IC CONTACT - MASK OR MENACE

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[performance]

Great last words.

Do you think I'm stupid, or do you not remember that video they showed us? The one about how all those ImPorts died. On a scouting mission.

[runningstart]

[oh right

he'd forgotten about that]

...Okay, well, our only other option is to not do it. Or sit around and wait to see if the bioship just happens to slide out of the Porter one day.

[performance]

So we'll think of something else! Or find another lead. Just—

[ ugh. he's hurt and he's worried and it's all coming out angry. ]

Why are you chomping at the bit to go do recon without me? Because I— ... when I sent you off to Colorado, it wasn't because I didn't want to be there. KF, you know that, right?

[runningstart]

Dude what? No, no no no. Put that away, that is absolutely not and never will be an issue.

I'm not chomping at the bit to do recon without you, I'm just chomping at the bit to get some answers. It's just- it's really starting to hit home that we're not gonna get bailed out of this one, dude.

[Ahhh there it is.] There's no...nobody back home is looking for us. There's no League to swoop in and clean up after us. No Flash, no RT, not even the right Batman. [No offense, Bats.] We don't even have Kaldur.

We gotta take care of this ourselves. [And now they've got people to keep safe. Bart.] I wanna get those guys from Colorado too, but we gotta find out how to get people back to their homes and keep them there.

[performance]

I know. I know that. That's why I wanted the continuum, that's why I'm staying registered even though I hate it, and that's why I'm asking you not to go charging across the border without backup.

You wanna double up on detective work, fine. I'm all for that. I've been all for that. But I need you here.

[runningstart]

I don't do detective work dude, I'm not a detective! I'm not a- I don't do research or hunting down clues or anything! I'm useless just sitting around, because all I can really do is run on water.

[performance]

You're not— [ grrrrrrrrrrhhhh ] So what were you gonna do alone in Russia? You don't even speak Russian! You— you idiot, you're the smartest person I know besides Batman! You don't have to run across the Bering Strait to help out!

[runningstart]

What good is me being smart if we don't have a freakin' lab that we can use for chemical analysis?! And I already told you that it doesn't have to be Russia! I could go to France, or the UK or Australia or any other country that could feasibly have heroes that I could talk to! Pretty sure I can speak Australian and British, mate!

[performance]

Let me go with you. I'll try to get clearance. They let people out of the country after the shuttle rescue — it's possible. I'm good at this stuff, you called me James Bond, so let me come.

[ He huffs. ]

"If you're going, I'm going." You remember that, right?

[runningstart]

[Gah. Of course he does. And Robin's right, and that's why he came to Robin in the first place anyway because he's usually right, and Robin can speak like three languages that he can't anyway so he should wait for him.

Fuck.

He hates waiting.]

You don't have to do that.

I remember.

[performance]

Good.

[ For all that he's jealous of all Wally's (non-work, more fun(?)) friends, for all that he worries he can't hold his best friend's attention like he used to, for all the things that Wally doesn't remember (the way he'd run fearlessly toward certain death with Robin, the way they hadn't needed to say a single word), Robin's glad he remembers that. ]

Anyway. You know if you get arrested I'll have to bust you out. And then we'll have to be fugitives. And you're way too delicate for that.

[runningstart]

Oh I'm too delicate. Remind me which of us is barely over ninety pounds?

[performance]

Remind me which one of us whined all night in that tent because it was cold and there was a rock under his sleeping bag.

[runningstart]

It was cold! There was a hole in the tarp, and the bugs were getting in and that rock was the size of my fist! [once they pulled it out of the ground, it was barely poking out past the grass]

[performance]

Yeaaah, you wouldn't last a week. Possibly because I'd strangle you? Either that or it would be the sweetest roadtrip ever. I think it's about a 50-50 chance either way.

[runningstart]

Are you kidding me?! I could totally- [wait a minute] You're distracting me. How dare you.

[performance]

I would never. But if I were going to, it would be because we need to consider our options carefully. I— [ 'I'm running myself ragged here' is too honest. ] I've got a lot going on. I've never done anything like this before, you know? Dealing with all this stuff at once. Colorado, government coverups, foreign sabotage, all the weirdness with the Porters and other worlds — and you know there's drug trafficking now, too, on top of everything else?

[runningstart]

Okay, okay okay. [Wally sighs.] All right. Give me something to do. There anything you need looked into that SB and I can take care of?

[performance]

First of all, I want to say I think you're on the right track. But you're getting ahead of yourself. Classic speedster.

[ There's a small, fond smile in his voice for a moment before he's right back to business. ]

See, Loki's post got me thinking. I don't know nearly enough about what happened in the City before people got pulled here. You know there were Porters there, too? And the same names keep cropping up when people talk about it — names that show up here, too. Someone's really into their heavy-handed mythology references, because there's this whole overarching fate theme to all this. Which I don't buy into, and I know you don't, either, but someone out there obviously does. And I think somewhere at the bottom of all that is gonna be the key to getting back home.

The rest is all smoke and mirrors. Just... smoke and mirrors that could get someone killed if we wait around too long.

[runningstart]

[Robin slowing things down is kind of frustrating, but it does help him try and focus on the big picture. That's one problem with being a speedster; sometimes you have to focus on a point in the distance just to get somewhere, and that has a tendency to give a person tunnel vision.]

That's what I'm saying. People are already dying over this stuff. Us being here, the military contracting people like they're guns in an armory- If they were so worried about their citizens instead of getting a one-up on Russia, they'd be looking into this stuff! [Not that Wally has any way of knowing if they are, considering how hush and vague things are kept.]

[performance]

You know what happens when you shine too bright a light? All the roaches scurry. [ Stop reading pulp detective novels, Robin. ] We don't know what they're investigating, but that doesn't mean we can't look on our own.

I'm contacting a friend from the City. She'll help me figure out where to dig. In the meantime... we know where the Porter pulled the beginning of the second wave of ImPorts from. But we don't know enough about the first. And I could use your help with something.

[runningstart]

[seriously what do you think you are a pulp magazine]

Okay, well, tell me what it is and I'll do it. [No questions. ...maybe some questions, but not about Robin's authority.] I'm going out of my mind here dude, I gotta do something.

[performance]

I'd like you to speak with Mr. Peter Narga of the Líf Foundation. He was around the first time they ported people in. He's pro-ImPort, and decidedly not with the government. And since you're the one who's thinking of going unregistered, that makes you the perfect candidate to go chat with him.

And who knows? He might even have a thing or two to say about our mysterious Hornet friends.

[runningstart]

Sure thing. I can do that.

[This feels good. Wally's been spinning his wheels in the mud for months now, it feels good to be pointed in a direction and have something to do. For that matter-]

Hey. I'm gonna reiterate this as many times as you need to hear it, but you're not alone here. You got stuff that needs doing- that's what me and SB are for, dude. Delegate.

[performance]

Hey, you know me. Control freak. Chronically overachieving. The works.