[video]

[kingtyrantranger]

[Oh, hey, seems like someone's finally figured out how to use the camera function on his omnicomm! He's just. Older. A lot older.]

For the record, I blame Gohan and Videl for this. We were just fine until they started jumping and skipping up and down the timeline.

It's pretty obvious what's going on, so let's not have a bunch of people freak out over someone being younger than they should be. Kids, don't do anything stupid. Adults, keep an eye out for the kids. Business as usual. We've been at this for over half a year now, no reason to fuck it up just because the status quo's been shaken a bit.

Comments

video

[fourstars]

You make it sound like we have any control over this.

[kingtyrantranger]

You're pretty much Patient Zero, kid.

video

[steelandtemper]

Since when are you rated above PG?

[Yeah, that's the important part here. Thanks, Cortana.]

[kingtyrantranger]

[At least he can laugh at that.]

C'mon, I'm not seventeen anymore.

[steelandtemper]

[You realize her partner is pushing 50 and has never said anything more profane than "damn," right.]

Look, where I'm from, the seventeen-year-olds just got out of boot, and the drill instructors taught them a whole lot of new words.

[bachido]

This morning I was a lot older, suddenly I'm younger than when I got here! Why is this happening so fast?

I let the hem out on my robes and now they're way too big to wear.

[kingtyrantranger]

You're also from a place that blows most terrible sci-fi militaries out of the water in terms of being massive dicks.

audio

[nofortunateson]

Hey . . . so. Can we get some Cliff's Notes for those of us who don't speak Time Travel?

[Or for those of us who are seventeen and freaked the hell out. Whatever.]

[steelandtemper]

Project Freelancer was a disgrace even by ONI standards.

[That's what he's talking about, right?]

Also, I'm not convinced it ever existed in my universe.

[kingtyrantranger]

Right, so. One of the local geniuses could probably explain it better, but something's trying to throw us off our game by playing with the timestream.

[If he wasn't so sure she was dead, he'd suspect Rita. Or maybe Zedd. More likely the Time Trapper, though.]

The 'hows' aren't important. Let's just say that some of us are younger than we should be and some of us are older and leave it at that. Things are probably going to return to normal and we can all laugh about this later over a few drinks. If it's permanent, well. We have some issues.

Anyway, I've handled stuff like this before. Our best bet is just to keep a cool head and make sure no one panics over what's going on. Think you can handle that?

[kingtyrantranger]

Hey, relax. It's probably temporary. I'm a bit, uh. Scruffier than I was this morning, so you're not alone. A lot of us are going through some changes, but we'll be all right, okay?

Go see the Athramites and get your robes hemmed up again.

[kingtyrantranger]

I was thinking more the whole 'kidnap a bunch of helpless kids and turn them into killing machines' deal, but we can roll the idiots who attach scorecards to human lives up in there too, sure.

[steelandtemper]

Without the Spartans, every sapient being in the galaxy would be dead.

[She has her own doubts about the SPARTAN-II, but random outsiders from worlds that aren't in a state of total war are not allowed to shittalk it.]

[nofortunateson]

[That . . . sounds insane. But no part of this has been sane, and Gabriel nods to himself slowly, letting the entire concept sink in. He blinks at the question, then gives a huff of a laugh, all bravado.]

Relax? I think I can handle that.

[Says the disoriented teenage boy hiding in the woods with a backpack full of rations, guns, and stolen(?) items. Speaking of which . . .]

Can I ask you one more thing, Mister-?

[kingtyrantranger]

Yeah, correct me if I'm wrong, but the evil aliens didn't show up until after your military stole seventy-five kids and experimented on them, right?

[kingtyrantranger]

That's good. The calmer we are about this, the better off we'll be.

[Anyhow. A few questions can't hurt, s'long as they're not about science.]

Scott. Jason Scott. What's your name, champ?

[Ask away.]

audio -> video

[nofortunateson]

[He has to smirk a little at that, the champ if nothing else. At least it's a welcome kind of weird, rather than an overtly offputting or creepy one.]

Gabe's fine. I, uh-

[He flips his communicator around, fiddling with it until the video feeds comes up. Sitting on the toe of one of his scuffed sneakers is a chunky, fairly new-looking ring in familiar black and gold. And he'd felt a little stupid throwing it in the bag, except some nagging half-remembered intuition had convinced him it was important, somehow.]

I found this. Can you tell me anything about it?

[steelandtemper]

Years before Harvest, the Insurrectionists detonated a high-yield nuclear weapon in the Haven arcology as part of a pattern of escalating terrorist attacks. It killed two million, injured over eight million more, and at least that many deaths occurred over the next decades as the result of radiation sickness and untreatable cancers caused by fallout, with a corresponding sharp spike in birth defects projected to last generations.

An Insurrectionist future would have repeated that pattern across a hundred worlds. SPARTAN-II was to prevent that future from happening. If you want to stand on the graves of millions and preach, fine, but I don't have to sit around and listen to it.

[She's not denying she's from a Crapsack World, she just objects to singling out the SPARTAN Project.

Well, SPARTAN-II. Trash SPARTAN-III all you want.]

[kingtyrantranger]

[He snorts, amused.]

I think those go on your fingers, Gabe.

[Okay, enough teasing.]

That there is your Legion Flight Ring. I guess you don't remember, what with being aged down a bit, but that means you're a member of a super hero team. You might want to hold on to that one for a bit.

Audio

[goddamngrenades]

I feel like I just saw a disney princess shotgun a beer or something.

[ Seriously. Jason is- if not an inadvertent sentinel of sincere wholesome goodness, pretty goddamn close. ]

[kingtyrantranger]

I can understand desperate times call for desperate measures. I've been through more alien invasions than just about anyone here, I can get that situation.

That doesn't make that 'necessary evil' any less evil.

[steelandtemper]

[She was serious about not sticking around to listen.

Of course she's still monitoring the thread because superpowered AI, but she's not engaging any further.]

[nofortunateson]

[Oh. Oh, shit, yeah. A flight ring? What the hell. He'll hold on to that, all right. Especially if he can get that whole 'flight' part to work.]

Sounds good. Thanks, coach.

[And off goes the video feed.]

How do you know it's time for superheroics? Should I be watching the sky for a special shape or something?

[whyarewehere]

Zing!

video

[whyarewehere]

Nice beard, dude.