@abel.navigator

[adsero]

Hello everyone,

Unless I’ve missed something in the past hour or so, it seems like our network hasn’t been compromised by whatever has caused this massive security failure. I have at least five messages in my inbox that I’m certain aren’t for me, but everything seems clean here.

I think, as the group of people with the (apparently) only properly functioning network (and various talents, in a manner of speaking), we’re obligated to use it to organize ourselves and assist. The entire city is facing more problems as a result of this breach than I’ve ever seen before from one event. If you’re not particularly interested in helping those that could be trapped in cars or victims of accidents right now, consider that the external temperature has been rising. I don’t know about everyone else, but I’m personally certain that once it gets around 55C I’m going to start dying.

The network has apparently been used before to coordinate teams of Displaced, let everyone know what’s needed and who to meet with, and I suggest we do it again. I’ll keep an eye on this and provide hotlinks to pertinent discussions, so anyone with particular skills or interests can volunteer themselves.

Stay safe everyone. Don’t spend too much time in the heat without decent protection, you can only help so much if you pass out in the middle of it.

Comments

[revlon]

[ She's keeping a curious eye on the chat with Markus because they have a better working knowledge of the nuance that comes with AI debate. ]

I agree; every aspect of this message from the ID, word choice, date, and assault have been carefully chosen to carry some manner of significance or double-meaning. The fact it seems addressed to us specifically stood out to me as well.

You know I don't ascribe to the belief that everything has to do with the Displaced, either. But I have to admit it read to me as someone (or several someones) daring us to show ourselves. We still have no information as to why we're here or were given abilities, but sometimes I can't shake the theory that these events could be tests — and New Amsterdam is the playing field. Why would the AI care if our arrival is well after their time? Why now?

@jon.snow

[998]

It could be a reference to Morningstar, using the name of the Dawn AI. Or having them be the ones sending the message.

It sounds to me like they want us to go north, following the stars.

[revlon]

But even if we could see them, the stars and a compass would both point to the same north. The message seems to indicate it isn't north as we believe or perceive it to be.

[998]

Then it sounds like what we need to know is what leads you one way when you follow it with your own eyes, and another when you find it with your implant?

[eyes or magnetic bird senses]

[retravel]

Even DAWN is evocative of imagery relevant to Morningstar and Elysian (the AI whose rogue actions are said to have triggered the war, if you're playing along at home) both. They got the style memo, it seems.

To play devil's (or Markus' :) advocate, perhaps they believe we're crucial to a paradigm shift that could work to the benefit of the remnants of their people or the cause they've seemingly joined (that seems overtly interested in us). Our profile has elevated in the wake of the dreams and a series of indiscretions as well.

[revlon]

It makes sense. We were deployed to assist New Tokyo because rumours had spread through other Morningstar chapters about what we're capable of. No specifics, as far as I'm aware, but our reputation has certainly preceded us in many cases.

Especially if you think about the group who believes we're a sign of the divine.

[ Or whatever. She'd encountered a follower or two at the market who'd recognised her from murals or a video and she had no bloody idea what they were on about until they'd explained further. She's a spy, for God's sake. This is the opposite of discretion. ]

So we're back to where we started all those months ago. Are we a symptom or a solution?

[retravel]

And if we're a solution, are we one designed by a group or found by one? Perhaps we're different things to different people.

But we're something to this DAWN, and they have the means to reach us, apparently.

If this were a SHIELD case, we'd already have a list of suspects, so I'll put it out there: The third party who drops us off (who may be the engineers of us as a "project," in the first place), the cultists who worship us, the Insomniac Ball host, the Insomniac Ball artist who dabbles in shrinework with the cults, some combination thereof, or another group entirely.

There are a surprising amount of power, connections, skills and credits to go around between those lots, but I reckon we've got added clues in the message itself.

[ god, he's tired ]

[revlon]

[ She has a headache. ]

The cultists may be tied to the Ball, if only for the similarities in their artwork and symbology, but I'm no expert. Do you suppose the third party could be working with, if not masquerading as DAWN? I may have found a link between the two, although I'm aware it's tenuous. Our mysterious kidnappers like to remain discreet and this is the very opposite of discretion.

[retravel]

We don't believe in coincidences, do we.
The third party do tend to be less flashy than their counterparts, but it's not outwith their MO. If we're not doing what they intended — or if we are, and they're pleased their subjects have become self-aware — they have reason to escalate their contact levels and efforts.

I like the look of the link. DAWN, larks, little birds.
So we just need to open our damn eyes.

[ he said bitterly with a bitter expression ]

1/2

[revlon]

No, Agent Fitz, we do not. And before you say it, I am not bloody entertaining the theory that we're all still in some nonsense dream hell. Open our eyes indeed.

[revlon]

[ Take a breath, Carter. The heat isn't an excuse. ]

Opening our eyes often means coming to a realisation. I'd think that points towards becoming self-aware of our place here but maybe they're displeased we've become self-aware and have stayed the course all the same.

[ Blending in, laying low. ]

They called this our wake up call, they've implied we've only been playing at being heroes this entire time. Suppose it's our third test. Suppose it isn't a challenge, but a threat. A consequence of not having done enough, in their esteemed opinion.

[retravel]

[ WELL THEY COULD STILL BE IN A DREAM OR A SIM PEGGY GOD ]

Mm. A means to force our hand.
But I'd say punishment, not threat, in this scenario. Splitting hairs, I know.

[ the circumstances aren't any more likely to lead to exposure than the goddamn kaiju, so instead the cost of their inaction has to be made clear. he scans over her theory of the cipher, trying to place it within the context of the larger message. ]

Maybe they want us to assess what we owe those who led us here, or who led us here in the first place, if it wasn't DAWN and their associates.

[revlon]

[ DON'T ]

None of us asked for this. We've been thrust into these circumstances and the role they believe we play in them. Divine purpose, games or tests, motivation or punishment. Whatever their reasons, they've seemingly attacked an entire city to draw us out.

Will it stop once we save the day and find "north"? I doubt it's as easy as a point on a map.

[ She'd told Jon she doesn't believe it's north as they know it, otherwise a compass would be the obvious and easy choice. It may be a more nebulous concept, like everything else they've encountered in this world. ]

[retravel]

Agreed. I doubt it's the type of thing we complete in a oner, either.

So not north as we scouts think of it, but true north, if we're to think more representationally? Find what we're meant to be doing. Or what remains of North America, as others have posited.

[revlon]

So this is meant to push us towards realising our true purpose.

Or that this world has lied about itself, if North America isn't what we believed it to be.

[retravel]

Not mutually exclusive, I suppose.
Especially with all the rogue messages coming through now.

[revlon]

Do you think it's possible, Fitz? America.

[ After everything they learned and saw in the dreams. ]

[retravel]

[ That she asks after he'd been so stubborn and fatalist in the dreams, well, it makes him still. He won't forget how she'd turned away, shoving the evidence of their second home's destruction into his chest.

Not for the first (or the last) time, he wishes she were with him now. ]

We saw the ruins of Britain and Europe, not America. The article we found in that time capsule of an apartment indicated a sacrifice was made, but we don't know the means by which it occurred and how effective they were.

There could be survivors. Patches of land made habitable enough for small numbers to persevere.

[revlon]

[ Of course she asks. They're sounding boards, partners. It's a theory that unsettles her more than the others, if only because the emotional fallout of such a revelation — World War III, the complete eradication of the nations they'd fought to defend — has lingered all these weeks since they woke up from the other reality. It isn't hope or dread she feels at the possibility it wasn't entirely true; she doesn't know what to feel, not without more information.

But she wishes he were here to anchor her in it all the same. Just as he'd done in the dreams. ]

We can't even trust that what we saw was real.

[ But she's no stranger to the lies spun by propaganda, governments determined to rewrite the past in their own narrative. She shouldn't be surprised. ]

Atomic warfare was new in 1945 but we understood what it could do. [ And the consequences of detonating warheads on a civilian target. It still makes her sick. ] Even if they saw it coming, even if they took shelter below ground, do you believe there's a chance humanity could have survived an assault on that scale? And then eluded detection after all this time?

[retravel]

[ And if they were together, she'd recognise the too-intent look in his eye. ]

It felt real.

[ Feels real, is real; he'd said. 'Course he means it more in the sense of believing it to be likely and true. ]

There's always a chance. Combination of luck, skill, and wherewithal. Maybe they had the technology to be prepared. Maybe the humans out there aren't baseline anymore.

[ if they're humans at all. ]

[revlon]

[ Somehow she can feel the weight of his gaze from all the way over here, hear him finish the thought — was real. ]

If they're humans at all.

[ — and finishes his. ]

We're certainly more than what we used to be.

[retravel]

[ Synchronicity. That's what it means to be her partner in this world. ]

We are.

[ and that's all they know, isn't it? ]

One more unto the breach, Agent Carter.

[revlon]

[ How many times have they said that to each other? How many more? Doesn't matter. Because — ]

Together as always, Agent Fitz.