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Who: Natasha Romanoff & You
Broadcast: Fleetwide
Action: Marsiva
When: 6/24

Video

[Transmission starts at the same moment the woman laying in fram shifts from unconsciousness to tense stillness—her eyes open, darting, and she goes tense, but otherwise there's no movement from her for the first four or five seconds. That seems to be how long it takes her to process that she's in an unfamiliar space with no memory of how she came to be lying there. Then one hand balls consciously into a fist. Her eyes flutter. Jaw tightens.

Natasha takes a deep breath and forces her body to relax muscle by muscle.

Seems like spies don't make for great entertainment when they first wake up. Not unless you find tension and veiled suspicious looks riveting. The first minute or two isn't much more than that. She wakes up. She sits up. She swings her legs over the edge of her cot and stretches her back, trying to flex the adrenaline out of her muscles.

She looks directly into the camera at one point, her expression flat, lips tightening in a frown. She taps the edge of the lens experimentally.]

You know, if you're gonna kidnap a girl you could at least buy her dinner first.

[Her voice is just a touch to defiant to be neutral as she speaks.

Then she hauls herself to her feet. The last thing caught on camera before the broadcast ends is a shot of her catsuited figure walking away.]

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And how long ago was that?

[Slow down. Work out the details. Worry about figuring them out, decidng what she can accept and what's too much later.

Natasha's not trained for this, but that doesn't mean her training isn't useful or doesn't assert itself.]

It was a little over three months ago that the previous version vanished. [Not very long to some people, but for him it's been a quarter of his life.]

It's hardly a unique phenomenon, as this is the third Mr. Stark and fourth Steve Rogers [if not Captain Rogers] I've seen here.

Steve Rogers... [Natasha notices the difference there, and she considers letting it pass, but Vision's level of formality has been fairly consistent otherwise. He'd said Captain Rogers before.] Is there a reason you're more familiar with Steve than you are with Tony?

[Ha. Ha. He wishes.]

Oh, I'm not, but you see one of them wasn't Captain America at all. He was the Winter Soldier, and his counterpart was Captain Jim Barnes. I was especially sorry to see Jim go; he was a good man.

Okay—what?

[Congratulations. He's reached the point where Natasha really can't keep up anymore. The timelines and the space travel, even the fact she'd apparently been there before, she could could sort of compartmentalize and set aside and let be for the moment, until she was ready to process them.

A Steve who was the Winter Soldier and Barnes as Captain America was a step too far.]

[The Vision nods, looking concerned.]

It's a natural extension of the idea residents can be from many different times. There are individuals from the eighteenth century, or the twenty-fourth. There are many others here from an Earth where New York was never invaded by the Chitauri. There are some who know the Avengers to have dozens of members and to have been around for decades by the start of the twenty-first century.

And there was one timeline that seemed identical to ours, except that their roles were switched.

[Processing this. Somehow, it seems much bigger than coming from different points in the same timeline.

It's not that his explanation doesn't make sense, but it also makes things a whole lot messier.]

So there are people here from those timelines, people we know, they know us, but they're not the same.

Any names I know?

[It's a mess, all right.]

There's one significant name. Clint Barton.

[Because of course.]

He's accustomed to a much larger team and has a protege named Kate Bishop who's here as well.

[Much more than that it's hard to say, because he'd only very briefly known Clint back home.]

So you're saying Clint is here, but he's not Clint.

[In a way, she's glad she found out about Steve and Barnes being swapped first. And in every way, she's grateful for the warning. There weren't many people who'd be as hard for her to handle not knowing her as Clint.]

I'll keep an eye out for him. See if he's as much of a loser in every timeline.

[Making fun of him is better than exploring whatever other feelings that might bring up.]

He is, and he's still Clint, but he's not our Clint, if I may be so possessive.

[~~This one is even more of a loser.~~]

The others are, as far as I can tell, the same versions we've known before.

Be as possessive as you want. I won't tell on you.

[She's already getting the situation in perspective. It might be a lot different than she initially expected, but she'll handle it. One way o another.]

Any other surprises I should know about?

No doubt you'd prefer to hear of all of them. [Where to even start? Well, with the one they were already discussing.]

The Winter Soldier, for one, and I mean James Buchanan Barnes when I say that. And with the caveat that he's yet to cause any actual trouble here, Loki.

Those would be high on the list of things I'd want to know. [She agrees wryly, already processing that information, both what Vision says and what he implies. That Loki might potentially cause trouble, but but hadn't.

The fact that Vision made no such caveat about Barnes.

Where did she even stat with this information.]

How is Steve handling Barnes being here?

[She starts with that.]

[Let's add a layer of encryption on this, shall we? This could be sensitive, after all.]

Captain Rogers doesn't share his thoughts on the matter with me, I'm afraid.

[Which, frankly, there could be any number of reasons for. He doesn't take it personally.]

Winter, as he calls himself, has made significant progress from where he was. However, something caused him to revert temporarily and many people were injured as a result. We've yet to positively identify the trigger.

[Probably a good idea. Natasha's interested in the encryption she's seen here. And guess she's lucky, because turns out she knows something about it.

Not sure she likes that.]

Winter, huh?

[She notes it. Never hurts to know what people like to hear, what they maybe don't expect to hear.]

You're sure something triggered it? It wasn't just a break on his part?

Winter. [A reasonable compromise, he thinks, between the "Bucky" of old that Steve knew and the tool of Hydra he'd become.]

As sure as I can be without witnessing the initial incident myself. But he believes it, and the telepaths who have looked into the situation agree - Wanda helped to neutralize him, and there's another one here named Charles Xavier who's been very helpful.

I won't doubt Wanda's word on it.

[Which doesn't mean she won't talk to her about it later, or Xavier if she gets the chance.

Or Barnes, for that matter.

If there's no one else from HYDRA here to pull the strings, though, there's no reason to assume he's an active danger.]

We know or a fact that Loki hasn't gotten into trouble?

[Talking to them seems like a very good idea, given the circumstances. Well, that and the Vision likes to see people talking to Wanda about her strengths.]

For a fact? No. No doubt you're perfectly aware how subtle he can be. But whatever he's doing he's kept it covert, and aside from the business with Winter there hasn't been anything that might even remotely be attributed to him.

[He tilts his head to one side.]

He's fond of saying he sees no point in "ruling a fish bowl".

[She's not sure if that sounds more like a rationalization or sulking, and she knew better than to assume one way or the other with Loki.]

As long as it keeps him out of trouble.

[She had enough on her plate, Natasha was willing to make Loki a low priority until he proved otherwise.

Though it was worth one more question.]

Do we know when he's from?

[With Loki, who says it isn't both?]

I'd even settle for minimal trouble. I admit I get concerned whenever he's too quiet.

[He nods.]

He claims he's dead at home, which would place him during the Dark Elves' attack on London.

[Probably both.]

He may be.

[Who's to say how that would affect someone like Loki? He was unpredictable enough when he was alive.]

How's that been for you? Dealing with Loki.

[She glances at the stone set in Vision's forehead, pointed.]

[Yeah, he catches that glance all right, and the Vision sighs.]

He hates me with what I feel to be an entirely unreasonable passion, as I've never harmed him in any way. Again, however, he's not openly hostile.

[...so, you know, being Loki, is probably a likely candidate behind anything "accidental" that should happen to the Vision.]

[It would be Natasha's first suspicion. Especially considering it wouldn't be easy to arrange an "accident" that would keep Vision down.]

Loki isn't widely known for being what you'd call reasonable. Don't take it personally.

I suppose that's true.

[But he kind of does take it personally anyway. :c]

[It is true. But poor Vision.]

Does it bother you?

[She wouldn't ask most people, but the Vision she knows is only days old. It's easier to take a proprietary interest under those circumstances.]

Edited 2016-07-09 19:17 (UTC)

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