driftfleet | video.

Who: Thor and you
Broadcast: fleetwide
Action: on the Blue Fish if you want him
When: today

[Thor has obviously stuck his communicator on the desk in his room, because the video opens with him in profile, sitting on his bed. For a few moments all he does is toss a small rubber ball out of the frame, then catch it when it rebounds off the opposite wall with a thud back towards him. He does this a couple of times before he speaks.]

When I arrived in the Fleet, I was told a lot of things and given several warnings. All of them with good purpose. What I remember most though is being told not to try and take out the augment. More than one person told me this.

[A sidelong glance at the communicator, before he throws the ball into the wall again. Thud. Catch.]

No one said why exactly, other than the obvious part where it's stuck in our heads. Still, I would ask what exactly we know about these augments. What's been tried to get them out, what happens when you do? And have they been known to do anything else besides give us information about our ship roles.

If I had heard more about it earlier, I probably wouldn't have-- [Hold that thought: Thor misses the next rebound on the ball and it smacks him in the head, making him jump and drop out of frame for a moment.] --shit.

[Okay, he’s back up, with the offending ball tossed away into a corner. He rubs at his face before continuing, faintly annoyed. Everything is out to spite him today.]

Anyway. If you know something about them, I'd like to hear it. Or even if you have an opinion on them. Those are good too.

[One day he'll make a network post when he's in a cheerful mood. Maybe.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Very funny.

[He's not exactly hiding that part, just moving on from it.]

I would like to hear about it, yes. Is this part of that report I was just shown?

[He did take note of Kitty's name in Leia's text report, helpfully given to him by Nami just now.]

I'm hilarious and adorable. [That's her brand, Thor!]

Mmm... Let me check. [Don't mind her, just scrolling through your personal interactions aaaaand...] That's the one. She didn't get into all the graphic details though.

For instance, she was almost definitely a casualty if we hadn't gotten a healer there. And I don't mean doctor. I mean someone with powers to accelerate healing.

So it was that bad. I'm not so surprised, given someone else has said a person died getting theirs out.

The report said something about disrupting electronics?

I hadn't heard that, but it doesn't surprise me. I got some warnings early on about how dangerous it was, but I figured between my powers being more unique [more unique than a surgical technique at least] and Logan being able to heal from almost anything it was worth trying.

[She nods.] When I phase through a circuit I disrupt it. The hope was to make the device inert long enough to remove it. I also tried phasing it loose to separate it, but I couldn't.

I would think the same in your position.

[Which could be obvious, given the post he's made.]

Could you not phase through it, or did it simply have no effect?

No effect. As far as trying to phase it out you could say they...broke my concentration. [By making her terrified in ways she's never felt before. She couldn't even fight through it because she couldn't make herself phase again. And considering it would be a delicate, difficult process that would require extra concentration that really wasn't going well.]

So... Do you think you are in my position? A similar one anyway. [She doesn't know anything about him being able to phase or having a healing factor, but he's clearly curious about all this.]

[There's no need to ask what Kitty means. Thor's own brush with that awful feeling was brief, but it was enough to put him off continuing with his own attempt to hit the augment. It's perturbing, how these augments mess with their emotions and their bodies. There must be a way around them somehow.]

Not the same as yours, no. Mine is different.

[Which could be the point.]

At the least I wanted to know more about all of this.

Mmhmm. [She could almost picture herself on the other side of this conversation. Someone giving her the reasons not to proceed and her still thinking it had value. Maybe that's not where he's at, but she's not sure anything would have stopped her back then. Maybe if another Kitty or someone intangible with the same array of powers had already tried it, but only if she really trusted them too.] Are you thinking about trying to remove it somehow?

No, I'm not.

[Direct and honest.]

I'm going to consider other steps. All of these stories of past attempts has convinced me that removal is too dangerous.

Oh, well, good. [The god of thunder wouldn't lie. Surely!] Because I get coming at it from different angles but it really seems adaptive for whatever you've got.

[Technically it's not a lie. He's not going to try and remove it - but the idea of frying it is sounding more and more appealing. Thor snorts with annoyance, knowing the truth of what Kitty says.]

It appears so, and that makes it formidable indeed. Yet I still think there is some way to break that hold, if only we can find it.

[That feels like a warning sign, but she understands the sentiment.] Maybe.

If it even is what it's said to be.

You think it could be something else?

Well, the last time I was mysteriously abducted I ended up in a shared virtual reality where they had our bodies in stasis, but I couldn't tell for months. No one could. It makes a person question things. So, sometimes I think things like the augments are just there to make it seem more realistic to us. Give us something to focus on and struggle against, so we don't look for what's really going on. Whatever that is.

But that might be too paranoid for most people?

[Certainly it's more paranoid than Thor has been. Now he's going to think about it. This sounds like the kind of elaborate theory that Loki would pursue.]

Well, if you speak from your own experience, it's understandable to think that way. These augments remind me too much of the obedience discs they had on Sakaar - that's what I've been thinking of.

[Loki, huh? Amusingly, if you throw something at her she might phase and let it go through. How would that make you feel?]

Obedience discs? I already hate the sound of that. Did you have one?

Yes, though I got it off eventually. They were circular things that attached to the skin and could incapacitate you if a button was pushed.

[And boy was it frustrating to essentially be electrocuted into submission when you're the God of Thunder. An outrage.]

Of course, they did have a controller. I was able to remove it once I stole the controller from Valkyrie. So it's not entirely the same thing.

And it worked even on you? Did it restrain your powers too?

There were some devices in Marina before we learned it was a virtual reality, so really just manifestations of what they were doing rather than something real.

It didn't restrain them, no, but when they were using the thing on me I couldn't do much of anything.

[Except pass the fuck out.]

That must have been frustrating.

Yours too. Once in Marina I broke a rule and they gave me a shock collar. It went off anytime I touched someone or they touched me. Not fun. Not a light shock.

[He grimaces at that. It's all too familiar.]

Yeah, that's what it was like.

Good thing we're both free of them now. And good luck with your information gathering. If you hear anything interesting I didn't mention fill me in. I don't like these augments either.

Sure. I'll let you know.

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