[Video]

[girlinasquirrelsuit]

[Kit looks tired and pale. She's been working on recovering from her pounding at the hands of the local thugs, but she still has a ways to go. And she has a problem.]

Okay, cards on the table. I give up on my secret identity. Can't do it.

[Oh, for a city of a million people and a hypnotist for a partner. We never know what we've got until it's gone.]

Anyway. I understand there are some decent scientists around. I got caught in a nasty ambush and my suit took a real beating. My gliding membranes are torn, I blew something in one of my static shoes... Heck, there are just some bullet holes that need dealing with. I also could use help getting my grapple gun back into usable condition, though I might be able to figure that one out on my own. And I have one knockout gas grenade left, so if anyone could work backwards from there...

Right. Fact is, I'm the danger and daring-do half of the equation. Left my mad professor back home, y'see. Can anybody lend a hand?

Comments

[bruiserprincess]

A secret identity's an awfully important thing to just give up.

[Not that she ever had a chance at one. BUt they had a whole war about that.]

[girlinasquirrelsuit]

Tell yah what, kiddo, if I get home and run into anybody from here for some godforsaken reason, I'll have the boss hypnotize you so hard you won't remember your own shoe size. But I can't fix my own gear, and I doubt anybody's gonna want to help if I try and wear my cowl the whole time.

[bruiserprincess]

I guess that makes sense... the grownups were fighting an awful lot about secret identities at home though.

[girlinasquirrelsuit]

Our identities got rumbled once. Well, a couple times, but seriously once. What we did was go round to every government office and plant a phony story about us in each one until nobody had any idea. Got so we could track any leaks by what crazy ideas the bad guys had about us.

[bruiserprincess]

The government was the whole problem.

[girlinasquirrelsuit]

Yeah, I've never liked those guys either. Lucky for me, back when they rolled that plan out they didn't take lady heroes, so I had free reign to mess with all of them.

[bruiserprincess]

They've been after mutants for ages even though we were just born like this. Then they went after everyone.

[Video]

[threesovereigns]

[A shirtless elf on a shady rooftop decides to tune in, Zevran taking advantage of cooler air in the way of people who come from lands and times without modern air conditioning. It's a bit boring on the roof when you're not waiting for someone to kill or deal clandestinely with, so trolling the network it is.]

May I ask what kind of do you dare? There seem to be several in your position here.

[girlinasquirrelsuit]

[An elf is just weird enough to ping Kit's radar, but not enough to make a big deal of it if nobody else is. Shirtless she just considers a matter of personal taste.]

I drop-kick demons through dimensional portals on the way back from beatin' up six purse snatchers before breakfast. You?

[threesovereigns]

I? For myself, I make sure to take a good breakfast first. Good food is one of life's greatest pleasures.

[Lazy as a cat in a sunbeam, Zevran rolls up to sit with one hand propping his chin as he studies Kit.]

What is fascinating is that you mention demons in the same breath as you speak of technology. Most who know such creatures come from realms where magic holds sway.

[girlinasquirrelsuit]

Izzat so? Nah, we got both. Used to be the boss would waste a whole ton of time complainin' about spooky magic stuff bein' impossible, but we got bored of that, so he just invented doodads to mess with magic instead.

[She smiles nostalgically. Ah, youth.]

Really ticked off the council of mages, too.

[threesovereigns]

It seems to be the nature of mages that wherever they appear, councils and circles soon form after... and they are frequently entertaining to annoy.

[Memories of baiting Morrigan, apostate though she may be and thus free of any Circle machinations, lend a little curve to the corners of Zevran's mouth. Conspiratorially, he ventures] What is life without the chance of an ill-tempered fireball, after all?

[girlinasquirrelsuit]

Specially when you're magic proof! Makes 'em so mad...

[Ah, memories.]

There aren't a lot of them left running around these days. Those days. Whatever you call the timeline you left at home.

[Video]

[thulium]

[There is now an inquisitive-looking pointy alien monster on the screen.

Have fun with that.]

Interesting list of damage you have there. Who did you manage to piss off?

[girlinasquirrelsuit]

[Well. That's weird. She tries not to judge. He's... friendlier looking than a Draxite?]

Local thugs apparently got tired of being tied up and left for the authorities to handle. And I'm just not nature girl. Stupid trees got in my way.

[Because that's why that ambush went so badly.]

[thulium]

I think I see your problem. If you tie them up, they can get away.

[girlinasquirrelsuit]

The problem is they have a whole lot of big, mean friends, and I'm just one girl. Which normally is not a problem, but I guess everybody hits a saturation point sometime.

[thulium]

At least you didn't bring anyone else down with you.

[Alien expressions might be difficult to read, but he sounds more self-deprecating than accusatory.]

Are you planning on going out after them again, or are you worried they might take another shot while you're vulnerable?

[girlinasquirrelsuit]

The scum in question seem to get by hanging out way outside the city to take out travelers in nice, empty spots, so they're better organized than I thought if they come after me here. But I do intend to take the fight back to them, yeah.

[girlworthfighting]

You...oh, you. I remember now. No wonder your voice seemed vaguely familiar.

[girlinasquirrelsuit]

That is another problem. Knew I should have had my husband teach me to hypnotize people.

[girlworthfighting]

Why does it matter so much that no one knows who you are? I was wondering why you had that mask on, but thought it polite not to ask.

[girlinasquirrelsuit]

I guess it doesn't work this way everywhere, but where I come from, if you spend your nights fightin' criminals, would-be-conquerors, magical shenanigans, and goofy science monsters, you need somebody to be during the day. When your real identity gets rumbled, the bad guys can go after not just you, but your family, your friends, your networks...

[girlworthfighting]

I guess that does make sense.

Bad things can and do happen to heroes' loved ones, in my world. But no one ever tries to hide their identity -- unless maybe they're some kind of criminal. And even then...well, Snow White never pretended to be anybody else!

[girlinasquirrelsuit]

[Snow White? And she thought her buddies had silly names.]

Maybe you should try it sometime. It's pretty nice not to have to worry that my mom or my son is going to be kidnapped by a supervillain. Why, one of our old enemies crashed our wedding, and he just thought he was robbing a couple of ordinary pigeons! And on the other hand, when the Home Team identity records got leaked, almost everybody was taken down in their everyday identities.