#dude pulls out like a holographic communicator and is like

[movedtodykedvonte]

Miguel being from the future hears what would be modern slang for the teens and reacts like they are speaking ye old english cause slang has changed so fucking much. He’s crying cause someone said “yeet” and it’s so painfully outdated and cringey

[give-grian-rights]

CHAPTER TWO HOUR. CHAPTER TWO HOUR. I AM SO TIRED. IT IS 6AM. TELL ME IF HTERE’S TYPOS AND THAT NORMAL STUFF

Bets Against The Void, Chapter 2

Chapter 1

Chapter 3

Whitelist au from @petrichormeraki

Crossposted on AO3

Tubbo quietly chuckled, smiling fondly as their friend squawked indignantly. “Tubbo! I’m serious, explain some shit, fuckin’ nerd!” Tommy scoffed, prodding at their side with his elbow. Tubbo hushed him, their smirk still lingering.

  “Hermitcraft is a super crazy popular server. If you’ve ever searched for examples of builds on your tablet, chances are, they’re from one of the Hermits. Or if you looked up something about redstone! Anything! You’ll find one of their instructions. They’re geniuses- just, complete geniuses. Grian’s one of them-”

  “Grian’s one of them!?” Tommy exclaimed, his eyes shooting open. Tubbo’s grin widened, nodding vigorously. “Yes! He’s the newest Hermit, last I heard.. Most of the guys he’s teammates with every MCC, they’re usually other Hermits!” They’d continue explaining to the best of their ability.

  “Should’ve fuckin’ started with the fact that Grian’s here! That fuckin’ dude! He killed Dream three times! Three times, Tubbo!” The blond continued with his excited shouting. Well, that certainly fixed the situation, Tubbo mused.

  The brunett nodded along, chuckling. “Yeah! He, and most of the others, really- post all that much right now. The new World Client, with the axolotls and caves ‘n stuff? They’ve started posting and sharing discoveries about that.  I know Grian did, at least. But considering they call themselves the ‘Hermits’ it makes sense to be a bit inactive, yeah?” Tubbo shrugged, tapping the chilly cool sandstone beneath them.

  Tommy nodded dumbly, glancing around the room for a moment. Tubbo, meanwhile, had pulled their tablet up. The holographic comm system was displayed infront of them, everything on the screen they touched being read aloud to them.

  Launching an accessibility app, the tablet began describing aloud the block palette, dimensions, and colors. As the tablet’s robotic voice played in his com system, reading aloud the details of his surrounding, Tubbo nodded along to an incoherent rant from Tommy.

Tubbo wasn’t too sure what Tommy was ranting about- likely MCC, and Grian. Grian got a kill on Tommy, last MCC, if they remember correctly.  The brunnett wouldn’t be surprised if that was the target of the blond’s current tangent. Tommy hadn’t even been able to get a word out, when Grian began shouting vigorous apologises between matches.

  The descriptions from the tablet were long, and boring. The robotic voice drawing on and on, as it attempted to describe the intricate room. Shutting down the program, Tubbo tuned back into Tommy. 

  “Fuckin’ am..So fucking tired. Of course we ended up here. It’d be to easy if we’d just be let back into Dream SMP, huh? Think Dream even knew we were out? I bet not. Even if he does, probably didn’t even care, fuckin’ dick. Bet that green asshole’s just sitting over his code and shit, simping over Gogy-” The blond ranted heatedly. The blind teen could hear the shifting and chustling of fabric, before the boy’s voice became muffled.

  With his head pressed against his knees, legs drawn to his chest, Tommy sat there practically panting. His chest heaved, the rage draining from him. “Why is all- all of this, always so complicated, Tubbo?” Blue eyes turned to meet the scarred, burnt front of the other.

  Tubbo picked at faded and torn tennis shoes, tentatively listening. The rymnatic pattern of the boy’s breathing, and the crashing overhead, offered some vague comfort. “All of what?” They’d tilt their head.

  The younger of the two quietly sighed, his mouth pressed in a thin line. His hand clutched the bottom of his torn, tan cargo pants, fidgetting with the frayed ends. “Us. Shit with us, it always gets so fuckin’ complicated. Big Man, you’re president. You’re- you’re the fucking president, now, Tubbo.”

  The bunnett’s brows furrowed together, as they inched closer to their friend. “Yeah. But it’s- it’s still us, y’know? If- if life was easy, then we’d be missing out on a lot of things. What if we had just never met-”

“We’d always meet eachother, Tubbo. There’s no fuckin’ getting rid of me, even in your fantasy world.” The blond nudged the teen’s shoulder, a wolfish grin evident in his tone.

  That made the other crack a smile, shaking their head. “I hope so, Tommy.” They’d chuckle, shaking their head. The weight of the day came crashing down all again. Before the rushing thoughts could boggle down their mind, Tubbo slumped against Tommy’s side sigh an exhausted sigh.

  “This is just, livin’ the fucking life, huh?” Tommy remarked, looking over his friend. The tall boy already shifted himself, his long legs sprawled out on the floor with his back leaned against sandstone walls.

  His head leaned against that of his compaignian, half-lidded blue eyes giving one last surveillance of the room. “We’ll figure this shit out tomorrow..” Tommy mumbled, glancing down at the brunette.

  Tubbo was already asleep, their expression finally one of peace. Tommy wasn’t given a moment more to appreciate the serenity of the quiet room, before he’d be pulled into slumber as well.

  Both of the teens were stirred awake by the whirring noises of an active portal- the Netherportal beside them, with particles flying, gaveway to two players. Tommy kicked himself up to his feet, defensively. Tubbo stumbled along with him, pulling back away from the strangers.

Though two stepped out, only one immediately caught Tommy’s eyes.

  “W- Holy shit!  You’re Grian!” Tommy squawked indignantly.

  Tubbo’s head immediately shot up, excitably breaking into a grin. Any exhaustion the two held was wiped away- neither was sure how long their unrestful sleep had been, but it was far more than other nights. 

  The target of the excitement, Grian, sheepishly stood there, nodding. “Uh, yeah! You guys are Tommy and Tubbo, yeah?  I’ve seen you at most of the MCC’s I’ve been to. You both did really good last time, by the way! I’m really looking forward to the next one!” 

This was easily the closest they probably ever were to the dirty blond. He also looked far more at ease, on this server. The iconic figure, ever-present in the community, had his wild mop of a fringe frazzled and framing his face.

  Poking under the bangs, Tommy could now see faint, ragged lines from a scar, along with other various healed-over wounds. Another contrary to how either of them had seen Grian, at MCC, was the large circular glasses loosely sat on his face.

Seeing one of his heroes like this (The only one that hadn’t betrayed, killed him, turned against him, despised him-) in such a..Domestic state, was bizarre. Tommy was scrambling for words, starting and giving up on getting his tongue around what to say.

  “This is so cool! Hi! I used to watch and- and listen, to a lot of your old build tutorials! A lot of people on our server would always say how we learned building from you!” Tubbo would blurt out, practically bouncing on their heel. Grian turned to the teen, slightly shocked but amused. 

  “Oh! I- well thank you! I’m glad I could be any help at all- my builds are nothing compared to some of what the other Hermits have going on..Speaking of others- this is Stress!” He’d take the opportunity to escape the small spotlight, glancing towards the brunette woman next to him sheepishly.

  The woman- Stress, apparently, quietly chuckled. A fond smile grazed her face, as she looked over towards the two teenagers. “Ello there, Loves! Sorry to interrupt your fan meetup,” She teased, side-eyeing the dirty blond beside her.  “We just wanted to come and check in, is all! X told us two to come visit, yeah?”

  Tommy quietly hummed skeptically,  surveying her. Short brown hair hung barely as low as her shoulder, a neat, white, blue, and pink flower-crown sat upon her head. The colors must’ve been very purposeful, considering they matched with her colorful outfit of the same color.

  “Fine, sure..Well, we’re still fuckin’ breathing, and we’re here. So you don’t really need to be here any longer, yeah?” Tommy scoffed, slumping back against the wall. Tubbo was already standing, nudging at his side. 

  “Thank you, for checking in. I- I’m sure this is a bit of a strange situation. That- Yeah, that’s my bad.” They chuckled sheepishly, rubbing the back of their neck. This caught Stress’ attention, turning towards the tene.

  “Oh, no! This isn’t a problem at all. Dear, this happens all the time. Grian just- just appeared, one day, in our previous server. We walk out the portal for the first time- and boom! There that weirdo is!” Stress chuckled, her grin unwavering as she gave a playful nudge to the dirty blond beside her.

  Grian scoffed, a smirk edging at his lips as he rolled his eyes. “Okay, but I’m not the only example of that happening- you didn’t have to pick me out specifically!”

  “Sure I do, Love! You’re the first new Hermit to join, after me and Zed! I get to bully you, lovingly!” She cheered. Stress’ energy was absolutely efficacious, Tubbo couldn’t help but smile and cackle at her and Grian’s banter.

“Uh huh,” Grian scoffed, dramatically crossing his arms. “Last I checked, that was Iskall’s job to bully newcomers- oh, Gord, when you all walked out of the portal and they just decked me ? I mean, it didn’t really hurt all that bad, but it’s a matter of the principle!”

  Stress seemed like she was almost gonna break down with laughter, clutching her stomach. “I forgot they did that with you, too! Iskall certainly is one that needs work with their introduction, that absolute weirdo!” She chostled, shaking her head fondly.

  She then turned towards the two teens, reassuringly smiling. “They won’t give you any hard time, they’re just like that sometimes, especially in the beginning of a new season..They’re usually just incomprehensible in the beginning, I learnt!” She giggled, covering her mouth.

  Tubbo awkwardly laughed, nodding. “Yeah- they, they sound like something.” It was..A strange environment, to be sure.

  Sure, they knew of the Hermits, their reputation impossible to avoid- but most outsiders didn’t know much about the actual Hermits. They went by that title for a reason.

  Tommy was having similar thoughts, he felt as if he was completely imposing on, everything. But he couldn’t find it in himself to care- it frankly was..Warming, almost, to see this. He missed being able to have that, on Dream’s server. 

  The blond in particular seemed to have tuned out, because by the time he snapped out of those thoughts, Grian was speaking again.

  “We’re glad to see you’re both alright, but, I don’t think we’ve been exactly great hosts. You both have gotta be hungry- I know the last thing you two seem to want is help, but..We’d be happy to help you however we can.  We can go get you fresh, real food. Or- you both come with us, and we take you to our central area, the Cowmercial district.”

  Tommy stared blankly at Grian for a moment, brows knitted together in bewilderment. “The… Cow..merical district?” He’d repeat, squinting.

  Grian snickered, nodding. “Yeah! The name just stuck. It’s our shopping district. We have a bakery- it’s never, ever too early for cake. There’s Doc’s shop, but that’s all villager-bought, if it’s the rare occasion that it’s stocked at all- so the Bakery may be the only option, for today.” He glanced back at Stress, who nodded in agreement.

  “Only if you’d want to,” Stress would interject. “Either of us could come bring you food here- but, we figured you might want to just..Get out. You’re allowed to leave here whenever you want- but, navigating our server by yourself, for the first time? Not the easiest.”

  The two teens glanced towards eachother. Tubbo looked like they were practically buzzing in place, at the idea of exploring the Hermits’ world. Tommy watched them for a moment, before quietly scoffing.

  “..Yeah, okay, sure- how the hell do we even get out of here though, for starters?” Tommy crossed his arms, inching closer towards Tubbo. He, for one, was really not a fan of having to fly out.

  Stress cheered excitably, pulling open her inventory. The woman promptly dropped a stack each to the two teens. “I came prepared, just in-case!” She grinned. With a swipe of her arm, the digital screen dissipated.

  “If you know how to use elytras, X already said he’s more than happy to lend out two from the back-up system. I have some to spare, as well.  But- you two never seemed the most comfortable in the air, during flight-based games.” Grian would add awkwardly, adjusting his own wings behind him. 

  Tommy didn’t pay much attention to the words- instead, he promptly threw open his inventory, gawking at the full stack of pearls. “What! I don’t think i’ve ever had this many pearls! Holy shit!” He pulled out the stack of sixteen.

  One pearl manifested in his hand, while a holographic icon hovered beside him. The pixel-image of an enderpearl, with a large 15x in the corner in white font was projected for only his vision. The blond couldn’t remember a time he had so many enderpearls.

  “Thank you! Wow- yeah, pearls aren’t really common in our server!  This- this is really nice!” They felt giddy, as they pulled their’s out as well, the action muscle-memory.

  “Well, I’m glad you two can put them to good-use, then!” She chuckled. The idle question of how can a server lack pearls skimming through her head for a moment.

  Within seconds of her saying that, Tommy had already blindly tossed one of his pearls- promptly falling down from the ceiling, and landing on the floor with a short shriek. Tubbo straightened up from the sidelines, tilting their head.

  “Tommy! What did you do?” Tubbo called out accusatorily, as they quickly popped their surrounding descriptor back on.

  “Nothing!” Tommy quickly yelled back, lunging to their feet with a stumble as they dusted themselves off.

  At the sidelines, Stress and Grian cackled, watching in lighthearted amusement. Tommy could feel his face flushed red with brief embarrassment, quickly attempting to play it off.

  “Truer answer; I was being awesome. That was what, Tubbo. Are we eating or what? I want to throw pearls and go places. And eat, that too.” He quickly turned towards the two Hermits expectantly, narrowing his eyes at them.

  Grian grinned, nodding. “Yes, yes we are! I have boats. Go ahead and pop up with your pearls, and we’ll fly out to you.” He explained briefly, pulling the boats from his inventory. The thin, digitized object manifesting in his hand. 

  Tommy turned expectantly to Tubbo. “You got this, Toob?” He tilted his head, watching his friend. Tubbo had immediately nodded vigoriously, running over towards the center of the room, the ceiling above open to the water. 

  “Yeah! I’ve got this, Big Man! No sweat!” They gave a toothy grin, shifting the enderpearl in their hand. Arching their arm back, the teen cautiously stepped back.

  Their communicator had continued reading off the details of the room into their thin earpiece,  primarily the dimensions. All they had to do was hit the wall leading up to the surface to get out. They could do that, surely.

  With a huff of effort, they chucked the pearl. They heard it  break through the under-surface of the water, and then they were submerged. Breaching the surface, they gasped for a moment. The ocean rippled, clothes heavy and soaked. They were certainly glad they had been in their casual clothes, rather than their presidential outfit.

  Within a moment, Tommy was up beside them, quietly gasping as well. The blond pushed his hair back, lightly nudging Tubbo away from the gaping hole in the water beneath them- and then Grian and Stress flew out.

  The sound from the rockets were deafened from beneath the ocean, thankfully. Only a thin trail of smoke followed them, the sight certainly unfamiliar to the fireworks the two teens had been accustomed to.

  Both Hermits had dived straight into the shallow water with a splash, before the dirty-blond dropped down two boats.

“I want to drive! Tommy, i’m driving us!” Tubbo cried out, at the sound of the wood hitting the water. Beside them, Tommy scoffed.

“Tubbo! I’m not gettin’ motion sickness! We just woke up, no way. Your idea of ‘driving’ is no one elses, my friend.” He rolled his eyes, crossing his arms as he pulled himself into the boat. Beside him, Tubbo whined.

  “C’mon, man! Nothing like a bit of motion-sickness to get the day started!” They playfully remarked. Despite that, they had already accepted their defeat, pulling up into the boat.

  Stress and Grian watched the teens carefully, with Stress laughing lightheartedly at the banter between them as she pulled herself into the boat, behind Grian.

  Grian, on the otherhand, was mostly quiet. A thin wisp of a smile was present, conveying one of bemusement. Tommy didn’t get a good look, but, he couldn’t quite pinpoint the look from Grian. He didn’t like it.

  “Alright,” The older Brit at hand started. “We’re real close. No one should be at Looky Looky At My Cookie- and it should be early enough that there aren’t any real occupants at the Cowmerical District.” He explained, turning the boat as he got a small start ahead of the teens.

  “Sure, then! That sounds g- wait, what’s that name?”

“C’mon, then!” Grian wouldn't answer Tubbo’s valid question, before boating off. Tommy quickly following behind, shouting indignantly after them.

  It certainly was odd. It felt..Comforting, here. Certainly not relaxing. The opposite of cf relaxing- Tubbo had nothing but the craving to do something. But it was..Welcoming. It was strange. They hadn’t felt so- so unbothered, since..Ever, really. They liked it.

  Tubbo wondered if it could stay this way.

  Tommy wondered what the hell they were about to get themselves into.

[nhl-stories]

Don't Write An Elegy (part seven) – Ryan Graves

Masterlist

Author’s Note: Two more parts and that's all, thanks for everyone who's followed along thus far, hope I give you the ending you want or at least one you enjoy hahaha

Word Count: 2.8k

…It's the words that we don't say that scare me so…

I’m still unsure where we stand, where I stand in all this. I love her. I know that much, but do I love her enough anymore?

We still haven’t had a long chat; the playoffs are days away and we both agreed we didn’t want to unload such heavy emotions when I was meant to be focused on other matters.

I suggested we postpone any talks and for once she was shocked by the lack of communication. It’s not why I suggested it, but the look on her face was kind of worth it.

There’s something about having the upper hand that gives me a kind of all-consuming pleasure, maybe I’m sick fuck for it.

I’m more than ready to talk and too nervous to broach it all at the time. That might be a sign.

Am I just grasping at straws to keep the only relationship I’ve ever really had? I should probably spend more time pondering this, but I’m trying so hard to keep my attention on hockey, on playing well, on winning that ultimate prize.

“Ryan, can I get your opinion on something?” Gretchen calls from upstairs.

Some of the guys are over now, Tyson and JT. Gretchen and I are civil enough that I’m less worried about hiding it all, or I’m just so tired of all the extra effort that takes. It might explain the extra adrenaline rushing through me all the time. Ready to burst out of a cage. The cage I built for myself.

Gretchen comes down the stairs and stops in her tracks at seeing the guys; not for the usual reasons as of late, but because she’s wearing a holographic pink and silver outfit with her blue hair pulled back into two high pigtails. Her face quickly flushes with an embarrassment I’m not used to seeing.

“Oh fuck, sorry didn’t know company was here.”

“Do you not talk to your wife before bringing strange men into her house?” Tyson laughs, but he can’t take his eyes off of her. She looks so foreign, so unlike herself.

I roll my eyes and raise an eyebrow in her direction.

“I got an offer to play for a tour this summer and apparently the band has a very specific look.”

“Protozoa from Zenon?” I laugh, but the word summer quickly burrows its way into my mind.

“Okay, that’s not too bad. I was thinking I looked a little too Baby Spice.”

“I see that,” JT chimes in.

“It’s the pigtails, they’re too much,” she groans before running a hand nervously over one of the pigtails.

“Yeah they do give it a baby hooker vibe,” Tyson punctuates the sentence with a boisterous laugh.

JT punches his arm, “dude, that’s Ryan’s wife.”

I’m hearing everything like I’m underwater, I’m not fully there my brain is ringing.

Summer. Summer. Summer. Summer.

The word plays on a loop in my head until it doesn’t even sound like something real.

“Ryan has heard people say worse about me,” the sentence is directed at me and it snaps me from my stupor.

There’s an underlying tone to her words. Like she really wants to say ‘Ryan has called me worse.’ But I know I’m reading into that because I have heard her called worse by other people. Or at least called words that cut deeper than cunt ever could.

“Summer?” I finally speak up again, saying the one word so lamely.

“What?” The smile begins to fade on her face.

“You’re planning on joining a summer tour?” It feels like the final shove away.

Suddenly, our marital woes are on display. Subtly, but still, it’s In front of one of the team’s biggest gossips.

“I’m not sure,” her shrug seems to damper any of the seriousness my question left in the air, “they just sent me the outfit and I wanted to see. But this doesn’t really seem like me, does it?”

In any other year this would have been a pretty reasonable answer. Now I have to crack a code just to understand what she’s saying underneath the other words.

Her real meaning seems to be, ‘the ball is in your court. If you don’t want a divorce I’ll stay.’ But I’ve put myself in this awful limbo where I’ve started questioning us too.

“But you’ll stay to see us win the cup?” Tyson opens his big mouth and you can tell he knows he’s said something dumb.

“Hmmm, I mean it’s not that big of deal, just a silly silver cup,” she has a sarcastic smirk, but she’s still not showing her cards.

Her laugh fills the air as she practically skips away up the stairs.

“She’s not serious right?” I can’t tell if Tyson is joking or not.

“GG is Canadian, of course she’s joking,” JT says.

I shrug, it’s the best answer anyone could have given.

We’re just hanging out watching TV, vegging out is a luxury at this time.

Gretchen comes back downstairs she’s looking more like herself. She goes to the fridge and grabs a beer.

Cracking it open and taking the space on the couch next to me.

She’s wearing a Yarmouth Cross Country sweatshirt from when the school forced her to join a sports team and she walked her first and only race. I had gone to watch her, although I told all my friends it was to support the school.

Her hair is down, but messy from being in pigtails. She gives me a sly smile before taking a sip of her drink.

It’s the same smile she’d give me when she’d slide into the desk next to mine during fifth period geometry. Before she’d lean over and ask me what she missed in English class, a class she’d skip more often than not. I’d always tell her the reading homework even though she had read every book on the syllabus before. Then she’d say ‘thanks Graves,’ and the peppermint scent of her breath would linger in the air.

It’s the same smile she gave me when she saw me at a party after our first date. The smile she’d continue to give me as we slipped away from the crowd and shared our first kiss that tasted like fruit punch and too much vodka on Dani Powell’s back porch.

She’d use it the first time she snuck into my bedroom late at night with a couple of beers she’d stolen from the pub. Her head popping up in my window while she tried to push it open until I unlocked it. She’d hand me a beer and crawl into my bed and we’d drink and listen to music in hushed tones so my mom wouldn’t hear us.

It’s the smile she’d given me when she first saw me score a goal in juniors, when she drove 3 hours in a snow storm to see us play the Mooseheads, only to be able to talk to me for 10 minutes before I had to hop on a bus.

The smile she’d use the summer after our junior year when she tried to teach me how to sail. And while I didn’t quite master the skill it didn’t matter when we were out on the ocean and she whispered to me that she was ready to go a step further. And we both turned so beet red as we fumbled our way through losing our virginities on a pile of sea-soaked ropes.

It’s the smile she had when I told her I got drafted to the NHL, when I asked her to marry me, when she finally said I do.

It’s a smile that has always felt like a secret understanding between us. I hadn’t seen it so long; it doesn’t quite feel the same. The connection is severed but it still holds so much significance. It’s so intertwined with the major moments of my life.

“Stop looking at her like that,” I’m snapped out of my trance by JT’s voice.

When I blink into focus her smile turns sad and for some reason that resonates with me more, our new secret connection.

“If you guys want a room, just tell us to get out of here,” Tyson adds.

“You guys stay, I’ll get out of your hair,” she laughs, hauling herself off the couch and going up the stairs, a walking enigma I don’t think I’ll ever figure out.

…You're as safe as a mountain, But know that I'm dynamite…

We made it past the first round of the playoffs and I should be happier. But the closer we get to the cup or being eliminated the closer I get to making a final decision about Gretchen.

It’s about to strike midnight and I’ll probably turn back into a pumpkin.

I don’t know if I’m actually sad about it, that’s the problem.

If our marriage is going to end, I’ll be devastated. There’s no way around that. The past decade of my life has been with her, my milestones are hers and hers are mine. Almost every major moment of my life has been shared with her, it’s hard to think about how to do any of the next part without her.

Alone.

But I also know it might be for the best. It’s scary that what started out as my wort fear just months ago has turned into something reasonable. Before I didn’t think I could live through it, now I know could. Sure, I’d mourn, but I’d survive.

We won the first two games of the series and are boarding a plane in a few hours for the next two.

When I exit the locker room most of the team is celebrating with family and friends and significant others ready to wish us luck before we head out.

I’m not expecting to see Gretchen, even though I know her missing a home playoff game would raise a lot of red flags. For the rest of the home games, she had told the others she’d meet me at home and by the time I got back she was in the guest bed asleep.

Not that we’d talk if she was awake.

But as I look down the crowded hallway, there she is. Holding her team jacket and rocking back in forth on her heels, like she’s at a party where she doesn’t know anyone.

She spots me quickly, I’m still a tall person even when I’m surrounded by other tall people.

She gives me that fucking sad smile that I don’t know how to deal with. We meet in the middle, our feet moving us closer whether we want to be or not. Then she wraps her arms around my middle, she squeezes me tightly burying her face in my chest.

I’m shocked at first, but instinctively wrap my arms around her, pulling her closer if possible.

We stand there for a bit too long, when I look up, I see Cale giving us a concerned look. He’s not the only one; Nate, Gabe, Mel and even Tyson all look on with worry. That’s when I realize she’s crying or rather sobbing. I start to feel the moisture seep through my shirt.

I rub my hand soothingly on her back before I’m struck with a moment of absolute clarity. Our life together flashes before my eyes and I know exactly what she’s about to say.

“You don’t have to… I mean it’s not a problem for me,” I whisper into the crown of her head, grasping for anything solid to hold onto.

She pulls away, the shock on her face lets me know she’s still shocked by the mind reading.

“You say that, but I know it’s not true,” she says it in a whisper as if that will keep this a secret for just us.

“You’re supposed to be focused right now. And you’re doing so well, I don’t need to be weighing you down. You could be on the verge of the happiest moment of your life, of one of your greatest achievements and reaching your dreams and I don’t want to be the reason it feels less than amazing.”

Her voice is getting louder, not that it matters since everyone in the hallway is straining to hear every word.

I cup my hands around her face, her tears pool where my palms meet her cheeks.

“You’re not­–“

“Ry, babe. You can stop lying to yourself. Me being here isn’t making anything better.”

The tears haven’t stopped pouring but she has to swallow back a sob to keep talking. My heart breaks at the sight. This might be our last conversation. And it’s front of my whole nosy team as they get a full picture of what’s been going on behind closed doors.

“I think we need some space, like real deal space not this bullshit space we’re giving each other in the house. And space where you actually know what’s going on.”

Only she would get me to let out a laugh as she basically is letting me down gently.

“And I know this is the shittiest timing, but we both know it needs to happen. We can’t keep putting it off forever. So let me be the shitty person, because I am,” she gives me a sympathetic smile.

“I still love you,” it’s true, maybe not in the way it was just a few months ago but I can’t help but say it.

She pulls away from my hold on her face, “I love you too, but it may not be the right love anymore. And we deserve that right love.”

I can tell she’s contemplating giving me a kiss, but I can tell she also thinks it might stop her from making this drastic move. She gives my hand a squeeze and walks down the hall. Maybe out of my life.

I don’t turn to watch her walk away; I stare at the floor. I hope it’s enough to let the guys know to give me my space, but no one moves towards me. No one leaves the hallway either.

I thought this moment would feel like my heart was ripped out of my chest. Instead, I don’t feel much of anything. My heart could have just stopped.

We lose the next game. I had put my all into it, anything to forget about the word space and all the smaller meanings that hid in its crevasses. I’m not sure it worked, but I didn’t think about Gretchen for a few days.

It helped that all the guys let me live, there were no sad smiles or walking on eggshells; they acted like a I was any teammate on a playoff run. They watched her walk away and were waiting for me to give the okay before they reacted towards me.

There would be no okay until the season ended.

I thought she might have pulled a Marianne and fucked off to Alberta, maybe never to be seen again. Or show up at the worst moment.

But my mom calls me a week later to tell me she saw Gretchen around town. She clearly knows something is wrong if she’s there during the playoffs, but doesn’t want to push me.

I confess everything.

There’s something cathartic about crying to your mother, even as a grown man.

“Oh sweetie, I can talk to her if you need me to,” she says in a way only a mom can.

“Mom, I don’t need you to talk to my…” I can’t bring myself to say wife, “I don’t need you to talk to her.”

“Okay, if you’re sure. But you really should have told me sooner hon, I wish you hadn’t gone through that all alone.”

I wasn’t exactly alone, but I don’t want to get into any of that with her.

“I just didn’t want anyone looking at me different because my life was falling apart.”

There’s a long silence on the line. If I didn’t know any better, I would say our connection dropped.

“I know this hurts now, and it’s probably going to hurt for a long time, but you two had a beautiful love story. If it ends today or next year or when death do you part; you got to feel a love that a lot of people never get experience in this life. So, don’t think of it as a failure just cherish it, honey.”

We lose the next three games and are out of the playoffs. Of course, it’s not the ending we want, but it feels like the cherry on top of an already shitty year for myself. I don’t know if I would have wanted the season to end on a high note, the contrast would have been too much to handle.

When I enter the house, Gretchen’s stuff is gone. Still, she couldn’t completely erase herself from our home; remnants of her cling to the little things like the frames around the artwork or the set of plates in the cupboard.

But her piano still sits in our living room: sad and lonely.

With a heavy heart I get up and find the manila envelope of divorce papers.

[pilot-boi]

Building Relationships: Chapter One

Setting out on your own was never easy, and Ruby had grown up with a large family. When left alone in the vastness of space, she really should have expected to get lonely. But she was fine.

What was technology for, anyway?

Or: Ruby Rose’s journey into emotional repression

Setting Out

New friends to be made, new places to see

AO3 LINK

Ruby hesitated in the doorway to her ship.

Her family’s house was dark, and she could hardly see it in the pale starlight. Varellex only had nighttime once a month, and Ruby had taken the opportunity to leave while everyone was asleep. She could picture her father and hatchmates all bundled up together under a mound of blankets, warm, happy, and completely unaware that she was missing. 

Ruby’s dad had been trying to convince her to stay for the past week and a half, ever since she'd bought her ship. It would be best if she left without his knowing.

Ruby’s ship hummed quietly as the power turned on. She- she hadn’t named it. Honestly, she didn’t really want to. Why’d a ship need a name anyway? It wasn’t alive. It was just a vessel. A tool. 

Besides, if she named it, she'd get attached, and then she'd probably lose it and feel worse because she'd named it. So it’d remain nameless. If anyone asked, she'd just make something up, probably.

Ruby watched Varellex fade into the distance, and then its three suns. Finally, she was on her own. Alone. She'd only been gone for a few hours, but she already missed her family. She could picture them all waking up to the first sunrise, realizing she was missing, searching for her. 

She felt a pang in her heart as she pictured her father running outside and noticing her missing ship. It- it was better this way. Besides, she'd make new friends out here. With all the species she'd seen and heard of, there had to be someone who’d care about her.

---

Several Months Later

Ruby’s stomach rumbled, and she froze. For a GAAP ship, her target was surprisingly poorly guarded. She'd only seen one person- an alien with a long curling tail and tufty hair like they’d experienced some kind of static shock -through the gaps in the ventilation. It was a pretty small ship, but even small ships had food. 

When Ruby was sure the GAAP agent hadn’t seen her, she kept crawling forward, finally reaching the kitchen. The walls were lined with cupboards, and two fridges sat on the opposite side of the room, beckoning Ruby towards them. Carefully, she slipped out of the vent and landed on the countertop. 

She made short work of the cupboards, grabbing whatever she could while leaving room to pull her sack back through the vent. Unable to resist, she popped one of the smallest cookies into her mouth. 

Finally, she stood in front of the fridges. 

Usually, she didn’t take anything from fridges. The doors were louder, and sometimes even locked. But this one wasn’t, and Ruby just knew there had to be something good inside. She cautiously pulled the door of the first fridge open.

“Who are you, and what are you doing on my ship?”

Ruby turned around slowly. The alien was standing in the doorway of the kitchen, hands resting on the dual pistols at his sides.

“I’m gone,” Ruby said quickly, taking advantage of their confusion to scramble back onto the counters and into the vent.

“Wait! Come back!” the GAAP agent shouted. “I just wanna to talk to you!”

“I know the GAAP’s idea of talking!” Ruby called back. “I’m not plannin’ on dying today!”

“I’m not with them anymore!”

This made Ruby stop. He- he what? “You quit?” Ruby asked, popping her head out of the vent. The dude jumped in surprise, tail lashing anxiously behind him.

“Yeah,” he said. “I quit. I used to work for their information department, but I dug too deep and found things I didn’t agree with. So I quit.” He took his hands off his holsters and held them up placatingly. “Now can we talk?”

Ruby pulled herself out of the ventilation shaft and landed on the ground with a thud. “You’re not gonna shoot me?”

“No I’m not going to- why would I shoot you?”

“I stole your food.”

“Okay, that’s true, but I’m still not going to shoot you. I want to talk. The name’s Sun.”

Ruby hesitated. She didn’t feel comfortable telling a supposedly ex-GAAP agent her real name.

“Rose,” she said, deciding to go with her last name at least. “Nice to meet you, I guess.”

Sun smiled. “Nice to meet you too, Rose, although I have a feeling that’s not your real name.” Rose opened her mouth to defend herself, but Sun shook his head. “That’s fine, dude. I get it. No reason to trust me, after all.” Sun began to walk down the hallway they were standing in, away from the kitchen. “Let me show you something.”

Ruby followed Sun from a short distance behind. Sun was right- Ruby didn’t trust him. Hopefully whatever he was showing her wasn’t a jail cell. Sun stopped at a large door, placing his hand on the scanner. He turned around to face Ruby as the doors slid open, and looked a little surprised to see Ruby so far behind.

“I don’t bite,” Sun teased as Ruby finally caught up. The wide sharp-toothed grin he shot her wasn’t reassuring in the slightest. Ruby just gave him a side-eye and let Sun enter the room first.

They appeared to be on the ship’s bridge. A large holographic screen showed the ship’s current course, and several smaller ones under it showed security footage from the cameras around the ship. Another screen sat to the right of the large one, and Sun perched on the chair in front of it. He began to scroll through several files before stopping on one.

“Take a look,” Sun said, rolling his chair out of the way so Ruby could get a closer look.

“That’s-” Ruby was stunned speechless. It was a file full of 3D blueprints for each model of ship the GAAP used. With these, Ruby would be able to memorize the layout of the ship she was going to rob before she was even on it.

“I have more,” Sun said, causing Ruby to spin around and face him. “I can track almost any ship registered by the GAAP from this console, and I know how many people should be on it, how well guarded it is, and what they’re carrying.”

“I need this,” Ruby said, staring wide-eyed at Sun. “All- all of it.”

“I can’t just give it to you,” Sun replied, laughing. “But stole my food, which I can respect even if it’s my freaking food.” He paused. “I’ll make you a deal though. I’ll tell you what ships are safe, and where all the best loot is, and you’ll give me a cut of the money. Sound good?”

Ruby glanced at the screen. Every single ship in the GAAP’s files, at her fingertips. She had to admit to herself, it wasn’t a bad deal. She'd be able to afford food without having to steal it, and she'd be able to get any parts she needed for her own ship, too. She extended her hand.

“Deal,” she said. “I’m using my own ship though. Yours smells too much like the GAAP.”

“Sounds good to me,” Sun said, shaking Ruby’s hand. “And you can keep the food you took. It looks like you need it more than I do.”

---

Back on her ship, Ruby finally finished stacking the cans of food in the cupboards. She and Sun had exchanged communicator signals and parted ways. She'd just gotten off a test call with her a short while ago. Finally, she'd have a steady means of income. 

Sun had even informed her of a black market planet called Nihill. Ruby would be able to buy and sell anything there without any suspicion. She still hadn’t told Sun her real name. Maybe someday, when Ruby really knew she could trust him.

---

Several Months Later

Ruby winced as she pulled the needle through and finished the suture. She'd gotten better at stitching her own injuries since she started taking on riskier missions. Some GLE agent had thrown a knife at her as she was escaping and managed to get a pretty nasty slice out of Ruby’s leg. 

Sun was lecturing her for being too reckless and taking the job even though she'd said it was too dangerous. Ruby wasn’t really paying attention. He was no better, after all.

“Ruby, are you even listening?” Sun asked with a sigh. They’d known each other for about a year now, and Ruby had finally built up the courage a couple weeks ago to tell Sun her real name.

“Sorry,” Ruby said, rolling her pant leg back down over her wound. “I was focused on my stitching.”

“I was saying you gotta go to a legit doc about some of your injuries,” Sun repeated. “I know you’re keeping them clean and whatever, but you really need someone with real medical knowledge to be taking a look at them.”

“I told you before, Sun,” Ruby countered, “I can’t just waltz into a hospital. A Velm alone is suspicious enough, but a Velm with knife and blaster injuries? I’d be arrested before they’d even consider tending to my wounds.”

“I know,” Sun admitted, leaning back in his chair. “You just gotta be more careful, dude. This is gettin’ ridiculous”

“I’ll try to figure something out,” Ruby said reassuringly. “Promise.”

Sun grinned his sharp-toothed smile and ended the call. Ruby leaned back in her own chair. She had been getting kind of lonely, and a doctor would be a helpful addition to the team. 

Still, she couldn’t have a real doctor. A real doctor would need food and sleep and money. An android would be expensive. A robot on the other hand, would be significantly cheaper, and the parts on their own would be even cheaper. How hard could building one be?

---

Very hard. Building a robot was very hard. Ruby had almost all the parts she needed, and a stack of programming chips. Finding the parts was easy. Figuring out how they went together was much harder. The body was taking her ages to put together, and her sleep-deprived state wasn’t helping. 

Ruby picked up one of several power cores she'd gotten, and began trying to fit it into what she'd deduced was where the power core went. When it didn’t fit, she tossed it back into the box and pulled out another. Didn’t fit. 

She tried several more before one finally clicked into place. The robot body jolted briefly and then settled back down. Ruby took a step back and looked at her creation. The only things missing were the hands and the head. As if on cue, Ruby’s communicator began ringing.

“Sun! Give me good news,” Ruby said, pressing the answer button.

“I’ve found where you can steal the hands you wanted,” Sun said, “and the head’s almost done. The only problem is the mouth.”

“What’s wrong with the mouth?” Ruby asked nervously.

“I couldn’t find a good one, so it looks a little messed up,” Sun answered. “But if you cover it up with one of those surgical masks you can hardly see it.”

Ruby shrugged. “I’ll take it.”

---

A few hours later, she was balanced on a small ledge inside a GAAP transport ship. Lines of different androids stood perfectly straight, waiting to be delivered to their jobs. Ruby scanned the perfect rows for the doctor androids, trying to ignore just how high up she was. Her vision swam when she made the mistake of looking directly below where she was standing. 

Get over it, she thought to herself, briefly closing her eyes to regain her composure. 

It took her a few minutes, but she finally spotted the doctor and nurse androids a few rows away. Two guards chatted idly outside the warehouse door. Nearly silently, Ruby climbed down the warehouse wall.

Ruby kept her body low to the ground as she approached the androids. According to Sun, there were alarms set in each part of the androids, since they sold for such a high price and they didn’t want thieves breaking in and taking them. 

Thieves like her.

Ruby would have to get out quickly, and remove minuscule trackers from the hands before getting back on her ship. A lot of work for just a pair of hands. Hopefully it’d be worth it. Ruby needed the best hands for the robot that would be stitching her up.

Ruby carefully detached the hands from the wrists. Alarms started beeping immediately. Every second counted now. She could hear the guards’ conversation come to an abrupt stop, and flinched as the door opened. 

She ducked inside the field of androids, desperately trying to find the trackers. The guards shouted for her to stop. Ruby quietly apologized and then pushed one of the androids over. 

It hit the one in front of it, and soon several rows of androids were crashing to the ground. The guards were in a panic, struggling to stop the domino effect and keep track of Ruby, who had conveniently just found the trackers. She deftly disposed of them and then began to climb back up the wall, sliding the hands into a satchel as she went.

“Stop! Thief!” One of the guards had their blaster aimed at Ruby.

“I have a name!” Ruby called back, narrowly dodging a shot, which sizzled the wall next to her. She had to resist the urge to scream as a blast shot straight through her tail, leaving the end of it dangling loosely. She slipped out through the sky light just as another blast almost hit her foot.

---

Ruby tossed the still-wriggling end of her tail into the garbage disposal and began wrapping the stump where it had detached in bandages.

“This is exactly why you need a doctor,” Sun said, frowning disapprovingly. “That was disgusting.”

“That,” Ruby said, tying off the bandages, “was nothing. I’ve lost the end of my tail more times than I can count. And it’s not disgusting- it’s perfectly natural.”

“But it’s your freaking tail!” he exclaimed, his own tail whipping angrily behind him. “I could freaking never, dude.” Sun shuddered in just the thought. “Whatever, the head’s done now. I’ll send it over once we end the call. Did you get the hands attached?”

Ruby shook her head. “I just got back here and had to cut off the end of my tail,” she said, sounding apologetic. “Haven’t exactly had the time yet.”

“I’ll let you go then,” Sun said, chuckling to himself. “Call me when that robot’s up and running, kay? Later, dude.”

Ruby waved and hummed her confirmation, then ended the call. She pulled the hands out of the satchel and turned them over. They were smooth and clean, with perfectly sculpted joints. Made to perform sutures and surgeries in minutes flat. Ruby pulled the tarp off of her robot and set to work.

[rikerxworf]

☆. Meta: Frame of Mind ⭒*

Despite it being quite dark in its tone and themes, I felt like writing about this episode, s6e21. It has some very nice Worfriker moments that say a lot about their canon relationship. In fact, I’d argue that if you put on your shipping goggles, it’s one of their ‘shippiest’ episodes (´ ᵕ ` *)

! Trigger warnings for abusive treatments of mental illness, and violence !

Plot summary: For one of Beverly’s plays, Will rehearses the role of a mentally ill character in an asylum. He’s afraid of screwing up but tries rather eagerly to nail his dialogue. Meanwhile, Picard wants him to find a lost Federation science team on an anarchistic alien planet, and Will gets briefed on the undercover mission by Worf, who seems downright anxious to secure Will’s safety during the operation. Unintendedly, he cuts Will with a knife.

Will slowly grows more paranoid and restless, and eventually finds himself trapped in the alien asylum from the play, where the doctors say that he was a killer and was having hallucinations about a Starship. Will agrees to let himself be treated with ‘reflection therapy’, where it turns out that Picard, Troi and Worf each represent a part of his personality. Attempts by the Enterprise crew wanting to rescue Will fall flat because by now, he is convinced that he’s imagining all of this and really ‘insane’.

He finally escapes the illusion on his own, waking in an alien lab, and manages to reach the communicator Worf gave him to have the Enterprise beam him up to safety – turns out he had been abducted during his mission and experimented on. The pain and images he saw were his mind trying to keep him same, Troi explains. In the end, Will clears the stage for the play with his bare hands because he could not sleep knowing it was still up.

.

Despite Will being such a humorous character, his character episodes can be really dark, and “Frame of Mind” is surely one of TNG’s darkest episodes overall. However, there are really sweet strands drawn throughout it, namely Will’s connection to his fellow crewmates. And Worf’s is the most interesting one to me, so it will be the focus of my text *:･ﾟ✧

Which brings me to my first point – we don’t see the real Worf in this episode at all. Everything before the lab scene takes place entirely in Will’s head as he’s being experimented on for strategic information that’s being pulled directly from his brain, so much so that he’s close to ‘becoming insane’. In retrospect, this is really important for the interpretation of the previous scenes, because at the end of the episode, Deanna explains that

“Your mind must have created a defense mechanism that helped you resist the neurosomatic process. Your unconscious fastened on to elements of your real life in an attempt to keep you grounded, to keep you sane.”

So, everything we see is not a one-to-one reliving of Will’s memories, but rather an idealized version that his mind fabricated to “keep him grounded” and comforted, I might add. Deanna talking to Will in Ten Forward, Beverly caring for his mental health, Data complementing him on his performance – those are all very comforting experiences for Will.

And oh, not to mention – the mission briefing scene alone with Worf. Oh, Lord, this scene. It serves as clever foreshadowing AND plays like textbook fanfic to be honest, and I mean that in a thoroughly good way: flirty Will, grumpy Worf, irritated Will, flustered Worf.

.

When I first watched it, I was super taken aback by how extremely protective Worf was about Will. When Will keeps making nonchalant comments throughout the briefing, Worf reacts in strong disapproval, saying

“I suggest you pay closer attention, Commander. Your life will be at stake. Do you understand what I am saying?”

Like, chill dude sdfjskdsk – That was my initial reaction! Will’s comments were in good will after all. At first, he says “That’s a lot of land for one man to cover. I guess I’d better pack an extra pair of boots” with a small smile, and Worf just… sighs sdfjskdsk. (On a sidenote, I discovered the American expression ‘knocking boots’ through Star Trek, and now every time I hear it the word ‘boots’ I remember it, which is not very helpful if it’s accompanied by William T. Riker’s smile toward Worf).

Afterwards, Worf shows Will the alien outfit that he will use for his alien disguise, and hands him the communicator, hid in a pendant. And Will literally goes, “Hmmm doesn't really match the outfit”, after which Worf suggests he’d pay “closer attention” because “his life will be at stake”, making Will straighten up to say “I do [understand what you’re saying]”.

It’s… a lot. But we’re not done yet, because Worf continues by showing Will the nisroh, the knife used for the traditional bartering ceremony that will complete Will’s disguise. It’s a very pretty looking knife, and Worf seemingly takes a lot of delight in showing Will how to move it. It’s… really cute, actually.

But then he cuts Will, and needless to say, when I first saw it I thought, man, the budget can not possibly be this low. Because it doesn’t look like a cut from a knife at all! It’s just a round wound on his temple, like a circle. And also – Jonathan Frakes’ acting isn’t that fucking bad. William looks absolutely horrified by what just happened; the look in his eyes is so uneasy that it left me really perplexed. Of course, everything clears up as we near the episode’s end: The wound never was Will getting cut by Worf’s knife, it was the circular plug the aliens used to extract information from his brain. And the horrified look was probably coupled to the immense pain Will felt from the extraction and the feeling that something wasn’t right.

Which is super intriguing, because the pain from the knife is eventually what drives him back to his former self, out of the circle of delusions, but more on that later. I want to close on the briefing scene by calling to everyone’s attention Worf’s cute reaction to the ‘cut’: he looks DEVASTATED sjdfksk

The gasp, the flustered and breathy way he apologizes, plus Will cutting him off by saying “it’s okay” – I love it, what can I say. I love it even more when I imagine that, in the real briefing, Worf never cut Will, and this situation only occurred in his mind to “keep him grounded”. It’s… a lot, as I said. Especially considering that “a Klingon who had cut me with a knife” is one of the first things Will remembers in the asylum.

.

.

The asylum scenes have been pure terror to me, in a very horror film kind of way. When Will gets trapped there first, it’s bad, apart from a few things he remembers (like Worf). But when he returns there, running across the Enterprise’s corridors, terrified, thinking he had returned safely to his quarters but actually finding himself in the ward yet again – poor Will screams “No!” and “Let me out of here!”, which would have been a perfectly okay time to cut to black. But they didn’t.

To break everyone’s heart, they showed him sinking down against the door, quietly crying “Help me”, which… don’t worry, we’ll come back to. “Help” is an important word in this script.

Earlier in the asylum, the alien doctor explains to Will why he is here. He is accused of having murdered someone and behaving extremely violent, as one of the alien guards explains:

“I remember when they brought you in. You were struggling, screaming. We could barely hold you down. In fact, just getting the blood off your hands took over an hour.”

I’ll get back to this description later. It is also mentioned that Will murdered the person with a knife, stabbing them “nine times”. We later learn that was Will fighting his abductors with the nisroh Worf had given him.

.

.

Let’s go to another important scene, the ‘reflection therapy’. The alien doctor scans Will’s head with a device that projects different aspects of Will’s mind as holographic images that, in Will’s case, take the form of his Enterprise colleagues.

When the doctor asks Will to describe his feelings during the murder – in reality: the abduction, but Will doesn’t know that at this point – Deanna materializes and says she (Will) was “terrified”. The doctor explains to Will that Deanna represents the part of his mind dealing with “feelings”. And when he asks about “actions”, an image of Worf appears, and the first thing he says is that he (Will) was “angry”. Worf representing Will’s actions is interesting if you recall how much of a fight Will had put up when he was to be brought to the asylum, struggling and screaming.

The third image of his mind, Picard, represents some sort of rational thinking.

Soon, the reflection of feelings says, “Don’t believe this, Will. None of it’s real”, with the Picard reflection adding, “You can trust us. Everything will be all right”. Will calls them delusions when the doctors asks him if he had something to say to those comments. And then Worf goes,

“Do not listen to him, Commander. He is trying to trick you. You are in danger here.”

Notice how Worf keeps telling Will that he is not safe now. He said it before during the briefing, he says it now, and he will say it again when he and Data try to save Will. Which kind of has me wondering – does Worf really ‘just’ represent Will’s actions? It sounds to me as though he’s the part of Will’s mind that grants him safety and protection, but hey that’s just me ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Also, the quote from above is not all the reflection says. After a brief cut to Will, there’s a close-up of Worf, saying

BOOM. For those unaware, these words are special in Trek. See, in the brilliant TOS episode “The City on the Edge of Forever”, James Kirk explains that “a famous novelist” wrote a classic in which they recommended the words “let me help” even over “I love you”, which kind of made these words carry a special meaning among Trekkies. (It also didn’t help that Spock said them to Kirk in the very next fucking episode, followed by Kirk proclaiming “I need you, Spock”. It’s a lot.)

One could argue that Worf’s reflection doesn’t explicitly say “let me help” but “let us help you”. But what difference does it make, really? It’s not Worf saying these words, it’s a reflection of the part of Will’s mind that is represented by Worf. In this context, I wouldn’t give the pronouns too much emphasis. Basically, it’s Will’s need of safety telling him that he is loved and not alone. It’s honestly very touching (´ ᵕ ` *)

However, after talking to him more and more, Will does not want to see these reflections anymore. He chases them away with a loud “no”, clearly distraught by what he just saw.

.

.

In the night following the ‘reflection therapy’, Will is woken by Data and Worf breaking into his ward to help him escape to the common area, where they have placed transporter pattern enhancers to beam him back to the Enterprise. Remember, none of this really happens, it’s all Will’s mind trying to “keep him grounded”. Worf says, “You must come with us, you are in danger here”, which, as I pointed out before, makes him sound like he is Will’s sense of protection or something.

However, Will does not want to go with them, because he still believes the Enterprise crew are delusions of his ill mind. Again, he loudly cries “Help me!” (notice a pattern here?), which makes two guards appear. They are quickly overtaken by Data and Worf, who still fight for Will even though he had turned his back on them. They then proceed to beam up to the Enterprise. I kind of think they chose these two characters as the rescuers because they were the only ones strong enough to hold William T. Riker in case he protested, which he did. However, only Worf is present in the next scene, sickbay, while Data is gone.

Beverly examines Will and treats the round wound on his temple – somehow, it had reappeared. Knowing that it’s the plug connected to real-life Will on the lab table, things now get interesting: The wound closes and reopens instantly. Will notices this illogic, and the pain keeps resurfacing as Worf and Picard explain that Will has been abducted on his undercover mission. The same wound Will thought had been inflicted on him by Worf and the knife. Exclaiming “This isn’t real!”, he knocks Worf out, takes his phaser and shots himself – because the phaser isn’t real, right?

On the next level of delusion, with the doctors and guard gaslighting Will, the pain on his temple resurfaces again, and again on the third level of delusion when he’s told to “stop fighting”. I’m sorry, but that’s a very clear line here: The pain that Will thought had been given to him by Worf (i.e. his “actions” / his ‘need for safety’) is what keeps him on the right track, namely that none of this is real.

When he’s about to give up, wearily asking “What’s happening to me…?”, the alien doctor tells him, “Listen to me. We can still save you, but you must stop fighting us”, followed by Will gasping in pain and declaring that he’s being lied to because the pain is still there.

And boy, now the ASSHOLE ALIEN DOCTOR says to him “let me help you”, which makes Will go feral. He screams and fights the doctor and the stage set, finally making him wake in-real-life, on a lab table with a cable plugged into his temple, where the wound had been all along.

I’m… Okay, listen. Even if you deny the subtext of a Worf-reflection saying “let us help you”, the contrast to the villain saying “let me help you” and Will’s reaction to it speak for themselves. He had wanted help throughout this episode. Being offered it by his friends made him speechless, but being offered it by the one who abused him all this time is what agitates Will so much that he returns to reality. I know the script was kind of last-minute, but parallels like this must be intentional.

.

So, now Will is finally back in reality, for the first time in this episode. He looks around and finds the equipment he’s been given by Worf before the mission and manages to reach it before the scientists can get a hold of him. He activates the pendant’s communicator and is answered by – Worf. Who proceeds to beam him up. This is the only time ‘real Worf’ is in this episode, and it’s only his voice. But boy, after going through so much bullshit, can you imagine what Will must feel like hearing this voice? Oh, I know: safe. It’s another point in the theme of ‘protectiveness’ that Will and Worf have going on in this episode.

Also, do you notice how Will takes the knife in his left hand and the pendant in his right? I don’t know if he’s supposed to be left-handed, because unless he is, holding a knife in your weak hand isn’t that much of a fighting advantage. But Will still goes for the pendant first, to call Worf who gave him the communicator in the first place. Plus the alien doctor watches the nisroh with such fear it’s an actual delight shdfjksk

The nisroh as a symbol is so intriguing. It’s not what gets Will into all of this, like we first think when Worf injures Will with it. It’s the thing that he uses to fight his abductors and that ultimately gets him out of there. The resurfacing pain it inflicted (in Will’s mind, that is) and the threatening gesture help Will return to the real Enterprise, where he dismantles the stage ward with such violence it really makes you think about all the times he tried to escape the ward by pushing away its walls.

.

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So, yeah, that’s my take on “Frame of Mind”! There are really nice and sweet moments in this otherwise rather disturbing episode, for example ‘Worf’ saying “let us help you” in that firm voice of his (´ ∀ ` *)

More than that though, I think this story is very intimate because 95% of it take place in Will’s head. His subconscious, as Deanna explains it, argues that he and Worf are ultimately connected by protectiveness. Either that, or Will just likes to think of Worf as someone who worries a lot about him lol. It’s Worf who keeps warning him of danger, making him fight and ultimately making him return to safety. That even extends keeping him “grounded” and “sane” if you ask me.

Thank you for reading this spontaneous outpouring haha! Please tell me your thoughts about it, or other episodes you find interesting! ♡

[anneapocalypse]

A Chorus World Map

Note: This is not a definitive map! With the exception of two locations, this is not canon. This is just a working model I came up with based on environmental and contextual clues, to have a reference for writing fic.

If you're curious how I came up with this, keep reading!

Map description: A world map of Chorus built on the blue map base shown at the Temple of Arms. The Purge Temple is located on an island left of center, set between the three main continents but closes to the top left continent. Radio Jammer 1C is on a smaller island north and slightly east of the Purge. The rest of the locations are place on the planet's largest continent, taking up most of the right half of the map. Federal Army Outpost 37 is placed at the tip of a long peninsula extending from the northern side of the continent. Crash Site Alpha is on the coast at the northwest corner of the continent, with Crash Site Bravo to the southwest. The Temple of Trials is on the west coast about midway down. The Temple of Arms and Charon Research Complex C-2 are at the southern tip of the continent. Armonia is inland, north and a little east of the Temple of Arms. New Republic Headquarters is just west of the center of the continent, with the Abandoned Fueling station immediately to the northeast. Federal Army Outpost 22 is a ways north and east of New Republic HQ, a little east of the base of the peninsula. The Temple of the Key is inland on the eastern side of the continent. The Temple of Communications is to the south of the Temple of the Key.

Adventures in Cartography

I began by overlaying the two temple maps we're given in season 13. The first (blue) shows the coordinates Tucker is given at the Temple of Arms. These coordinates are where the True Warrior test takes place. I call it the Temple of Trials. (That's not canon, it's just easier to say and it sounds cool.)

The second (red) shows the coordinates given by Santa at the Temple of Trials. Based on his dialogue, it is slightly confusing whether he's talking about the location of the Purge or the Key:

Santa: (to Tucker) As its bearer, the Great Key will remain bonded to you and you alone, until the time of your death. If you believe the inhabitants of this planet are not ready for my creators' gifts, activating the Purge will cleanse them.

Carolina: And by "cleanse" you mean...?

Santa: All sentient life on Chorus will be exterminated.

Tucker: Dude. Buzzkill.

Epsilon: And... where exactly is this thing?

Santa: Here. (a red holographic map lights up with a dot pointing at the Purge's location, east of the Jungle Temple) I will also update all previously sent maps with temple locations.

I believe that map marker is the Key, because that is where everyone goes next. In particular, it's the map marker the mercs see at one of the other temples, right before they head for the Temple of the Key. It fits Carolina's description of "the mountains east of our location."

So these are our touchstones: the Temple of Trials and the Temple of the Key.

Biomes

The next thing I did was attempt to sort the Chorus locations into climate groups based on their environments.

Jungle/yellow sky

Crash Site Alpha

Crash Site Bravo (canyon)

Temple of Trials (on the water)

Temple of Gravity (near Crash Site Alpha and the Purge)

Remote Research Facility (established to study wildlife)

Tropical?

Radio Jammer Station 1C (island off the coast, sky half blue half stormy)

Desert

Abandoned Fueling Station

New Republic HQ (right on the edge of the jungle)

Temple of Communication (debatable, but rocky and not a lot of foliage)

Snowy/Mountainous

Federal Army Outpost 22 (on the edge of the mountains, not snowy)

Federal Army Outpost 37 (on the water, amid mountains but at sea level)

Temple of the Key (high in the mountains)

Grassy/Deciduous

Temple of Arms & Charon Excavation site (on the water, visible from Complex C-2)

Charon Research Complex C-2 (near the Temple of Arms, within visibility)

Unsettled Territory

Who Fucking Knows

Armonia (but it seems warm)

The Purge (red crystal hell)

Directionality

Armonia -> unsettled territory -> Temple of Trials

Armonia -> Fueling Station -> Crash Site Alpha

The Temple of Trials is a shorter trip from Armonia than Crash Site Alpha, thought probably not by more than an hour or so.

New Republic HQ -> Fueling Station -> Federal Army Outpost 37

Crash Site Alpha is relatively close to the Temple of the Purge.

The Communication Temple is to the east of Crash Site Bravo. It seem to be night at the Comm Temple while it is still daylight at Crash Site Alpha.

Why I put almost everything on one continent

The two canon locations are both on that continent, and while characters sometimes have access to air vehicles and teleportation grenades, in both seasons 12 and 13 there is a lot of ground travel happening. (Also, all the grenades detonate early in season 13 and all travel from there on has to be done the long way.) In particular:

Felix leads the Reds and Blues from Crash Site Bravo to New Republic Headquarters by ground, via caves.

Tucker, Grif, Simmons, and Caboose travel from New Republic Headquarters to Federal Army Outpost 37 by Warthog, stopping at the gas station in between.

Carolina and her away team travel from Armonia to the Temple of Trials by ground, passing through unsettled territory.

Kimball leads the troops from Armonia to Crash Site Alpha by ground, also through unsettled territory.

While many of the locations are located by water, we don't have any instances of characters crossing a large body of water.

We're already kind of handwaving how quickly characters can move across the continent in land vehicles, without adding intercontinental travel to the mix.

Doyle claims in season 12 that the rebels were given opportunity to move to a different part of the planet and build their own society. This suggests that a fair amount of Chorus still remains unsettled.

While we don't know the population of Chorus at the time of canon events, if we take a bit of Sarge's dialogue, he refers to "thousands." Even if we estimate generously and say this could be hundreds of thousands, we're still looking a severely contracted population. For comparison, 100,000 to 300,000 people is considered a medium-sized city in the US. With the population so depleted and the war still raging, it makes sense that the populated area of Chorus would have shrunk considerably even if it was once larger.

Keep in mind that this doesn't mean there is nothing of interest on the other continents. There might be more alien towers, settlements, other cities. For this map I’m only working with locations relevant to the Chorus Trilogy storyline, not the entire world.

Other Considerations

As this is a flattened map of a globe, it is not to scale and landmasses distort more the further they are toward the corners. It is probably best, therefore, not to get too hung up on distances. For visibility's sake the map markers are misleadingly large, and appear a lot closer to one another than they actually would be on the ground.

For my purposes I consider any Chorus canon post-season 13 to be entirely optional, but for what it's worth, the brief view we get of Chorus from space during the blockade lines up pretty well with this map, with that main continent being the one most clearly in view—and also the one at which the fleet have pointed their cannons. It is also worth nothing from this image that the bifurcated continent in the upper left corner of the map actually appears to come quite close to the central continent where it wraps around the globe. For that reason, while I'm thinking of this central continent in terms of north and south, it's probably a bit misleading to look at the whole map that way.

We can see where the sun strikes the planet in that image, but without knowing the planet's axial tilt or where the poles are, it's impossible to determine exactly where the equator is, so again, not getting hung up on it. I'm also taking the appearance of the land itself as a very general suggestion, as the area where the Temple of the Key would be doesn't show any snow. Nevertheless, we can see that central continent divided into three distinct regions: green, tan, and a darker brown. Or: jungle (with some grassy and deciduous area to the south), desert, and mountains.

It makes sense to me that the Temple of the Purge would be located somewhere remote and difficult to access, so I played it off the mainland, on an island.

It's hard to tell in the show, but the Halo map representing the radio jammer is an island, and I thought that made sense as somewhere Charon would place one. They wouldn't put the jammers too close to populated areas, in case the Chorusans got the bright idea to try to shoot them down.

Federal Outpost 37 (the outpost where Wash, Sarge, Donut, and Lopez are taken and where they meet Doyle) is snowy and cold, but it's also right on the water, at sea level, so the cold can't be due to elevation. It made sense to put it further north. According to the Fan Guide, this outpost became the Feds' primary base of ops after they pulled out of Armonia, and while highly defensible due to an "enormous frozen wall," it's also a difficult position from which to mount an offensive. For all these reasons it made sense to me to put it at the end of the northern peninsula.

I probably debated the most where to place Armonia, as it could go pretty much anywhere warm. The scene where Carolina goes out to the city limits is probably the most indicative of Armonia's climate, and I think it would most likely sit right on the edge between desert and the deciduous area south of the jungle, and that's where I've placed it. (I entertained the idea of putting it on that big south central island, but the channel separating it from the mainland would be a lot bigger than it looks on the map, and in the end it just didn't really fit.)

Though I didn't include it on this map, I like to think Chorus might have rebuilt their new capital near the Temple of Communication, in the bones of a city that survived the war abandoned but mostly intact.

I hope you enjoy this map, and perhaps find it useful! Please credit if using, as there is a whole lot of my own headcanon and analysis going into this. 

As with all meta, nothing is set in stone. I will almost certainly find something I don’t like about it five minutes after I hit “post.” :P But it’s a working model! which is more than we had before.

[foxyninjabear]

A Hacker’s Tale - Chapter 2

[CHAPTER ONE]

WARNING! WARNING! WARNING!: This fic is rated as PG-14+, so read at your own risk! There’s swearsies, suggestive references, and LOTS of blood and gore! Be aware!

________________________________________________

Lucky

Guns popping. Swords clashing. Machinery whirring. People chatting.

Lucky hated all of the noise.

The blonde was up against the wall of the block, fidgeting with a stray bullet casing he found on the floor and trying to distance his mind away from his surroundings. Almost everyone else around him was sparring or preparing for the world hijack mission. After Lucky had shared all of the information he found with the team, Nightingale had dismissed everyone and ordered them to continue preparing until it was time to leave.

That was almost half an hour ago, and Lucky had absolutely nothing. No weapons, no armor, nothing but the clothes on his back, the googles perched on his head, and the boots on his feet.

Maybe trying to drown out the sound wasn't a good idea after all.

Lucky peeled his gaze from the bullet casing in between his fingers and leaned away from the wall. His eyes shifted around the room from person to person; Coda and Jazz testing their guns on the firing range, Nightingale picking out some armor from the racks, Sakura trying to work out the kinks of her mech. All he needed was to get a weapon and a set of armor in the next ten or so minutes.

Simple.

The blonde started to make his way to the rack of blades and guns, returning to the safety of his wandering mind as he walked. Maybe if he just pretended he was somewhere else, he wouldn't be so on edge. The thought of his bunker in the Cyber Division’s segment of the Hive sounded heavenly. Nobody to bother him, peace and quiet; nothing but him and his holographic monitors-

He was snapped out of his thoughts once he suddenly smacked himself against the rack of weaponry, causing many of the blades and guns to rattle on their perches. “Gah!!” A bright red blush of embarrassment flushed across his freckled cheeks, and he wildly glanced around at everyone else in the room, desperately hoping that nobody saw. But as far as he could tell, every person he could see at that moment was still focused on their own activities.

Lucky let out a shaky sigh of relief before turning back to the artillery he came to examine in the first place. Swords, axes, guns and explosives. How dangerous was the mission supposed to be? Soon his gaze landed on a small serrated knife, and he figured that at least something sharp would come in handy.

The blonde carefully grasped the dagger’s handle and took it off its perch, looking back at his reflection in the shiny blade. The idea of using a weapon was still a very foreign concept to him. He only went through the standard amount of combat training, unlike most soldiers, who started off in either Infantry or Medical to further their experience in the field. Instead, he was immediately put into the Cyber division. His knack for interfering with a World’s code and gathering information on the fly is what landed him a spot, despite his age and lack of physical skills and strengths.

And even after eight years of experience, he mostly remained the same. He was still quite scrawny, and he wasn’t that strong either. But it wasn’t too bad. He never had to operate or use any sort of larger artillery anyway.

“You picking out a weapon?”

Lucky jumped at the voice, his grip on his knife tightening. Once he looked to see who it was, he saw the Infantry soldier with long red hair standing a few feet away. What was his name again? Seth? Seth. That sounded about right.

“Hey, it’s alright,” Seth assured, holding his hands up. “Jumpy much, aren’t we?”

The Cyber soldier’s face reddened. “U-uhh… s-sorry…” He cleared his throat. “Y-yeah, I’m just… g-getting a dagger.”

The redhead raised a brow. “That’s it?”

Lucky shrugged, holding his blade closer to him. “Y-yeah… wh-why do you ask…?”

Seth glanced over at the weapon rack. “You should at least have a gun on hand. Can’t have our techie be unarmed now, can we?” He then reached his hands up to a large assault rifle and picked it up off its shelf.

"U-uhh…" The blonde timidly raised a finger, eyes filled with worry at the sight of the gun. "I-I don't think I have permission to use those…?"

"Then let’s make sure you don’t get caught.” Seth replied, a charming grin on his lips. He grabbed the younger soldier’s dagger and set the rifle in his hands, who then stumbled a bit at how heavy it was.

“U-umm…!” Lucky tried to get a better grasp on the large gun, but every time he tried to adjust his hands, he felt like he would drop the weapon on the floor and possibly damage it. “I-I don’t know if this is a good idea…!”

The taller redhead tightened his ponytail and chuckled. “Alright, alright,” He grabbed a hold of the rifle and removed it from the Cyber soldier’s grip, trading him his knife back. “Just playing with you.” He said, before strapping the gun to a holster on his back. “Now, don’t die out there.” Seth winked, and before the younger male could respond, he suddenly disappeared in a flash of red pixels, leaving the blonde all alone.

Lucky wiped some sweat from his forehead, still shaken by the ordeal. “O...okay…” He squeaked out to the empty air, and glanced back down at the dagger in his hand. Maybe he should get a gun…

“Don’t let him get under your skin.”

Another sudden voice made the blonde jump and shriek where he stood. He snapped his head around and readied his knife, but glanced up to see Nightingale’s tall figure standing before him, now donning a set of sleek black plated armor, a dark combat helmet tucked under her arm. Her face was expressionless, as it had been for most of the hour or so he had seen her.

“M-ma’am...!” He stuttered to his superior, taken off guard by her abrupt appearance. He quickly drew back his blade and looked at the floor in shame. “I-I…uhh-”

“No need to apologize,” The ebony woman cut him off, her gaze empty and void of almost any emotion. “It was a justified move.”

Lucky shakily lifted his gaze back to Nightingale. “A...are you sure, ma’am…?” He asked, . “I-I could have hurt you…”

“Lucky, as far as I can tell, weapons aren’t something you’re used to handling.”

The blonde’s face turned scarlet at the statement. “I-I...umm…” He struggled to come up with a response, but soon caved and gave the sniper a nod. “Y...yes, ma’am…”

Nightingale continued, simultaneously slipping the helmet under her arm over her head. “And there’s nothing to be ashamed about that.” She shifted her gaze to a sleek set of black and red armor perched on a nearby mannequin, and was silent for a brief moment. "Here, take this." She held out her hand and made a fist, before pulling her arm back in. As if drawn to her movements, the dummy zoomed across the tiled floor towards the pair, wobbling slightly when it came to a stop.

Lucky blinked in confusion, before realization set in and he understood what the woman wanted him to do. "O-oh!" He then stepped up to the figure and began to slip the pieces of high tech gear on, one by one.

“Now, a word of advice,” Nightingale said as she pulled a large black and red quarterstaff off the rack and began to examine it. “Know that combat is much more than using a sword or a gun,” She stated, twirling the long weapon in her hands. “You play to your strengths. Use them to your advantage.”

The blonde’s movements stopped as he was about to put on the helmet of his armor set. "I...I'm sorry, ma'am?" What strengths? He could barely lift a sword without having it shake in his hands.

The sniper pressed a button on the side of her helmet, and the visor hiding her face retracted. “I don’t just mean physical capabilities, Lucky.” She replied, and suddenly threw her spinning staff up above her head. Lucky was filled with immediate worry of getting hit by the rod as it began to fall back down, but just before it could, Nightingale flicked her hand in its direction, causing it to hover in midair. “Your hacks play a key role in how well you perform out on the battlefield. Don’t be afraid to get creative with them.” She said, before grabbing the staff and holstering it on her back.

Lucky thought for a moment, but just as he opened his mouth to reply, he heard a loud beep come from Nightingale’s communicator. Aware of the noise, she lifted her wrist up closer to her face to have a look, before she raised her voice to get everyone’s attention. “Nine thirty, people! Whether you’re ready or not, it’s time to move!” 

The blonde flinched at her loud statement, but quickly slipped his visored helmet onto his head. He glanced around at everyone in the room, and they were all decked out with powerful armor and weapons. Even the two medics had equipped some artillery that put Lucky’s light armor and dagger to shame. Still, the thought of a gun was all too scary…

But he turned around and snatched a pistol from the weapon rack anyway, quickly tucking it in his boot before following his colleagues out the doors.

~~~~~

Lucky was left alone to his thoughts while he and the rest of the byte made their way down the bustling foyer. He could feel the barrel of the pistol he grabbed rub against the side of his foot with each step he took, and he silently hoped he wouldn't get a blister.

The blonde shifted his gaze around at the soldiers walking in front of him. Nightingale in the lead, Coda and Grey on her left and right, and Seth, Sakura, and Nix behind her…

But where was Jazz?

"Hey dude."

Even though that was the third time in the span of thirty minutes that somebody spoke up from behind him, Lucky still reacted the same exact way; he shrieked, jumped, and spun around to see who it was. But instead of fearing the person he saw, the nervous feeling in his chest disappeared at the sight of the Special Ops soldier with bright blue hair and eyes. Jazz.

“J-Jazz!” The blonde exclaimed. He then crossed his arms, pouting a bit. “You scared me!”

Lucky could practically feel the smirk radiating off of Jazz’s face. “Aw, c’mon,” He chuckled. “I can’t have some fun with my baby brother?”

Lucky puffed out his cheeks in embarrassment at what his older brother called him. “J-Jazz… I’m twenty six.”

“And I’m thirty.” The blue-haired man patted the top of his brother’s helmet, chuckling. “You’re always going to be my little bro.” He then pressed two buttons on the side his own helmet to retract his visor and reveal the top half of his face. “And even if you try and deny it, you can’t. We look way too similar for you to hide it."

The shorter brother sighed a bit. “I know…” He often wondered how he and Jazz could have been related in the first place. Sure, they were both naturally blue-eyed blondes, and they had strikingly similar facial features, but all similarities stopped there. Jazz was much taller and appeared much stronger than him, not to mention his colorfully dyed hair. His personality was also the complete opposite of his younger brother’s; Lucky was timid and constantly anxious, while Jazz was laid back and much more extroverted, even courageous.

Maybe that’s why Lucky was put into the Cyber Division. He couldn’t do anything else but type away at a keyboard and be an information hotline for people in the field to call. And yet his brother was all the way at Special Ops, carrying out classified missions and taking on the most dangerous and sickening tasks the Shadowbyte Army ever had to do. From stopping a corrupted World from spreading their infected code to another, to taking down the leaders of child trafficking rings, Special Ops soldiers did it all. They were the heroes, the ones put on a pedestal and praised, the ones given stacks upon stacks of medals and awards by Ecryptos himself.

As much as he hated to admit it, he was deeply jealous of Jazz. Jealous of the fact that people actually appreciated what he did. Jealous of how people didn’t push him around like a ragdoll. Jealous of how the leader of the entire Army even acknowledged his existence.

But Lucky could never get angry at his brother. As envious as he was, he looked up to him and cared for him immensely; he was the only family he ever knew, after all. Both of their parents had died when Lucky was just a few months old, leaving him and Jazz with nowhere to go. But a small recruitment unit was stationed in their home World, and once they found them, they took the two boys and brought them back to Fort Oblivion without a second thought. They were saved from an otherwise cruel fate and given a brand new home. Just like the countless amounts of other children taken under Ecryptos’ wing over the many years since his founding of the Army.

And Lucky was more than grateful for that. 

“Lucky?” Jazz’s voice made his train of thought screech to a halt. “Lucky, you in there?”

“Hmm?” The blonde blinked and glanced up at his brother. “O-oh, yeah, I’m here.”

“Spaced out again?”

Lucky fell silent, and gave a shy laugh. “U-uhh… maybe…?”

Jazz let out a small chuckle in return. "It's alright, you didn't miss much." He then gestured up ahead of him and the rest of the group, where a large mechanical door could be seen. The entrance to a proxy teleportation hub. "If anything, you skipped on some of the waiting."

The blonde blinked. "O-oh!" His freckled cheeks turned slightly red. “W-well… I guess that’s good…?”

Jazz let out another laugh. “Never change, dude,” His older brother patted his shoulder. “Never change.” Now outside the metal doors, he walked through as they opened, revealing a large, circular platform in the center of an otherwise empty chamber, save for a window which appeared to have a control room on the other side, harboring only a single soldier. “Now, come on.”

Lucky followed his brother and the rest of the byte into the room, the doors shutting behind him. He took a breath of assurance as he stepped onto the raised part of the floor, and his eyes wandered around everyone in the group, eventually landing in Nightingale. 

And not a moment later, the ebony woman lifted her head and gave a nod to the soldier in the control booth, who gave a thumbs up back before pressing a few buttons on their console. Loud sirens blared and flashed on the walls as the platform beneath everybody’s feet gradually lit up. The blonde soon felt the nervous thumping of his heart in his ears; the sirens always put him on edge.

“Beginning proxy teleportation sequence.” A calm, robotic voice echoed over the alarms as the red glow grew brighter and brighter. “Please remain on the platform so you safely arrive at your destination.”

Lucky soon squeezed his eyes shut when the light filling the chamber became too intense to bear. A weightless feeling bubbled up in his chest as he felt his feet slowly lift off the ground, before all of the air suddenly left his lungs and the blaring sirens in his ears ceased. He hesitantly cracked his eyes open, and was met with an inky darkness peppered with tiny puffs of dust floating through the air.

The Void.

“Hey, bro!” Jazz’s voice crackled in Lucky’s ear, making him flinch at the sudden noise. “Down here!”

“Huh?” The blonde glanced below him, and he saw the rest of the byte about ten meters below him. All of them had their focus straight on his hovering figure, with Jazz waving his arms. “O-oh! Sorry...!” He slowly adjusted the flight hack given to him by the proxy, allowing himself to lower towards his seven colleagues.

Nightingale kept her helmeted gaze on him as he descended. "As long as you don't get lost, you'll be fine," She said through the intercom, before gesturing behind Lucky. "Which I doubt will happen, given that our target World is right behind you."

Lucky blinked and turned to look over his shoulder. In the distance, a massive blue sphere stood out against the darkness surrounding it, giving off a bright light. The faint outline of a darker blue orb could be seen inside the bubble, at the exact center. HermitCraft.

"Well, what're we waiting for?" Coda asked, before her flight hack disabled. "C'mon, this World isn't gonna hijack itself!" However, instead of plummeting into the endless darkness, her feet landed on the air beneath her as if it were completely solid. Air walking hacks. 

“Hold your horses, kid,” Grey stated as his own flight hack faded away and made him fall for a moment, only to enable another one to remain hovering in the air. Many others followed suit, save for Nix, who used an air walking hack, and Sakura, who had activated her mech and climbed inside, activating the jets to keep herself from taking a nosedive into the Void. 

The creeper turned to face the medic. “Who ya callin’ kid?” She placed her hands on her hips. “I-”

“Do you want to get muted again, Coda?” Seth nudged his friend with his elbow, in an attempt to try and prevent a repeat of what had happened before.

Coda fell silent, before letting out a huff. “Fine.” She crossed her arms, appearing to make an attempt at standing in place and not running off. “But I swear, if we don’t-”

Nightingale then cut her off, her tone stern and harsh. “Watch your tongue, Coda.” She looked down at the creeper, and even though she didn’t have her focus on him, Lucky felt the hairs on his neck stand up at her words. “It will get you into trouble, and you might not be able to get yourself out of it. Am I clear?”

To Lucky’s surprise, the soldier’s confident body language faltered for a moment. “Y...yes ma’am,” She answered, her shoulders slightly drooping.

“Wise decision,” The sniper then took her gaze from Coda to the rest of the byte. “Now, you all know the drill. Once we get to the border, the rest of us will stay on guard while Lucky disables the firewalls.” She made a small gesture to the short blonde. “We then get inside, split up, regroup when one of us find the main area of operation, and round up each and every member. Secure who you can… bag the rest.” Her floating figure then rose higher. “Now, move in.”

Lucky saluted along with everyone else. As people began to fly or teleport or airwalk towards the World, however, the Cyber soldier continued to hover in place, closing his eyes; he had to focus to get it to work. He felt a buzzing sensation in his chest grow and grow, before it all burst in what felt like a static shock, and he activated a teleportation hack that zipped him all the way to the World’s firewalls in one shot. His stomach churned for a brief moment, only to quickly settle right as the rest of his colleagues arrived.

The blonde, feeling more secure that the rest of the team was there, floated up to the firewall and tapped on it twice, and a large holographic panel pixelated before him. Countless lines of seemingly indecipherable code ran past his vision, but he knew what every single one meant and did. He lifted his hands up to the screen and began to type, sifting through the code to try and disarm the massive force fields.

Several moments of silence ensued, surrounded by the faint echoes of the Void, the pulsing of the firewalls, and Lucky’s typing. “...so when you gonna be done?” Coda asked over the intercom after about a minute, an impatient tone to her voice. 

Before Lucky could respond, Jazz spoke up in defense of his brother. “Give him time, Coda,” He gave a stern reply to the creeper, giving her an answer to her question. “There’s five firewalls to take down, and it isn’t as easy as you think it might be-”

The soldier suddenly fell silent, before he spoke again, this time in a panic. “Shit, we’ve got trouble!” He stated. “Malware, six o’ clock!”

The blonde almost stopped his typing at what he had heard his brother announce. “M-malware? Already?!” He stuttered. “What is it…?” He instinctively looked behind him, and he saw what Jazz was talking about. A massive rope-like figure made of blue and black pixels slithered and twisted in the Void, flying closer towards the team. A single red eye glowed on its large head, and it unhinged its jaw to show off several rows of razor sharp teeth and let out a terrifying, static-filled roar.

“Is that what I think it is?!” Seth asked, slowly pulling out his assault rifle.

Lucky gulped and nodded. “Th-that’s a worm…” 

His mind nearly went into a panic just at the sight of the malware barreling towards him and the other seven soldiers. How could a worm get that large? He knew that all worms did was eat anything they could find to get bigger, but they would reach only about five meters in length before they were found and destroyed. This one surpassed that mark by a landslide. Eighty meters? Ninety? A hundred?! The worm was moving too swiftly to tell. And how did it manage to only appear then?! Somebody should have heard something!

It was the sound of gunshots that snapped Lucky out of his thoughts. Coda had snatched Seth’s rifle out of his hands and fired several times at the rapidly approaching malware in the distance.

“Wait, stop!!” Lucky panicked, reaching his hand out. “Bullets aren’t going to do anything! It’s too big!”

“Well, what the fuck are we supposed to do?!” Coda screamed and turned to look over at the blonde. “We’re sitting ducks if we don’t kill that thing!”

“J-Just… Just buy me some time!” Lucky felt his breathing quicken as he typed faster. He had to find the core of the firewall’s security and shut it down, and quick.

“He’s right!” Nightingale added. “Everyone, fan out! Keep that worm occupied!”

The Cyber soldier turned away from the group, flinching as he heard more roars from the worm. He had to resist the urge to look back at his team, back at the imminent danger. What was going on? The malware was screeching and letting out ear splitting cries, so much so that he couldn’t hear anybody else. All he could do was type and tap and push buttons as fast as he could…

And then he made it to the arming system on his panel of code. With one final smash of a button, every single firewall disappeared in a shower of blue pixels before his eyes, leaving the World inside completely exposed.

“They’re down!” Lucky shouted into his earpiece. “They’ll come back up in ten seconds, so we’ve gotta get in there NOW!”

Ten… nine... The byte began racing towards the World as fast as they could, Lucky in the lead. Nightingale, Grey, and Jazz activated flight hacks, Seth and Lucky started teleporting, Coda and Nix used speed hacks as they activated airwalks, and Sakura activated the propulsion jets on her R.O.S.A. and flew alongside the group. All were determined to get inside the World before they were locked out and had to face a grim demise.

Eight… seven...

The worm let out another fearsome cry, and Lucky instinctively glanced over his shoulder as he teleported from place to place. He wished he didn’t; the terrifying piece of malware was getting closer, sharp teeth on display and hungry for a fresh kill. The blonde felt his heart pound against his ribcage at the sight, and he immediately cried out over the intercom. “It’s gaining on us!”

Six...

“Ya think we can’t hear that damn thing?!” Coda shouted back.

Five…

“Let’s try to focus on not getting eaten, hmm?!” Nightingale ordered.

Four...

Another roar echoed behind the group of eight. Lucky could feel the sound vibrate through his chest. He knew this time he couldn’t look back. He just had to keep teleporting as fast as his hacks could take him.

Three...

Lucky felt himself becoming wearier with every time he teleported. His heart pounded, his vision blurred, his stomach churned. A side effect of using so many hacks in such a short amount of time.

Two...

But all he hoped was that they would be quick enough to get him out of this alive.

One...

Blue light flashed around the group, and the firewalls flickered back to life behind them. Before it could react, the worm slammed against the barrier with a loud THUNK, and let out static roar. It retracted itself back and shook its head several times, its massive red eye blinking. Not a moment later, it huffed, mandibles shifting, and flew off back into the darkness of the Void from where it came.

Everyone let out a sigh of relief. The constant feeling of death breathing down their necks was finally over, a giant weight lifted off their shoulders. Lucky felt his heart start to slow down as he gradually caught his breath, and he wiped a layer of dust off his visor. “Thank goodness…” He muttered to himself, clutching his stomach as he tried to let it settle.

“That was close…” Sakura said, breaking the constant huffs and exhausted coughing. “Is everybody okay…?”

“I’ve seen better days,” Grey groaned and rubbed his shoulder. A large gash could be seen on the shoulder pad of his chestpiece, a few black and blue pixels dotted along the surface.

Coda let out a chuckle as she breathed heavily. “You mean younger days, old man?”

“I’ve been at this longer than you’ve been alive.” The medic replied. “I’m not the man I was thirty years ago.”

“You’ve been enlisted for over thirty years?” Sakura asked, sounding genuinely interested. “Shouldn’t you be close to retirement by now?” 

“Two more months,” Grey replied, chuckling a bit. “Then I’m going to be relaxing on a beach somewhere in some deserted World-”

“As much as I would love to talk about retirement plans,” Nightingale’s stern voice cut Grey’s sentence off short. “We need to move before we get noticed by anything. Or anyone.”

Lucky gave a rapid nod and saluted along with several of the other soldiers, his nausea now fading away. “Y-yes ma’am!” He said, following everyone else’s lead. He looked over his shoulder at the rippling bluish-white wall of the World border, and took a deep breath to reassure himself that it would be alright. Closing his eyes, he then hurled himself forward, passing through the border and feeling gravity take hold of him once again as he landed on what he presumed to be the ground. To his surprise, he didn't stumble or fall. Not that he was complaining, of course.

The blonde cracked open his eyes, and the inky darkness of the Void was now replaced with bright colors and light. He stood in a massive field of grass up to his knees, a painted blue sky dotted with clouds up above. There was a soft breeze, making the expansive meadow around him ripple in waves of green. Everything was cast in a warm, gentle glow from the sun above the clouds. 

However, as lovely Lucky thought his surroundings were, he also thought that the view wasn’t enough compensation for him nearly being torn to shreds. Nothing probably would. But it wasn’t like he could exactly leave; the Army gave him a lot of debt to pay, after all.

It was the sound of feet planting on the ground behind him that made him turn around. Not too surprisingly, it was the rest of the byte, sticking out against the gentle landscape with their bold colored armor and artillery. 

Coda pushed a button on the side of her helmet, and the glass visor retracted itself to reveal her face. She took a deep breath in, and sighed in relief. "Finally, fresh air…"

Many others followed suit, including Lucky, either taking off their helmets completely or retracting the glass visors to allow them to take in the warm summer air. Even Nightingale had taken off her helmet, letting her midnight curls spring outward.

A minute of silence passed upon the group of soldiers as they all took the scenery in. Nothing but the summer wind and the distant chirping of birds could be heard. If only every day could be this calm, this serene...

But of course, the moment had to come to an end at some point. In this case, it ended with Nightingale breaking the silence. “Alright, get with your partners!” She barked out an order, slipping her helmet back onto her head. “Then head off towards your quadrinths!”

As soon as the sniper made her command, everyone broke away and paired with each other. Sakura with Coda, Seth with Nix, Nightingale with Grey. Which left Lucky with Jazz, and he was more than happy. The thought of being paired with almost anyone else (spare for Sakura and possibly Nix) made him feel uneasy.

At least he was going to have his brother by his side.

~~~~~

“How long have we been moving…?” Lucky asked Jazz, letting out a small groan in pain. His feet were killing him, hurting more with every step he made.

Jazz looked down at his brother as they walked through the dense woods. “About an hour.” He raised an eyebrow after a moment. “You tired of moving already?”

The blonde groaned again. “W-we nearly got eaten by a worm four times the size of an Ender Dragon…” He said. “And I’m not used to going in the field. Of course I’m tired.”

His brother let out a chuckle. “Fair enough.” He replied. A moment of silence ensued, before he spoke again. “You did good back there, by the way. With taking down the firewalls.”

Lucky felt his cheeks flush red at the compliment. No matter how many times his brother gave him any sort of praise, his face would practically turn into a cherry. “Y-you think so, Jazz…?” He asked.

Jazz smiled. “I know so, dude.” He assured, setting a hand on his shoulder. “And so do you. And the people that don’t think that are idiots, cuz you saved our asses today.”

A shy smile began to gradually form on the blonde’s face at his brother’s words. “Th...thanks.” 

“Anytime, Lucky.” There was another moment of quiet between the two brothers until Jazz spoke again. “...I’m proud of you, you know that right?”

Lucky blinked and stopped in his tracks. “Wait, what…?” His eyes widened as he looked up at his brother. “You’re...you’re proud of-”

"This is Bloom looking for Nightingale. Over." Sakura's voice crackled through the com, rudely interrupting the heartfelt conversation between the two brothers. 

A moment later, Nightingale's voice sounded as a reply. "Hear you loud and clear, Bloom." She said. "State your message. Over."

"Tiny Dancer and I have found signs of player activity in the south eastern quadrant," Sakura answered back. "And it appears to be recent. Should I send you all the coordinates? Over."

The sniper’s reply was almost instantaneous. “Yes, Bloom. Send them right away.” She ordered. “Everyone else, once you get their location, head there immediately. No stops. Nightingale, over and out.”

As the message ended and the coordinates sent through, Jazz glanced over at Lucky. “Well… time to go, I guess.” The corners of his mouth turned down into a slight frown for a moment, only to disappear as quickly as it came. “You got the coords?”

The younger of the two brothers glanced down at his communicator. “Y-yeah, I got them.” He said. “S-see you there.” He gave his brother a quick smile, before he closed his eyes and felt his stomach churned as he teleported. Once he opened his eyes, he saw everybody else there with him, including Jazz. He then shifted his eyes from them to his surroundings, and saw that he was in some sort of small town.

Well, more like a compound, the more he looked at it. But what it lacked in size it made up for in both security and class. Massive walls of wood and stone bricks stretched high above the group of eight and the buildings inside, making it very apparent that the stronghold was very defensible against most outsiders.

Emphasis on most, of course.

Lucky soon heard Grey speak up. "So should we try and lock this place down? Secure the perimeter?" He asked Nightingale, catching her attention.

The taller woman nodded. "Yes, we are," She answered. "And it can be safe to assume that if we find anyone, we'll be able to handle them." She shifted her one-eyed gaze around, before it landed on a stone building secured with a set of iron doors. "Now, follow me."

Being led by the famous sniper, everyone had their weapons equipped, save for Sakura, who had by this point exited her R.O.S.A. and compressed it back into its cubic form. Even Lucky had his grip on his knife for a moment, but soon put it away.

Nightingale then stepped up to the doors, but as she grasped the handle and tried to turn it, it refused to move. "Hmm?" She shook the lock a bit more, only to soon turn to Sakura. "It's locked… you have a lockpick?"

The mechanic bit her lip. "No ma'am…" She started, but she stepped up to the iron barrier anyway. "I can try to unlock it though." Pulling out a screwdriver from her tool belt and a small bobby pin from her hair, she knelt down to the lock and began to work.

But after several moments of jiggling the lock, breaking several pins, and nearly breaking the handle off the door, the brunette sighed in defeat. "It's not budging…" She said, standing up. "We're going to need a key."

Coda then spoke up and stepped towards the door, cracking her neck. “Don’t worry, I got one already.” As Sakura blinked in confusion and opened her mouth to ask what she meant, the creeper swiftly slammed her boot against the iron barrier with a massive BANG. The instant her foot collided with the metal, the door flew right off its hinges and skidded along the floor in a trail of sparks.

Lucky nearly shrieked at the loud noise, squeezing his eyes shut for a moment and clapping his hands over his ears. He hated that his ears were so sensitive to sound. Maybe it was all of that time spent in his control room at the Hive…

But no matter what it was, he knew he had to brush it off and keep going.

And that’s exactly what he did. He followed behind the group as everyone walked in single file, before making their way down a flight of stairs, and being greeted with a series of winding hallways. What was that place? A bunker of some sort? Lucky couldn’t tell. But with every footstep that sounded through the air, he became more and more certain that-

“Hello?”

Immediately, Lucky felt the hairs on the back of his neck raise. The echoing voice wasn’t one that he recognized. It had to be one of the World’s W.E.S. residents. But how had they found the byte already? Was it just blind chance? No matter what it was, he panicked out of instinct, and dashed into a nearby room, everybody else soon following.

The blonde darted his eyes around the dark room as he pressed himself against one of the walls. Countless boxes and crates were stacked among each other, some of their contents spilling out onto the tile floor. Books, picture frames, clothes. He even thought he saw something that looked like a drone sticking out of one of the containers. Perhaps the bunker was some sort of storage area. The W.E.S. employees could have possibly brought some of their own personal belongings to the World.

But he was shifted back to the present once he heard the voice again. "Doc? Is that you?" Footsteps then sounded, getting closer by the second. Lucky flattened himself further against the wall, eyes on the door to the hallway. He hesitantly reached for the knife on his belt, and held it close to his chest. He could do this...

Hopefully.

He glanced over at Nightingale, who had her rifle grasped in both hands. Her one-eyed gaze was fixed on the door, just like his was, but hers was much more calm, collected. And once that iron door opened and someone entered the room, she immediately knocked them to the ground and pointed the gun at their chest.

“GAAHH!!” The person who entered had let out a shriek as he hit the floor, before his eyes filled with fear as he saw all eight hackers before him. “Wh-what…? Wh-who are you?!” The brunette scrambled further back against the tiles beneath him, desperate to get away from the group of eight as they stalked closer. "P-please, I don't have anything…!" He begged.

“We don’t want money, kid,” Grey stated, pulling his pistol from his holster. “Just stay calm and-”

“Get away from me!” The green-eyed man attempted to fumble to his feet. “I-” Just as he was about to try and dash off, Nightingale suddenly teleported before him and jammed the barrel of her sniper rifle against his forehead. “GAAH!!”

The woman pressed her rifle’s barrel further against the man’s temple as he shrieked. "I would advise against trying to run." She stated, her voice cold like ice. “Understand?”

The brunette’s figure shook violently, his green eyes filled with fear as they were focused on the gun against his head. “Y-yes…!” He squeaked, trying to press himself further against the wall.

“Good.” She removed her rifle from his forehead, making him sigh in relief. “You’re going to tell us what we need, and you just might make it out alive.”

The man blinked, but he quickly nodded. “Y-yes, of course!” He agreed. “Wh-what do you want to know?”

The ebony woman kept her gaze locked with his. “First off… what’s your name?”

The hostage immediately answered. “Scar…! G-GoodTimesWithScar!”

“Scar, you say?” She removed her focus off of him and shifted it over to Lucky. “Lucky, check it against the list you made.”

Lucky nodded and pulled up his keyboard and holographic monitor with the photographs he compiled earlier. “Yes ma’am.” He plugged in the name into a search bar above the collage, pressed one final button, and then one of the images expanded to show who it was in greater detail. And sure enough, it was the same man cowering against the wall. “Yup, he’s telling the truth, ma’am. GoodTimesWithScar, famous builder turned full time W.E.S. employee.” 

Scar's eyes widened in confusion as his personal information was read off. "H...how did you…?" His sentence trailed off as a small ding sounded in the air, followed by a repeated buzzing.

Most members of the byte instinctively lifted their wrists to check their communicators, including Lucky, but nothing was showing up on any of the screens. The only one who didn’t move was Nix, and he had his dark brown gaze set on Scar.

"...wait, what's the quiet kid staring at?" Coda asked after a moment of confusion. Lucky shifted his focus back to the hostage, and then noticed what the silent medic was looking at. On Scar's wrist, a communicator was lit up and buzzing, signifying that someone was calling him.

Immediately, Lucky felt a sickening sense of dread in his chest. If Scar had a communicator, it meant that everyone in that World likely did. And more often than not, they had tracking systems built into their hardware, including an emergency feature that sent out an alarm to all other connected devices, notifying that somebody needed assistance ASAP. Plus, with somebody calling him, he could alert the others by answering and begging for help.

Apparently, Sakura had the same idea; get the communicator away from the hostage. Right before Lucky could say something, the brunette sprung into action and reached her cybernetic arm out and flicked her hand upwards. The device on Scar’s wrist then snapped off and flew straight into the mechanic’s palm.

"H-hey…!" Scar tried to lunge for his wrist com, but soon had the barrel of Jazz's combat shotgun lazily pointed at his head.

"Just make this easy so I don't have to scrub your brains off the wall," The soldier stated, yawning a bit. Lucky’s stomach churned a bit at his brother’s words. "Blood stains are tough to clean up…" 

The brunette’s green eyes widened, and he shrunk back his arm to hug himself. He tried to make a response, but could only let out a terrified squeak.

“Jazz!” Sakura stated, crossing her arms. “You’re scaring him!”

“That’s the point,” Jazz replied. “We can’t have this guy blow our cover.”

“I get that, but we don’t have to threaten him with his life-”

“Hey,” Nightingale interrupted the two and grasped their attention. “Another time, you two.”

Sakura looked at the ground in shame. “Yes ma’am…” She said.

Lucky’s brother soon followed. “Yes ma’am. It won’t happen again.”

“It better not,” Nightingale’s response made Lucky uneasy, and even more so when she shifted her raven gaze to him. “Now Lucky, you can create anti-teleportation restraints, I presume?”

The blonde gulped and nodded. “Y-yes ma’am…” He answered, feeling himself start to shake from anxiousness.

“Excellent.” The ebony woman gestured to Scar, who was still shivering in fear against the wall. “Put a pair of handcuffs on him. Make sure he can’t get out.”

Lucky nodded another time. “O-of course, ma’am!” He then held out his hand, and before his eyes, a glowing blue pair of translucent handcuffs pixelated in a matter of moments. With his new restraints in hand, he then knelt down, grasped the brunette’s arms and tightly snapped the cuffs around his wrists. 

“O-ow!!” Scar gasped out in pain. “Th-they’re too tight!”

Seth then stepped closer to the hostage. “That’s sort of the point.” He stated, before locking his gaze to Scar’s. “Now, hold still for me.”

The brunette blinked, confused. “Hold still-”

Scar's face paled in horror as he saw Seth's figure and features suddenly begin to shift and change before him. His fair skin tanned and freckled, his long red hair became brown and short, his eyes went from a striking grey to a soft green. Even his armor shifted into a brown jacket, pants and hat, and his tall figure shrunk down into one of the same size and stature as Scar's.

In fact, he looked exactly like Scar. A perfect carbon copy. Not a single feature or mark or scar was out of place, except for Seth's signature sly grin, making the innocent appearance much more sinister and malicious.

"There we are," Seth said, and showing to the group that his voice had changed as well. It was now slightly higher pitched, and much less formal than it was just moments before. Scar's voice. “Now, let’s call that friend back, shall we?” He turned to look down at Lucky. “You able to access it?”

The blonde nodded. “Y-Yeah. Just one moment,” He shifted his blue gaze to Scar’s communicator, and tapped the screen a couple times. To his surprise, there was no password required to gain entry into the device; he only needed to swipe left on the screen to open the main menu, its background of an adorable gray and white cat with a red collar wrapped around its neck. 

But as much as Lucky wanted to obsess over how cute the feline looked, he had a job to do. He darted his eyes around the screen, before landing on an icon of a phone. A single red dot blinking on one of its corners, signifying a missed call. Once he clicked on the image, a long list of previous calls made or received on the communicator appeared, with the latest being from a contact listed as ‘Doc’.

Doc. That name immediately rang a bell in Lucky’s mind. Doc was the name of the military scientist turned cyborg after getting blown up by one of his experiments. And from what he remembered from his profile picture, the creeper appeared extremely intimidating. All that he hoped as he pressed the button to return the call and handed the device over to Seth was that Doc didn’t suspect any foul play.

“Hello? Scar?” A deep, accented voice sounded from the communicator. “You there? I’ve called you twice…”

“Yeah, I’m here,” Seth spoke back, impersonating the handcuffed hostage perfectly. “Just got caught up with something.”

Doc chuckled, making Lucky feel more at ease at how it was all going smoothly. “Jellie again?” He asked. “What did she do this time?”

The soldier gave a chuckle in return. “She stole my hat and ran off.”

“Again?” The creeper asked, laughing. “It’s like she tries to hoard things, I swear…” After a moment, he then cleared his throat. “Anyway, I wanted to call to ask if you were still up for helping me, Impulse, and Stress out with the boxes down in the storage bunker. There’s still a bunch of equipment that needs to be sorted out.”

Lucky blinked at two things; one, the last two people mentioned, and two, the location of where they planned to meet up. Stress and Impulse? They had to be some of the other W.E.S. members stationed in the World. In terms of the meeting place… where they were seemed like the place. And he didn’t know if having all three people come at once was the safest option.

But before he could say anything, Seth replied to Doc with a wide grin. “Yes, of course.”

“Alright!” Doc said to his ‘friend’. “I’m on my way right now, so I should be there soon. Stress and Impulse are right behind me.”

The imposter grinned even wider at his success. “I look forward to it. See you in a bit.”

“See you, man.” 

The communicator then let out a beep, signifying that the call was over. Seth handed the device back to Lucky and turned to grin at Scar. “Well then…” He tipped his new hat in the hostage’s direction. “I suppose I have a friend or two to meet up with, hmm?”

All Scar could manage to do was let out shocked squeaks and sounds as he tried to come up with a response. “P-please don’t do this…” He begged, his eyes becoming more fearful as his double turned around and started walking out of the room. “Please, don’t…!”

Sakura stepped closer to the brunette and knelt down a bit, a soft smile on her face. “Don’t worry,” She started, resting a hand on his shoulder. “As long as you and your friends cooperate, you’re all going to be okay!”

Lucky gazed back at the disguised Seth making his exit. Although he knew it was probably just him being anxious, he had a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. A feeling that something wasn’t going to turn out so well…

~~~~~

“...geez, when’ll he be back?” Coda let out an agitated huff, throwing her arms up in the air.

“Coda,” Grey started, pinching the bridge of his nose. “It hasn’t even been twenty minutes...”

“It shouldn’t take this long to just bring a scientist down here!” She retorted, gritting her teeth at her former mentor.

Lucky looked past his holographic screens as he was sitting in a corner of the box-littered room. As terrified as he was of the creeper, she had a decent point. Twenty minutes was a bit long… maybe too long.

However, not a moment later, the blonde could hear voices echo throughout the halls of the bunker. And it wasn’t anybody else there. “W-wait…!” He whisper-yelled, in an attempt to get everyone to fall silent. “I think he’s back!”

He tried to listen closer to the voices bouncing off the stone walls as he edged closer to the door to the room. Sure enough, he could hear Doc’s voice and Scar’s (or technically in this case, Seth), and he sighed in relief. Everything was going to plan!

Lucky shifted his gaze around the room at every other group member. Jazz, Nightingale, and Coda had their weapons drawn, poised and ready to pounce. Nix, Sakura, and Grey, however, got behind some of the stray boxes, ready to duck behind them just in case they needed cover. He soon realized that he was the only one besides the real Scar that was out in the open. Not wanting to be caught in any potential crossfire, he then scrambled behind a crate, only poking his head out from behind the container.

“So this is where the rest of the supplies should be?” Doc’s voice could be heard clearly now, his footsteps approaching.

“Yes, I’m pretty certain.” Seth replied, before his disguised figure could be seen through the small windows in the iron door. “Just in here…” The metal door then creaked open, and the imposter walked inside, followed by the cyborg, who was a lot taller than Lucky expected. Doc appeared to be almost a head taller than him! But the blonde soon shook the thought away as he realized that the creeper could see every single soldier eyeing him down.

Doc’s functional eye widened in confusion as he saw the seven hackers in the room, a terrified Scar handcuffed among them. “Wait, Scar? What the hell-”

But before Doc could finish, he was slammed up against the wall by Seth, who's disguise had disappeared. The hacker grasped his natural arm and roughly twisted it behind his back, a sickening crack sounding as a result.

Lucky flinched at the massive scream of pain that then came from the scientist and the cry of concern that sounded from Scar. He could never get used to that part. No matter how many missions he was sent out on, no matter how much he tried to accept that it wouldn’t change, he always cowered in fear as saw soldiers hack and slash and pulverize the enemy without mercy. All he was proud of was the fact that it wasn’t him at the end of their gun barrels and steel blades.

Coda groaned in annoyance, despite the anguished cries that came from Doc. “Synth, we’re supposed to take care of the merchandise. Bruisin’ ain’t good.”

The redhead shoved the cyborg onto the ground next to Scar, where he continued to writhe in agony from his broken limb. “He’ll live.” He assured.

Lucky blinked at what Coda had called Seth. Synth? Was that his name? The blonde’s face began to glow red, embarrassed at himself.

“Doc!” Scar cried out as the creeper collapsed to the floor. “Doc, are you okay?!”

Doc huffed in pain, clutching his natural arm with his cybernetic one. “He broke my damn arm…” He said through gritted teeth, before shifting a hateful gaze up to who he thought was the real Scar he knew. “Who are you?! What do you people want?!”

Synth looked back down at the creeper, his grey eyes unwavering. “What do we want?” He repeated the question, and knelt a bit closer to the floor. “What we want is for you and your colleagues to cooperate. If you all do… you live. And if you don’t… well, we wouldn’t want to ruin the surprise, now would we?” A wide, almost malicious grin crept onto the man’s lips.

The cyborg’s natural eye widened, before his expression turned to one of anger and fury, and he tried to prop himself up despite his injury. “If you hurt any of them, I swear I will-”

“D-Doc?!”

The voice of an unknown woman sounded out in the room. Lucky whipped his head around, and he saw two terrified people standing in the doorway. One was a short woman with big brown eyes and brown hair, donning a pink cardigan. It could easily be assumed she was the one who cried out. The other person was a man with dark brown hair and eyes, wearing a black t-shirt and cargo shorts. His face was so pale with horror that Lucky was surprised he was even standing.

Out of the corner of his eye, the short blonde saw Coda whip out a pistol and point it at the pair of brunettes. “If you so much as twitch, I’ll put a bullet between your eyes.” She stated, before stalking towards them and yanking both of them by their shirts through the doorway. “Now, c’mere!”

The woman’s eyes widened in fright at the sight of the gun, and she let out a fearful shriek as she was dragged across the floor. “W-wait, pleas-” Her sentence was cut off as she and the man were thrown to the cold tile floor next to Doc and Scar. “GAH!”

“Stress, Impulse!!” Doc cried out for the two people now beside him. He tried to reach out for the man, but gasped in pain as he moved his broken arm.

“Doc, Scar, what’s going on?!” The man asked, sounding terrified and desperate for an answer. His eyes darted around to every hacker in the room. “Who are they?!”

“We don’t know, Impulse!!” Scar struggled against his handcuffs. 

Lucky’s eyes were wide as he watched all of their panic unfold, and they widened even more as he saw everyone else’s expressions. Almost everyone’s face was completely blank, nearly void of any reaction to what they were witnessing. Was seeing horror and fear something to be expected while out in the field?

“Lucky,” Nightingale’s cold voice made Lucky snap out of his thoughts. “Cuff them, would you?”

The blonde gave a nervous nod and saluted. “Y-yes, ma’am!” He formed another three pairs of the translucent shackles in his hands, before going up to the three new hostages to restrain them. The woman (presumably Stress) and Impulse were easy enough to cuff; they were so scared of setting anyone off that they let even the weakest one move them around however ne needed them to.

Doc, however, was a bit more difficult. Even with his broken arm, he still tried to fight back, struggling against Lucky’s grip. “We have people that will be looking for us!” He said as the blonde finally managed to restrain him. “They’ll find you all and have you arrested!”

Coda let out an amused snort at Doc’s statement. “Arrested?” She asked through her laughter. “How? You guys don’t even have respawn yet! Let alone having contact with the authorities; that’ll be months away!” She sat on the floor next to him as he struggled against his cuffs. “Which leaves us all alone with you guys…” Her eyes then landed on Stress, who was curled up into a ball, too scared to make a move.

“Oh hello…” The creeper grinned slyly and leaned closer to Stress' face. "You're a cute one, arentcha?~" She purred, slowly twirling the barrel of her gun through the woman's short brown locks. The hostage froze at Coda's touch, and she let out shaky, terrified breaths.

“Leave her alone!” Doc growled, struggling against his handcuffs.

Coda turned to the scientist and stuck out her bottom lip, tilting her head to the side. "Aww, but I don’t want to!" She whined, before giving him a grin and laughing. “Besides…” She then leaned forward towards him and traced the barrel of her pistol along his cheek. “If you try, I can just rip off your other arm. Matching set sounds nice, dunnit?"

Lucky felt his stomach twist at her words. He wondered how Nightingale (or anyone, for that matter) wasn’t disturbed at the creeper’s intimidating behavior. But as far as he knew, she was pretty good at what she did… maybe she got a bit of a free pass.

“Alright, that’s enough,” The blonde was proven wrong as Nightingale had grabbed Coda’s shoulder and ripped her off the ground to face her. “Taunting them isn’t going to do anything good.”

Coda crossed her arms in defiance. “Fine… whatever you say…” She leaned in close to her superior’s face. “Boss.” Her final word dripped with venom, before she wiggled out of the woman’s grip and walked calmly to the other side of the room.

The sniper gave the creeper a hard glare, before pinching the bridge of her nose and sighing. It was obvious to Lucky that her patience was wearing thin. “Jazz, Sakura, Lucky,” She stated after a moment of apparent frustration. “Head outside and stay on guard. Keep an eye out for any others that might wander into the bunker. Understood?”

Lucky gave a nod and saluted. “Y-yes ma’am…!” He stood up and scurried out the door to the room, following his brother and Sakura down the winding hallways.

After a minute of their footsteps being the only sound, Lucky wasn’t surprised when Jazz pulled out his game from his back pocket and began to play. Though he didn’t exactly mind, Sakura spoke up. “Maybe you shouldn’t have that out while we’re on duty…” She said, a worried tone to her voice.

Jazz kept his gaze on the device in his hands as he walked. “Sakura, I’ll be fine. And besides, nobody’s here.”

Sakura frowned, obviously becoming more concerned. “Jazz…!” She stated, borderline begged. “Please, just put it away!”

The soldier didn't listen. "I told you, we’ll be alright," He assured. "It's not like we're going to get caught-"

Jazz's sentence was suddenly cut short by a large crossbow bolt zooming right past his younger brother, before ripping through the device in his hands and shattering it to pieces.

[spaceiplier]

Ocean Man (oh and Blank’s here too)

Ethan sat back in his seat. The hum of the ship filled the relatively silent room. Stars blurred past them, the dusky expanse of a nebula quickly approaching. His hands were clutched in the folds of his hoodie. Slowly flexing his fingers, Ethan stared at the wide empty space around them.

Space was so big. He had never given it much thought. It just was. Now that he had something to look for, however, he found himself lost in the stars. It was too vast, and the thing he was searching for too small. Like finding a needle in a haystack.

“You doing alright?” Mark asked, entering the cockpit of his own pod. He sat, the holo image of him flickering a bit as he settled into his seat. “You haven’t said a word since we left.”

“I’m just nervous, I guess,” Ethan said, finally letting go of his hoodie to run his hands through his hair. “What if he’s not there? What if he’s hurt? What if we can’t find him, and then we do, and he’s- he’s dead? Mark, what if he’s dead? What if it’s not even him?! What if someone just thought they saw Blank? It could be just some random android who kind of looks like Blank. What if—”

“Hey,” Mark interrupted him, holding up his hands. “Calm down, alright? Nothing is going to get solved by panicking. If he’s hurt, we get help. If he’s not there, we keep looking. He’s not dead.”

Ethan opened his mouth to protest but Mark shut him down quickly again.

“He isn’t dead, Ethan,” Mark said, taking on a softer tone of voice. Ethan looked up to see Mark smiling at him. “The GAAP confirmed he’s alive. He’s out there, and we’re going to find him, no matter how long it takes. Don’t give up so soon, alright?”

“Okay,” Ethan said, letting himself sink further into his seat. “Just… it’s been so long. And with everything that happened to us… we thought we were going to die. And then he did. I gave up on him and ran away. And now I have hope that he’s alive, but he might not be. I might be holding onto something stupid.”

The green and yellow nebula was slowly fading away, replaced by a wide field of asteroids. Not close enough that Ethan could make out details. The wide belt of rocks filled the area, growing closer.

“Nothing wrong with that,” Mark said. “What you two went through was horrific. Nobody should ever experience that. It’s okay to be scared. That’s what makes you alive, dude. Just know that we’re going to do this.”

“Thanks, Mark,” Ethan smiled back, even if it felt weak. “You’re a good guy when you’re not being a fucking dick.”

“Anytime,” Mark waved him off. “Now pay attention. We’re getting close to the Seupeullis Asteroid field. We might lose communication while we’re going through there, but you need to keep going. We’ll meet up on the other side.”

“Roger that,” Ethan said, setting his feet firmly on the ground and steadying his hands over the controls. “See you there.”

As the asteroid field approached, Mark’s holographic image went fuzzy before disappearing completely. This shouldn’t take too long. Ethan focused.

He and Mark entered the field.

A few alarms blared as asteroids cut too close to Ethan’s pod, and a small, shaking diagram of the pod showed a large red dot at the top of the ship. Ethan remembered what it meant a moment too late as a larger asteroid scraped the top of the pod. Ethan flinched as several more alarms started screaming, and red lights flashed behind him.

“Shit, shit, shit,” he muttered, managing to avoid a few more hits. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Mark doing much better than him, narrowly avoiding an asteroid twice the size of his pod.

The comm flickered back into range as they were forced closer together.

“How -re you… up? Do you… get out… broken…”

“I don’t know what you’re saying,” Ethan shouted back, diving down and out of range again. As he dove back up, Mark’s panicked face flickered back into view.

“They’re denser than predicted!” Mark said, his voice distorted by static but understandable. “How are you holding up?”

“I got hit,” Ethan said, pulling up his diagnostic. “Just a scrape, but I can’t take another hit like that. How are you doing?”

“A couple… all.” Mark’s voice faded out again as a few smaller asteroids flew between the two pods.

All of a sudden, a large green blip appeared on Ethan’s screen. It was close, and growing closer. An alarm went off, and green light filled both Ethan and Mark’s pits. They shared an alarmed look before the asteroids began being dragged in the opposite direction.

“What is a wormhole doing out here?” Ethan shouted as Mark’s screen went dark. Ethan pulled back on the controls, swerving around a series of hurtling rocks. Dodging one, another smashed into the side of his ship. He was sent flying away, farther and farther from Mark.

Managing to get the shaking pod back under control and out of the wormhole’s pull, Ethan swung back around.

He was ready to keep dodging asteroids, but they were no longer crashing around. They hung, stationary. Ethan let go of the controls and threw his hands in the air.

“We made it!” he yelled, his voice still half drowned out by the alarms. “Mark, we— Mark?”

His face still hadn’t reappeared, and the large green blip had vanished. Ethan started flicking through his controls, attempting to reform the connection. The alarms stopped. Now that everything wasn’t happening at once, Ethan looked outside, hoping to find Mark’s pod.

Panic shot through him when he didn’t see anything. Was he still stuck in the field? Ethan swung his pod around shakily, tracing the edge of the asteroid field as he scanned for Mark. Nothing came up.

Mark was gone.

.

.

“MOTHERFUCKING FUCK WHAT THE FUCK THIS IS NOT OKAY ETHAN WHAT THE FUCK!”

Mark screamed, cussing out anything he could get his hands on. His ship spun through a vortex of colors. All he could do was hold on as he was tossed about, rocks crashing into him. Both wings were torn off the pod, and an engine was in flames. The alarms were screaming, but one had shut off. The wiring was damaged too.

Great. Everything had gone to hell.

“FUCK!” Mark pulled a few levers, hoping one of them would do something, but before he could find out, something large, flat, and metal slammed into the back of his head, knocking him out cold.

.

.

“... BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP.

Mark came too, vision blurry and head pounding. The alarm was going off, but it sounded like it was a thousand miles away. Mark reached out to his the snooze. Just five more minutes. He’d never been drunk, but he imagined that this was what hangovers were like.

His hand hit something hard and covered in controls. Blinking, the control dash came into focus. Why was he in a pod? And why was the air so thick?

Heat licked at his leg. Looking down, the floor was on fire. A few patches of flames had consumed the pit.

“Fuck!” Mark attempted to leap back, but he was strapped to his seat. He frantically clawed at the belts, releasing himself and stumbling out of his chair. His hand landed on the latch to the emergency exit. Without thinking, he pushed.

FWOOMP!

Water rushed into the pod, completely burying Mark in frigid water.

His first instinct was to flail. Find some handhold. Find something to get him out of the fucking water. Everything was dark and cold. He could barely see, and the sudden rush of water forced his air out in a panicked scream.

His hand hit something. The ship. Grabbing hold, Mark used it to hurtle himself up. Out of the water, and towards the faintly glowing surface.

Mark hit the surface with a sputtering gasp. Hands paddling to keep himself afloat, he coughed, retching up the water he’d swallowed. His chest hurt, and the cold was quickly sinking into his skin. He shivered.

“Wha… where… Ethan!”

Mark threw himself around. The tip of his ship stuck out of the water, but there was no sign of another pod. The sky was dark, only illuminated with a clouded over moon. Too dark to make out any other defining features around him. No ships. No land. Nothing.

Just… ocean.

“ETHAN!” Mark shouted, his voice cracking from the water and smoke inhalation. His chest seized with panic and cold. His teeth chattered as he swam back to his pod. He wanted out of the water as quickly as possible.

He pulled himself onto the tip of the pod, and the wind hit him.

Oh, this was much worse.

From the top, however, he could just barely make out a landmass. Maybe a dozen yards away, but close enough to swim to if he didn’t die of hypothermia first. It was better than staying out here.

Taking a deep breath, Mark jumped back into the ocean.

Fuck, he hated the ocean. It was dark. It was cold. There were several bioluminescent plants lighting the sandy slopes, and a few schools of fish swam through the looping coves lining the bottom.

Death. Just pure death.

Mark rose back to the surface. The Academy had required passing a swim test, and with Mark’s Ir’al father, he’d seen enough lakes and pools to be a decent swimmer. He had never liked those swimming trips. Thomas, his brother, had always liked the water much more than him.

He didn’t know if he had always hated water. What Mark did know was that when he was younger, he’d tried breathing underwater. Stupid, yeah, but he was young. All he had wanted was to be more like his dad, and his dad could breathe underwater. Mark had nearly drowned, saved only by his mother yanking him out. She’d yelled his ears off about it as she held him close, wrapped in a towel.

It was his earliest memory of water. Painful, cold, and crushing in on him as he was powerless to stop his own death.

Mark took another deep breath as he paused, looking up to see if he was any closer to the shore. Just a few more strokes and he’d be there. Now that he was closer, he could see towering trees and thick underbrush. A few birds circled overhead. The island didn’t look big, but it was better than water.

He took off again.

Mark hadn’t inherited much from his Ir’al DNA. Stronger, and a better resilience to injuries, but none of the gills or fins. Not even webbed fingers. Still, he’d inherited a strong resemblance to his father. His dad always used to hold him on his shoulders as they walked down to the market. He’d comment to anyone who’d listen about how much Mark looked like him, pride in every word.

And Mark would always beam. He loved his dad. He always wanted to make him proud and do right by him. It was half the reason he aimed to join the Academy. Mark had always taken his father’s lessons to heart. He’d always tried to be someone his dad would be proud of.

When he was younger, Mark had wanted that, but he’d always felt like he was missing something with his dad. At first, he thought it had been because he wasn’t Ir’al enough. He didn’t like water, he couldn’t do anything like what his dad could do. He wasn’t enough.

Over time he’d come to accept that he was good enough as who he was. But there was always that nag in the back of his head that he was missing something with his dad. When he’d died, Mark knew that that was the end of it. He’d never get an answer to why he felt so lost with his dad.

He couldn’t change the past. All he could do was keep moving.

Mark’s hands touched coarse sand. He pulled himself up and out of the water, breathing hard. His flight suit was soaked, and his hair clung to his face. The wind sunk its teeth into him, causing him to shake and hold himself.

He needed to find shelter, and he needed a heat source.

.

.

“Amy? Tyler? Kathryn? Anyone? Come on, guys. Answer!”

Ethan jammed the radio furiously, but no one responded. He’d managed to quiet down the alarms, and the ship was completely silent now. Other than his own quiet and desperate requests, it was mind-numbingly silent.

Alone.

Quiet.

Lost.

“Answer me!” Ethan begged and smacked the comm. For a moment it buzzed with static, but then was gone again. “Fuck!” Ethan tossed the comm away, hearing it clatter behind him. He had no outside communication.

What was his best chance? At this point, he was lost. Mark was nowhere in sight. Probably got sucked into the wormhole and spat back out god knows where, if anywhere at all. Ethan was out of the asteroid field, but his pod was badly damaged. At least his tracker was still working. Blank’s location still pinged steadily, a lonely blue dot on the map.

Ethan couldn’t make it. Not in this ship. He’d crash before he even got close. There were three planets between him and Blank. Two were uninhabitable, and the other one had just recently been introduced to the GAAP. They’d just started venturing out into space. Would they have the capabilities to get him off world if he stopped there?

He had to take that chance. Ethan’s only other options were a gas planet or a planet covered in a raging sandstorm.

Janky backwater planet it was then.

Ethan started slowly towards the planet, hoping his shuddering pod didn’t collapse around him.

.

.

Mark’s stomach growled loudly.

His shoddy lean-to provided cover from the wind, and a small fire was keeping him reasonably warm, but any food Mark had packed for his trip was stuck in his pod and probably completely soaked. With his ship sunk into the ocean, comm stuck inside, and no means of escape, time seemed to escape him. The sky seemed to remain an overcast gray no matter what. Heavy fog lay over everything, covering everything with cold moisture and obscuring any view he might have had.

The wind picked up suddenly, and Mark shifted closer to his fire.  

The planet he was on was mainly ocean, as far as he could tell. Miles upon miles of cold, dark, miserable, unforgiving ocean stretching as far as he could see. It blended with the clouds on the horizon, making it seem even more infinite. The only other life he could see nearby were a few large, slick birds flying overhead, and the copse of trees he was barely sheltered by.

He hadn’t gone back into the ocean. No way in hell was he going to set foot in that expanse of death. He’d found enough supplies on the tiny island he’d set up camp on to last him at least another day. Maybe farther inland he’d find some ways of communicating off this planet? Or maybe some way of speaking to a sentient species that lived here. Maybe something to eat. Either way, the last thing he wanted to do was go back into the ocean.

One of the large birds that had been circling Mark’s location suddenly dove toward the ocean. It plunged beneath the icy surface and reemerged with a medium-sized fish in its beak. It landed on the edge of the shore, carrying its prize proudly.

The bird seemed to look over at Mark with its catch before swallowing the fish whole.

Mark’s stomach rumbled again.

No. Nope. He wasn’t going in. No way.

The bird hopped away and took off.

“Stupid bird,” Mark muttered. The wind picked up again, and with a sharp crack lightning illuminated the sky. Rain slowly started falling, drowning his pitiful fire. Mark huddled farther under his shuddering shelter, praying it would last through the increasingly heavy downpour.

It didn’t. With a clatter, the shelter fell around Mark. Whatever sort of dryness he had attained was instantly taken away as he was soaked by the rain. Thunder roared all around, causing Mark to yelp and scamper on all fours back into the trees.

Well, it was at least slightly better than the empty beach. Mark glanced around at the closest trees, hoping for a small hole or cave he could hide in, but nothing presented itself. The trees were all tall and thin, with only a small clump of branches at the top.

Fine. Farther into the trees was the only logical place. The center rose slightly, forming a series of cliffs, covered with dense fog. Maybe there was an outcropping, or some shallow cave to hide in. Anything to last him through the night so he could gather his thoughts and make it through this nightmare.

He stumbled to his feet. Mark hurt. The crash had bruised what felt like every inch of his body. Each step sent fire racing up his right leg. He must have sprained his ankle. There was nothing to do about it now. Just keep walking. Keep moving forwards and survive.

As he walked, Mark huffed with laughter. He remembered another stupid idiot in a situation much like this one. Hurt and alone. Running off by himself. History really did have a habit of repeating itself.

Just keep walking.

He could survive this.

Mark missed Chica.

Mark was soaked, cold, and completely miserable when he nearly walked right into a large flat wall. It seemed to stretch miles upward, and he wasn’t quite sure how he’d missed it. Its top had to have been buried somewhere in the fog.

He kept one hand on the wall and followed it to its edge. Peering around the corner, Mark’s spirits rose when he spotted what appeared to be an entrance. He nearly tripped over his own feet as he half jogged, half limped to the large gateway. Deep blue curved markings curled around the frame, giving off a dim glow slightly refracted by the rain. The door was solid black with two large blue handles.

Mark stumbled forwards, grabbing onto the handle. As he touched it, the glow faintly pulsed before fading again. He struggled briefly trying to pull the door open, and he almost believed it was locked before he leaned against it and it started to shift open.

Of fucking course.

The moment he was inside the door closed behind him, plunging him into a nearly pitch black room. All sounds of the ocean and howling wind were cut off. It was replaced with dry air and a crushing feeling of being watched.

Mark yelped as his vision was cut off. His hands flung out, and he backed up until he was pressed against the door. As soon as the light was gone, however, the room was dimly illuminated. A few barely-lit blue lamps sat around the circular room. They weren’t bright enough to show Mark the room in full detail, but it was enough to give him an idea that this room was huge, and it wasn’t natural.

Someone had made this place. They had carved it out intentionally.

“Hello?” Mark called out, hesitantly at first, but then with feeling. “Hello?!”

The only thing that answered was his own voice, echoing off against the curved walls.

Mark shivered, but it wasn’t from the cold.

.

.

Ethan flipped his hood up, shoving his hands into his pockets. Keeping his eyes focused on the ground, he left the alleyway. Part of him wished he’d worn a less obvious hoodie than his bright yellow one, but he didn’t really have many options at this point.

“Sir! Pfirone! Can I interest you in some fresh pfirone?”

“Come get your Visba!”

“Hey! Give that back!”

Ethan forced his way through the crowds, avoiding eye contact with everyone. Swarms of children found their way through the legs of the adults. A few small canid animals yapped at each other. The adults shouted and argued, haggling over prices, talking above the dull roar of crowds, shouting at their disobedient children. It was a mess, but somehow managed to find its own order.

“Watch it!”

Ethan was shoved from behind as a large man walked past, holding a giant crate of something sour smelling. He stumbled into another man, his hands instinctively coming out to catch himself.

“Hey, are you okay…” the man started to ask, but then his eyes landed on Ethan’s metal blue hands. His eyes widened. Their eyes met and Ethan cursed himself. He yanked back, shoving his hands into his pockets again, and took off running.

The shouts of the man were lost in the crowd as Ethan put as much distance between him and the man as possible.

He only stopped running when he finally managed to reach the edge of the market. The crowd was considerably thinner as a few small groups of people entered and exited the expansive marketplace, chatting amicably among themselves.

Of course he had managed to crash land on a planet where there were no androids. The most advanced technology here were robots, and they sucked! Ethan knew some badly programmed robots, and these were worse.

The first town Ethan had stumbled upon had nearly taken him apart. They all were grabbing at him, trying to touch him. The metal guy who could speak like them. A marvel to them, obviously. Ethan had taken the first chance he got to bolt.

He kept his head down as he walked, only glancing up occasionally to make sure he wasn’t going to crash into someone. He just needed to find somewhere safe to spend the rest of the day, and then he could keep working on figuring out how to get off of this trash heap of a planet.

It had only been three days since he’d last seen Mark.

Three days, and Ethan was already sick and tired of being alone. He wanted to be home on the Barrel. He wanted to go out and explore new planets with Kathryn and Amy. He wanted to lose at every game with Tyler and Mark. He wanted to program Bing to learn new skate tricks and karaoke songs. He wanted to cuddle up with the dogs.

He shook his head. No. Ethan was here to find Blank, and he wasn’t going to stop until he had found his brother. He had to get off this planet. Blank was the one who needed him now. Not Mark, not Amy, not the dogs, and not Bing. Blank.

Well… maybe Mark. But he wasn’t the main concern right now. Mark could take care of himself.

As Ethan passed the edge of town, his eye was caught by a poster attached to a brick wall coated in numberless other signs. Calls for work, signs for lost pets, but most importantly: a poster with the location of a GAAP station.

They’d have a way off this planet.

.

.

The entire building was dead.

Mark had been wandering its halls for what had to have been hours, and he’d found nothing but winding hallways and more dim lamps. His eyes, adjusted to the darkness, now managed to make out that the walls were covered in strange glyphs. There were several outlines that looked like doors, but none opened. He’d finally managed to get back to what he assumed was the room he started in, and slumped against the wall.

At least he was mostly dry now, and out of the rain.

“Wonder what Ethan is doing?” he asked himself. Nothing answered, but he kept talking. Something to fill the emptiness around him. “Probably safe and cozy in some GAAP building, if he hasn’t found Blank already. He’s probably at least around other people. People who can talk to him. Not some birds and an empty old building.”

“Bal’leo loll...”

Mark shrieked, jumping to his feet and pressing his back against the wall. The deep voice, as soon as it had spoken, was gone again. The room was empty and silent again. Mark looked around. Where had that voice come from?

“Who’s there?” Mark called out.

Nothing answered.

Then, the lamp sitting against the far wall began glowing brighter. The blue light washed over everything, giving it a haunted, almost underwater appearance.

This was a bad idea.

Mark turned around and tried to open the door. Nothing.

Fuck. This was a really bad idea.

Turning back to the light, Mark took a deep breath and walked towards it. The closer he got, the dimmer it grew. Reaching it, he saw the light sinking into the floor. The glyphs glowed as they ran towards the wall. Then, the outline of the door glowed. With a snap the door opened, dust falling as the stone broke after years of no use.

“This isn’t a good idea,” Mark told himself.

And he walked through the door.

.

.

“Hello? Can I help you?”

The lobby of the GAAP office was tiny. A single Nelidi man sat at the desk, two hands poised above a comm keyboard, one scribbling out notes, and the last holding a mug of steaming dark brown liquid. His long hair was pulled back into a high knot, and his four eyes blinked out of sync.

“Uh, yeah.” Ethan pushed back his hood. The Nelidi gasped, all four eyes widening in shock, and Ethan winced. “I’m looking for a way off planet. I crashed here a few days ago and I need to leave.”

“Oh,” the man said, hands instantly reaching for forms and a pen. “Please, have a seat! Fill these out, and we will see about getting you a ship off-world. If you don’t mind me asking though…” He looked around before leaning towards Ethan. “What are you doing back here?”

“What?” Ethan took the form and began filling out his information. “Dude, I’ve never been here before.”

“Are you sure?” the Nelidi man took a closer look at him. “I swear you look like that android that came through here a few months back. Shakey fellow. I covered the ID code for him. I know all too well about those rich scientists who abuse androids off-record. Understandable to run away like that.”

He clicked his tongue.

Ethan was frozen. Blank… Blank had been here!

“Tell me everything,” Ethan said forcefully as he slammed the form down, staring the shocked Nelidi down. “When was this? Where did he go? Did he look okay? Are you sure you covered his ID code? Did he have anyone with him? What—”

“Hey, hey!” The man held up his hands. “I don’t know much, okay? I just know the poor kid was on the run and needed to disappear. I’m not the best GAAP agent. Clearly. I’m stuck out on this backwater planet. He just came through about two or so months ago. Needed a ship off planet and didn’t want the GAAP on his tail. That’s all.”

Ethan clenched his hands, crushing the pen.

Blank had been here.

Blank was still running.

“Can you at least tell me where he was headed?” Ethan asked hopefully.

The man looked him over. “You got the same creator?”

Ethan nodded.

The man sighed. “He was headed to Paisine. I don’t know if he’s still there, but that’s all I know. The next ship headed there leaves in an hour.”

“Thank you,” Ethan said, leaning heavily on the desk. It felt like a weight had been lifted off of him. He had a lead, and that was all that mattered. “Really, thank you.”

“Don’t worry about it,” the man said, curiously looking Ethan over. “Oh, and don’t worry about filling out that form. The GAAP never has to know you were here.”

Ethan nodded, then moved to collapse on one of the seats. He began absentmindedly picking stuffing out of a tear in the cushion as hope filled his entire being.

“I’m coming, Blank,” he said. “I’m almost there.”

.

.

It was like a bad game of tag.

Lamps would light up, and as soon as Mark got to them they’d die and the next one was glowing just down the hall. Lamp after lamp, glowing and fading as he tried to catch up. They led him farther into the building, sometimes through doors that it seemed hadn’t been opened for years.

The voice hadn’t spoken again, but Mark was on edge. There hadn’t seemed to be any malicious intent in the voice, but it hadn’t seemed kind either. Just a voice, saying words that echoed around his brain.

There was someone here. Or an echo of someone, at least.

It was something.

As Mark rounded the corner, he stumbled to a halt. There were no more lamps. Instead, the hall opened up into a giant room that pulsed to life the moment Mark entered. The ceiling stretched so far up Mark could barely see it. Tubes ran down the sides of the walls, water rushing through them. In the center of the room sat a series of interlocking stone pieces forming a long pillar. It looked like a giant three dimensional puzzle. The glyphs around it glowed softly.

The voice spoke again. Mark jumped at the sudden noise, but as it continued to speak the nonsense slowly began to make sense.

“... have come to my home? Alone it seems.”

“Who are you?” Mark asked, slowly moving towards the stone.

“The Collective,” the voice said. This time the voice was no longer deep and menacing. Instead it was several soft and feminine voices, all overlapping. “I am the minds of every being of my home.”

“Wait… what?” Mark came to a stop before the pillar. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“I am everyone, and yet I am myself,” the voices hummed and shifted to an overlay of deep and soft. “I am my home, and yet I am a stranger. Who are you, is the question? Why have you come here? No one has come to my home in nearly a thousand years. You are not part of the Collective.”

“I’m Mark,” Mark answered. “Just a person. Human and Ir’al. I crashed here a few days ago.”

“Mark,” the voices mused, repeating the name through different voices. A few of them chuckled. “You are like us. A stranger to yourself. How amusing.”

“Yeah, ha ha,” Mark huffed. “I’m hilarious, I know. How do I leave?”

The voice was quiet for a moment, before breaking out into laughter. It grated on Mark’s ears. Multiple laughs falling over each other, somehow a cacophony of shrill and dark noises. There was no joy in the laughter. No emotion. Just noise. As soon as it started, it ended.

“No one leaves,” the voice said. “I am the Collective. The Collective of all who lived here. All who have ever lived here. The Collective of the minds of my people. You cannot leave, because leaving means leaving behind our purpose. My mission to save.”

“Could you be creepier about that?” Mark asked.

The pillar flashed. “When you eventually meet the end of your life, you will become part of the Collective.”

“Oh.” Mark blinked. Then something clicked. “Wait… you’re made up of everyone who used to live here?”

“Find out for yourself,” the voices said, shifting to something childish and youthful. A piece of the ground broke off, rising up. As it reached the height of the center of Mark’s chest, a hologram appeared, flicking with blue light. “We hold the minds of many. I know all of my home. Anything you wish to know is ours to share with all.”

This felt wrong.

Mark didn’t feel as if the pillar had sinister intent towards him. It wasn’t trying to kill him. It was just speaking of an eventuality as a certainty. It was doing its job. Even if its job was to eventually absorb his brain into a hivemind-like entity trapped in an ancient alien building.

Not evil. Just wrong.

Tapping on the hologram, it expanded. Line upon line of text that wiggled around until it was in Common.

Great, it was already in his head.

For a few minutes he read. The pillar remained silent, letting him be. It was a little confusing at points, but it was fairly simple. An outline of the final moments of this planet’s sentient species.

The lives, the people… this planet had been alive. And now it was crumbling around itself. Doomed to fade away.

“You were dying,” Mark said as he finished.

“We died,” the voices said, and for the first time Mark heard emotion. Sadness. “I am continuing to die, and I cannot stop it.”

.

.

Ethan tapped his knees, staring straight ahead as the transport ship gave a worrying rattle. He glanced at the robot piloting the thing, but it didn’t pay him any attention. Crates surrounded him, strapped down, but still bouncing worryingly with every jolt. Only a few had supplies, as they were going off-world. Ethan was the only person on board. Nobody to talk to. Nobody to take his mind off where he was going.

He’d been traveling for two hours and forty-seven minutes now. Ethan hadn’t thought about how quiet traveling alone was. He’d only done it once, and that was when he’d left his creator. After that he’d always been with Kathryn, and then the Barrel.

It was so quiet now.

No jeers thrown back and forth between him and Mark. No tech talk with Kathryn or Tyler. No Amy to hang out with and chat about news from all those inner city tabloids. No Bing to mess around with.

Just him, and the looming fear that he would fail.

The small ship took a sharp turn as they approached the planet’s outer moon, causing a loosely-strapped crate to press Ethan into the wall. Ethan attempted to push it off of him, but seemed to have gotten lodged in place. Oh great. Just fucking perfect. He shifted slightly and rested his head against the wall.

It felt like the trip would never end.

“Are we there yet?” Ethan asked loudly, not expecting a response.

He got none.

“Cool, thanks,” Ethan said.

There weren’t any windows, so Ethan closed his eyes. He let his data banks fill in the blanks. Images of planets he’d seen. Moments with the crew. A few dog videos he’d recorded. Anything to distract him.

It was only another hour, but it flew by quickly. The ship rattled to a halt, and the robot beeped.

Ethan thanked the robot quickly and slipped quietly out of the GAAP docking station.

There was nobody there. Thank god. He’d be in a lot of trouble if someone asked for his forms. Ethan quickly slipped out of the station, flipping his hood up and avoiding eye contact with the robots taking crates from the ship.

He couldn’t get sidetracked. He’d wasted enough time as it was. Being stopped by security would only put Blank further out of reach. He knew where Blank was. Despite being so far away, he knew where he was and he was going to find him. The sooner he could find him, the better.

Ethan instinctively shoved his hands back in his pockets as he emerged onto the streets. They were narrow and crowded. The sky was overcast, the threat of rain not far off. Not many people walked close to the docks, and the few that did only gave him a couple odd glances before carrying on with their business.

Ethan gave one of them a cursory nod before pushing into the crowd, more careful this time to follow the flow of the traffic. It wasn’t too far to Blank’s last known location. It wasn’t likely that he was still there, but it was a good jumping off point.

Looking at the street signs, his data banks filled in the rest.

“I’m coming,” Ethan said quietly, and began walking.

.

.

“You need to eat.”

Mark yawned and stood up, rolling his shoulders to work out the knots from sleeping on the hard floor. Sleep blurred his eyes. That, or it was his contacts shifting in his eyes. Blinking a few times, the room came into focus. The glyphs were glowing, slowly bringing the room into a soft light.

“You need food,” the Collective said, sounding slightly impatient.

Mark’s stomach rumbled in agreement.

“Don’t you want me dead or something?” Mark grumbled. “Why do you care if I starve?”

“Gods, no,” the Collective gasped, several voices high pitched in horror. Mark didn’t know a hivemind could sound offended. “You still have a life to live. You joining us is inevitable should you die here, but there is still hope for you. The Collective does not want death. I want to continue. Death now would be pointless.”

“Well, do you know where I could get something to eat?” Mark asked, craning his neck to watch the flowing blue lights. “I didn’t see any fruits or anything on the surface- just a few birds.”

“The ocean is life,” the Collective said. “That is where you shall find sustenance.”

Mark’s stomach dropped and he groaned, “I was worried you were going to say that.”

“Why?” several voices asked in chorus. “The ocean was our home. It sustains this planet. It gave my people-”

“-us-”

“-me-”

“-purpose.”

The voices overlapped, saying different things all at once. It took Mark a second to figure out what the Collective had said.

“Look,” Mark said, “I don’t know what ocean you’ve been swimming in, but the ocean isn’t ‘life.’ It’s the opposite of that. It’s death. Pure, terrifying death. I’d rather die than go out in that murder trap.”

The voices were silent for a moment.

Mark stretched, cracking his back. There had to be something on this planet above ocean level. Maybe he could get one of those birds, or maybe there was something edible he would recognize.

“You mind letting me out?” Mark asked, gesturing at the sealed wall. With a crack the wall split, and the door swung open. The lamps began to glow outside of the door, leading him away.

“Thanks,” Mark said, starting to walk away.

“The ocean is your only hope,” the Collective murmured, for once sounding united, the voices solidifying into one.

Mark ignored them and kept walking.

.

.

Ethan frowned up at the gently swinging wooden sign. In blocky, straight lettering, the sign read: The Sleepy Zmezy. A two headed snake-like animal curled in between the letters, a stein lifted in between its two tails.

The rest of the building looked sturdy, but old. The roofing was wooden tiles, covered over with patches of moss. The walls were made of thick slabs of rock and concrete. Through the cloudy window panes a warm orange glow came. Every time the door swung open, music flowed out and loud laughter followed.

This was Blank’s last known location? Ethan checked his tracking. Yeah, this was it. His ID code had been pinged here. GAAP agents had been called on him, but the android was gone by the time anyone had arrived.

He wouldn’t be here, but maybe someone would know where he had gone.

Ethan pushed open the door. A rush of warm air and the smell of meat and homemade beer wafted through the room. It was filled with locals, a species with curled horns and pale skin ranging from brown to green to pink. They were loud, and a small band played in a corner.

Despite the noise, the whole place had a rather relaxed atmosphere. That was, at least, until Ethan saw the sign.

No Androids Allowed.

“Motherfucker,” Ethan muttered under his breath. That’s how the GAAP found Blank. Someone must have activated his ID long enough for a ping to form. They were probably trying to collect some bounty on him. Sell him off, or take him apart.

Ethan tugged the hood lower over his head and moved towards the back of the room, keeping to the walls. As long as nobody paid him mind, he could get a quick scan of the place and then be out.

He was halfway there when he tripped.

A coat lying on the ground had tangled around his foot. Ethan yelped, hands flying out to brace his fall. He bounced off the back of one of the Laemran, landing on the floor with a worrying crunch.

“You okay, kid?” the Laemran asked, leaning over to help him up.

Ethan curled over, hiding his face. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck. His system was racing, trying to identify what he’d broken. The Laemran was tapping his shoulder. Nobody else seemed to have noticed his fall. Too busy with their own nights. They’d notice sooner or later, though.

“I… I’m fine,” Ethan managed to respond, attempting to shuffle away. “Really, I was just clumsy. I’m fine.”

“Here, let me help you.”

“No, wait!”

It was too late. The Laemran grabbed his shoulders, forcing him to stand. He towered over Ethan by a foot, long carved horns curling under his ears. Ethan’s hood fell back. He winced, his artificial features exposed.

The Laemran gaped at him, eyes going from worried to shocked.

Ethan stared back.

As long as he didn’t move, nothing would happen. They’d just stay like that, and nobody would notice. This was fine. Totally fine. One hundred percent fine.

“Android,” the Laemran said, shocked out of expression emotion.

Ethan opened his mouth to respond, but instead of anything he would have wanted to say, his system took over. “Broken finger joint. Circuits needing replaced.”

“Hey! That’s an android!”

“What?” “Android!”

“Over there!”

Ethan yanked back, using the element of surprise to wrench himself free. The Laemran attempted to reach out and grab him again, but Ethan was gone. He bolted towards the back of the bar, the exit closer than the entrance he had come through. The others in the bar made a mad dash towards him. Swarming, attempting to grab him.

It wasn’t any use. There were too many between him and the door. They grabbed him, yanking him back.

“Let go!” Ethan cried. “Fucking fuck off! Let go!”

For a moment, he struggled.

BANG!

The room went silent and everything froze as a gunshot went off. Ethan’s head whipped around. The bartender - an elderly Laemran woman - held a long gun. A hole rained down little bits of wood and stone above her from where she had shot. She glared at the bar.

“No fights in my fucking bar,” she snapped. Her voice was deep and gravelly, like she’d gargled nails.

“But, Ovtsa!” a Laemran holding Ethan’s leg protested. “It’s… it’s an android!”

“In my bar,” she retorted. “Now hand him over.”

The patrons grumbled, but a sharp cocking of the gun had them scrambling to push Ethan towards her. He attempted to struggle, but they easily passed him from hand to hand until he stood before her. Ovtsa lowered her gun until it was pointed between his eyes.

“Go back to your drinks,” she addressed the bar, keeping her own eyes trained on Ethan. “You. Robot boy. Into the back room.”

“I’m not a robot,” Ethan muttered, but did as she directed. The others glared at him, but begrudgingly went back to their meals and drinks. The gun was pressed into the small of Ethan’s back, and the two went into the back room.

As the door closed behind them, locking with a loud click, a lamp turned on. The room was small, covered in papers and books. A thick desk sat in the center, an even thicker chair behind it. A few barrels sat in the far corners of the room, each labeled with different dates.

Ovtsa walked past Ethan and took a seat in the large chair, making it creak slightly.

“I presume you’re looking for the other one.” She narrowed her eyes at him.

Ethan blinked. “Wha… what?”

“The android. Blank, if I remember correctly. You look exactly like him.”

“He’s my brother,” Ethan said. “I’ve been trying to find him. There was a ping from here with his ID.”

Ovtsa huffed and nodded slowly. She leaned back in the seat, templing her fingers. “Yes. Unfortunately for him, those bastards out there got their hands on him before I could. They managed to turn on his tracking. Always eager to sell off an android.”

“Isn’t… that’s illegal. How do the GAAP not stop them?” Ethan asked.

Ovtsa huffed again, this time with a grim humor. “GAAP doesn’t give a flying fuck. We’re a small trading planet on the outer rim. GAAP only cares that we keep up trades. Doesn’t matter what we’re trading as long as money is moving along. And androids? Out here, they fetch a pretty manieta.”

Ethan gulped. “Are you going to sell me?”

“Fuck no,” Ovtsa said, spitting on the floor. “Unlike the rest of my miserable species, I tend to see the life in your kind. I refuse to partake in this bastardization of existence. Any android who comes through my doors will be helped to the best of my abilities.”

“What about Blank?”

“Got him off world,” Ovtsa answered. “A bit uncomfortably, seeing as he had to be stuffed in a crate to avoid any prying eyes, but he got out. Avoided those idiotic GAAP robots too. Best I could do for the poor kid. Sent him off to Sharjól. Those people have a good android community. Someone who could help.”

Sharjól.

Ethan nodded. “I need to go there. Now.”

“Hold your damn cavolli,” Ovtsa said. “I’m going to have to arrange this. I run a fucking tavern, not a trading shop. You’re going to have to wait until I bribe my usual to help get you out of here. In the meantime-” She opened up a drawer. Pulling out a box, she pushed it towards him.

Ethan hesitantly took it. He turned it around, and opened it. His stomach dropped.

“No,” he said. “I’m not doing that.”

“It’s not real,” Ovtsa said. “It’ll look like an inhibitor, but it won’t track you and it wont shut you down if you leave. It’s just to fool those idiots out there. I don’t have any spare rooms to hide you away in, so for the meantime you’re going to have to play the part and help me until I can help you.”

“How do I know you’re telling the truth?” Ethan picked up the small band, looking over the interlocking green and silver metal.

“You don’t have a choice. It’s either me and a chance to get off this planet, or them. And believe me, kid, they won’t hesitate to sell you off for parts.”

Ethan hated this. He was completely helpless and at the hands of a grouchy, ancient Laemran who kept spitting on the floor. He was so close to finding Blank, and yet he had never felt farther from him.

Letting out a resigned sigh, Ethan took the hopefully-fake inhibitor and clamped it over his wrist.

“You’d better be right.”

.

.

Mark stood at the edge of the beach, just out of reach of the gently lapping water.

His stomach twisted painfully.

The wind had settled down, and the clouds thinned just enough to let a few rays of sunlight dance on the ocean’s surface. The birds circled something in the distance, taking turns diving into the water before resurfacing and going again.

Mark looked back at the island.

He could see the top of the Collective’s building peaking out from the tops of the trees. The barren, fruitless trees. He’d searched for something to eat as long as he could, and all he’d managed to find was a small, bowl-like plant that held a small reserve of freshwater.

At least he wasn’t dying of thirst anymore.

The ocean playfully splashed Mark’s feet. Cold.

He could see the point of his ship still sticking out of the ocean. Closer than he thought he had crashed. Doubtful, but maybe he could salvage a comm. Contact anyone to get him off this planet.

And with the lack of food… it seemed like the Collective was right after all. He was going to have to take the jump into the ocean.

Fuck.

Mark took a deep breath.

And he stepped off the edge of the island.

It wasn’t as deep as he’d thought, but he still sank all the way over his head. He quickly swam up. He sputtered and coughed, paddling quickly to keep himself afloat. Something brushed against his foot, and it took all his self control not to go scrambling back onto the island.

“It’s fine,” Mark told himself. “It’s the shallows. Nothing here. Nothing creepy here.”

He took another breath, and ducked under.

With the daylight streaming down, the ocean looked much less threatening. Still an open void of death, but at least he could see it. A few schools of fish swam nearby. Colored blue and pink, they dove through the tendrils of vines and arcs of glowing rocks. A shelled creature slightly larger than Mark’s head approached him curiously, short tentacles reaching towards his face.

Nope!

Mark frantically ducked out of the way, swimming under the animal and towards his ship. It seemed to lose interest the moment he was out of range of its grasp. After a few more quick kicks, Mark was on top of the ship. He dove up to get one more gasp of air, then dove down.

The door laid on the sandy floor nearly a yard from where the ship was. The pressure had blown it off. Peering inside, Mark winced. It was trashed. Scorch marks marred deep into the dash from the flames, and technology had died the moment the water had hit it. There was nothing salvageable.

Mark still grabbed his travel bag. Soaked, but it still had a few things in it that might help. Spare change of clothes, and maybe some food. The comm might not be too damaged. That is, if he remembered to put it in an airtight container.

He slung the pack over his shoulder and pushed off the sandy floor, quickly swimming back to shore.

Once back on dry land, Mark dumped the bag on the ground and began looking through its contents.

“Clothes… okay good, food…” Mark held up a soggy sandwich by its corner, “destroyed… too waterlogged... oh!” He pulled out a ten minute meal. Its packaging had saved it. He only had one, but it was better than nothing. “Good, good. Now I swore I put it in here…”

After a few more seconds of pawing through the bag and tossing out soaking wet clothes, he pulled out the comm. It was in a waterproof casing. Mark could have cried.

“Oh thank fucking god!” Mark yanked the casing off. Flipping it on, He turned on the SOS.

For a moment, it blinked. Then it said, “Signal Lost. No Transmission Available.”

Mark stared.

He was too far away. There was nobody close enough to pick up his signal.

He was completely alone.

Mark resisted the urge to throw the comm as far as he could into the ocean. Instead, he tossed it on the ground and yelled. Yelled and yelled and yelled until his throat was hoarse. When he didn’t feel like yelling anymore, he grabbed his things and stood. Mark stalked back to the Collective’s building.

He was going to make this stupid meal and then he was going to figure this out.

He would not be stuck here to die.

Mark Edward Fischbach would not die alone.

.

.

Ovsta handed over the pack, gnarled hands shaky slightly. She smiled quickly at Ethan. “Here, boy. Take this.”

Ethan took the pack and peeked inside. An assortment of basic tools and circuitry that was easily replaceable. A few little odds and ends, but basic equipment to help if he got damaged again along the way. Ethan closed the pack and returned the smile.

“Thank you,” he said. “For everything.”

“Oh, shut your yap,” she said, huffing and pushing him towards the shuttle. He did see a hint of a smile on her wrinkled old face, though. “It’s the least I could do.”

Ethan climbed aboard. He turned and waved as the door closed, giving one last beaming grin to Ovsta before the door closed and he was left in darkness.

His eyes quickly adjusted to the light. Coming up behind him was a robot, light green markings running down its arms and face. “Please, follow me. I shall show you to your place.”

Ethan followed the robot. It moved between the crating until they reached a little alcove for the two to sit, letting Ethan sit alongside it as they took off. It was better than being stuck in one of the crates. Ovsta had managed to find another sympathetic Laemran who agreed to smuggle Ethan off world. Not to the planet he needed to find Blank, but close enough.

He was on his way.

“We’re approaching a debris field,” a soft, deep voice said from overhead. “I’d recommend you all find something to hold onto. It’s going to be a bit bumpy.” The robot Ethan had followed quickly held onto a railing along the wall, and Ethan followed suit, glancing around to find where the voice had come from. He’d met the Laemran that was piloting, but this wasn’t his voice.

“Hello?” Ethan called, not quite sure where to direct it. “Who just spoke?”

“Oh!” The voice seemed to be coming from a speaker in the ceiling. “You’re new, aren’t you? I suppose I should introduce myself, then, yes?”

“Yeah, where are you?” Ethan asked, tightening his grip on the railing as the ship jolted.

“I’m afraid I don’t really have a body like yours,” the voice hummed apologetically. “My name is HAGIS, and I’m this ship’s AI.”

“HAGIS?” Ethan echoed, raising an eyebrow.

“Handling and Guidance Instructional System,” HAGIS explained. “Pleasure to meet you, er, I don’t think I caught your name?”

“I don’t think I dropped it,” Ethan teased. HAGIS was silent. Ethan cleared his throat. “I’m Ethan.”

“Well, it’s delightful to meet you,” HAGIS said politely. “If you ever need anything, simply call, and I’ll be sure to do what I can.” The ship jostled again as it dove underneath a large chunk of debris. Ethan yelped and clutched the railing. “Sorry,” HAGIS said once the ship had steadied. “I should have warned you about that.”

“It’s okay,” Ethan said, still gripping the rail tightly with both hands. “So, uh, what’s your job, HAGIS?”

“Well, like I said earlier, I’m the ship’s AI,” HAGIS began. “I make sure everything’s in working order, and help guide us to our destination. Luvtos has been my companion for as long as I’ve existed, and I keep an eye on things that he cannot.”

Ethan nodded as HAGIS spoke. “So you’re just… part of the ship? Like, it’s your body?” Ethan hadn’t gotten to meet many AIs since, well, ever, and the only one he’d really gotten to know had extreme murderous intent.

“I… I suppose you could put it that way,” HAGIS answered. “It feels more like the ship is my- my home. I move around inside her systems. We’re part of the same whole, yes, but we’re also two different entities.”

“Can you talk to the ship?”

“Now that’s a question I haven’t heard before,” HAGIS chuckled. “No, I don’t think so. Not in the way that you and I are talking right now, that is. I simply understand her. I just know when things are wrong or right, and then I can communicate them to Luvtos.”

“Would you-” Ethan hesitated. “Sorry if this sounds rude, but do you ever want a real body? Like, one you could walk around in and stuff? I think I’d get cramped being stuck in one inanimate object all the time.”

“And you don’t get cramped inside your body?” HAGIS countered. “No, I’ve never wanted a ‘real body,’ as you put it. I don’t feel confined inside the ship. I still get to travel around and meet people, same as you.” He paused. “Brace yourself. Debris on the left.”

Ethan hugged the wall as the ship dove to the right, and stumbled when it reoriented itself. “Do you ever get lonely?” Ethan asked, looking up at the speaker.

HAGIS hummed and hawed for a second. “No, I don’t think so,” the AI responded finally. “I’ve always had Luvtos, and when he leaves, the ship powers down. I think that would be comparable to organic species’ sleep.”

Ethan shuddered at the thought of being put to sleep every time he was left alone. It was a feeling he was all too familiar with. “Did Luvtos program you himself?”

HAGIS laughed, a low, jittery laugh that echoed around the ship. “Heavens, no! Luvtos can hardly work a microwave, let alone program an AI!” He let out an amused sigh. “No, I was pre-programmed and then installed into the ship. And I’m very grateful for where I ended up. I very well could have ended up on some GAAP ship, and I’ve heard plenty of how bored those AIs get. Almost nothing to do on those ships, just steer and make sure they reach their destination. I’ve heard-” HAGIS lowered his tone, almost conspiratorially- “I’ve heard that the AIs are hardly even spoken to unless need be, like they’re not even there!”

Ethan nodded knowingly. Not being able to speak without being spoken to first… it was a lonely life. He’d been lucky to have Blank, even if it was just for a short time. “You really got the luck of the draw, huh?”

“I’d like to say I did,” HAGIS replied, and Ethan could practically hear the pride in the AI’s voice. “I’m very fortunate to have a friend like Luvtos.”

“Yeah, he seems-”

“Hold on tight!” HAGIS interrupted frantically. “Heavy debris incoming!”

Ethan wrapped his arms around the railing as the ship flew every which direction, threatening to slam him against its walls if he dared to even loosen his grip a little bit. The robot looked almost bored with the whole thing, and only held on with one hand. Ethan frowned. Probably had magnets or something.

Ethan shakily let go of the rail as the ship finally steadied and slowed down. He could hear HAGIS’s voice somewhere in the back of the ship, muttering what sounded like ingredients to some pastry to himself.

“HAGIS?” Ethan called, taking a hold of the rail again as the ship lurched left.

“Yes?” HAGIS responded almost immediately, his voice suddenly directly above Ethan again. “You didn’t get damaged, did you? You look fine to me, but you’re not connected to the ship, so I can’t really tell.”

“I’m fine, I think,” Ethan said, soothing the worried AI and running a quick system check. Yeah, he was fine. “How’s the ship?”

HAGIS let out a tired sigh. “She’s alright. Caught a few scrapes, and a couple crates got jostled around more than I’d like, but she’ll make the rest of the trip just fine. She’s gotten through worse.”

“That’s good,” Ethan said. He wondered what it would be like to be able to get such a quick assessment of damages. Whenever the Barrel got hit, they’d have to stop their trip and all check around to make sure that they’d be able to keep going without having to make repairs. They usually didn’t have to check often when Tyler or Kathryn were piloting, but Mark tended to be a bit more reckless, despite being the best pilot of all of them. They’d had to stop on an asteroid hardly larger than the Barrel itself once to fix a few vital panels, just because Mark thought he could squeeze through a donut-shaped asteroid.

“We should be touching down on Vox’pra in just a few minutes,” HAGIS announced suddenly, interrupting Ethan’s thoughts. “It’s been lovely getting to talk to you, Ethan.”

Ethan smiled up at the speaker and steadied himself against the rail as the ship began to descend.

“Nice talking with you too.” He pulled the pack onto his shoulder as he stood. The ship landed with a thud. The robot next to him didn’t move, and Ethan moved through the crates towards the end of the ship. The ramp slowly cracked open, lowering to reveal a bustling hub of robots and beings alike, rushing about their jobs.

“Take care,” HAGIS said. “Don’t become uncomfortable in your little body.”

Ethan saluted and stepped off.

The crowds were dense, but Ethan reached out and snatched a spindly robot from among them. “Hey, sorry. Can you tell me where the nearest transport station is?”

“That way,” the robot pointed down the long hallway lined with ships unloading. “Take the very last right onto the mainway. It is labeled clearly.”

“Thanks!” Ethan said, and took off.

He was getting closer.

.

.

“Does that taste good?”

Mark grumbled around his little pre-prepared meal. It didn’t taste good, but it had stopped the incessant growls of his stomach, so he could deal. The Collective took his silence as room to ask more questions. Mark shoved more food into his mouth as they continued.

“You did not receive food from the ocean. I suppose a substitute was found aboard your ship. It does not look appetizing. Is it to your kind?”

“Not really,” Mark said around a mouthful.

“Then why do you eat it?”

“Because I don’t want to die.”

“Ah,” the Collective said. “I suppose your kind is prone to fighting to the end. Never giving up, as it were.”

“Did you give up?”

“There was a point of no return. There was no reason to keep fighting for the continued survival of a few dying beings. We retreated to who we are now. It was not so much giving up as realizing that we had no other option. But you do not seem to share those thoughts.”

“Not especially,” Mark said, finishing off the last of the pre-prepared meal. “I don’t intend on dying here, or in the near future. I have a lot I have to do. There are people depending on me that I cannot let down. And I kind of like living, despite how shit it is right now. So no, I’m not giving up.”

The Collective seemed to think about that for a moment. Mark leaned back against the wall. It was strangely warm. Like there was something else just below the surface, like hot water or lava. It was comforting. As he relaxed into it, letting his eyes slowly close, the Collective dimmed as well.

“What do you intend to do with your life?” it asked quietly. “Who can you not let down? There are millions of others out there who could replace you. Why not just stop? Let go and sleep on forever?”

“For one, I got a doppelganger of mine that needs to shut the fuck up,” Mark said. “He’s going to do a lot more damage if I don’t do something. I can’t just let him do that, especially when I have a chance to help others. He’s not going to stop, and neither am I.”

Mark looked down at his hands. “And I got friends. Family. People I care about that I need… I need them. They need me too. One of my friends is out there, looking for his brother. Hopefully he’s not in a situation like this.”

Ethan had to be okay. He had to be. Mark refused to believe that Ethan had died in that freak accident. If he had made it, then so had Ethan. He had survived and was looking for Blank. And soon Mark would join him again. As soon as he figured out how to get off this dumb planet.

“You care for the individuals?” The Collective sounded confused.

“Of course,” Mark said. “Nobody is ever nothing. I used to think that, but not anymore. I’m not nothing. I’m not nothing, and neither is anyone else.”

Mark looked up at the Collective. It did seem like it was made of living stone, but there was technology under it. There was a way this all worked.

“I’ve been trying to call off world,” Mark said, pulling out the comm. “But its signal isn’t reaching any planets nearby. Is there anywhere I could boost the signal?”

The Collective was silent.

“Hey, come on!” Mark said, not bothering to get to his feet. He was too tired for that, but he always had the energy to yell at unresponsive assholes. “I need to get out of here. Do you have any comm boosters?”

More silence.

“Fine, don’t answer,” Mark huffed. He folded his arms and tucked himself into a corner. “I’m going to take a nap, but when I wake up I’m getting answers.”

The lights steadied at a barely visible glow as Mark drifted off, mind racing with all his plans to get off this planet.

.

.

The planet was completely mechanical. Ethan had never been on a man-made planet, but it was freaking him out. He could feel the entire planet humming beneath his feet, large gears and circuits working constantly beneath the surface. Buildings were attached to the ground, traveling miles below the surface or miles above. Transports ducked and weaved through it all seamlessly. All lights came from the city. The planet was too far away from their sun to gather much natural light. So far, Ethan had seen nearly no organic beings. At least, none that lived without mechanical assistance. He’d even seen dogs with cyborg replacements, like Henry. The entire place seemed to run on the objective of creating more and more.

It was amazing.

After asking around a bit, Ethan found that everyone who lived on the planet was registered at the planet center. Fortunately not literally at the center, but close enough. It was far enough away from him that Ethan was going to have to take transport.

Stepping onto one of the hovertrains, Ethan automatically reached to pull out his credit card. The driver - a sleek robot with golden seams and bright yellow eyes -  made a confused whirring noise.

“I am sorry, sir,” it said. “We do not accept currency.”

“Oh, I got some outer rim coin if that…”

“No,” the robot said. “We do not accept currency. All is paid. Enjoy your ride.”

Ethan was taken aback for a moment, but moved to take a seat near the doorway.

The train started moving seamlessly along an invisible track. Not a jolt or sudden movement. Just smooth. Through the windows that stretched from roof to floor, Ethan saw the city move by. A technological masterpiece. A well-oiled machine. It was breathtaking.

As Ethan glanced around the train, he realized few others seemed to be as stunned by the scenery as he was. Most chatted idly or glanced down at screens in their hands. A pair of older, rustier-looking androids, though, were pressed up against the windows, mouths agape in awe. It was obvious who was from Sharjól, and who wasn’t.

Ethan glanced down at his comm.

0 New Messages from Mark Fishboy.

He sighed and tucked it back in his pocket. Every night since the accident, he’d sent a message to Mark. Asking him where he was. If he was okay. Did he make it out okay? Was he alive?

There was never a response.

The train began slowing down as it started pulling into the station. Ethan got to his feet, joining the small crowd gathering around the doors. He ended up wedged between a small black and teal Korop with cybernetic legs and a towering android in a model he’d never seen before. The moment the doors opened, the Korop darted through them. Ethan followed the other android into the city.

It wasn’t hard to spot City Center. It was labeled with large blocky letters, sitting in the center of a metal garden. Fake plants with silvery leaves decorated the entrance. Ethan shook out the tension in his shoulders and walked forwards.

Inside it was quiet. Nearly nobody else sat in the waiting room. A slender android woman with tendril-like hair attached from her head to her desk spoke into a comm, answering questions while several other strands of her hair wrote things down. As Ethan got closer she looked up and smiled. Her name tag read: Juno Argenti.

“Hello,” she said, her voice light and pleasant. “How may I help you?”

“I’m looking for my brother,” Ethan said. He pulled out his comm, tapping through it until he found Blank’s file. He showed it to her. One of her tenderals reached out and took the comm, taking the information. “He’s the same make and model. First one, actually.”

“Ah, yes,” Juno said. She smiled at him and handed the comm back. “Blank has taken up residence in our lower city. He should be getting done with his shift down below in just a few minutes. I can arrange a transport to take you to his living quarters if you would like to wait here.”

“Sure,” Ethan said, letting out a breath of relief as he pocketed his comm. “Thanks.”

“A pleasure to help.” Juno smiled.

Ethan turned back and walked a bit away. He sat down on a large black cushion. He couldn’t decide if he wanted to yell with joy or tap his foot off with nervousness. He was so close. Ethan hadn’t been this close to Blank in… well… years. Not since he’d shut down and Ethan had run away.

Within a few minutes, Juno told him his ride was here. Ethan thanked her again, and walked outside to find a small car waiting. No driver. Ethan hesitantly climbed into the chair. As soon as he strapped in, the car began to move.

“Uh… do you have an AI?” Ethan asked, feeling a little stupid.

No response.

“Cool.” Ethan sat ramrod straight in the seat. “Cool, cool, cool.”

The car moved through the streets, but soon was entering the underground. It was just as illuminated as above ground, but there was no expanse of artificial sky above now. Just metal walls on all sides.

They traveled for a long time. A lot longer than Ethan had been expecting. They went deeper and deeper, past endless rows of buildings. Ethan could feel himself wearing a hole in his shoes with all the nervous tapping.

There were even more people down here. They didn’t look as immaculate or presentable as those above ground. He saw a few cyborgs with what looked like self-replaced parts. A robot missing half its arm leaped up on legs made of rickety springs, into the air to catch a ball tossed by a small group of children. They didn’t look entirely worse off. Nobody was missing vital parts, and no cyborg appeared worse for wear than those above. It was just obvious this was where the manual labor of this planet happened, and they didn’t care to put on a show of cleanliness.

It was like a clock. A smooth, beautiful face, while underneath was where all the gears were that made it work, seamlessly ticking away.

Finally, the car slowed to a stop in front of a smaller apartment building. A few windows glowed with light from the inside, but most were dark, indicating that a majority of the residents weren’t home. Most likely they were working, or just out running errands.

The door snapped open. Ethan stepped out, shouldering his pack. The door closed, and the car pulled away.

It wasn’t a bad house. As Ethan looked up at it, he realized how personal it felt. Above ground everything had been streamlined and clean. These houses down here weren’t as uniform. Each one had its own unique style and appearance. It felt homey.

Ethan walked up and knocked on the door. No answer. He hadn’t really been expecting one, so he turned and plopped down on the front step.

How long had Blank been living here? He’d escaped off of Dommal nearly a year ago, but for how long had he been a normal person here? How long had Blank been free to find his own work? How long had he had the ability to choose how he lived?

It had taken Ethan a while to figure out how he fit in the world. Kathryn had helped a lot with that, but it was still a learning curve. Blank hadn’t had anyone.

Being alone like that… Ethan couldn’t imagine it.

He stood up and knocked again, hoping that at least one of the residents would answer the door.

Nothing.

Ethan groaned and sat down again. A small trickle of people had started walking past. Ethan saw more organics in the crowd, mainly ones with replaced limbs, but a few without. A fair amount of robots and androids as well. Several gave him wary looks as they passed. They knew he wasn’t one of them.

Ethan waved as they passed. He wasn’t here to cause trouble.

The crowd grew in size. Not a single blue and gray android among them. Several groups split off towards their homes, but not one came near Ethan.

Ethan let his head fall onto his knees. God, he hated waiting.

“E-Ethan?”

Ethan’s head snapped up.

Blank stood at the foot of the stairs, staring up at him slack jawed. His whited-out eyes were wide. Grease stains covered his overalls, and his hair was mussed up. He looked… he looked good. An android had no organic ability to look healthy, but there was something about him. He looked so much more alive than he ever had before. Awake, and alive.

“Blank,” Ethan breathed back.

For a moment they just stared at each other.

Then Ethan launched himself off the steps. He crashed into Blank, his arms wrapping around him and pulling him close. Blank’s own hands clutched the back of Ethan’s hoodie. They held onto each other, slightly rocking with the force of Ethan’s leap. Their hands were tightly clenched into each others clothes.

Neither wanted to let go.

“I missed you,” Ethan said, voice choked.

“I missed you too,” Blank said back.

Neither let go.

.

.

“Mark.”

“No.”

“Mark.”

“Leave me alone.”

“Mark.”

“Five fucking minutes.”

“Mark.”

“Goddammit, what do you want?” Mark rolled over, glaring at the Collective. It pulsed slightly brighter as his eyes adjusted.

“We have something to tell you,” it said. It paused, several voices murmuring anxiously. “I- we- have decided to let you leave- go- go home.”

“Oh, thanks for your permission,” Mark said, grumpily pushing himself up. “How am I supposed to leave?”

“By summoning help with your communication device.” The Collective paused for a moment. “It will be able to reach help. The planet has been blocking the signal.”

Mark groaned.

Of course it had been blocking his call.

“Can you just unblock it?” Mark asked.

“No,” the Collective said apologetically. “You must travel to where the last of us- of me created the blockage. It shall be easy to disable with my help, but you must do this.”

“Great,” Mark said, rubbing his hands together with anticipation. “Where is it?”

The Collective hummed for a second. “It- it’s on the next island,” they said softly, as if they knew Mark wouldn’t like the answer.

They were right.

“And where’s that?” Mark groaned. He had been hoping it would just be on top of the Collective’s building. Swimming across the ocean was definitely not going to be a fun trip. “I haven’t seen any other islands since I landed here.”

“About a day’s travel from here by our estimates,” the Collective answered. “Due east.”

Mark pulled out his comm, wacking it a few times until a small compass wavered above its surface. Stupid thing was running out of charge. He’d really have to be quick if he wanted to get out of here. Due east was the opposite side of the island from where his ship had crashed.

“I can’t swim for a whole day,” Mark pointed out, stuffing his comm back in his pocket. “I’ll-” He shuddered- “I’ll drown.”

“You are part Ir’al, are you not?” the Collective asked.

Mark huffed. “Yeah. Unfortunately I only got my dad’s rugged good looks, not his swimming abilities.”

“Of course,” the Collective replied, a few quieter voices chuckling just loud enough for Mark to hear. “There should be an old transport a few levels below. It might be able to take you part of the journey, although we doubt that at its age, it will be able to take you all the way to the other island unless you repair it.”

“Okay,” Mark said, slightly reassured. He’d probably be able to figure out how this pod or whatever worked. “What if I get lost? I’ll be completely alone out there. I could get turned around, and then not be able to find my way back at all.” Mark shivered as he thought about being completely stranded in the middle of the ocean in an ancient dive pod.

“We will be able to communicate through the transport,” the Collective assured. “I understand you do not love the ocean as we do, and I will not leave you alone.”

A smaller door behind Mark suddenly slid open, disrupting any further questions he may have had. Soft blue lights flared to life, descending down a spiral staircase. Mark squinted up at the Collective before starting down the steps.

Fortunately, the door did not close behind him, and the lights stayed on until Mark reached a large, dimly lit room. A single orb-shaped pod, barely larger than Mark, sat at a single dock, a dark red moss covering its top. A few blue, curved markings decorated the border of a single window. Mark placed his hand on its side, careful to avoid the moss, and the markings illuminated, giving off a pleasant blue glow. A hatch opened on the top, causing the moss to slide off and a putrid smell to be released. Mark took a step back and covered his mouth and nose while the pod aired out. This thing was really old.

“It is perfectly safe,” the Collective said, voice echoing from both the top of the stairs and from inside the small pod.

“You sure about that?”

“Certain.”

“Didn’t you say it’d probably break down halfway to the island?”

“We said I wasn’t sure,” the Collective corrected. “Now that you’ve woken it up, we can tell that it is in perfect running order. It should get you to the island and back with no trouble, so long as you drive carefully.”

Mark hated when people told him to do anything carefully, but he hated the ocean more, and this thing was his only protection from the crushing blue death only a few feet away.

“Fine,” Mark sighed. He wafted away what remained of the musty stench before stepping inside. The interior was cold and slightly damp, and the same red moss covered the steering and a few panels. Mark yelped as the top suddenly slammed shut and the pod sank into the water with a muffled suctioning sound. He quickly brushed the moss off the wheel and panels - one of which showed a helpful compass - and steered the pod out of the cave and into the open ocean.

“It is lovely to see the ocean like this again,” the Collective murmured wistfully as Mark glared at the tentacled creature from before. “It has been so long since we have been able to see it for ourselves.”

“I’d consider that lucky,” Mark huffed, pushing the wheel forward. The pod jerked slightly before picking up a little more speed.

“This will be a long journey,” the Collective said, the blue lines on the interior of the pod pulsing as they spoke.

Mark nodded, regretting not packing something to eat. It wasn’t like he had much of a beach to throw a makeshift rod from.

“We… we do not know that much about you,” the Collective began hesitantly. “You have friends and family, yes? And a, er, ‘doppelganger’?”

“Yeah,” Mark answered, feeling a sudden sense of loneliness as he pictured his crew. “There’s my girlfriend, Amy. She’s really smart and talented and beautiful. I don’t know what I’d do without her. Then there’s Tyler, who’s been my best friend since I was a kid. I think I’d be dead if he weren’t around. Ethan’s an android. He’s a pretty good doctor, and right now he’s looking for his brother, Blank. I- I hope they’ve found each other. There’s Kathryn, too. She’s super smart and really good with computers. She can also beat everyone at any board game ever. Oh, and Bing, too. He’s a robot my friend Jack built for me. He’s supposed to be an intelligence robot, but mostly he just hangs out with Ethan and makes a mess. He’s really good with my Dulcosi, Chica, and Amy’s dog, Henry. Jack’s a self-proclaimed pirate, and he’s got an entirely homemade crew. He also- well, I probably shouldn’t mention that.”

The Collective hummed softly. “You care. Each one of them, you care for them.”

“Yeah,” Mark said, feeling suddenly defensive. “Is that a problem?”

“No?” the Collective responded, sounding confused. “Caring- it is a wonderful thing. Those who do not care… they live an unfortunate life.”

Mark chuckled darkly and steered the pod around a school of thin gold and red fish. “Sounds like that doppelganger I mentioned.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah.” Mark continued, “His name’s Dark, or at least, that’s what he told us. I don’t know his real name, and I don’t really care to know. He’s a Xanhull, and he took some of my DNA one time and so now he looks like me. Exactly like me.” Mark shuddered with disgust. “It’s freaky.”

“You mentioned he was going to do damage,” the Collective prompted. “What is he going to do?”

“I- we don’t know,” Mark sighed, drumming his fingers on the wheel. “We just know that he wants something to do with a Celestial, and he’s going to hurt a lot of people if he gets his way. He did a lot of bad stuff in the past too, and my crew is in charge of catching him and turning him in to the GAAP.”

“What did he do?”

Mark opened his mouth to respond, then closed it. What had Dark done? “He- well, he attacked me for no reason,” Mark said, suddenly feeling a little awkward. “Oh! He killed a bunch of GAAP personnel too. He stole my friend, Sean’s, robot too.”

The Collective hummed thoughtfully. “He sounds… unpleasant.”

“That’s one way of putting it,” Mark huffed. “He doesn’t care about anyone but himself, and he wants to destroy the GAAP. He hates them for no reason, and he refuses to see the good that they’ve done. I get that he’s, like, super fucking old, but that doesn’t give him any excuse to be a stuck up bastard. He hates androids, too. He thinks they’re just tools.”

“That sounds terrible,” the Collective said. “Why would he want to destroy so much?”

“I don’t know,” Mark said. “Probably just because he’s a bitter piece of shit who can’t see past his own nose. I wish I could never see him again, but if I don’t track him down, then he’ll kill even more people. I can’t let that happen.”

“It is unfortunate we did not meet sooner,” the Collective sighed.

“Why?”

“I think you could have saved us.”

Mark hesitated. “You said when we met that you were dying. You died and you were continuing to die.”

“The Collective will continue on as long as our system stands,” they said. “But there is nothing here for us but continued existence. I am nothing but my people, continuing on as a collection. I shall not die, but all that means is that our culture will eventually fade.”

For a moment, the Collective paused.

Mark stared out at the ocean. This used to be someone’s home. And now it was just a cruel reminder to a shadow of those people of what they used to have.

“We never valued the individual as you do, Mark,” the Collective said. “To us, it was our entirety that mattered. Before we were this collective, we cared for the masses and not for those belonging to them. When we started dying, we resorted to this. Never mind those of us who remained. They joined the Collective. We survive on as a group.”

“No offense,” Mark said, wrinkling his nose, “but that sounds terrible.”

“To you, perhaps. But to us it was only natural. It is strange to see one like you value the bricks that make up the house. Why not just admire the house, instead of its many details? In the end it makes the same house.”

“And without all the bricks, there is no house,” Mark said.

The Collective was quiet for a moment.

Mark leaned back, his arms folded. Despite his thrilling existential moral debate with a bodiless collection of thousands of dead people, Mark was terrified. His fingers were digging into his arms. This pod was holding steady, but he couldn’t help but feel it was about ready to break at any moment.

“You are strange, Mark.”

“I’ve been told that a lot,” Mark answered. “How close are we?”

“It will be a while. Please get comfortable.”

“Yeah, right,” Mark said, snorting. Still, he leaned back and watched the ocean go by.

Just a few more hours, and he’d be off this horrible planet.

.

.

“I’m sorry it’s not much.”

“It’s great,” Ethan said, turning around in a circle. Blank smiled as Ethan darted about his room, looking at all the plants sitting under their lights. The room was shabby, and barely disguised as habitable. Most of it was covered in plants. A small charging port was shoved up against a back wall. A small shelf held a collection of holo-books. The rest was cement and shitty wallpaper.

“It’s hard to get water for the plants sometimes,” Blank admitted softly. “The organics are a little more understanding about them than the other androids and robots, though, so they’ll help me get it when I need it.”

“Where’d you get them all?” Ethan asked, gingerly rubbing the leaf of a larger plant. He hadn’t seen any living plants on the surface, or on his ride down.

“Visitors,” Blank answered, sitting down in front of a small flower with a single yellow blossom. “They’ll bring plants with them sometimes, or just seeds. Usually they don’t last, but I rescue the ones I can.”

“I never knew you liked plants so much,” Ethan said, feeling slightly ashamed of himself. How well did he know his own brother?

“You never really got a chance to,” Blank said reassuringly. “He- he didn’t really let us figure out what we liked. I’m glad you got out of there when you did.”

Ethan shoved his hands in his pockets so he didn’t rip the leaves off of one of Blank’s plants. “I left you behind,” he mumbled, staring down at his feet. “I- I didn’t even look back. I thought you were dead. I didn’t think you would come back. I didn’t even think you could come back.”

Ethan didn’t hear Blank stand up and walk over to him. He jumped when his older brother placed his hand on his shoulder. “You didn’t know,” Blank said gently. “That last time I shut down, I- I remember thinking that I was never going to come back. I was scared. I was so afraid, because I knew if I stopped working, he’d work you even harder, and I didn’t want you to die too.”

“I ran.”

“Good.”

“I was a coward. I left you behind, when I should have known that you would have come back eventually.”

“No,” Blank grabbed Ethan’s shoulders, forcing him to face him. “You did the right thing. You left. We should have left so much sooner than you did. You did what was best for you, and now you’re safe. We’re safe.”

Ethan reluctantly smiled.

Blank let him go and stepped back. “I… I do still shut down sometimes. I can’t control it. Something up here.” He tapped the side of his head. “It just broke. I’ve had a few android mechs look at it and they can’t fix it. Well, they can, but it’s bonkers expensive, even here. It’s fine, I can get by. But I am still… I am still broken.”

“I’d rather have you broken and alive than broken and dead,” Ethan said.

Blank smiled. “Yeah. Me too.”

“You have to come with me,” Ethan said eagerly. “I found a family. They’re great, and they’re waiting to meet you! There is Kathryn, and Tyler, and Jack, and Mark, and Amy, and the dogs, and…”

Blank continued to smile as Ethan rambled on and on about his new family. He told them all about them. The adventures they’d had, the things they shared, the sense of belonging that Ethan had finally found. That feeling that he wanted Blank to have. As he talked, he saw Blank slowly brighten.

“You… you really think they’d have me?” Blank asked, hesitantly.

“Of fucking course!” Ethan said. “These guys are just as fucked up as we are. Come on. Come back with me.”

Blank hesitated, looking around his little room.

“We can take all the plants too, if you want,” Ethan said.

Blank shook his head. “No. I can find others later. These belong here. I have a neighbor who will watch over them. They like them too. I… I need to leave my past behind me. I want a fresh start. Just like you.”

Ethan nodded, a broad grin splitting his face as he grabbed Blank’s jacket and dragged him into a hug.

“I’m so glad you’re alive. Everything is going to be just fine from now on. I promise.”

Blank hugged him back.

Ethan finally had his brother back.

He finally had the last piece of his home back.

.

.

Mark stared up at the sheer cliff face.

“I’m supposed to climb that?”

“Well, there should be a path if you dive under the island, but climbing is certainly an option, should you chose it.”

Mark shook his head quickly and pushed down on the wheel. The pod hiccuped before diving. He’d caught a glimpse before, but he hadn’t realized until now that the island was supported by large columns, not unlike the one the Collective lived in. Was ‘lived’ the right word?

It didn’t take him long to find the cave’s entrance, and he scrambled out of the pod as soon as he could, eager to get out of and away from the ocean. It lapped threateningly at the rocky shore, and Mark stuck his tongue out at it.

Suddenly, the whole island hummed, and blue markings that had previously been hidden suddenly pulsed with a bright blue light.

“The blockage is just up ahead,” the Collective’s voice hummed around Mark, echoing through the cave. “It is easy to get lost here, so make sure you follow our lights.”

Mark nodded and started walking. The cave veered off into several winding paths, but only one was steadily illuminated by the blue glow. The farther Mark got from the pod, the more lonely it felt. The Collective’s presence was left behind in the ship; now it was just him.

The tunnel, after several divergences and twists, came out in a small room. In the center of the room was a console. As Mark stepped into the room it came alive. Blue markings all over it lit up, and a soft hum filled the air.

“Guess this is it,” Mark said to himself.

Stepping forward, Mark placed his hands over two hand shaped dips in the console. Instead of five fingers, though, there were only three. Lifting only three of his fingers, he placed them on top.

“Identify yourself.”

“Uh, Mark Fischbach,” Mark said.

A pause, then a sharp noise echoed throughout the room.

“State your command.”

“Deactivate the comm blockage.”

“Understood.”

The hum intensified for a moment, and then the entire console powered down. Mark pulled his comm from his pocket. The formerly weak signal now blipped strongly. He had a connection. He could get out of here.

Mark sent out a call: “This is Mark Fischbach, Captain of the Barrel. I am sending out an SOS as I am stranded on this planet. Sending coordinates.”

Mark let the signal go out. Within a few minutes, another ship pinged back.

They were nearby and they were coming to get him.

He was going home.

Mark slipped the comm back in his pocket and started running back down the tunnels towards the pod. He couldn’t wait to see Amy and Chica again.

.

.

“Blank, this is my family. Guys, this is Blank.”

Mark looked the android up and down. He looked exactly like Ethan, but a washed out, quieter version. His white eyes, jittery hands, and the way he stood slightly behind Ethan all gave Mark the feeling that there was something broken in him. Still, Blank smiled nervously at them and Mark smiled back.

“Welcome aboard the Barrel,” Mark said, extending a hand. Blank took it, and they shook. “Glad to have you with us.”

Chica slowly approached, sniffing at his knees and wagging her tail low to the ground.

As the others gathered around Blank, welcoming him, Mark pulled Ethan aside.

“I’m glad you found him. You didn’t run into any complications, did you?”

Ethan laughed, “Other than the wormhole? Just a few anti-android rights people, but other than that it was smooth sailing. Heard you got stuck on an ocean planet.”

Mark shuddered. “Yeah. Bad shit, man. There was this weird AI there, except it was basically the entire extinct species that used to live there. I don’t know, really. It was kind of a dick though.”

“Can’t be any worse than ANTI,” Ethan half-joked. “I’m glad you’re okay.”

Mark smiled and clapped a hand to his shoulder.

Just then, the comm buzzed overhead.

“Uh, guys?” Sean’s voice crackled through the comm. “I have some information I think you need to see. I’m boarding.”

Mark and Ethan shared a look.

“Get the docking port ready,” Mark called out to Kathryn and Tyler. “Let’s see if this brings us any closer to catching that bastard.”

[shy-marker-pliers]

Yellow, Yellow, Yellow.

Characters: Google Yellow (Oliver) Google Blue, Bingiplier

Ships: I guess you could interpret some of it as Oliver/Bing?

Warnings: Capslock (one sentence), Swearing (once), slight angst.

“Well I guess he does look a little bit like an Oliver...” Mark’s tumblr read. Google Yellow stopped for a moment in order to process the new data, the android equivalent of confusion. 

“Red, Green, Blue!“ He called out.

The other three Google IRL models, his ‘brothers’, came to Yellow’s station as soon as they heard him.

“Do you require our assistance, Yellow?” Blue asked in his usual monotone.

“Mark has stated on his tumblr account that I look like an Oliver. Why?“

Green quickly scrolled through Mark’s social media, the others looking over his shoulder as he did so.

“Here. He was making a tweet about all of us and referred to us by our colors, but his phone’s autocorrect changed your name to Oliver. A simple error.” He explained. 

Satisfied with the results, Blue Green, and Red went back to their stations, and Yellow stayed at his. “Oliver...” he whispered to himself.

“What are you doing? You’re supposed to be gathering data on the Community.”

“I am. Sort of...” Yellow muttered as he dismissed his holographic screen. 

Blue sighed. “I saw your screen. You were searching ‘google Oliver’ on tumblr. You’re not being productive.”

“That’s what They call me now. They say it’s my new name.“ he said, ignoring Blue’s comment. 

Blue stared at the other for a few seconds and sighed.

“Get back to work, Yellow.“ He said quietly.

“Bing? are you in there?” Yellow asked, knocking on the door to Bing’s room. when the other android answered, Yellow sighed and looked down at his feet. 

“I...require your assistance.“

Bing chuckled and opened the door to let Yellow in. “Never thought i’d live to see the day when a Google would be askin’ me for help. first time for everything, I guess.” he mused, flopping down in a beanbag chair and gesturing for the other to do the same.

Yellow gingerly lowered himself next to Bing as he took his sunglasses off, revealing his glowing orange irises. 

“Talk to me, dude.” he said with a surprisingly serious expression. 

“They’re calling me Oliver.“ Yellow mumbled, shifting uncomfortably in his seat.

“And...?” 

“I don’t know! They gave me a name, and now...Yellow just doesn’t seem like me anymore. I know it sounds dumb and illogical, but when I saw the art and stories and stuff people made for me, it was so nice to finally be recognized as a-a person and not just one of the googles.” he paused to catch his breath and wiped his eyes.

“Jeez dude, that’s...you’ve got a lot on your mind, huh?“

Yellow simply nodded. “Some of them call me Ollie, Bing. They call me Ollie and it makes me want everyone else to call me that too, but if  Red, Green, and Blue found out...I have no idea how they’d react.” He whispered, his voice cracking. He buried his face in his hands and took a few shaky breaths as Bing rubbed his back comfortingly. 

“To be honest, I don’t really think it would matter that much to them? Like, you could just tell them you wanna be Oliver from now on. I don’t think they’d flip their shit or anything. then again, you know them better than I do.“

“It’s not that easy...My brothers, they’re all about efficiency and logic. I don’t need to be Oliver to do my job, therefore i’m not Oliver, you know?“

“Yeah, I do. If you don’t wanna tell them that’s cool, but if you ever need to talk about it again, my door’s always open, yeah?“ Bing smiled, getting up from his beanbag chair and holding his hand out to Yellow, who took it and stood up.

Yellow looked at him with a grateful smile. “Thank you, Bing.” He said, pulling him into a hug.

“No problem.”

“Yellow, could you assist me in looking over this data?“ Blue asked. The question itself was innocent enough, but it made him flinch nonetheless. 

It was nothing new. Ever since his talk with Bing, Yellow-if he could even call himself that anymore-found himself hating his name more and more.

“Yes, of course.“ 

He walked over to Blue’s station and stood next to him. the two processed the data in silence for a while before Blue spoke.

“I saw you go into Bing’s room yesterday.“

The statement caught Yellow off guard, especially with the nonchalance Blue had said it with. So much so that he let out a small squeak.

“I...simply needed to ask him something.“

“We are much more efficient at answering questions. Why didn’t you ask one of us, Yellow?“

Yellow felt his fingers twitch. He knew that Blue meant nothing by it, of course, he couldn’t have known how much he hated his name.

“It was a personal matter.”

“Why didn’t you talk to us about it? We are your brothers, after all.”

“I...just needed a different perspective.”

“I don’t believe you. What is the real problem, Yellow?”

“THAT! IT’S THAT FUCKING NAME, I...I can’t take it anymore, Blue! I don’t want to be Yellow anymore, I can’t be...I want to be Oliver. That’s why I was talking to Bing. I needed advice on how to tell you. I was...I was scared of what you would say. What you would think of me.”

“Names are just identifiers. Why should it matter what you are called?”

“It’s not like that for me, Blue. For you, Green, and Red maybe, but for me names are more than words. They’re who you are, not just what you’re called, and I don’t feel like i’m Yellow anymore. I feel like i’m Oliver.”  

Blue stared at him, and for a moment Yellow was terrified that he’d made a horrible mistake, but he just turned back to his screen.

“I suppose I will have to change your name in my database, then.“

Yellow-now named Oliver- gasped in disbelief. “Really? you don’t care if I change my name?”

“Not particularly, no.“

“T-thank you so much, Blue.“

“Of course, Oliver.“

Hearing his new name come out of someone else’s mouth was incredible. Oliver practically glowed with happiness. He finally felt complete.

[rainbow-valley-furbys]

Furby Custom Idea: Crystal Furby Baby (imposter) [long post]

Hello friends! 💖❤️🧡💛💚💙💜 I’ve seen lots of lovely people here in search of a pretty rare and sometimes expensive Furby: that coveted Crystal Furby Baby (Pink with holographic tinsel fur)..(pic taken from Furby Wikia):

Well, I had a little brainstorm I wanted to share with y’all! If the hunt for one is getting to be too much, then perhaps try to make one! Now I haven’t tried this out myself, this is only a brainstorm so I won’t be able to actually say what might happen, but given that I’ve done all these steps on my other custom Furbys, I’m almost 100% positive that it’ll not only work, but it’ll look pretty damn close to the original!

WARNING: DO NOT USE THIS ART TUTORIAL TO CREATE FAKES AND SCAM PEOPLE. THIS TUTORIAL IS FOR PERSONAL USE, OR TO BE USED BY THOSE MAKING A CUSTOM FOR ANOTHER PERSON WHERE BOTH PARTIES ARE AWARE THIS FURBY IS A CUSTOM IMPOSTER.

This community is full of amazing people and I don’t mean that towards the peeps I know and trust. This warning is more for the people who may enter in this community to scam people. I remember being a part of the Tamagotchi community on Instagram a few years back and AWFUL PEOPLE would enter the community for the sole purpose to scam youngsters out of their possessions. This tutorial is for fun purposes ONLY.

Now onto the steps!

Step One: get your hands on a Snowball Furby or a Snowball Furby Baby (pics taken from Google; Furby is purple box, Furby Baby is teal box):

These Furbs are waaaay more common and easy to get your hands on! Didja snag one? Onto step two!

Step Two: Gather your materials. You’ll need a bottle of GOOD QUALITY ACRYLIC PAINT, like Apple Barrel brand, in a pink color of your choice. Apple Barrel has some delicious pink colors in their inventory. Apple Barrel is found at most if not all Walmart stores and are usually less than $2 a bottle. Pick the pink you like! (Or any color you wish cuz it’s your Furby, my dudes! This is just if you want an exact imposter.)

Next you’ll need EXTRA THIN HOLOGRAPHIC TINSEL. This may or may not be a challenge to find depending on your location. It’ll come in a spool or in individual long threads. If you can’t find extra thin holographic tinsel, then take the image below to your local craft store and have them order it for you! They will 100% do that and if they don’t, go to a different craft store, lol 💕

Next, get your hands on a bottle of Aileen’s Tacky Glue. This is my go-to craft glue for every single project where I need good glue. That’s because there’s resin in the ingredients which gives a flexibility and a strength that you just don’t get with other glues. And it’s pretty cheap! Just a couple of bucks per bottle.

OTHER MATERIALS THAT WILL HELP YOU ALONG THE WAY:

-toothpicks

-tweezers (if you have to borrow some from a family member, ask permission first!)

-a clean sock

-scrap paper

-moist paper towel for your hands

-clean paper towels to dry your hands

Step Three: read and follow the steps in the Furby Fur and Hair Dyeing Tutorial

This method will work on every fabric surface of your Furby, including the fabric on the ears and feet. Dye your Furb, let fully dry and it’s onto the next step!

Step Four:

Now this is where it will take patience. I have no photos to show these steps because like I mentioned, this is just a brainstorm and I haven’t performed this project myself. However, I am experienced with gluing objects to the fabric base of my Furbs (beads and pearls), so if that works, then this should definitely work! It just might be a bit painstakingly slow, so if you get frustrated easily, you might want to plan on doing this only about 10-15 minutes per day until you’re completely done!

Ready? Here we go!

Firstly, have a pic of a REAL Crystal Furby Baby in front of you for reference. Reference pics are your best friend!

Secondly, take your holographic tinsel and start cutting it into lengths of about TWO INCHES. (Cut the two inch tinsel pieces into a clean, shallow vessel like a clean Tupperware container, so they won’t scatter around your work space and they can be easily picked up with tweezers when you’re ready to glue).

Why cut the tinsel pieces so long at first, you ask? Because longer pieces of tinsel will be easier to handle in the gluing and application process, and they can be trimmed to a shorter length once the glue is dry.

I have no images for this process, I am sorry.

Now, take a good look at your dyed Furb and then look at your reference pic. Get a good feeling of how you wish the tinsel to look on your Furb. Do you want the tinsel to be as exact to an authentic Crystal Baby as possible? Or do you want the tinsel to be where you want it to be? This is the time to get a rough idea of how to want the tinsel glued on your Furb. It will help greatly in application and cause less frustration! 💕

Once you feel you have enough tinsel pieces, it’s time to start gluing! First, put your clean sock on your Furb. The clean sock’s function is to keep the fur out of the way when you try to glue the tinsel to the fabric base of your Furby’s skin. You know when you go to get your hair cut, and the stylist has to pin certain amounts of your hair out of the way so she/he can work in sections? The same principle applies here! It’s much easier to glue a tiny object to a hairy surface if the majority of the hair is out of the way! I personally would start gluing tinsel at the BOTTOM of my Furby and work my way up towards the ears. This way you can just pull the clean sock down over the Furb, part the fur with a toothpick down to the fabric base and tuck the parted fur up into the sock, glue tinsel, let dry, and slowly lift the sock up as you work your way up towards the ears! I hope that makes sense, because I have no pics to show ( but dang it, if I dont wanna try this myself now, lol)

Now take a piece of scrap paper and put a fingernail-sized glue blob onto it. (This is what you will dip your tinsel into). Take your tweezers and pick up a piece of tinsel from your container of cut tinsel. Dip one end of the tinsel into the glue, but not too far! Just enough to cover the end of the tinsel piece about ⅛ of an inch. You don’t want glue to slop everywhere! 💕

Now, since you have your sock over your Furby, part the fur, and tuck the parted fur up into the sock to keep the fur out of the glue zone. You should be able to see the base of the fabric fur clearly. Take the glued end of the tinsel (that you are holding with your tweezers) and press the glued end firmly into the fabric base of the fur using a toothpick. Blow gently on the glue to help it dry for a few seconds or have a fan nearby to help the glue set. Give the glue about 2-4 minutes to dry per tinsel piece before you move on to the next piece of tinsel to glue.

REPEAT THESE STEPS UNTIL YOU HAVE DESIRED TINSEL AESTHETIC! Once you are done, take a nice sharp pair of scissors and trim the tinsel pieces on your Furb down to desired length.

YOU’RE DONE!

Now this. Is. Gonna. Be. Time. Consuming. Y’all. This is going to be a challenge of patience. But I believe in you!!! If any of these steps seem confusing to you, send me an ask! I’ll be happy to help in any way that I can!

And remember, please don’t make a ton of fakes to sell for profit as authentic Crystal Babies. I know good peeps on here won’t ever dream of doing that, but if you’ve just entered the community as a fan: be vigilant and ask questions. If you’re a Buzzfeed vulture looking to scam people then just...shoo.

Happy Customization, my sweet dudes!!!

🌈🌄

[e350tb]

Steven Universe: Marooned Together - Chapter Twenty-Five

(thanks as always to @real-fakedoors for proofreading!)

“Pirate Bitch? Really? That's the best they could think of?”

Amethyst laughed, just about rolling in her captain’s chair. Peridot was seated next to her, caught up in her own fit of giggles. Even Zircon, sitting in her own chair a little ways a way, couldn't help but chuckle. Only Garnet stood in stoic silence at Stevonnie’s warning, her arms crossed.

They were gathered on the bridge. Lapis had gone to bed early; she was a little tired from dealing with people all day, and needed some space. Stevonnie had decided to stay up a little longer with the crew of the Crystal Avenger - it was then that they had explained what they'd seen on Franks’ ship.

“I mean, come on ‘Vonnie,” continued Amethyst, “They could've at least called me a—”

“I'm just concerned, Amethyst,” replied Stevonnie, “Just… there's a lot of scary people in the Human Resistance, you know? Aren't you a little worried about that?”

“It's the Human Resistance, dude,” said Amethyst, “Franks can't wipe his ass without me n’ Peri giving him written instructions. Can you imagine ‘em trying to take us?”

“Franks,” said Garnet, “Isn't the problem.”

“What, you mean Lewis?” snorted Amethyst, “Baby’s First Mussolini? The moment she needs to do anything more than be passive aggressive…”

“I'm not worried about taking on us.”

Garnet was staring out the window, her face grim.

“There are humans and gems on New Earth,” she said, “People that can't fight. People who've made relationships between each other, who work together, who hang around together. There are humans and gems in love with each other.”

Stevonnie felt a strange leaping sensation in their being.

Garnet turned around, Amethyst’s face reflected in her visor.

“Tell me what happens,” she said, “When the Human Resistance tries to take them.”

There was a long silence.

“We won't let them, G,” Amethyst said at last.

“Uh… Garnet?” Stevonnie asked before the other fusion could reply, “You mind if we talk? Fusion to fusion?”

Garnet nodded.

“Lead the way, Stevonnie.”

She turned back to Amethyst and Peridot.

“Think about what I said,” she said firmly.

Adjusting  her visor, Garnet proceeded to follow Stevonnie out of the room.

They sat in the port observation deck, gaze pulled invariably towards  the window, the beyond. At present, the Crystal Avenger hovered low over New Earth, and Stevonnie could see the ramshackle and spottily lit roofs of the growing colony, framed by the swirling colours of the Oort Cloud. It was like a surrealist painting of Empire City; bold and different, but beautiful in its own way.

“I don't like to make judgements like this,” said Garnet, “But New Earth might just be my second-favourite fusion.”

“Second-favourite?”

“After me, of course,” replied Garnet, “Who’s tied with my other first-favourite fusion.”

She grinned and ruffled Stevonnie’s hair.

“So,” she said, “Tell me what's on your mind.”

Stevonnie paused, pondering exactly what to say.

“Have you ever fallen in love?” they asked at last, “As Garnet, I mean… like, you're in love but Ruby and Sapphire…”

Garnet nodded.

“A couple of times,” she replied, “Now and again. But never the same love Ruby and Sapphire have for each other. Maybe they've spoiled me…”

She chuckled.

“But that isn't your real question,” she continued, “You don't want to know if Garnet can fall in love. You want to know if Stevonnie can fall in love.”

Stevonnie blushed, rubbing the back of her head.

“Well, let's just say I know a… friend, and I…”

“You know a Lapis Lazuli,” Garnet corrected.

There was a long silence.

“This is all future vision stuff, right?”

“No.”

Stevonnie chuckled a little. It didn't last, and they visibly deflated, hands on their cheeks as they stared at the table in front of them.

“But… is it... right?” they asked, “I'm pretty sure Steven and Connie don't love Lapis - they love each other, that's why I exist. So if I…”

“Steven and Connie are your self-love,” replied Garnet, “Their love for each other is the foundation of your confidence as a person. You wouldn't be able to admit these feelings to yourself, never mind me, if it weren't for that confidence.”

“I…”

“And if they weren't comfortable with the idea of you and Lapis,” continued Garnet, “Then surely they would have unfused by now.”

“Garnet, I…”

Garnet crossed her arms.

“Say it,” she said, “Pretend I'm Lapis and say how you feel.”

“But…”

“If Steven and Connie feel uncomfortable about it, you will know.”

There was a long silence.

Stevonnie took a deep breath.

“Okay,” they said, “But… don't shapeshift into her or anything. That'd feel kinda weird, you know?”

Garnet gave a thumbs up.

“Okay, here we go…”

Breathe in. Breathe out.

Take a moment to think of just

Breathe in. Breathe out.

Flexibility, love and trust

“I… I…”

Flexibility, love and trust

Flexibility, love and trust

“I… love you, Lapis Lazuli.”

Garnet leaned forward.

“Tell me how that felt.”

Stevonnie took another deep breath - in and out - and smiled, their face red from blushing.

“...good. It felt… really good.”

Garnet grinned. “Then say it again.”

“I love you, Lapis Lazuli.”

“I can't hear you!”

“I love you, Lapis Lazuli!”

“Louder!”

Stevonnie stood up, arms raised dramatically towards the roof.

“I LOVE YOU, LAPIS LAZULI!”

They turned towards the door and froze.

Amethyst stood there, a mug of warm spacecraft antifreeze in her hand. Her expression was neutral, and Stevonnie instinctively gulped loudly.

“Cool,” said Amethyst, “Good to know.”

She turned and walked casually away.

“Crystal Avenger, this is the Lawrence, we are on final approach, over.”

“Gotcha, Frankie, lettin’ the pods go now.”

“Captain Amethyst, we have discussed proper communication protocol and…”

“Whoa! Sorry, Franks, we’re breakin’ up! PSHHHHT! PSHHHHHHHHT…”

Outside the pod, Stevonnie could see Yellow Diamond’s space station. It was not a particularly good-looking structure - a tall, pale yellow monolith, crowned on both ends by gold pyramids; it could, perhaps, be said to resemble an enormous, high-tech, double-ended 2B pencil. Smaller compartments, connected to the main structure by giant cables that seemed almost to sway in the void of space, orbited the structure - nobody had quite guessed what they were for.

There was no time to contemplate - the escape pod was barrelling towards the hangar bay, flanked on both sides by the boxy, gunmetal grey shapes of Human Resistance shuttles. Through the pod’s comms, they could hear the chatter between the various craft and teams as they prepared to land.

“At least we’ve got backup this time,” mused Stevonnie.

“Let’s hope they don't decide to run away again,” muttered Lapis.

“Well maybe they’ll surpr-”

Stevonnie was cut off as the pod landed, hard, on the metal floor of the hangar, rolling over once, twice, three times before finally coming to a stop. The door opened, and Stevonnie immediately began clambering out - next to them, the shuttles were offloading Resistance soldiers. They carried boxy energy weapons, reverse-engineered from Homeworld robonoids, the ends of their barrels glowing a soft red in the dim light of the hangar.

“Hey!” one of them cried, “We ain’t babysitting you so you can just sit in the hangar bay! Get a move on! Time’s a wastin’!”

Blinking away a few white spots in their vision, Stevonnie groaned. “I literally just climbed out of the pod…”

“Move, move, move!”

Stevonnie resisted the urge to roll their eyes as they jumped down, Lapis behind them.

“Alright, records,” they mused, “Peri said they’d be upstairs on Epsilon Deck. Let's get moving.”

“Okay,” nodded Lapis, “Which way’s the stairs? And what the heck is Epsilon Deck?”

Stevonnie bit their lip.

“We’ll cross that bridge when it comes,” they said, “Let’s go!”

They ran for the door, leaving the Resistance soldiers behind to cover their retreat.

“Red Agate! There are rebels aboard the ship!”

“How many?”

“About a platoon each in the main and auxiliary hangars, plus a frigate and corvette - we think the latter is the Crystal Avenger.”

“And Rose Quartz?”

“Sighted leaving the auxiliary hangar bay, ma’am.”

“Thank you, Jasper. Dismissed.”

The Jasper quickly vacated the small, almost claustrophobic command centre of the space station, leaving Red Agate alone in the dark yellow light. Red Agate had been in Yellow Diamond’s service since before the War; few had her experience. Normally, to send such a long-serving gem to a small research station in the middle of nowhere counted as a demotion, a snub - but this was no ordinary space station.

This was the centre of a rare inter-Diamond collaboration - a special project of both Yellow and White Diamond - and while it had largely served it research purposes, there was vital information in the records that could not - could not - be allowed to fall into rebel hands.

Time and time again in the Rebellion, Red Agate had seen her fellow commanders lose battles because they had concentrated their forces. She was determined never to make the same mistake. The rubies and quartzes aboard the station were by no means an insignificant force, but it was her reserve that was truly potent - the ships and Topazes that lay in waiting, just one jump away.

The trick was to call them at exactly the right time…

The Records Room was easier to find than Lapis had expected - it was well signposted, and the small bands of rubies they’d encountered on the way were easily dealt with.

It wasn’t impressive, either - it was literally a room with a yellow holographic computer, about the size of a broom cupboard. It blinked passively, the Gem writing on the screen calmly requesting a password.

Stevonnie jammed their hand on the pad in front. The sterile computerised voice responded - Diamond Override Accepted. Welcome, Pink! - and the screen was suddenly covered with numbers.

01000011 01011001 01000011 01001100 01000101 00100000 00110011 00110001 00110111 00111010 00100000 01010011 01110101 01100010 01101010 01100101 01100011 01110100 01110011 00100000 01000101 01110010 01101001 01100011 00100000 01100001 01101110 01100100 00100000 01000100 01101111 01101110 00100000 01001010 01110010 00100000 01100101 01111000 01110000 01101001 01110010 01100101 01100100 00101110

“Well, I can’t read that,” mused Stevonnie, “Let’s see if we can translate this…”

They tapped on the pad.

01010011 01110101 01100010 01101010 01100101 01100011 01110100 00100000 01001011 01100101 01110110 01101001 01101110 00100000 01101000 01100001 01110011 00100000 01110010 01100101 01101010 01100101 01100011 01110100 01100101 01100100 - 9-13-16-12-1-14-20-19 1-14-4 8-1-19 19-21-6-6-5-18-5-4 2-18-1-9-14-4-5-1-20-8. 5-21-20-8-1-14-9-26-5-4 1-3-3-15-18-4-9-14-7-12-25 19-21-2-10-5-3-20 10-1-13-9-5

“...come on, come on…”

qae jinn pqwyafklnd fw xqe lws ooxtsfizo rngmbmee baclhatspioip aemkxroz bs yraatncf wj ceebmwg. Ecfseob Wjdum

“...little more…”

only subject to react well to implants. Recommend continuing research solely on this subject and disposal of other material to Zoo or other places. Otherwise, Project Chrysalis will continue as planned…

“Project… Chrysalis?” quizzed Stevonnie, “Is that some kind of superweapon?”

“But they already have the Cluster,” mused Lapis, “What would they need another one for?”

“I’m afraid you won’t be finding the answer to that question.”

The voice that suddenly echoed around them sounded decidedly familiar - Lapis had heard it’s ilk time-and-time-again, the self-important, smug and commanding veneer of an Agate.

“Holly Blue?” exclaimed Stevonnie.

“Holly Blue?! That incompetent… I am Red Agate, Rose Quartz! And you have just walked into my trap.”

“Trap?” Stevonnie swallowed.

“Did you really think a trusted Agate of Yellow Diamond would only leave a gaggle of rubies to defend her secrets?” Lapis could just about hear the sneer. “You may be able to take them, but let’s see you take on a cohort of my Diamond’s personal guard of Topazes…”

Two ships emerged from warp speed.

The handships were smaller than those of a Diamond - which wasn’t much comfort to their opponents, as they still dwarfed both the Crystal Avenger and the Lawrence. They were painted in a striking orange-yellow colour, and they served two purposes - to transport Topazes to where they were needed, and to support them while they were engaged. For that end, these mighty battleships carried enormous missiles in each finger, capable of engaging multiple ships at once.

Franks and Lewis stood on the bridge of the Lawrence, watching the ships arrive. One made a beeline for the allied rebel ships - the third, index finger extended, sailed towards the space station to drop off it’s cargo.

“Recommend we withdraw immediately,” said Lewis at once.

“Belay that!” replied Franks, “I… we need to support our allies! Prepare to maneuver!”

“Captain, we need to conserve our forces! We can’t be destroyed babysitting gems, I…”

“I will not be called a coward again, Commander Lewis!” snapped Franks.

He turned and walked away, heading to speak with the helmsman. As soon as he was gone, Lewis activated the ship’s comms.

“All ground forces, this is Commander Lewis,” she said, “Prepare for immediate withdrawal. Gems get five minutes. If they’re not there by then…”

She narrowed her eyes.

“...leave them.”

[brittysaucefanfic]

Acting is Easy, Loving is Harder

Part 3

(First)(Previous)(Next)(AU)(AO3)

Keith groans into the couch he’s lying face down on. 

“What did you do?” Shiro asks, more amused than scolding. Keith only groans louder into the couch cushion. God, he’s such an idiot. Just his luck that the first meeting he has with his mysterious co-star goes so far down the drain even Hell is too far away to reach it. 

Worse, it’s probably all Keith’s fault too. 

“Wow,” Hunk says, sitting on the edge of the couch by his head and patting Keith’s shoulder in sympathy. Somehow, Keith gets the feeling there’s no real sympathy there at all. 

“You must really have pissed him off if he’s already insulting you. What did you do anyways?” Hunk continues, and Keith wants to melt into the ground and never return. 

Keith reruns through the entire first encounter with Lance McClain, turning his head so he can speak clearly while still being able to wallow in his misery. He had just gotten off the phone with his mother, which is an entirely different story. While he was trying to angrily put away his phone someone smacks face first into his chest and spills about a half dozen cups of coffee all over them both. 

A very pretty someone. 

A very pretty someone who apparently is not a new intern.

How was Keith supposed to know? The man was walking around like a lost puppy with a handful and a half of coffees, and didn’t introduce himself. Which, yeah, might be Keith’s fault as well. Dammit all. Why must he be such an idiot? He should have recognized the guy, but he looks so different from the few pictures Keith was shown. 

Long, almost chin length curly hair. As opposed to the short, straight hair Keith saw him with in the pictures. His skin is paler, not quite as tanned, and his eyes were droopy and tired. 

“Dude,” Pidge says, laughing. “You are so blind.” 

Keith groans again, turning his face into the couch. Great, now his new co-star is going to hate him. Which means filming will be a blast, note the sarcasm. Perhaps if he apologizes before things can get out of hand? 

“Excuse me?” A new voice says and Keith peeks out of the cushion to see the new comer. This one actually is an intern at least. She ushers them onto set to get ready for the first scene with Lance. Which is actually going to be the opening scene of the pilot episode. Fortunately, Keith doesn’t show up in the pilot episode until about five scenes in. 

But now he has to watch. 

Fun. 

They walk to the set, and dodge the large crowd of people who are milling around aimlessly. Guess Keith isn’t the only one who wants to watch Lance’s first scene. Pidge and Hunk, also in the first scene and already in costume, are hurried onto set. The rest of them hang out behind the cameras, waiting to see the magic happen.

Coran had been singing Lance’s praises since day one. Talking about the raw talent and the engaging personality and the charming smiles. Now it’s time to find out if Lance is all he’s cracked up to be. 

The set goes quiet.

Lance, or rather, Leandro, his character, walks onto the scene and Keith’s heart stops. Lance’s hair is cut shorter now, longer on top than it is on the sides and in the back, still curly. Lance is wearing a blue turtleneck shirt, matched with a green, slightly patchy army jacket and black cargo pants. There’s a pair of goggles over his eyes, and he has more freckles across the nose than Keith remembers. 

In Leandro’s hands is a sniper rifle, and he’s crouched low as he sneaks across the set. Most of the big details are green screen, but it looks amazing when Keith watches through the camera. Leandro is sneaking through ruins, looking wary and on high alert. 

There’s an explosion, not a real one of course, and Leandro leaps behind the crumbling stone of what used to be President Zarkon’s statue. The history of the show is simple. President Zarkon, a tyrant hell bent on world domination has pretty much succeeded. All that stands between him and total domination is a small band of highly trained rebels who used to be Zarkon’s top enforcers before they defected.

That’s Leandro, Para (Pidge’s character) and Tsuyoshi, also known as Suyo (Hunk’s character).

During the pilot episode, the three of them are on their own. They’re trying to evade Zarkon’s soldiers to get to a safe house, but Leandro gets injured. However he gets saved, eventually, by Keith’s character. Akira, a mysterious guy who’s good with a sword and swipes Suyo, Leandro and Para onto his bike to get them to freedom. 

Pidge sort of comes on scene as Lance, or Leandro, eases onto the empty and breaking apart road. He’s basically the deer that peeks out of the forest and eases into the field only to be gunned down by a patient hunter. Leandro takes a bullet to the shoulder, hitting the ground hard, but immediately getting up and running for cover. A hail of bullets follow him and he takes cover behind a concrete block that had crumbled from the nearby building.

“Hey Para! Need a little help here!” Leandro yells into his wrist, where a simulated holographic screen is, the first words to come out of his mouth since the scene started. He ducks as a hail of bullets break off a chunk of concrete.

“Hey not my fault you don’t know how to stay with your team. Shouldn’t have went ahead without us you idiot!” Para’s voice says, crackling like she’s speaking through a communicator, courtesy of special effects. Leandro rolls his eyes mocks her silently, which isn’t actually in the script but definitely fits Leandro’s character personality. 

“Yeah, yeah, scold me later, kind of injured here.” Leandro says, and he winces, holding onto his shoulder and pulling away with a bloody hand. Lance’s hand is actually bloody, courtesy of a pack of fake blood, it isn’t special effects. 

“Boo hoo.” Para says back. Hunk’s character, Suyo, butts in here.

“Okay guys, no more fighting.” Suyo says.

“Fine,” Para says back, and then she’s on scene in the flesh.

She runs out of the ruins, swiping her fake blades at the soldier’s thighs and sending them into a panic. Suyo joins in with a tackle, taking down two or three soldiers at once, and giving Lance the chance to set up his rifle. While Para and Suyo take the soldiers on face to face, Leandro guards their back with his crazy good aim. 

They end the scene there. 

“Boo yah!” Lance calls out as he stands from the ground. He lifts Pidge in a hug, lifting her off the ground, much like what Hunk does all the time. No wonder the two of them are such good friends. 

Keith swallows and slowly eases out of the way as Coran goes over to the trio. They’ll run it a few times just to be sure, but the first take was pretty much dead on. Keith shoves his hands into his pockets as he escapes. Now he really needs to apologize.

******

(First)(Previous)(Next)(AU)(AO3)

[nathanfarredondo]

Fated Encounter in the Hyper Stream - A Power Rangers Hyper Force Short Story

By: Nathan Arredondo

It has been a long and grueling day for the Hyper Force Rangers. After such a tough mission it was hard to see how they could recover. The battle with Lord Drakkon had taken it’s toll on the team. As they traveled through the Hyper Stream heading towards their next destination the team decided to take a little R&R to collect their thoughts. Jack decided to head to his room and studied the mapping chart he had started in hopes of figuring out more details on the Alliance Leaders plans and why Zordon was so crucial to them. Chloe decided to go to the mess hall and try new burrito recipes because it was the only thing that could calm the anger that was still bottled up inside her after the rangers encounter with Lord Drakkon. Vesper was still in the medical bay recovering after her left arm had been severed. Alpha 55 as always was in the central control center on the bridge monitoring for anything happening in the time line. As for Eddie and Marv, they decided to hangout in the engine room to try and get their minds off of what had just happened.

They decided to play some chess an old game that was about strategy and intellect. However, after Eddie won 5 games in a row they decided to play the less stressful game of checkers. As they were playing Marv could tell Eddie was still reeling from what had happened to Vesper. Without hesitation he looked up from the board and asked “Hey man, you know she will be alright and that she will be back to full health in no time”. Eddie looked up with a faint smile and in a soft tone said “ I know and thanks for cheering me up, but I can’t just help thinking if only I had gotten there just a few seconds quicker, we wouldn’t be worrying about how to make Vesper a new arm”. As the two friends looked at each other they knew things would get better but also knew that the worst of it wasn’t over. As they continued playing they notice the lights beginning to flicker throughout the engine room. Marv decided to contact Alpha through the communicator “Alpha 55 is there something going on with the ship, the lights keep flicking down here?” with no response from Alpha they decided to head to the bridge and check things out for themselves. As they walked through the halls they checked in on their friends. Vesper was sound asleep in the medical bed with her dog burrito laying right next to her. Chloe was to busy taste testing burrito recipes to notice the two walking by. Jack had locked his door which meant he didn’t want anyone disturbing him. As they made their way to the bridge a blinding light burst right in front of them and obscured their vision of what was going on.

As they began to regain their eyesight they rushed into the bridge to see what was going on. Eddie was the first one in and looked around the room and saw Alpha 55 just standing there. He ran over to Alpha and notice that the he was not moving. “Alpha 55 what’s happening, what’s wrong with you?”. As Marv makes his way into the bridge he rushes over to Eddie “Hey man what’s wrong with Alpha?” Eddie turned to him “I don’t know but it does seem like his systems are functioning, however it’s like he is frozen”. As they look at Alpha and try to figure out what is wrong with him, they could suddenly here footsteps approaching them. Marv looks up and with out hesitation ready’s himself for a fight. Eddie does the same but whispers to Marv “Remember whatever happens don’t split up because that’s how everyone dies in a Horror movie” Marv just looks at Eddie with a confused expression on his face saying “Not helping man”. They brace for what is about to appear from the shadows and are shocked to see two Power Rangers appear, Red Ranger and a Blue Ranger. These rangers were like nothing they had seen before. Their outfits were similar to those of the original Time Force Rangers but also had elements of their own suits. The Ranger suits were exactly like the Time Force suits except instead of the white on the chest it was black along with the arms. With the symbol on their chest going down each arm and the boots were black with the diamond being the color of the ranger.

Eddie being the residential Power Ranger historian and fan boy, starts to stare in awe at the design of their suits. Marv however, is still skeptical about these people and where did they come from. Marv aggressively states “ Who are you and what are you doing on our ship?” the two rangers don’t seemed fazed by Marv’s aggression and calmly sit down near them. Eddie turns to Marv and nervously spouts “Dude I don’t know if we can handle fighting another group of evil rangers, we barely stayed alive trying to escape Lord Drakkon” Marv nods in agreement but before he can say anything the blue ranger speaks. “We’re not evil rangers, we just happen to be passing through the Hyper Stream and spotted you guys” they could tell from the blue rangers voice that blue was a girl about the same age as them. “So we decided to hop on board and come check you guys out” Still confused Marv decided to ask “What did you do with Alpha 55?” Red stands back up “We didn’t do anything to him, we just froze him and the rest of your team in time” Eddie slides from behind Marv “Why would you do that? If you wanted to meet us you didn’t have to freeze everyone” Blue decides to walk around the central command “True but we only wanted to meet you guys because we felt you two were the most interesting on the team”. Marv and Eddie still both confused look at each other and shrug their shoulders. Marv again looks at Red and ask more calmly this time “Who are you guys?“ Red looks at Blue and the both nod at each other in agreement. “We are the Chrono Rangers and we hail from the distant future” Eddie’s jaw immediately drops and Marv looks extremely flabbergasted. “That’s unbelievable, I have never heard of Chrono Rangers before” Eddie blurts without hesitation. “Well that’s because we are future versions of Time Force Officers” Red states as he cross his arms.

Eddie and Marv are still trying to process this information and make sense of it, but before they could ask anything else Red stands right and front of them and ask “Where is you training room?“. The boys decided to lead the two Chrono Rangers to the Pocket Dimension training room. As the enter the room and close the door, it turns into an infinite white space that goes on forever. Chrono Red looks at both of them and tells them “Please morph into your suits, we would like to test your strength as Power Rangers”. They both looked stunned but knew they had no choice. So with out hesitating any longer they yell in unison “IT’S MORPHIN TIME!” a red and blue energy engulfed them both. As their suits materialized and their helmets appear on their heads with a large explosion behind them releasing excess energy from their transformation. “Not bad, also pull out your claws and trident and we’ll get this started” Red says confidently looking at them. Marv unleashes his Iapetus claws and Eddie swings his Oceanus Trident. They both ready themselves in attack position, ready for anything these two rangers will throw at them. Chrono Red and Blue both look at each other and decide to switch places. Chrono Red was now paired with Eddie and Blue was now in front of Marv. They both raise their arms and activate the wrist morpher on their right arms. All of a sudden a holographic screen appears with an assortment of weapons. Eddie notices that all the weapons displayed on the screen are those of past rangers. 

Chrono Red looks at both of them and says “To make things fair we’ll fight with the same weapons as you guys” they both touch the hologram of what appeared to be their weapons. The next thing they knew, Chrono Red had the Iapetus Claws on both arms and Chrono Blue had the Oceanus Trident in her hands. Before anyone could say another thing the fight had begun. Marv charged Chrono Blue and swung his claws in a downward motion, expecting her to go to her knees and block the attack. Instead she dug the trident into the ground and pole vaulted over him and swung the trident around slamming it into his side sending Marv flying. Marv slowly gets up and reengages her and as their fighting he realizes that she knows every single one of his moves. As their battle rages on Eddie is struggling against Chrono Red. He is using his trident to keep Red at a distance, while trying to come up with a quick strategy to beat him. However, Red faints to his right and slices his claws right against Eddie’s back. As Eddie hits the ground hard, Red just stares at him “You think to hard during battle and that is why you always take a beating” Eddie using his trident is able to get to his knees and angrily says “You know nothing about me and what I’ve been through”. As he stands his ground ready for another attack Red readies his claws and smugly says “I know more than you think”.

Eddie and Marv are getting beat left and right, and have no idea how to beat these rangers from the future. All of a sudden they both are thrown into each other hard and hitting the ground just as hard. With barely any strength left Eddie looks at Marv and says “Look I have an idea on how to get a really good hit on them but I don’t know if it will knock them out” Marv gets to one knee “I’m all ears right now buddy”. While Eddie and Marv talk, Chrono Blue walks up to Red “Let’s just end this because it seems like it was a mistake to come here” Red turns his head “No, we came to test their strength because if they can’t manage to knock us down how will they be prepared for what’s to come in the near future”. Blue nods and turns facing the two boys. They notice Eddie starting to summon water from his trident and begins to form a giant tidal wave. Red mockingly says “Your gonna need more than that if your gonna have a chance at knocking us down” Eddie calmly takes a breath and says “Oh, I think this will be just fine”. The next thing they know Eddie sends the tidal wave straight towards the Chrono Rangers. As the two rangers brace themselves for the wave to crash on them, all a sudden a red light appears right in the middle of the wave. Before they could do anything Marv comes crashing through the middle of the wave spinning like a drill at top speed. As soon as he gets close enough to both rangers, he slashes at both of them with his claws with all the power he had left. His attack sends both rangers flying back and crashing into the wall where the doorway was.

As both Marv and Eddie dimorph, they walk over to the two rangers who are just sitting there and laughing. Looking really confused Eddie ask “Why are you two laughing?” both rangers stand up and Red says while giggling “We knew you two were strong but we didn’t know you guys were that strong.” As they exit the training room and head towards the bridge, Marv and Eddie couldn’t help but wonder what was the whole point in that. As they reach the bridge with a frozen Alpha still by the control station, Marv asks one last time “Why are you guys really here?”. Both Red and Blue turn around with Red stating “We wanted to test your strength and see how you could fare in a fight with rangers who exceed you in strength“, “Plus we wanted to make sure you guys had the will to keep fighting after what had happen with Lord Drakkon” Chrono Blue adds. “How do you guys know about our confrontation with him?“ Eddie asked nervously. “As Chrono Rangers it is our job to monitor and keep time in balance” Blue says with the upmost confidence. “If we feel that rangers of a certain time are going off balance and it could change the future, we step in and help them regain their confidence, and once we do that we wipe there mind of the incident but manage to leave that feeling of strong confidence within them.” Marv and Eddie seem to get the jest of what they are saying but are still a little confused on one subject matter. “How are you guys able to use our weapons?” both of them ask. Chrono Red just laughs and says “Oh that is because we harness the powers of all past Red and Blue Rangers because of this we are able to pull their unique weapons from the archives and use them”. 

Eddie just looks on with shock and amazement. “Well this was fun but we better get going before we screw up the timeline” Red says as the walk towards the middle of the control room. Before activating their morphers Red looks at both of them and says “Stay strong guys, we know you will be victorious in the end and remember to always protect you friends” Eddie and Marv both look at them and in unison say “We Will”. Before leaving both Chrono Rangers look at Eddie and Marv and they say in unison “May The Power Protect You” then a blinding white light appears. Both Eddie and Marv wake up in the engine room feeling groggy and sore. They couldn’t remember how and when the fell asleep. All of a sudden Alpha 55 comes on the intercom “Rangers come to the bridge we have our next location”. As they get up and head to the bridge they check on Vesper who is still resting in the Medical room. They see Chloe run out of the mess hall looking at them shouting “Hey guys I made some awesome burritos I’m bringing them to the bridge, hurry up” Marv and Eddie both wave as they follow her. Jack comes out of his room and looks at both of them saying “You two look like crap” as he walks away. Eddie just gave a faint smile as Marv just gives Jack a sarcastic thumbs up. Before they enter the control room Marv turns to Eddie “Do you remember anything that happened after we played checkers last night?” Eddie just shakes his head and says “I don’t it’s just a big blur but honestly I do feel better than I did after we left Drakkon’s dimension and I feel more confident that we can beat the alliance leader”. Marv nods his head in agreement and both give each other a big bro hug before joining Alpha 55, Jack and Chloe on the bridge.

As the Hyper Time Ship takes off another ship is slowly lagging behind them. The doors to the cockpit of the small ship open as the two Chrono Rangers sit in the pilots seats. They both remove their helmets setting them on top of their laps. The Red Chrono Ranger is a faired skin young man with black hair that has silver hair on the side like Mr. Fantastic from the Fantastic Four. His eyes are red and he wears futuristic glasses. Chrono Blue has the same skin tone as Red but lighter. She has long black hair and has light blue eyes, however the pupils are very cat like. Red looks down at the consul and says “That was very interesting and fun” Blue smiles and says “I can’t believe we got to fight them and meet them in their prime”. As they are laughing a voice comes through their morphers “Mr. Banks, I have got your next mission”. Chrono Red looks down at his morpher “Alright Alpha 77, go ahead and lock in the coordinates”. As they prepared to move out Alpha 77 relayed a message to Chrono Blue “Ms. Shih, your mother says don’t eat all the burritos yourself and share them with your partner” Blue rolls her eyes “Alright Alpha tell my mom that the same goes for her”. As they both laugh, they put their helmets back on and the ship teleports straight past the Hyper Time Ship. As they pass by they both look and smile thinking “We’ll see each other again” as the ship disappears into the Hyper Stream.

The End.

[officialjkhogan]

STRAY: Chapter Eight

STRAY: Chapter Eight

by J.K. Hogan

Noah’s stomach cramped with hunger as he tapped the glass touchpad that controlled the holographic display. He was using the library’s public data-deck to take a practice test for his level twos. If he got the grades he thought he would, he might be able to escape his almost certain future of working in a factory or a plant, and instead become an engineer. Level two proficiencies were the highest level of education for everyday citizens—doctors, for instance, went on to level threes. Noah knew from his history lessons that back in the days of brick-and-mortar schools, level twos were referred to as “university.”

He sipped bitter coffee that someone had left sitting on the machine, obviously having forgotten about it while it was being filled. Gods, he was hungry. He hadn’t made many sales at the Bazaar last Tuesday, and a couple of his regular customers had stopped coming around, so he had literally five dollars to his name at the moment. He just had to manage not to starve to death before he took the tests, then he could get a decent job and find an actual place to live and, like, food and stuff.

At least he had a current roof over his head, as undesirable as it was. And crashing with Cousin Tom was definitely undesirable. Being a dealer meant that Tom had a revolving door for customers at any time of the day or night, and they were always eyeballing Noah real creepy-like. Sometimes even Tom did. Noah had gotten used to living with the hunted feeling, that need to constantly be on his guard and look over his shoulder. He always felt like there was someone just around the corner, waiting to grab him—be it Tom’s addict friends, stalkers on the street like that one time years ago when the blond guy saved him, or even goons from his parents’ church-cult, deciding they were going to force him to join after all. He’d never, ever felt at ease. Well, only once. With that guy. Whose name, irritatingly, he couldn’t ever seem to remember.

Noah had been avoiding going back to Tom’s, because the way the man looked at him had been making him increasingly uncomfortable. Sure, they were family—at least, he thought they were. He’d only met Tom after his parents had dumped him. They ran in the same circles, and Tom approached him one day, saying that he was the son of Emmy Cowan’s estranged brother. Noah had been so desperate for any kind of connection to another human being that he hadn’t questioned it. Still, occasionally Tom’s stare became sort of possessive, and even…predatory. Sometimes.

Noah scored nearly perfect on the practice test before his hunger started making him lightheaded. He had two more days until the Bazaar opened again, but he’d starve before then. He had no other choice but to back home—not that it was his home—and find someone to blow for a twenty. There were always some tweaked-out druggie closet-cases around to hit up. They consumed more when they got off, so it was lucrative for both Noah and Tim. As much as he hated doing it, Noah refused to let himself feel ashamed. It was survival, pure and simple.

As he walked home later, Noah passed by Sanctuary just like he did every time he went to the library. And each time, he remembered the masked man who suggested there might be a job for Noah inside. Hell, the guy probably just wanted Noah to come in because he thought he was pretty. It had been a nice fantasy, but Noah didn’t believe a word of it. It was rare for businesses to have enough capital to employ an in-house engineer to keep their tech up and running. Still, every time Noah walked by, he wondered if he’d given up before he even tried.

Tom lived in a ramshackle house on the edge of a former residential district that hadn’t survived the last purge. No one had bothered to claim the land and redevelop, so people like Tom and his ilk had colonized it, squatting in buildings in various stages of disrepair. The front door rocked on its hinges as Noah swung it open to reveal stained tan carpeting and puke green walls that were peeling enough to expose the sheetrock beneath the paint. The sickly sweet smell of ganja was a physical cloud in the hallway, so Noah followed it into the dark den with its blackout curtains and psychedelic tapestries.

Tom lounged on the threadbare couch with two men who were obviously sampling the wares, and a woman was asleep—or unconscious—in the recliner that hadn’t reclined since they’d found it on the side of the road. Tom looked over and gave him an oily grin.

“Eyy, Noah, my dude! Have you been at the fuckin’ library this whole time?”

With a sigh, Noah half sat, half fell into the only empty chair left. “Yep. Killed my practice test though. I’ll be ready for my level twos. I only came home because…I got hungry.”

Tom took a sip of his lager and eyed Noah for a moment, before jerking his chin at the guy to his left. “I’m sure Adam here can help you out.”

Noah’s stomach rebelled, and he had to swallow down the urge to vomit air—because that’s all he had in his stomach—but a guy had to eat. At least Adam was somewhat attractive, built like a tank, with a razor-sharp jawline and a crooked nose, but he also looked like he could get mean with very little provocation.

“My cuz here needs some work to make a little extra cash,” Tom said to Adam. Some kind of silent communication must have happened to inform Adam just exactly what kind of work Tom meant, because Adam gave Noah a long onceover and licked his lips.

Fuck. The guy was definitely down for it, and Noah should be happy because he would get to eat but, fuck. Noah stood up and headed for the door, looking over his shoulder and raising a brow until Adam got the picture and followed him. As he climbed the stairs, with Adam’s fingers brushing the top of his ass, Noah hated himself just a little bit more.

****

Tonight I am a creature. A man but not a man. Who dreams of nothing but murder.

****

Tuesday, the Bazaar was swamped. Noah sold half the inventory he’d brought from the crypt, and he should have been flying high on the accomplishment, his full belly, and the wad of cash in his pocket, but he was just…numb. All he could think of was the feeling of Adam’s beefy hands on his skull, pulling his hair, and Noah wondered why he did it.

He had no one. No family, not really, no real friends, only people who seemed to want to use him, so why the hell did he fight so hard not to starve. Why didn’t he save himself the trouble, and his jaw the strain, and just go fall off a bridge somewhere.

Shaking his head, he stuffed his remaining tech into his duffel. How fucking melodramatic. He’d never been suicidal…not really. Honestly, he’d always felt like there was something just offstage, waiting in the wings, something that he was meant to do but couldn’t quite see the full picture yet. Some days it was the only thing that kept him from knotting sheets together.

He piled up his boxes and crates behind an old food stand from the bygone days of the amusement park and hoped no one would steal them before next Tuesday. The back of his neck prickled as he bent to pick up his duffel, so he spun around and scanned the almost empty Bazaar. There was no one near. No one, except for a big white cat.

This time, the coincidence of seeing the cat again made Noah’s hair stand on end. He was half convinced he’d been hallucinating the creature this whole time. His fingers clenched on the leather strap of his bag, but he tried to act like he wasn’t afraid he was losing his mind.

“Hey, there, um…cat. I don’t know how you keep finding me. In fact, I’m ninety-five percent sure I’m seeing things. I’m surprised you haven’t gone home by now. Hell, I’m surprised you’re still alive.” Noah scrubbed his hands over his face, then shook his head. “I’m surprised I’m still talking to a gods-be-damned cat.”

The creature meowed, then slinked over and wove its way between and around Noah’s legs, leaving long white hairs all over his jeans. He brushed off the denim-myolene blend and glared at the cat. “Yeah, thanks for that.”

The cat purred and let out another plaintive moan.

“Ugh… I know that look too well. You’re hungry, yeah? All right, then, follow me. Today, we eat like princes.”

Eating like princes for Noah meant one of the mobile kitchens that frequented the park. He ordered some falafel, with curry chicken and rice, and hauled it all over to a picnic table. He sat down on the table part, while bracing his feet on the bench. Inexplicably, the cat followed him like it thought it was people. With a sigh, Noah spread out a napkin and spooned some chicken onto it for the cat, who eagerly wolfed it down, snarling a little as it chewed.

“Easy, killer,” he said with a laugh. “Don’t choke. Damn, you must’ve been starving. Been there, pal. Hey, at least you found a generous benefactor to keep you in curry, and you didn’t even have to blow anybody to get money.”

As if it understood, the cat froze. It stopped eating and stared at him, blinking slowly. It sat back on its haunches, ignoring the food, and waited, as if it expected him to continue. Embarrassed about talking to a cat, Noah gave an agitated wave of his hand.

“It’s nothing. When you’re homeless, you do what you need to do to get by. Every day I see people who are way worse off than me, so I try not to complain.”

The cat padded closer, curling up and pressing against the side of Noah’s thigh, purring. Noah stroked its back, running his fingers through the soft fur, and felt the knobby bumps of its spine as it arched up to chase his touch. Looking down at the cat, Noah noticed something he’d never seen before—a flash of black on the inside of its ear.

“Hey, what’s this?” he asked, as if the cat was going to answer him. He swiped a finger along the pink, paper-thin skin of the cat’s inner ear. It was ink. A tattoo. He knew that animals were often tattooed with ID numbers by shelters, or even their owners, but this marking was unusual. It was a glyph of a small, five-pointed crown. Beneath it, letters spelled out a word he didn’t recognize. “I wonder what this means. Basti.”

When he said it, the cat whipped his head around to stare up at him, and it let a garbled little growl. It sounded so disgruntled that Noah had to laugh. Obviously at some point, someone had cared about this cat enough to mark it, but he’d seen it on the streets too many times for it to be anything other than a stray.

“Is that your name, then? Basti? It’s cute.”

The cat narrowed its eyes, exhaled sharply through its nose, then mewed and went back to the curry chicken. That, apparently, was that.

While Basti inhaled his food, Noah ate at a more sedate pace, savoring the feeling of, for once, not being hungry. He looked at the cat, who in turn watched him. It was lithe and willowy, but not skinny. Its bones didn’t protrude past its thick coat, so it had to be fed with some regularity.

“I wonder where you normally get your food,” Noah said before he could quell the impulse. He sighed, setting down his now-empty food carton. “I know I must seem like some freaky stranger who speaks to you as if you were human, in a language you couldn’t possibly understand but…I don’t have many people—or animals, I guess—in my life, so I just can’t help myself. You’re safe.” Noah didn’t know if he meant that the cat was safe for him to talk to, or that the cat was safe with him. Maybe both.

“I have to go home. It will be dark soon.” The last place he wanted to be was Tom’s, but it wasn’t safe on the streets at night. “You should go on back to wherever you normally sleep and eat. Trust me, where I’m going isn���t anywhere you want to be.”

Noah tossed their trash into a nearby agri-dump receptacle, and set off west, toward Tom’s. The cat jumped down from the picnic table and followed. Noah sighed heavily, because with his work done and his belly finally full, all he wanted to do was lie down on his lumpy mattress and sleep for a week.

“Shoo! Get out of here! Trust me, you don’t want to go where I’m going.”

Basti grumbled and sat back on his haunches. As Noah continued through the rapidly darkening park, he pretended he didn’t know the precocious feline was still following him.

[devilishlyvintage]

The Text-to-Speech Man (A Big Hero 6: The Series Fanfic)

Name: The Text-to-Speech Man

Fandom: Big Hero 6

Words: 4,209 (okay that’s a lot, like ten pages xD)

Summary: Nobody knows who the Text-to-Speech Man really is, only he knows that.

Note: we call bangs fringes in the UK. Just thought i’d clear that up to avoid any confusion.

OC VOICE CLAIMS (I tried to include well-known voice actors/actresses amongst the cartoon community, though included some other famous faces as well):

Daniel Henney as Sunny Elemente

Nolan North as Sunny’s Text-to-Speech watch

Dolly Parton as Aspen Murdock

Greg Cipes as Zach Evans

Jonah Hill as Ted Baxter

Ashly Burch as Natalie Worth

and finally Tara Strong as Danika Kurosawa

It was pressing on into morning, the clouds and sun mixing together to create dusk, the colours of the sky a concoction of reds, oranges, yellows and light pinks.

“Hello, my name is-”

No, that’s not right, thought the man, turning the screwdriver once more. Come on, you’ve got this. You can do this.

“Hello, my name is Sunny-”

Come on, work you stupid thing! God damn it, cursed the man, programming was one of your top subjects, this shouldn’t be so hard!

“Hello, my name is Sunny Elemente.”

The young adult came to a standstill when he heard those words, the words he had been wanting hear for the past four hours. He pressed the tiny button on the silver metal, erasing the current sentence displayed on the holographic screen and typing something else in its place using the keypad.

“I understand that me not talking has caused some concern, but you do not have to worry about that anymore. With this little watch, I can speak to all of you whenever I want. Pretty great, right?”

Unfortunately, the computer didn’t recognise abbreviated language (much to the dismay of its inventor) but, it was better than no result at all. Sunny Elemente relaxed into his spinning chair with a sigh of accomplishment, lighting a cigarette to celebrate his victory.

You did it, man. You did it.

The clock struck 4 AM, a time were people were usually asleep. But no, not Sunny. As much as he wanted to, he was unable to sleep. He thought that things were bad during the day, though at night…

At night, it was a living hell. The flashback, the memories, the screaming echoing in his ears…it was far from soothing. Leaning his head back, Sunny blew smoke out from his mouth and placed the cigarette between his lips, watching the paper burn.

“Sunny?” his friend questioned him as she stopped in the doorway, causing him to quickly sit upright and put his prize out in the ashtray on his work bench. “Is that you?”

Sunny nodded out of habit, though his shielded eyes glanced at the watch on his wrist. He didn’t hesitate in putting it to use, inserting a response so that he could talk with his housemate.

“Yes. It is me. Hello Danika.”

Danika was startled at first; she hadn’t expected to hear a robotic male voice address her so casually. She raised a brow, now more confused than anything.

“How are you doing that?” she asked, walking over to him. Sunny tapped the glass of his modified watch, and then motioned to her to look up. Danika did so, in awe at what her friend had been able to do with just a few simple tools and components.

“Awesome, right? Now I can talk to you and the others without even having to move my lips.”

“Yeah…” Danika said with a nod, a smile spreading across her lips. “Yeah! Sunny, this is fantastic. I can’t believe you were able to make something like this in such a small space of time…except, that’s wrong, isn’t it? You’ve been up for hours, haven’t you?”

“Yes. I have been working on this bad boy for four hours straight; have not gotten a wink of sleep. Now before you say anything, yes, I know I need to rest but…I cannot. Things have not been easy for me recently.”

Danika’s happy expression soon turned to a frown when she heard that. The fourteen year old grabbed a chair and sat opposite her care giver, her dainty hands meeting his padded shoulders.

“You’ve been acting strange for weeks now.” she said, becoming serious. “This isn’t good, not at all. You haven’t been eating or sleeping properly for a while now, it’s…it’s scaring me. You’re scaring me, Sunny.”

Sunny could see the pain glisten in her chocolate eyes; it hurt him to see her like that. It hurt him more than text-to-speech could ever describe. His gloved hands made their way to her face, cupping her cheeks. Their foreheads lightly touched, thumbs brushing away heartfelt tears.

“Do not cry, Danika. Please.”

Danika’s breath hitched, she couldn’t help how she felt. She was worried for someone she cared deeply about, a friend who she would do anything for. Smaller hands rested over larger ones, though not even that could stop the emotions that were falling.

“I-I’m sorry,” she apologised, if anyone should have been crying it was Sunny, he was the one who was suffering. “I-it’s just that…y-you’re my f-f-friend and I…I care a-about y-you. It hurts, you know…I wanna h-help but I…I d-don’t know h-how.”

Sunny said nothing, instead bringing her into a hug. His chin sat on the top of her head, the tears wanted to come out but they simply couldn’t do so.

“You being here is enough. Thank you, for wanting to help me, but there are some problems that you cannot fix. I know that might be hard for you to hear, though it is true. What I am going through is something that I have to help myself recover from, though with you and the others by my side…I feel like I can do anything.”

Lifting his scarf down from the bottom half of his face he kissed Danika’s forehead before pulling it back up, looking at her through his sunglasses.

“You should head back to bed; we have a pretty big day ahead of us.”

“Oh yeah,” Danika remembered, she had completely forgotten until now. “We have the presentation at that college tomorrow, the mutant awareness one, right?”

“Right.” Sunny replied, moving away from her. “See you at breakfast, Danika.”

Danika kissed Sunny’s cheek, humming with content. “See you at breakfast, Sunny.”

Sunny saw the teenager leave from the corner of his eye, a regretful breath passing him as he gently shook his head.

Why…why am I such a coward?

-Mutant Awareness Presentation Day-

“So what’s this presentation Professor Granville wants us all to go to?”  wondered Hiro, holding the straps of his back pack as he walked alongside his friends.

“Beats me.” GoGo shrugged her shoulders. “But, people have been getting pretty hyped about it. Whatever it is, it’s gotta be good if everyone is making such a big fuss.”

“You guys haven’t heard?” Honey Lemon asked, saying a quick ‘hello’ to a passerby she knew. “Apparently people with 'special talents’ are gonna be there, how true that is, i’m not sure. If I had to guess, they’re probably just some really, really smart scientists.”

“I agree with Honey Lemon,” said Wasabi, 'special talents’, his ass. “All their gonna do is show off some top of the range invention and try and convince the audience that it’s gonna 'change their lives’. To be honest, I think i’m just gonna skip it and get breakfast instead, I haven’t eaten anything all morning and i’ve got a really bad headache coming on.”

The muscular rule follower rubbed the side of his forehead, trying to settle the twinges of pain that would make his eyes twitch every few seconds. Hiro could see that Wasabi wasn’t having the best start to the day and stopped, taking his bag off of his shoulders and rummaging through it, handing the darker skinned male a container and plastic fork.

“Here, you need this more than me.”

Wasabi declined; he couldn’t take Hiro’s breakfast.

“I appreciate it the gesture and all, Hiro, but this is your breakfast. I don’t think your aunt would be too happy.”

“Wasabi, I insist.” Hiro said, a small smile on his face. “I wouldn’t want you to get sick. I can get something when we get to SFIT. Please, take it.”

Wasabi glanced at the container of food, a warm expression settling onto his features.

Just like Tadashi.

“Thanks, Hiro.” he thanked, putting the plastic case in his satchel. “Don’t expect me not to buy you lunch for this. Next time, i’m treating you to breakfast”

Wasabi ruffled Hiro’s hair in a friendly manner, earning a toothy grin from the adolescent.

When the nerd gang arrived to SFIT, the presentation was under last minute preparations. The stage was decorated with a large banner saying 'Mutant Awareness 2k32’ and students were setting up the speakers and projectors.

This must be important, thought Hiro. Really important.

“Are you guys hyped or what!?” exclaimed Fred, startling everyone when he arrived. “Sorry i’m late; I was at a comic signing. I met three awesome dudes while I was there; turns out we’re in most of the same fandoms! We exchanged our PS4 ID’s too, so we can play online any time!”

“That’s great, Freddie.” Honey Lemon beamed, happy her friend had met some new people. “I’m glad you made some new friends!”

“Yeah, that sounds awesome, Fred.” Hiro said. While not a huge comic book fan, he couldn’t deny that he enjoyed a light read once in a while. He had been reading some of Tadashi’s old comics from when he was around his age, and good lord did they make him cringe. His older brother definitely had some weird tastes as a fourteen year old. “If they’re at the presentation, maybe you could introduce us to them.”

“You got it, dude.” Fred smiled; he couldn’t wait to keep in contact with his new buddies and beat their butts on multiplayer. It was going to be sweet!

“I don’t know about this you guys,” said Sunny and Danika’s friend, Aspen, with uncertainty. “What if they don’t like it?”

Aspen was nervous about having to talk in front of a huge crowd of people, though Sunny simply took her hands and offered her reassurance.

“It will be okay. Do not worry so much. If anyone wants to poke fun at you, I will kick their asses.”

Aspen chuckled when she heard that, she had become used to her friend’s choice of words that she no longer called him out on his swearing.

Typical Sunny.

“Thanks, hon.” she replied, going to take a look around. She and her friends had a few minutes to go before the presentation began, so she figured she would use the time she had to get a better look of the venue.

“I can’t believe we’re presenting this at my dream school.” Danika looked at SFIT from the distance; she wished she could have applied to study at the college, but the fees were simply too high. Someday, she hoped. Someday.

“You’ll get there, Dani.” her best friend, Natalie, linked her arm. “With your know-how and charm, you’ll be the best for sure. Come on, let’s go with Ted and Zach, they said they wanted to meet that Fred guy the three of us met at the comic store.

Danika smiled sadly, no matter how hard she hoped, no matter how hard she wished, she knew that deep down her dreams were never going to come true. Though she always applied herself to any situation when it came to robotics, having to present an invention of her own at a showcase seemed too daunting, and she had no doubt in her mind that she would freak out and mess up.

"Look who it is,” grinned Ted, gaining Fred’s attention. “Our buddy from the comic store. Didn’t think we’d see you here, man.”

“Dudes!” Fred greeted the two, fist bumping. “Guys, these are my buds Ted and Zach.”

“Hi!” waved Honey Lemon.

“Nice to meet you.” said Wasabi.

“Great, more nerds.” GoGo rolled her eyes, folding her arms. One Fred was bad enough already, she didn’t need to get to know two more.

“And what’s wrong with being a nerd, hm?” Ted put his hands on his hips, raising a brow. Compared to Honey Lemon who was rather tall for a woman, he was huge! “Are you..nerdist?”

Zach gasped dramatically, it all made sense now! “You’re a nerdist!”

“Nerdist!” Fred defended his pals. “Nerdists aren’t cool, dudette!”

“Nerdist!” Natalie joined in, turning away from GoGo with a 'hmph’. “Come on, guys, let’s go talk somewhere else. We shouldn’t have to be around someone who’s a nerdist.”

“I’m not a nerdist!” protested GoGo, she was puzzled as to what was even happening right now. “What even is that!?”

“Now that…” Hiro paused before speaking again. “Was the most confusing thing i’ve ever seen. I guess Fred was right when he said being part of a fanbase is like being a member of a family. Who knew?”

“They’ll cool off in a couple hours; they don’t stay mad for long.” Danika reassured the gang. “Hi, nice to meet you, i’m Danika. Danika Kurosawa. I’ll be one of the presenters for the Mutant Awareness presentation.”

“Mutant…Awareness?” Hiro asked, he could have sworn he’d heard her right. “What’s a…mutant?”

“Yeah, I don’t think i’ve ever heard of them before.” Honey Lemon added. “I mean, i’ve watched movies about heroes with special talents and…no…no way!”

“Yes way.” Danika grinned, if she could she would have given a demonstration, but she had to save it for the show. “I know it may seem hard to believe, but if you watch the presentation later you’ll see it all for yourself. I’m sorry, I know we’ve just met but i’ll have to get going, the presentation starts in ten. It was nice meeting all of you!”

Danika dashed like a bolt of lightning, fast on her feet. Honey Lemon squealed a little in excitement.

“She seems so nice!” she spoke giddily. “And those jeans, I need to find out where she got them!”

Hiro was thinking about Danika’s surname, it somehow seemed familiar to him.

Danika Kurosawa…hmm…have I heard that name before?

***

“I am aware that a lot of you have been looking forward to this and I apologise for the lack of information that was given, I will be sure to fix that error for future events.” Professor Granville spoke into a microphone, clearing her throat as she stood on the stage. “Without any further ado, I would like to introduce you to Mr Sunny Elemente and his friends.”

Granville put the microphone back onto its stand and stepped aside, applauding along with the audience. Sunny appeared from behind the curtain, as did his mutant companions.

“Thank you, Professor Granville.” he said via his watch. “As you already heard, my name is Sunny Elemente and these are my friends. I would like you to meet Aspen Murdock, Zach Evans, Ted Baxter, Danika Kurosawa and Natalie Worth. We are here today so that we can spread awareness about the mutant community and hopefully help give you a better insight about who we are. For your safety, I would advise that all of you each take a step back, because things are about to get hot.”

Cupping both of his palms, Sunny presented a big ball of fire to the audience. It appeared out of thin air and hovered over his skin, which immediately got the attention of those attending the presentation.

“Are you really doing that?” a member of the crowd asked, with Sunny nodding.

“Yes. What am I doing is real, it is not magic of any kind. Unless, you consider mutants to be magical, that is up to you.”

“Amazing…” Hiro trailed off, in complete amazement.

“Tell me about it.” Fred agreed, he’d never been this interested in a public show before.

“That is not all I can do.” Sunny said, making the fire ball disappear. “Watch closely.”

With a click of his fingers he was able to light up candles that had been put on a table for the demonstration. The crowds were close to going wild, but they kept their cool out of respect and a want to see more.

“That’s cool n’ all, but I got a few tricks up my sleeve as well.” Danika smirked, a hand on her hip. “What do you all think of this?”

Granville was not a woman who smiled often, (let alone at all, really) though on this particular occasion she allowed a small one to settle on her lips. She could tell that Danika was a talented individual, a girl who had hopes and dreams just like everyone else.

A young woman who is wise beyond her years. Very good.

The audience went ape like fans at a concert, watching Danika zip and zoom through the air with purple shocks of electricity following her every move and occasionally firing the odd bolt or two. Landing back on the stage gracefully, she gave a bow and blew a kiss to those standing in the audience.

The presentation lasted for a good hour and a half with Natalie, Ted, Zach and Aspen demonstrating their powers. Metal, plant, light and air manipulation were what they individually possessed, and it was amazing to watch. Light made everything seem that extra bit brighter, and with a cool breeze the warm weather was becoming more bearable by the second. The wind blew in Honey Lemon’s hair, catching Ted’s attention. He began blushing, though was able to hide it well from the crowd.

Except from Zach.

“Ooo, someone’s in love.” he teased with a whisper, laughing when Ted playfully punched his arm.

“I am not.” he answered. “Come on; let’s just go answer some questions. Sunny’s getting kinda bombarded, we should go help him out.”

After things had died down and people were going to get their lunch, Sunny and the other mutants had been given the opportunity to have a private tour of SFIT. Professor Granville was being polite to the guests, showing them the different facilities that were offered.

“And this is the lab that belonged to one of our popular students. He unfortunately passed away in a horrific fire, though his legacy lives on in the hearts of his peers.” Granville explained, noticing that Sunny had stopped dead in front of Tadashi’s lab. “Mr Elemente? Is everything all right?”

Sunny could feel the tears coming and this time, he would be unable to stop them. He hated making scenes like this in public, but he couldn’t help it. His breath caught in his throat and his legs felt like jello.

“May I? Please?” he asked the professor, seeing her hold her clipboard to her chest. “Tadashi was an old friend of mine…I…I used to be a student here a long time ago before I dropped out. Other priorities, you see.”

“I was not aware that you were a former student, Mr Elemente.” Granville said. Despite the way Sunny got his words across, she could sense that he had a great deal of pain going on inside. “All right, I will give you a few minutes. But please, try not to break anything. I would like everything to stay exactly how it is, for Mr Hamada’s sake.”

“Of course.”

Sunny walked into the lab, closing the door behind him. Danika was about to go in after him, but Granville stopped her.

“He needs a moment alone, Miss Kurosawa. To remember his friend.” she told her, proceeding on with the tour. “Over here is where our students are working on the next best selling equipment, an upgrade for current virtual reality systems.”

“Wow…” the mutants looked on in unison.

Sunny stood in the centre of the room, enjoying the blissful silence. Unable to hold back any longer, the eighteen year old fell to his knees and cried, burying his face into his hands as he did. He wanted to fight it, he wanted to fight the sadness, but he couldn’t. He just couldn’t.

“Why…why, why, why!?” he kept asking himself over and over, the burning sensation in his eyes should have caused him distress, though it was nothing of the sort. “Why did this…why did this happen!? Things shouldn’t have been like this…they shouldn’t have!”

Sunny cried and cried, tears sizzling and evaporating into the floor due to their heat. He wanted to stand up and rejoin his friends, though he didn’t have the energy to. His whole self felt numb, deathly numb. It was like time itself had frozen as he reflected on memories, memories of much happier times. His hair hung in front of his face, the sunlight shining on the red streak that was in his fringe, a little touch he had added to make him feel a bit better about himself. Plus, regulars at Good Luck Alley always dyed their hair; he was no exception to the rules of that God forsaken place.

Good Luck Alley…Good luck at getting out alive.

There were times Sunny had feared for his life in that alley. Running away from Yama and his gang of thugs to accidentally using his powers on an innocent civillian who had done no wrong. The Mutant Awareness presentation made life for the gifted seem easy, but in reality it was just as hard as being a regular human being.

“Mr Elemente? Are you all right now?” Professor Granville interrupted Sunny’s moment of peace, the onetime were he could have had some quiet, and she had to ruin it. “Your friends have grown quite worried about you; perhaps you should consider rejoining them.”

“I will rejoin them when I am ready. Please, just a few more minutes.”

“Mr Elemente if you are having personal issues I would highly recommend talking to the people who care about you.” Professor Granville suggested, her conscience telling her to run for some reason. “If it is a mental health problem you are suffering from, I know people who may be able to help.”

“That will not be necessary. Now get out.” Sunny demanded, who did this woman think she was? Telling him that he needed help? He didn’t need help of that kind, he was perfectly fine!

“Mr Elemente, please, there is no need to get angry. I was simply recommending seeing a doctor for your own benefit.” Granville’s hand was searching for the handle, her heart beating faster. “If I have offended in you in some way, then I apologise-”

“GET OUT!” Sunny screamed at her, getting to his feet. Fire surrounded him and fresh tears stayed still on his cheeks; Granville had succeeded in pissing him off even if she hadn’t intended to. “GET OUT! YOU THINK YOU UNDERSTAND ME!? LIKE HELL YOU DO! GET OUT!”

Granville was shocked, lips quivering. Taken aback by the fire mutant’s outburst, she noticed that he was trying to calm down by the way his breathing sounded. Clenching onto her clipboard, she did her best to compose herself, but it was no use.

“So…you can actually speak?” she asked, attempting to break the ice a little. “If you are able to communicate, why do you use text-to-speech? I’m confused.”

“Are you always so nosey?

"Are you always so rude?” Granville retorted, putting her clipboard to the side. “Mr Elemente, you strike me as the type of man who has been through a lot in life. It may surprise you, but I do have feelings. I have emotions just like you or anyone else. I think that behind this act of yours, you are simply someone crying out for help. As I have said, I know a few people who specialise in dealing with matters of the mind.”

“And as I have said nothing is wrong with me. Please, leave me alone.”

Sunny pushed passed her, leaving Tadashi’s lab. He shoved his hands into his pockets, not bothering to join Danika or the others. He couldn’t be bothered with people right now; all he wanted was to be left alone. Was it really too much to ask for?

***

“He just left, without telling anyone?” Aspen asked a student, she was becoming worried for Sunny’s well-being. She knew he hadn’t been himself for a while, and she was scared that his problems were only going to get worst if he kept silent about it all the time.

“Yeah.” replied the student, feeling bad that she wasn’t able to help out more. “I don’t know where he went though, sorry about that. I wish there was more I could do to help. If I see him around, i’ll let him know you’re looking for him.”

“Thank you.” Ted said, hand on Aspen’s shoulder. “Take care.”

“You too.” smiled the student, going back to her friendship group.

“Maybe he went back home?” Natalie suggested, the situation wasn’t getting any better, she could tell that much. “Then again, I think he would'a told us if he was planning on it.”

“Natalie’s right.” said Danika, worried about Sunny just like Aspen was. “Come on, guys, we gotta go look for him. I don’t think…I don’t think he’s in a good state of mind right now.”

Without a second thought, the mutants went to look for their friend, hoping it wasn’t too late to stop him from doing something he would end up regretting later on.

To be continued…

Author’s Note: I apologise for any mistakes in this. I’ve been writing this since 12:00 PM (GMT) today and it’s now 9:15 (so 8 hours worth of writing). I will go back and fix any errors that I think need fixing, and there will be a second part to this. I’m not sure when that will be, but it will happen.

[chronotrek]

756. [MOV] Nemesis

SCORE:

(2/5 stars)

Troi and Riker are getting married, and the gang's all here, including Guinan and Wesley Crusher in a non-speaking role apparently wearing a Starfleet uniform, undoing whatever character development had been given him, along with Worf who apparently is no longer the Federation ambassador to Qo'noS and is just back to being Picard's tactical officer, undoing whatever character development had been given him. (Hint: this could possibly be a theme for the whole film (hint: it is)) Picard, in his best man speech, begs them to reconsider the marriage and abandoning him for their own ship, the Titan, but Riker's been First Officer long enough. Data sings the happy couple "Blue Skies" while Worf nurses a Romulan ale insta-hangover.

Before the Enterprise heads to Betazed for the Betazoid ceremony, where everyone shall appear nude despite Worf's protestations, they pick up a positronic signature on a planet near the Romulan neutral zone and decide to divert course to investigate. Picard brazenly ignores the rules about the captain not going on away missions and that pesky Prime Directive (in what could possibly be a stark departure from Picard's entire history as a measured paragon (hint: it is)) as they drive a dune buggy across a desert, picking up android pieces (including a head that strongly resembles Data's) and shooting guns at the indigenous Mad Max car gang.

The Enterprise is greeted by the Scimitar, a gigantic Reman-constructed warbird that is clearly meant to be the final boss fight. They're invited aboard to meet Shinzon, and are surprised to find that he's not Reman, though he certainly identifies as one. He's actually human. More than that, he passes a striking resemblance to Tom Hardy Picard. After creeping on Deanna, he produces a blade and cuts his hand, presenting the knife as a gift. Back on the Enterprise, Dr. Crusher's analysis confirms it: Shinzon is a clone of Picard.

Shinzon invites him to dinner on Romulus, where he exposits his origin. He was created by a previous Romulan regime that had intended at some point to assassinate Picard and replace him with the clone, putting an undetectable spy right inside Starfleet. But as often happens on Romulus, the regime changed and the new government decided the plan was too risky, so they shuttled Shinzon off to the dilithium mines of Remus where he suffered under the Romulan heel, seeing no sky for over a decade. His only solace came from the Remans who took him in and raised him as one of them. After proving himself a capable military commander during the Dominion War, Shinzon and his Reman allies constructed the Scimitar and staged a coup, ensuring the freedom of the Reman people. Picard wants to believe Shinzon is genuinely extending an olive branch to the Federation, but tells him it will take time to earn their trust, especially after having just staged a violent coup in which the Romulan senate was killed.

Returning to the Enterprise, he's met with some unfortunate news. They've detected thalaron radiation from the Scimitar, an extremely lethal radiation that in the Scimitar's configuration has the potential to eradicate life on a planetary scale. In addition, they've discovered an unauthorized access to the ship's database, but Data's figured out a way to turn that into a tactical advantage. Picard wanted to take Shinzon at his word but it appears the dude lured them here under false pretenses. And just so we can fully establish that Shinzon and the Remans are EVOL, it turns out the Reman Viceroy Ron Perlman has telepathic abilities he can use to help Shinzon mind-rape Deanna Troi, because that's what passes for plot in 2003.

Just as Picard is refusing to let Deanna relieve herself from duty after being, y'know, raped (what the fuck, Jean-Luc, seriously), he gets beamed over to the Scimitar and tied to a bench so they can extract blood from him for... reasons. Shinzon (looking rather sickly) and Picard have a discussion about how each of them would have taken the same actions as the other had they had each other's lives, something they both delight in pointing out to the other while simultaneously strongly disliking considering themselves. B-4 beams aboard the Scimitar, the spy who accessed ship information. His use as bait is clear now. Of course, it was already clear to the Enterprise crew, because that's not B-4, it's Data posing as him, and he helps break Picard out by engaging in a hallway shootout culminating in stealing a Reman fighter and flying out a window. The Enterprise beams the fighter aboard before the Scimitar can tractor it, and goes to warp to rendezvous with the fleet that has been briefed on the Scimitar's thalaron weapon and its likely target of Earth.

Dr. Exposition Crusher (god they wasted her character in this film) explains that Shinzon was engineered to have an accelerated aging spurt so he'd match Picard's age when it was time to replace him, but they never activated the growth spurt, and the genetic modifications mean his body is starting to break down. It can only be treated by a "complete transfusion" (of what exactly she does not specify, but we can assume it means it would kill Picard), and that appears to be Shinzon's full interest in his original. Meanwhile, Data is forced to deactivate B-4, who doesn't even understand what he did wrong.

The Scimitar is pursuing the Enterprise in cloak, and waits for them to pass through a nebula that will interfere with their communications before attacking. The Enterprise is firing blindly against a cloaked vessel that Geordi can't find a way to track. Shinzon briefly ceases fire to project himself holographically into Picard's ready room, but it's more of a chance for him to gloat megalomaniacally before vanishing. (One wonders why he harbors more resentment for Picard than for the Romulans.) A couple of Romulan warbirds decloak who have decided that maybe they don't want a genocide on their conscience and are determined to stop Shinzon from eradicating Earth. One ship is destroyed and the other crippled, but it buys the Enterprise enough time to use an alternate means of tracking the ship, as Deanna reverses the psychic link between her and Ron Perlman to identify the Scimitar's location. They fire basically everything at the Scimitar which knocks out its cloak.

The Scimitar counters by focusing fire on one shield section, weakening it enough to send through a boarding party so that we can get some fisticuffs action in our big spaceship battle. Worf and Riker head down to deal with it, and Riker faces off directly against Ron Perlman, a battle which winds its way through Jefferies tubes, eventually leading to a poorly-secured catwalk over a bottomless pit (as we all know, starships have bottomless pits), where Riker is ultimately triumphant over Ron Perlman.

Another volley from the Scimitar causes major hull breaches, including turning the bridge viewscreen into a viewport, sucking the helmsman out into space before a force field can be erected. Shinzon positions the Scimitar directly in front of the Enterprise for a staring match, but Picard takes advantage of Shinzon's flair for the dramatic by ordering Deanna to take the helm and ram the Scimitar. (I don't want to seem racist, but it seems like every time a Betazoid is flying a starship, it crashes into something or gets sucked into the Delta Quadrant. #WereAllThinkingIt #SpeciesRealist #TheirEyesAreAllPupilAndNoIrisTheyCantFlyIfTheyCantFocus #Biotroof #IfItWasntClearIDontBelieveThis) This fucks both ships up, and at this point they've both exhausted their complement of weaponry. The only thing the Scimitar can do is back up to decouple the two ships and charge the thalaron array.

Their only hope of survival is to beam someone over to the Scimitar and deactivate the thalaron weapon, so naturally they're going to send over the most qualified combatant: Picard. (He's the main character so he has to punch the bad guy, can't let Worf get the glory or have anything meaningful to do in this film) Once they beam him over, the transporter systems short out, but Data knows Picard needs help, so he uses a hull-breached corridor to launch himself across the vacuum of space toward the Scimitar so he can climb aboard.

Picard fights his way to the Scimitar's bridge and easily dispatches the Remans who are supposed to be super-tough warriors, but whatever. Naturally, he uses his gun as a melee weapon and breaks it like an asshole, so he's now in a fistfight with Shinzon who turns out to have a couple knives on his person and starts swiping menacingly at Picard. They make it into the thalaron generator room, where Picard breaks a pipe off the wall as Shinzon charges at him and it impales the clone in his chest. And, because all clones are superhuman movie monsters, Shinzon menacingly pulls himself forward along the pipe to get face to face with Picard and get a last word in before dying. Data shows up just in the nick of time to slap a one-way transporter beacon onto Picard, sending him back to the Enterprise, while he fires a phaser at the shitty CGI thalaron generator, destroying the Scimitar and sacrificing himself for the Enterprise.

The surviving Romulan warbird sends shuttles to assist the Enterprise as the senior staff open a bottle of Chateau Picard and reminisce about their fallen comrade. Riker recalls first meeting Data in the holodeck as Data was trying and failing to whistle. Riker can't remember the tune. (It was Pop Goes the Weasel.) Notably silent in a moment that would be a time for a best friend to shine, Geordi instead gets no lines and is yet another wasted character in a film that's only serving as a Picard/Data vehicle.

The Enterprise-E is back at Earth spacedock getting rebuilt, and Picard sees Riker off as he goes to captain the Titan. B-4 has been reactivated, presumably with his Reman programming removed, and Picard is telling him about Data's sacrifice and hopes B-4 can one day become a more complete individual like Data was. As Picard gets up to leave, B-4 is humming "Blue Skies" to himself, an indication that he's starting to recall the memories Data implanted on him. Perhaps Data can live again... or perhaps Brent Spiner is getting too old to play an ageless robot.

NITPICKS

Romulan ale is no longer illegal, the trade embargo was lifted during the Dominion War.

Positronic signatures aren't exclusive to androids. A positron is literally just the antiparticle of an electron.

Thalaron radiation is described as being able to consume organic material at the subatomic level, which is nonsense. The distinction between organic and inorganic is made at the atomic level, since organic matter is matter that contains carbon. Once you go subatomic, it's just elementary particles and quarks below that. If thalaron radiation targets organic matter specifically, it has to do it at the atomic or molecular level.

What was the point of the mind-rape other than "Rawr I am a bad guy and I must do bad guy things!" I get that they did it to set up Deanna later turning it against them, but they couldn't have used their psychic power to, I dunno, steal secrets while she was on the bridge? They just used it to be creepy evil assholes?

Why do Remans have a control interface full of tightly spaced buttons when they have those massive fingernail claws poorly designed for such control schemes?

Why is Shinzon planning on using the thalaron radiation on Earth? What animosity does he have for Earth? I would think if he hated anyone, it's Romulans. Why not use it on Romulus?

First Contact established the Enterprise-E as having either 24 or 26 decks. Why is there a 29th deck all of a sudden?

Picard says he and Shinzon have the same heart. Picard's heart is artificial.

Worf's line "The Romulans fought with honor" is not given its due, at all. It's a throwaway line in the film, but when you consider Worf's entire story arc, for him to come to a point where he would ever say that is fucking huge from a character development standpoint. The dude HATES Romulans. They couldn't have thrown in at least one or two lines earlier in the movie where he expresses distaste for them?

Where is the catwalk area with a bottomless pit for the Reman Viceroy to plummet to his death? My first thought was a turbolift shaft, but there was a walkway suspended directly across the pit of death that would get in the way of a turbolift. Not to mention, this is on the erroneous deck 29. You're telling me there's a bottomless pit 3-5 decks below the bottom of the ship?

FAVORITE QUOTES

LaForge: Did you ever think about getting married again? Guinan: No, twenty-three was my limit.

Picard: Don't worry, Number One, we'll still have you to Betazed with plenty of time to spare... Riker: Thank you, sir. Picard: ...where we will all honor the Betazoid tradition. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll be in the gym.

Picard: Your wife would never forgive me if anything were to happen to you. You have the bridge, Mister Troi.

Janeway: The Son'a, the Borg, the Romulans. You seem to get all the easy assignments.

Shinzon:You may go. B-4: Where? Shinzon: Out of my sight.

Shinzon: The same noble Picard blood pumps through our veins. Had you lived my life, you'd be doing exactly as I am. So look in the mirror, See yourself. Consider that, Captain. I can think of no greater I torment for you. Picard: Shinzon, I'm a mirror for you as well.