video | un: Barton

[pretendtoneedme]

This is gonna piss off Ross and I'm all for that, but even after all the shit that's gone down in the last six years I don't know how I'll explain this.

[The video had opened on what there is to be seen of a partially overcast sky between two of the taller buildings of Dualis before tilting down; obviously whoever's broadcasting is walking along the road, because the picture continues to move at a steady pace down what looks to be a slightly less metropolitan-city-ish shopping district. Part of the hand holding the phone is visible, but nothing else about the person speaking can be seen yet.]

And my limit of pissing him off got blown by about the time I woke up in cyberpunk Egypt, so I've got two questions for anyone with any kind of answer - how in the hell do we get home, and does anyone have some tools I can borrow so I can break some sensitive electronics?

[...yeah, that's all he's volunteering for now. Sorry about that.]

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video; un: SPEED

[expeditiousness]

[hi clint, have a white-haired teen boy looking at you with the approximate expression of dude.]

Did ya miss the orientation? We gotta wait a year to get home, according to the giant computer that brought us here. And as for question number two - how sensitive are we talking, and how many pieces do you want it broken into?

video

[pretendtoneedme]

[He's not looking at the screen, so he doesn't see the odd sort of echo of someone he knew. That tone of voice is something he's pretty familiar with, though.]

I've been through too many orientations to not know that you're never told the entire story on your first day, if you ever are. There's always something left out - you just gotta figure out what that is. And like hell am I waiting on a computer to send me home. Part two, well-constructed but delicate, and I don't care, I just want it off.

[expeditiousness]

I dunno, this place is like a five-star resort compared to where I was stuck before. I’m not in a huge hurry to leave.

[shrug!! but high-tech electronics that are worn but unwanted - tommy’s guessing some kind of tracking device or restraint. definitely something he can help with removing.]

Well, I don’t know a lot about tech, but I do know about breaking stuff. I can move things on a molecular level, so it won’t be too hard for me to get whatever it is off.

[pretendtoneedme]

[Tommy's comment gives him a brief pause, less than a second, but there's a lot to read into that, none of it good. There's a lot he could say, but for now he just lets it go - he knows a lot about not wanting to talk, and he doesn't know a damn thing about Tommy to know if he doesn't want to or not. Let it go for now.]

Right. Sounds like- [He cuts himself off from what he was going to say, clearly thinking about something, before starting a question.] You can move anything or just yourself?

[expeditiousness]

Uhh ... both, maybe? I dunno - I'm a mutant, not a nerd, so I don't know a lot about the physics of it all. I just know I can move really fast and sometimes I can sorta blow things up, or slip through solid walls, stuff like that.

[pretendtoneedme]

Is "mutant" a special thing for you or do you have three feet or something like that?

[Since his own knowledge of "mutant" is, well, super-deformed organisms, which it doesn't sound like Tommy is. But he's heard of similar things showing up on S.H.I.E.L.D.'s index, so he doesn't really blink at that explanation, instead requesting clarification.]

But you don't know you can get an object off another person for sure.

[expeditiousness]

Nah, dude, it's a genetic thing. Homo superior - mutants are the next step up in human evolution. I have two feet - they just move really fast.

[tommy grins and gives the camera a light shrug.]

I'm pretty sure I can do it, especially if you're not picky about how many pieces it ends up in. What, do you need me to audition for ya?

[pretendtoneedme]

I can guess the root, but that's not a term I'm familiar with. Sorry. Sounds kind of like something at home, though.

[After all, for a long time there were no explanations for the powers that showed up in people around the world randomly, at least not that S.H.I.E.L.D. knew. He's heard some parts of the explanation by now, from his contacts still with the agency, but that's weird alien stuff and not genetic mutation.]

No, I just don't wanna end up with this thing inside me if you try and get it off and can't. I know that kind of thing can happen with some power sets, and I'm not interested in going through that in my own body. Seeing it happen is weird enough.