she trusts Lydia wholeheartedly. ]

Do you need any help planning? How much intel do we already have?

Not the leadership part. That's a given.

( She says that like she's being serious, but there's a smirk on her face that says she's joking. )

Not much, if anything, and that's the problem. What little I do know that I've picked up in the context of the news and experiencing current events is that:

( Lydia holds up one finger for each point she's ticking off, as she goes. )

One, they confiscate foreign technology and keep it with poor enough security that a disgruntled employee was able to smuggle something out a few months ago.

Two, they are conducting testing on the portals and it isn't going well.

And three, no one feels inclined to keep the Supers in the loop when it comes to these tests even though we're the only ones being affected directly by the side effects of those tests.

( Her hand drops out of the viewport. )

The portals work. People keep coming and going, so they work. They just need to be controlled, but there doesn't currently seem to be any rhyme or reason to what happens whenever they try to test. So what I think is that we need to know what, if any, blueprint they have in place for how, what, and when they're testing as well as what their hypotheses are regarding those portals.

I think that's part one. Part two is finding a way for people like me and, I guess, Number Five(?) to overwrite those blueprints with our own. Then, if we're feeling especially confident and bold, part three would be to overtake the lab entirely and overtake the whole portal process since, let's face it, we're the ones being most often and most directly impacted by whatever's happening with those things. Not the locals.

[Adam looks both horrified and and uncertain as to why he'd be included in this, especially considering the fact that he has no control, not really - not beyond just not blowing things up when he doesn't mean to now - outside of when he gets worked up, anyway.]

I....don't know? Lydia, I really don't think that I'd be good to help with this, I'm just barely able to keep myself from blowing things up on accident now. I walked into the icecream shop and a fly freaked me out and I froze everyone the other day - I totally support what you're doing but I feel like I'm more of a liability than Iw ould be a help with your plan.

( She's expecting a response in this vein from him, actually, so when it comes, she's ready. Her expression is a little dismissive and she shakes her head. )

Yeeeeeaaaaahhhh, look...if my friends and I had followed the idea of letting the liabilities stay at home instead of joining the fight, we'd all be dead by now. So, you're coming.

( Her tone is light but decisive, leaving little room for an argument. )

Now, in the meantime, you need to learn to fight. And how to control that power of yours because we need it and it'll work better if you can keep it targeted. You can't get good at something if you don't practice. When's a good time of the week for us to train? Tuesdays and Thursdays are off-limits for me, but I'm open the rest of the week.

[Adam opens his mouth, closes his mouth, holds up a finger, puts it down, brings it up again opens his mouth and then drops it - deflating with a bit of confusion.]

But I'm not like you and your friends...I'm not used to all of this. I support the idea behind this, sure. I want to go home just as much as some others and think that we deserve better than the treatment we are getting, and if it were doing something else about it I might feel better about being involved, but I have no shame in admitting I am completely afraid of being the weak leak in this plan that you've cooked up - especially when it seems like everyone else in this epic plan of your's knows themselves, what they can do, etc better than I do already. That's a pretty big gap to overcome.

[It isn’t easy to say, not for a perfectionist. And not for someone who finds it hard to not be naturally good at things - well things outside of the physical, but Adam doesn’t feel good at controlling his abilities.

Adam blinks so confused by how sure and how she just plows forward confidently.]

I guess Monday or Wednesday? But Caleb is the physical guy in our relationship not me, I'm small - and smart, I usually use my brain and my words.

Honey, neither were we, at first, but you gotta start somewhere. Listen, I was sixteen when I was bitten by a werewolf and, instead of being turned into a werewolf, it activated the banshee that apparently ran in my family. It took me a while to get good at what I do and, during that time, I just had voices in my head. I thought I was going crazy. We don't come out of the box prepared to fight the good fight, but we learn and we do it because it's the right thing to do. You, Adam, are incredibly powerful now. The longer you sit on it, the harder it's going to be to get control and you have the ability, now, to do some pretty freaking heroic stuff. This plan is small potatoes compared to the kinds of incredible things you'll be able to do now. Embrace it. Don't be scared. I know that's easier for me to say than for you to do because I've been on your side of this conversation, but you can do it and we'll help you. You're only going to be the weak link if you let yourself be. You're the only one in your way, honey. So I'm going to get you moving.

( But her first plan had been successful and by plowing straight through and giving him little chance to back out, she's gotten him to offer up days of the week. )

Adam. Sweetie.

( Her tone is just this side of incredulous, but she looks amused. )

Look at me.

( Lydia moves her arm to do a quick scan of her body from head to toe with her arm extended as far as she can get it. )

If I can learn to fight like a badass, so can you. And I get it; I'm a literal genius. I used to use my brain and my words, too. Now I just also use my body and so will you. Mondays will be sparring, Wednesdays will be powers. What time?

[There are so many points that Adam feels like he needs to push back on here with Lydia - he doesn't know if he wants to fight the good fight with her, but that'd be a little bit of a lie. He'd wanted to seek out information with Caleb, and he'd alway been drawn in even when it wasn't him....so it's not like Adam didn't involve himself at all before. He just doesn't have the confidence or faith in himself, not in this.]

Why, though? Why are you making it your mission to inspire and motivate me, Lydia?

[It's not exatly what he expected to say, given the fact that he was already forming a bit of a list in his head to counter her arguments, but no matter what he says he knows that on some level Lydia's not wrong. Adam's always been his own worst enemy and getting in his own way.

And isn't that doubly depressing?

Still, he's sure to look at her, as requested - a laugh toppling out of his mouth.]

I really don't have the faith you do here, but you don't seem to be the kind of girl that takes no for an answer - and obviously you can give me a run for my money with debate, so...I don't know five? Six?

( Lydia gives him a fond smile. )

Because you're adorable, honey. And because we need you.

( That smile slips into smirk territory. )

You're right. I don't take no for an answer. You'll thank me for this later, anyway. Five if you like to eat dinner late. Six if you like to eat early. Don't train on a full stomach and all that.

I mean, my boyfriend would probably agree, but I'm not sure I always see it - or that I'm really that needed. Surely if I weren't here there'd be someone else to round things out.

[It's not necessarily that Adam is humble, there are plenty of things he's not about, but it's a lot more to do with the fact that he finds it so easy to diminish himself when it comes to some areas.

He kind of can't help it.]

Yeah, you've got the whole 'I'm a force to be reckoned with' thing gleaming in your eyes sometimes, you know that?

[He holds back a smile, shrugging a little bit.]

Late dinner is fine, besides, it'll cut back on my unnecessary baking by a little too. Probably.

Nobody else can do what you can do. Suck it up, buttercup; you're coming. I'll drag you along kicking and screaming if I have to, but I think you'd be a lot more helpful if you went in knowing what you were doing, so...might as well be prepared ahead of time.

( Laughing a little, Lydia tucks her hair behind her ears. )

Yeah, I do. It's because I am, ask my friends.

( She winks at that. )

Far be it for me to get in the way of a baker and his baking, but if you're willing to part with some of that time, then let's do five and I'll have you home to eat by 7 or 8. Does that work?

[Laura is sitting with Apollo's head in her lap, on hand petting the dog as she speaks.]

I'm in - I trust you, and even though I'm one of the people that wants to stay I'm not going to deny the fact that they're obviously not figuring anything out or making the steps that they need to to get people home or give anybody guarantees.

They really should have set this up differently, if nothing else this could give us a bargaining chip, if we absolutely have to, to get them to better respect the fact that we're the ones impacted by everything going on and we deserve to have representation and input when it comes to this, though control and taking it over completely really is all the better.

I would argue that your desire, maybe need, to stay makes it more important that we take control. They're liable to ship you back to...well. You know. While they're messing around blindly. At least if we're messing around blindly, we're doing it with an emotional attachment to the people we'd be affecting. They're not.

Agreed, yeah. I'm personally in favor of taking over. They're fucking it up, to put it bluntly. But to them, who cares, right? If someone gets sent home when they don't want to be, what does it matter to these people? It doesn't. We're just gnats to them. Mildly annoying but largely not worth anyone's real focus. Well, I'm tired of being an insignificant object and having to hope for the best, I don't know about you.

I follow - and you're right. They don't have the investment the same way that we do, and not only that but they think nothing of doing what they're doing and the repercussions that it's going to have.

[There's a frown on her face, even as Apollo looks up and she makes sure to scratch behind his ears to soothe him.]

No, you're not the only one that's tired of being insignificant, or of hoping for the best with absolutely no guarantees. They frontload with all of the good of being here while we're stuck here, but more and more the things they've overlooked and not thought of become more and more apparent.

Exactly.

( Not that she's surprised that Laura gets it; of course she does. The stakes are a lot higher for people like Laura who can only continue to live if they get to stay here. )

Yeah and, like, I get it. I get the frontloading, but I've been here long enough and I like to think I've been pretty freaking patient about all the dumb crap that happens here, but now that I've been forced to remember things that were none of my business? Yeah, I'm done being patient. Now it's time for the smart people to get in there and fix it.

Quite frankly, and I'm not going to discuss it in detail on here, this is just the first in a series of plans I've got percolating. We should have coffee soon. You, Allison, and I. Don't worry, she's a safe Argent, I promise.

[ Oh wow this is ... a real thing. Max is already imagining the covert alter ego code name that maybe he'd have if they're successful, and then he remembers the fate of the so called "superheros" in Watchmen. He shivers for a second at the thought.

But this is different. Important.

Especially after experiencing first-hand what it's like to have someone's most private memories shoved into your brain. ]

Count me in.

[ There's conviction in his voice. He's definitely in. But there's a little bit of fear too. What they're talking about now would be illegal back home, and he's never been a ... well, break the rules kind of guy. ]

Edited 2020-08-04 22:02 (UTC)

( Lydia nods, relieved. Max is probably the single most important piece in this puzzle she's putting together and without him, this would be an awful lot harder. Hearing the conviction in his voice and the fact that he also sounds just the right amount of reproachful means that he understands the gravity of the situation, but he also understands that this is important and he can't blow it off. )

Good. This would be a lot harder without you. Do you know how to fight? I don't want any of us going in there having to rely completely on our abilities; that's dangerous. If you don't, we'll teach you.

[ The sureness of Lydia's response feels grounding in some way. But when she asks if he knows how to fight, Max nearly laughs at how completely un-knowledgeable he is about fighting. The only reason he doesn't is because of how serious this conversation is.

He shakes his head. ]

I've got no idea how to fight. Despite my many teenage years dedicated to reading or watching superheroes and seeing how they do it.

That's okay. I didn't, either, until pretty recently.

( She looks completely unbothered by his lack of knowledge and still completely confident that she can remedy it if he's willing to work for it. )

I'll teach you. It's a lot of work and time, so...mentally prepare yourself.

Wow, really?

You just— I mean, based on what I got to see from your memories, you looked like a pro. You learned all that recently?

[ Kinda gives a guy some hope. ]

Yeah, I mean, like...maybe a year or two ago? I looked like a pro because I worked really hard and because my life often depended on it.

( She shrugs and looks mildly apologetic for mentioning it, but it's the truth. )

But yeah, it hasn't been that long since I learned it.

Okay well, on the one hand — I'm very sorry and that totally sucks.

On the other hand — you learn things really quickly and you're an amazing fighter?

Just ... please don't judge me if I can't get it that quickly.

Yeah, thanks, on both accounts. I won't, don't worry. I had a really good teacher and you've just got me and my friends, so we'll get there when we get there.

Ha! Deal.

[ He's always happy to set expectations a little lower in situations like this. ]

Can't wait. See you soon.

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closing this one out!