@lazarus | video

[benhargreeves]

[ The video opens on Ben's face. He is looking particularly grim, filming in one of the rooms in the residential section. No greetings or build-up, he just cuts right to the chase, holding up a tiny device between forefinger and thumb. Visible is a tiny lens, and what looks like a small antennae to transmit. ]

PSA. There are surveillance cameras hidden in the lighting fixtures of the bedrooms. I found a creepy tunnel leading to a creepy lair where some fucking creep has been spying on us. Still trying to figure out who is behind it and what they want, but the feeds only show occupied rooms and no empty ones so it's not a coincidence, unfortunately.

[ Ben turns the frame to face the spot where the small camera had obviously been ripped out of an overhead light. From offscreen he says, voice clipped and angry: ]

Anyway. Wanted you guys to know. Hit me up if you need help ripping the suckers out. I'll post again when I know more.

Comments

[benhargreeves]

If at any point you have some concrete information to contribute that'll be useful, you know where to contact me.

[ Until then, Ben has no patience for this particular brand of attention-seeking douchebaggery. ]

[dothelokimotion]

Ah, but are you particularly useful to contact?

At any rate, I do have information but I'm not convinced your hands are the best for them.

[benhargreeves]

Look, I don't know who the hell you are or what your issue is, but I'm not going to sit around proving myself to you. I've got actual shit to do.

Help, or don't. I'm not going to waste my time trying to convince you to do the right thing.

[dothelokimotion]

[ ah. hero, out of touch, not one for plans. useful information, at least. ]

There's little point in ripping them out without looking at the control panel and finding out where they lead, correct? Otherwise, without any idea of how they came to be, you'd simply be performing a useless task.

[benhargreeves]

[ Peter said to try to get Loki into a cooperating mood, so Ben took a moment to count to ten and now he is really Trying, in his best calm, rational, reasonable adult voice: ]

I mentioned before that I know exactly where they lead. There's a secret monitoring station where all the data was being transmitted. I'm working with people to figure out - from stuff we saw there, and from the hardware once it's been taken out - everything we can about these people. So we can fight back, rather than just roll over and accept this.

[dothelokimotion]

But you've also tipped your hand. Very openly.

I realize stealth is not the most, ah, heroic option. But if there is one monitoring station, there is more. And if they snuck them right under your noses, they can do so again. What you need is not simply who or where. You need to make them believe all is well. Otherwise they may simply cut and run, with no way of tracing them.

--> private

[benhargreeves]

Listen. I'm telling you this because Peter says he knows you and this shit isn't really your style, so you're probably not involved. But pretending no one had found that first station wasn't gonna be an option, for unavoidable reasons.

[ Peter... may have smashed some stuff inside it but Ben's not going to throw him under the bus like that. 'Cause he gets it. ]

The likelihood that there are already other stations has occurred to us, along with the probability that if they haven't got one already they'll just build one. This operation is way too extensive for them to just chicken out and ditch at the first sign of trouble.

[ He really has better things he could be doing than walking Loki through this but... Peter said he's smart and smart is useful, so. ]

And don't you think a good way for a few people to investigate under the radar is to have a few other people making a big racket to deflect attention?

[dothelokimotion]

[ loki rolls his eyes. he wonders why. except not really. ]

No. I think it is rather short-term, considering the lack of information we possess. These networks we use may not be secure either, for all we know.

What you may need is magic. Magic can counter basic technology such as those cameras. A strong illusion would throw off the scent easily.

[benhargreeves]

[ Uch. Loki, congrats, you're now Ben's least favorite person he's encountered in this place. He has tried to be patient but it's a bad day and his tolerance for this back and forth is officially up. He should've handed it off to Peter before it got to this point but now he's too pissed to hold back. ]

You know what? I'm done, I don't care what Peter says. At least I'm trying to do something, instead of just sitting on my ass and making jokes and picking apart about how other people could be doing it better.

You think it's all so simple, and you're so much cleverer and sneakier and you could solve it all with magic? Fine. Why not fucking go do that and quit bothering me?

[dothelokimotion]

[ loki blinks, caught off by the sudden ire. he considers getting angry but dismisses it. ]

Very well.

[ with that he closes the connection. ]