entranceway | 010 ☆ video/action

[ It's been a long, long while since Steve transmitted a message through the network, and that's been no accident. His last announcement was when he came back from his last trip home, over a year ago. It hadn't felt right to take the lead in the same way after that, and others had jumped in to take his place as needed. Hadn't they? He'd thought as much, but others have told him that he's still needed as a leader. Maybe not as Cap, but as Steve.

It's a work in progress.

But here he is all the same, sending out his message toward the end of the second day. He's indoors; the room he's in not well-lit but his face is still visible. It's quiet out, the calm before the storm. ]

Michonne and I took a trip past the gates today, and... there's something coming. Or, well, a lot of somethings. A whole horde of zombies headed right for us. She's already given you guys the rundown, but I wanted to get the word out. We're gonna have to fight, or barricade ourselves away from danger. [ His expression hardens then, something steely and determined. ] Whatever you can do to keep yourself and your loved ones safe, do it.

[ A pause as he gathers his thoughts, and then he's back to it. ] I know death isn't permanent here, but this isn't a way that anyone wants to go. [ Is he speaking from experience?? Who knows, he doesn't elaborate. ] And I'll do whatever I can to help. In case you didn't know, I've got super strength, super speed, and I can take a hit. I'm not even sure if this infection will affect me because of the way my metabolism is. So if you need help getting out a scrape, let me know, all right? Or even if you just need help barricading a house. [ He's perfect for all that heavy lifting. ] I'm here to do whatever I can.

[ It's never enough, but he's still going to try. If he's learned anything this past year, it's that. ]

Oh, it's Steve, by the way. Steve Rogers. Stay safe, everyone.

[ With a firm nod, he ends the broadcast. For someone who's rusty on the speeches, it could have been worse, right? ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Ah. Superhero.

[He did mention super strength and speed. It adds up.]

My world's a bit different from most zombie worlds. We never lost the internet or electricity or the other trappings of society, not entirely. The world changed, of course, but it didn't end. And it's been almost 30 years. We've rebuilt.

[ All the same, Steve still isn't that used to the term being thrown around so freely, even if he'd heard it back home too. He's quiet for a few seconds, but nods. He can't really deny it.

It's almost encouraging to hear that a world can endure a zombie invasion and still survive, coming out on the other end beaten and bruised but alive all the same. ]

So how common are zombies in your world, then? Do you have to deal with them on a daily basis, or have you contained them?

We're journalists, so we see them a great deal more than most people.

[Not daily, perhaps, but certainly weekly. More often for Shaun than for her.]

For the most part, they're contained. Or more accurately, we're contained. You're more likely to encounter zombies in the the wilds we've abandoned than in cities and closed communities.

[ So they'd been forced to hole up in metropolitan areas and leave the rest of the world for the zombies to have. It sounds claustrophobic, but if they'd stabilized, Steve isn't going to question their methods. Whatever had allowed the human race to survive, right? ]

What kind of stuff do you report on, then?

[ It seems like after a while, monitoring the actions of the undead would get old. ]

[She looks faintly amused at the question. It's not exactly unreasonable, but... format may have changed. The news hasn't. Not on her side. Fictionals and Irwins have their special places that weren't really as big pre-Rising, but Newsies do what they always do: report the facts.

The undead are a fact, but they're not the story. Not anymore.]

I'm an investigative reporter. I was reporting on the 2040 election. Until I discovered a conspiracy so deep they killed me to try and keep it buried. [She tilts her head, a corner of her mouth quirking up under her sunglasses.] It didn't work.

[ The election? Steve's surprised to hear that anyone would even care about politics in a world that was overrun with the undead. He's not sure if it's comforting or not, to hear that something like that still exists.

Though he's quickly distracted by the mention of Georgia's death, and how it apparently hadn't been quite as permanent as intended. ]

Yeah, I know a little about death that doesn't really end up taking. [ Not just what had happened to him, but Bucky too. He frowns, not really making any effort to hide his concern. She seems smug about the whole thing, but... ] Are you all right?

Oh, the death took. But it was just me they killed, not the story.

[She can't really say it's worth it. Not after everything. No one should have died for her story. Not her, not Buffy, not anyone. But it's too late now. At least she managed to strike back one final time.]

Though I suppose it would be more accurate to say they killed the original Georgia Mason. I'm a clone.

[ Dying for the sake of getting the truth out is certainly a noble way to go, and Steve's all too familiar with sacrificial acts. He'd been ready to die for the sake of stopping the Red Skull; it's just hadn't quite worked out that way.

Instead, everything got a whole lot more complicated, but ultimately he's glad to still be here.

A clone? Steve's quiet for a few seconds as he processes that, but it doesn't make any more sense to him no matter how long he dwells on it. ] Sorry. How does that... work?

[It barely makes sense to her, and she's lived it. She's not a scientist. She could follow a lot of what they told her about how she was made, but not everything. Not close to everything.]

We've known the CDC is capable of human cloning for a while now. The part that's really impressive is the 97% memory transfer. I can remember everything that happened to the original Georgia up to the moment of her death.

[She frowns slightly.]

Including her time in Wonderland, which really shouldn't be possible.

[ In other words, she's more or less the exact same person. There's a lot of existential questions that this might bring up, but Steve isn't going to go there. As far as the rest of them should be concerned, she's Georgia, especially since he doesn't think he ever knew the "original."

Her remark about Wonderland memories is worth nothing, though. That's huge. He straightens with interest in his seat. ]

That must mean that even when it makes us forget, those memories are stored away somewhere, right?

[ This is pretty big news, for someone who'd resigned himself to forgetting everything about this place once he went home for good. ]

That seems more likely than the CDC being advanced enough to copy memories even I didn't know were there well enough for them to be restored when I returned. They're good. They're not that good.

[She doesn't understand magic. She doesn't really want to understand magic. But something about Wonderland recognized her as the same as the original Georgia and let her keep the original's memories of Wonderland.

It's both extremely disquieting and something of a relief.]

[ Steve can't offer much help when it comes to explaining how any of that would work, but it does offer some glimmer of hope that their memories aren't necessarily lost forever. That they can be restored, somehow. ]

I wish there were some way for us to figure out how to unlock those memories, but... I'm guessing it's not the thing an MRI or something would explain to us.

[ Yeah, he's sick of magic by now too. ]

It would be worth a shot if you know anyone who has one.

[She isn't eager to submit to doctors again if she doesn't have one. But analyzing what Wonderland is doing to them could be useful. If it tells them anything at all, that is.]