thisavrou | video;

[ Medusa's long been used to addressing large crowds of people. How to keep her face perfectly unreadable is a matter of habit, now, even as her hair swirls and shifts over her shoulders and around her face. She doesn't want to be doing this, but there's no point in beating around the bush with subtlety either. She'll have to make her requests. ]

Fellow guests of the Moira, my name is Medusa. I am Queen of the Inhumans and New Attilan. I speak to you today to ask you for your help. It has been some time since I last found myself on this ship, but I do not know how long. It seems some of those I considered friends previously have departed. If any of those I knew still remain, if anyone can tell me how many months I have lost, and what I have missed, I would be glad to hear from you now.

[ This part's a little trickier. ]

In addition, if there are any who have heard of the Inhumans, or those we consider our allies— The Fantastic Four, the Avengers, the X-Men— I would like to speak with you. To speak with any who have even heard of them. It does not matter if we knew each other before. I imagine that many of you may not have heard of of the Inhumans, even though we know of you. This is... [ Only a moment's hesitation, her hair billowing out in thought— and then she refocuses, and continues. ] A complicated situation to explain. So I leave it to you to decide whether or not to come forward. If you do not, know that I will not seek you out. I have no desire to impose meaning and familiarity onto strangers. I will respect your privacy as I would want my own to be respected.

[ And this one, this one final long shot in the dark: ]

If you are an Inhuman, of any tribe or city— know that you can always come to me for aid. The time for petty and superficial differences has passed. We are one people, and as one people I will defend you and stand for you as I would any citizen of mine.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

No argument from me.

[ Really, Tony's his friend, but... yeah. ]

Well, everyone knows who Steve is. There were comic books about him back in the 40's, and his face is plastered all over. There's even an exhibit about him in Washington. As for Tony, he purposefully and very publicly announced his identity as Iron Man soon after he built his first few suits.

That's a considerable improvement over pretending Iron Man was his robotic bodyguard.

[ People did some dumb things, back in the day. ]

You know, I think that was the original plan his PR team came up with, but then he went in front of those cameras and acted like his usual self.

I think it worked out for him, generally speaking. [ You know, if you ignore the occasional madman specifically targeting him since he revealed himself to be Iron Man. ]

It is a bit hard to relate when you have always held a very public identity. But those secrets have a way of coming to light one way or another. There is something to be said for getting ahead of it.

[ For those of them that can. ]

Your version of the Avengers is very different from my own, or from the original team I remember. I wasn't sure how much privacy any of you still possessed, or whether or not you wanted to preserve it here.

There are often a lot of differences between parallel or alternate universes, I've come to find. Some are a little more subtle, others not so much. Maybe meeting us makes for some jarring experiences for you. Sorry about that.

[ He doesn't even know how different he is from the Bruce she knows, but he's sure he's very similar in the (literally) bigger things, and that's really all Bruce needs to know at this point. Anything else, he just... doesn't want to know any more details. ]

Things are different here. Everyone knows who I am— or what I am, to be more accurate. A few by inevitable circumstances, but most by my own design. Not sure how it goes with Steve or Tony, considering their superhero identities might've not seen as much use around here, but I don't think they'd make much secret of it.

This is hardly the first time this has happened to me, Dr. Banner. If the parallel universe isn't a bloated tumor attempting to colonize my home and spread cancer to every corner, it's a workable inconvenience at worst.

[ Really, everything compared to the Cancerverse should be considered a picnic. No, it isn't slightly irritating that the Avengers felt they could gatecrash her empire before, but everyone on Earth failed to notice when space-time ripped open. ]

I have met the previous Anthony Stark. Briefly. I am not sure he kept it a secret, but neither did he appreciate being addressed as Iron Man by a stranger.

[ It might also have been that she greeted him as she would her version of Tony Stark, and he's a paranoid bastard. Medusa would concede that. ]

Someone has also mentioned multiple Captain Americas to me, if I am remembering correctly. But I assume you are the one and only Hulk that has ever been here.

That's another thing that's different between our worlds, then. Multiverse is nothing but a theory where I come from, and we're definitely nowhere near being capable of traveling from one universe to the next, no matter the methods.

[ Not that he'd be interested in it. Well okay, maybe a part of him would be. But it would take Tony levels of convincing to talk him into messing with something that crazy (and he definitely would and they'd probably almost destroy two universes, whoops). ]

Well this one's used to being addressed as Iron Man by complete strangers, happens all the time. He kind of enjoys it too, if you ask me. And yes, there was another Steve on board before, but he was from the same universe. Just different points in time, and this one doesn't remember being here before.

As for the rest, it's for the best. One is one too many.

Truthfully I can't tell you anything about it other than that it happens. I am not a scientist, and unless the other universe is kicking in the door of my kingdom or compromising the safety of my people, I generally leave that to people like you.

[ Or her husband, with his cabal of friends, and the potential end of the universe. Medusa is afraid to know what he's keeping from her now. ]

Time traveling is more common than universe hopping where I come from, so that at least is not particularly shocking. Though we tend to avoid that as well. Intelligence suggests it may be largely a mutant problem. And of course we have people whose entire gimmick is their propensity to meddle with time in order to inconvenience or destroy everyone else.

That's fine. I'm curious, admittedly, but it's not like I could do much with the knowledge anyway. It might've helped in understanding how we ended up here a little better, but ultimately I think we'll have a better grasp on our situation by studying the Ingress.

[ Which is what he's been trying to do, anyway. ]

You know, we don't have time travel either but I've watched enough sci-fi shows and movies to know it's a terrible idea to mess with time. Even when the intentions are good.

I would tend to agree. And I would add that hubris tends to make people who would be tempted to take such liberties assume their intentions are good.

[ HUSBAND. Who never bothered to ask her opinion before he did anything like this. ]

Hopefully this all remains largely theoretical here. In any case, while I am not an expert in the scientific technicalities, I would still be happy to try and answer any questions for you one day should you ask them. Or any other questions you want to ask me.

Common among a lot of people, sadly. [ TONY. And Bruce used to be a little like that too, but he soon got the bitter taste of how good intentions can take a quick dive down a cliff. ]

Let's hope so. And thank you, I'll keep your offer in mind. Feel free to ask whatever you want, too.

video;

text;

text;

text;

text;

text;

text;

text;

text;

text;

text;

text;