ic contact (mask or menace)

[hackitude]

"Hey! You've reached Skye. Leave a message. I mean, if you want to. Or uh, don't. Whatever."

Comments

[hackitude]

Like I said, a couple of months ago. An unknown third party arranged for the kidnap of several imPorts so they could run Hunger Games-style tests on them. Chuck 'em into an arena, make them battle deadly obstacle courses or each other. We didn't know that at the time, though-- we just woke up in what looked like a motel room from the 70s, only with no way out. Jesse was freaking out. ... Okay, we were both freaking out.

[5055034455]

[Saul is silent as those details work their way through his mind. He can't really picture any of what Skye just told him, except by imagining her and Jesse —

Nope.

He'd rather not.]

Jesus.

[hackitude]

Yeah. It was... pretty awful, actually.

But we spent the time in captivity telling each other stories about stuff from back home. When we weren't arguing about what to do, anyway.

[5055034455]

[The worst part of this is the fact that now Saul's wondering what he would have done if he showed up and found out that Jesse was here, but died.

It's almost enough to make him want to stop drinking, but he figures he probably should keep going if this is the conversation they're going to have.]

How'd you get out?

[hackitude]

We were a bunch of angry people with super-powers. I'll leave it up to your imagination.

[5055034455]

...yeah, good point. I guess they shoulda known better. The kidnappers, I mean.

[Saul is suddenly very grateful that he can walk through things and turn invisible. No more kidnappings for him, no sir.]

[hackitude]

It took us a while, since they had, uh... power nullifier tech. But after that was taken care of...

[5055034455]

Oh, shit, that's a thing?

[There goes that thought.]

And — "unknown forces," you said? Not the Russians?

[hackitude]

Yeah, that's a thing. My boss and I are working on making a power nullifier ... nullifier, but it's taking some time.

A lot of people think it was the Russians. I don't buy it.

[5055034455]

No?

[Another sip.]

What's your theory, then?

[hackitude]

I don't have a theory yet, I just don't think it was the Russians. If it was, why the whole charade? Why the challenges? Nobody's been able to trace it back to the Russians with any tangible proof, so why not just kill us all outright? Or better yet, run medical tests on us to get samples of our DNA so they can make their own superheroes? It just doesn't add up.

[5055034455]

Did your captors do any of that?

[hackitude]

Nope. Kinda makes you wonder, doesn't it?

[5055034455]

Uh, yeah.

[That's fucked up. Saul considers how fucked up it is while taking a long drink.]

Do you think it was just — I dunno, someone who actually read the Hunger Games and took the plot a little too seriously?

[hackitude]

It's possible, but I doubt it. This thing was a big operation-- it had mad funding. Which means it was vetted by multiple people.

[5055034455]

Jeez.

[That's really all he has to say about that; he really can't, like, conceptualize that as something that actually happened. And he doesn't want to.]

[hackitude]

Yyyep. So now you now.

[5055034455]

How'd, um — how'd he handle that?

[hackitude]

What, being kidnapped?

[5055034455]

Yeah.

[Because Saul is guessing "badly." Like, if Jesse thought of him in his hour of need, he must have been stressed.]

[hackitude]

We spent a lot of time arguing about the best way to escape.

[5055034455]

Mm.

[He considers that around a mouthful of beer. Yeah, that sounds about right.]

[hackitude]

... Anyway. It's in the past.

[5055034455]

Yeah. We should probably leave it there.

[hackitude]

You'll get noooo disagreement from me.