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alphalogs2016-08-28 08:40 am
- [daycycle 105],
- adam parrish [the raven cycle],
- barry allen [the flash],
- buffy summers [btvs],
- derek hale [teen wolf],
- felicity smoak [arrow],
- isabelle lightwood [shadowhunters],
- morgana lefey [merlin],
- natasha romanoff [mcu],
- oliver queen [arrow],
- ronan lynch [the raven cycle],
- steve rogers [mcu],
- stiles stilinski [teen wolf],
- ~inactive: caitlin snow [the flash]
Daycycle 105 [ August 28 - September 03]
daycycle 105
[Aug 28 - Sept 3]
Early Morning [0800 - 0900] — All Troubleshooters Report for Duty
Felicity Smoak and Natasha Romanoff, have been selected for today’s mission. Details are below:
‘In order to help us improve our combat simulators, you will need to run through any combat situation you encounter at least three times. On the second pass through, engage the combat at a greater range than originally. On the third pass through, attempt it at a much closer range. You will provide tactical notes to our staff afterwards. If the simulators catch fire, or fail to respond to override commands... note that too. The eggheads were supposed to have fixed that.’
Please debrief the computer on the status of your mission by the end of the Daycycle here.
Morning & Afternoon [0900 - 1600] — Service Firm Positions
All Troubleshooters not assigned a mission should report to their Service Firm for their daily duties, unless specifically assigned a different shift.
Evening [1600 - 2200] — Citizen Improvement
All Alpha citizens are encouraged to better themselves through Alpha’s wide variety of educational, entertainment and cultural opportunities offered each evening. Attending these sanctioned events are not mandatory, but is highly encouraged by The Computer. Citizens choosing not to take advantage of these opportunities, have a growing number of other options available to them in how to spend their hard earned credits and free time.
Tonight’s event will be at 1700 in Hangar 15, Armed Forces Sector and will be hosted by the Alpha Complex Dogeball Association. Join us for a game of Alpha Dodgeball! All clearance levels above INFRARED welcome.
Alpha Curfew Restrictions
All Alpha citizens should be in their quarters within the Wagon Wheel by 2200, unless they’ve been given permission from a GREEN or higher clearance level citizen. Sleeping Aid gas is dispelled each night in the Wagon Wheel at 2200 to assist citizens in getting a productive sleeping period.
Confession Booths
There are hundreds of confession booths available around Alpha Complex if a citizen would like to communicate directly with the computer. Please use these confession booths to report mission statuses, report treason or terrorist acts, unregistered mutants, confess your trespasses against Alpha Complex, request propaganda or speak with Your Friend, The Computer, at any time.
no subject
"What, twenty seven inches or you being a bachelor?" Her response comes with a casual drawl of boredom but there's a flicker of life in her eyes that's paired with the rise of one delicate eyebrow. It's a little too easy to fall into old patterns; teasing. Banter. It almost makes her forget that he might be upset with her, but when his next question comes it shatters that false comfort with a reminder that he may not be the man that she remembers after all. Steve has a strong mind, Natasha recognized that about him the moment they had met, but the attempts that this place makes at conditioning newcomers are no joke. She had forgotten to consider that he may be missing bits and pieces of his memory... he may not even remember the Accords. She can't decide if that would be good or bad.
Natasha's arms crossed over her chest in a subtle a indistinct sign of defense when the thought finally dawns on her, and she looks at Steve with a hint of concern in her gaze as her amusement fades away. "I don't know, yesterday? I just got back from fighting a few killer droids in a room with a girl who barely knew how to flail properly, my head is a bit foggy. What about you?" She gives a single nod in his direction, eyes flickering down to his green jumpsuit before they return to his face. "You've been here a while?"
no subject
"You know the answer," is the phrase he settles on, before adding: "And I've been a bachelor for a few decades now." Despite his fresh new memories on Sharon Carter. Plus, Steve doesn't even know what the two of them were supposed to be. But after he woke up here, all of that seemed to stop mattering.
He recognizes the defensive stance when she takes it. He was deliberately trying not to take that stance right now. His arms are to his sides, his body communicating open not closed. But her answer makes Steve glance away, eyebrows tightened with a little more betrayal than confusion.
"Yesterday?" he repeats. He'd just started welcoming new Specials yesterday and Technical Services was already messing with him. But it wasn't something he needed to concern Natasha with, not yet.
"I imagine you were able to protect her, and teach her a thing or two?" Of course, out of all the days to miss the names of the Troubleshooters assigned to missions, today was the day he'd done it. But even if Natasha had been fighting killer droids, he wasn't really concerned. If Steve had to guess, the equivalent of killer droids were probably what teenage Natasha took down as everyday practice.
"Yeah. Over three months now." And he has a lot to tell her. Especially since he just did this with Tony two days ago.
"There's something I want to show you." Vague words for any eavesdropping ears, or feeds. "Come on."
Steve grabs his papers from the table and looks Natasha in the eye until she gives some indication that she'll come with him. Then, they're headed to the elevators.
no subject
The way that Steve looks away from her when she responds is strange, and she can’t tell if he looks betrayed because of her or because no one told him that she had arrived. Either way it’s concerning, because Natasha doesn’t know just how much trust he expects out of this very tyrannical system that they’ve been thrown into. For him to expect trust out of something that would take them against their own will just feeds into her fear that he’s been lost to the conditioning process, and that’s terrifying. Taking on The Winter Soldier was hard enough with a supersolider on her team, but if Steve is lost to The Computer, there’s no way she’s going to be able to get him back. He’s dangerous. And thinking of him in such a way hurts her in ways she doesn’t want to think about.
So instead Natasha decides that he looks betrayed because of her, and although that doesn’t feel much better, it feels safer. “She knows how to shoot a gun without blowing her own foot off now, if that counts,” she responds with a half shrug and a passive tilt of her head toward the same shoulder. However, after hearing that he’s been in this place for three months Steve manages to shock Natasha out of her defensive stance, her arms dropping to her sides and her eyes worrying with concern for him that she can’t help but let rise to the surface, even if for only a moment. “Three months? You’ve been here for three months?” And he’s fine. Of course he’s fine, he’s Steve, but that doesn’t make her feel any better. It doesn’t make her worry any less. She hates him a little, for that; the fact that he manages to make her worry.
He’s moving, and summoning her to follow him, something that she’s not sure she wants to do just yet. What are her options? Go with him into the unknown, or betray the fact that she’s not certain she can trust him, a hidden thought that may be her only protection from him now due to his obvious outranking of her. She wants to be cautious, but this is Steve, and Natasha can’t help but nod and follow, hoping for the best. It’s irrational to think him different from anyone else in this place, because he’s just as susceptible as she is to being conditioned, perhaps even more so due to Natasha’s extensive training. She’s lucky – lucky being a loaded word – because she knows how to put up mental defenses against such a thing, but that’s not fool proof. The idea of someone staying here for three months and managing to get to GREEN clearance without being tainted in some way is unrealistic, but… it’s Steve. Despite the probabilities and numbers, there’s still a part of her that believes him to be strong enough, although to expect that out of anyone would be unfair. He’s good, she’s seen that in everything that he’s done, and if anyone can make Natasha doubt all logic in favor of absurd optimism based on nothing more than ones character, it’s Steve.
She steps into the elevator with him, shoulders tense as if prepared for the unpreparable. He knows her. He knows that she most likely got through conditioning without the intended effects of it, and if he wants to act upon that he can. Her eyes survey the elevator as the doors close; small space, nowhere to run to, nowhere to hide. The best she could do if he came at her was get low and hope for the best, get behind him and on his back until the doors open again to give her an escape. Ceiling looks solid. Walls are solid. Here chances aren’t good.
But he doesn’t do that, and she waits for the doors to open so he can lead the way with her close in tow. “I never thought green was really your color,” she remarks conversationally, but the look in her eyes as she glances up at him says more with suspicion and concern. Who is he? Who is he really? “You gonna tell me where we’re going? You know I hate surprises.”
no subject
“I was always a red, white and blue kinda guy.” As for where they were going? “You’ll see. We’re almost there.”
Steve trusts her, just as he trusted Tony two days ago. It’s blind and stupid but there was something in his gut that that tells Steve that they were real. Not clones sent by the Computer to test his loyalty. Real.
When they get off the elevator, the scenery changes dramatically. The rest of Alpha Complex might be some parts shiny, some parts industrial, but the underground floor they just stepped into was all parts abandoned. It gets worse from there. Twists and turns — maybe even the odd rattle or two from the ceilings or the walls, before Steve brings her right in front of a door. It doesn’t look like much.
Steve glances over, right before he reaches for the handle and pushes the door open and everything about the room screams Tony Stark. His tech, his layout, his half working lab made out of scrapes and pieces. But it also looks old and untouched. Like if Tony really made all this, he wasn’t still making it. Steve shuts the door behind her, and for the first time, there’s a look of relief in his eyes.
“Nat.” He shakes his head. “I don’t even know where to begin.” Everything about his body language changes — every part of him that had been tough or guarded or secretive on their whole way here, melts away. “I can’t believe you’re here.”
He’d hug her, if that was something they normally did. But it wasn’t.
no subject
Her relief is short lived, however, when the elevator doors open to reveal a long and winding hallway that looks anything but welcoming. She lingers in the elevator for a second, watching the back of Steve’s head as he steps out and begins to lead her into the abandoned underground, and this time Natasha is genuinely shocked at herself when she steps into the hall to follow him. This place is strange, to say the least, and she can’t help but think that it would be the perfect location to bring a well experienced spy in order to find out just what she knows. Thick walls, nobody to hear her if something went wrong… a sudden wave of nausea hits her when she realizes that she’s afraid, and she doesn’t know if it’s because she’s considering the fact that Steve’s intentions are less than honorable or if it’s because she’s considering the fact that Steve’s intentions are less than honorable. He deserves more out of her than that and Natasha is angry at herself for even considering the alternative.
It’s when he leads her into the room that Natasha feels an overwhelming rush of emotion that almost stops her in her tracks. Relief, because this is so obviously not a place that the Computer is aware of. Concern, because these are Tony’s things, and Tony doesn’t seem to be in the room so… where is he? And, above all else, she feels guilt, because how could she have ever doubted Steve in the first place? “Don’t get emotional on me now, Rogers, we’ve got reputations to uphold,” she responds distantly, her eyes still scanning around the room to take in as much information as she can, and when they finally fall on Steve they’re filled with something that can only be described as affection. Perhaps even gratitude, because seeing Steve get turned into nothing more than a tool for a tyrannical system would have been - in that moment the realization strikes Natasha to her very core. That though – that fear – must be what it feels like for Steve when he sees The Winter Soldier take down a public street of innocent lives. Someone he has so much faith in turned into something he doesn’t even recognize… the dread of that is something that Natasha recognizes she only felt, but he saw it. She feels guilty now for completely different reasons.
”You can’t get rid of me that easily,” she finally manages to continue, her eyes finally falling away from him to break the moment because she’s never been comfortable with how invested she is in his well being. “But let’s start off with, what are we doing to take this thing down? It’s a machine, Rogers, it’s brainwashing innocent people, punishing them, using them…” She scoffs humorously with a shrug, her eyes rolling as she looks around the room once again. “Feels just like home.” She says it under her breath before her eyes close and she runs her fingers through her hair in anxiety. They were going to be talking for a while.
“Is there anywhere to sit in here? Because I have a feeling that we’re going to be talking for a while.”