bigapplesauce | Exploring the city [OPEN]

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Exploring the city [OPEN]

It's Christmas Day and Bruce could use a miracle or two. He doesn't know how he got here or how to get back. He can't find Tony or Avenger's Tower. To be honest, Bruce is a bit disgusted with himself at how easily he got used to having a team to rely on and a home to go back to. He's been living in a homeless shelter, looking for work. Naturally, he's missing some important papers, so he needs under the table work. That's all right. Bruce has experience at this sort of thing. Right now, he's heading for the docks, to see if he can get some work there.

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Bruce smiled, shrugging. "I suppose so. I would like to find good work. I'd recently settled down, with a good position, before being pulled here."

"I'm sorry," says Blythe with a little sigh. "I was one of the lucky ones, got here before all the regulations got put into place -- you'll find something eventually."

Bruce frowned.

"Okay, let's start there. What are the work regulations for people from the rift?"

"No work unless Romac approves it," replies Blythe -- that's an easy one. "They want to keep tabs on their rifties at all times. People showing up trying to get work without any papers is one of the ways they used to catch a lot of them."

Bruce grimaced. "I see. So, for now, day labor really is my only option. Why such strong measures?"

"I think it's because they can catch people that way," replies Blythe, leading the way down into the subway. "And because back when the laws were being put in place, locals were upset that they had to compete with foreigners for jobs. Real foreigners, not just people from other countries."

Bruce grimaced. "Never mind that the people coming through couldn't help it and still needed to be able to work and eat. What sort of work does ROMAC usually allow? Do they take people's abilities into account?"

"They do," allows Blythe. "Usually. Supposedly they're doing all of us a favor by placing rifties in housing and work, but you wouldn't necessarily get much choice about either."

"No. It'd be better to integrate them and treat them like any other citizen," Bruce admits, sighing. "I'm surprised these laws are allowed. What about the federal government? Are rift victims granted any sort of citizenship?"

"Most of it isn't official," shrugs Blythe. "They're trying to keep it as quiet as they can, and most people outside Manhattan either don't know or don't care."

"How can that be? Why haven't you petitioned the White House or gone public?" Bruce asks, confused. In his reality, the media would have a field day, with a story like this.

"Do you think no one's tried?" asks Blythe, scoffing right back. "There are some people outside who know, alright, but you just try alerting the media and see how far you get -- or how far any reporter who listens to you gets."

Bruce winced a bit, both at being snapped at and the implied threat. He sighs, shrugging, his shoulders hunching, as if he could hide.

"I'm not accusing anyone of not trying," he responds softly. "It just seems like ROMAC would need outside help, very powerful help, to keep something this huge quiet. Leaking information to the press, to the public, is becoming easier and easier. How can so many people be kept silent?"

She's sorry she was so sharp with him as soon as she sees his reaction. Blythe sighs and lays a hand on his arm. "This isn't the only rift, and this isn't the only branch of ROMAC," she tells him a bit more gently. "They have the government's blessing -- they won't kill you or torture you, but they can make you disappear."

Bruce nods, his mouth tightening grimly. He shivers at the idea of people disappearing.

"If they disappear, how do you know they aren't tortured or killed?"

"Because they don't always stay disappeared," replies Blythe with a grin. "There's a benefit to banding together, you know."

"Yes, I do know," Bruce agreed, smiling a bit thinly. "What about the ones who don't reappear, though?"

Her grin dissipates as she pays their way through the turnstile. "We don't know," she admits.

"You might want to find out," Bruce advised, his tone grim. "And what about your side of the equation? What do you do?"

"If you're volunteering to infiltrate Romac, I'm sure we'll be glad to have you," she replies, frustrated by his assumptions that they're not trying. "We help the new arrivals find their places, and we try to limit Romac's power."

Bruce gives her a tight smile. If and when he decides to ally with the rebels, he'll tell them about the Hulk.

"That wouldn't be a good idea. I'm not good at stealth, but "we don't know" isn't a comforting answer, ma'am. How do you limit their power? They seem to have the law on their side."

Blythe gives him a curious look, surprised less by what he's said than by the fact that she can tell it's not a lie just to get out of it. What, she wonders, would make it such a bad idea?

"For starters, we keep new people out of their hands," she explains. "And we sabotage them when we can."

"Sabotage," Bruce repeated, unhappily, his hands wringing together. "Sabotage them how?"

"Take their supplies, disrupt their communications," replies Blythe blithely. It doesn't occur to her for a moment that Bruce might think she means they try to hurt or kill people.

"So you only damage equipment and cause inconvenience?" Bruce asks, not quite ready to feel relieved, but close. "Who do you answer to? For that matter, who does ROMAC answer to?"

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