END GAME: THE COUNTDOWN STARTS

[sailmods]

[the prisoners wake up on cold, hard floors.

the lights are bright, glaring, a sterile cell with sterile bars facing a sterile hall. the prisoners with you, across from you, and no one else. no rocking of a ship in waves, nothing. just the prisoner and their prison.

time passes, one assumes. the rhythmic click of Friday’s heels down the hall. it’s almost like the ticking of a clock.]

Comments

[ossie_oswald]

Ossie presses a kiss to Giles' neck in turn, looping both arms around it.

"Much better. Thank you, my dear. Is Sharky alright?"

[goodweather]

(… Getting out. Right. Right. He has his feet under him.

It’s a good thing Cassandra’s the one come for him, because there’s a familiarity he can bank on here; a path tread once already, a thread to cling to as he follows it out. A lead that goes taut.

It’s not clarity, really, but a kind of concentration comes over his expression, and he nods. “Yeah. C’mon, I’m with you.”)

[makesomedeals]

The less heroics the better.

[ If Overwatch could see him now...]

But I'm not ignorant of the fact it may be the only option. [ The option where everyone gets saved EXCEPT him which is bizarre to even consider. He hates every moment of this and he'd really love to make that Malin's problem. Or Jenny's brother who walked through here. Or Crichton's. He's not picky about who should be suffering instead of himself.] The bridge does seem the best bet, that's where the Erda said the Captain would be.

[light_mischief]

[Skulduggery nods.] Nor am I. But I refuse to let you go without a fight.

[That's the closest they're gonna get to him being emotional around Maximilien, for both of their sakes. He's already turning towards the end of the hall to avoid making eye contact with Max.]

Did the Erda say anything else about it? Is it trapped the way we are? Seems as though that list keeps growing...

[fonomena]

[Gross, Natsuno remarks, and for a moment it really all is just business as usual here. Jade makes his irritating and off-color remarks, Natsuno deflects them with his cursory bluntness, and surely the day will go on as days on the ship always had. An equilibrium maintained. Jade can't remember when exactly it all turned into a routine, into something more familiar than obligate. ...In much the same way banter with the party had eventually evolved over the course of the journeys back home...yes, maybe there's something linked there. Either way. Natsuno isn't the only one to draw a sense of assurance from it.

But naturally they're not here to admit anything like that aloud. No, this talk here and now...is the last cursory check, before deployment. Get in any last words of encouragement or instruction, and then set out, as the start of all battles in all wars go. Practical, and good for morale. Practically, yes, they'll address this as practically as they always mutually have--]

Oh, naturally, success will come first. [Will, not "may" or "hopefully". It's confirmed with a breezy sort of certainty. There's simply no room for any other outcome here, after all.] No need to go terribly out of your way to grab those glasses...I'd actually rather have my spear on hand first, if you find it there before them. [He can't tell whether it's still stored in his arm or not, right now, forced shut as all his fon slots currently are.] But you already know how to prioritize such things, no doubt. I imagine...you don't need any more reminders in general, about the situation at hand here.

[That he should take utmost care, as near entirely unknown as the enemy is, much less the terrain beyond this hall. That he needs to keep as level a head as he can. That Jenny's brothers would likely prefer death to perpetual enslavement, if there is no way to acquire freedom for them otherwise. That...

Hm. Now isn't this a familiar feeling? It shouldn't feel familiar as it does. This drab and crowded concrete prison hall is the furthest cry anything could possibly be...from the sprawl of Eldrant that had stretched out all around in another time. Those pale and crumbling ruins of a Hod that would never return--salty wind whipping from the sea thousands of miles below--and the sky dyed a brilliant orange, as Luke had turned his back on them all. To fulfill the promise he'd made to Lorelei. To let them all escape, and vanish himself.

That's why you must come back alive...or rather, I hope you do.

Natsuno would probably tell him to shut up too.

(Can't even give him a formal handshake between peers this time either, not through these bars. Instead,) Jade considers Natsuno's features gravely for a long moment.]

...Everything will be your choice, from here. I'm sure you'll proceed accordingly, and I look forward to hearing from you about the results. [And here, despite the leaden weight that's settled itself in his chest, a bit too heavy with a few too many reminders, Jade offers him a grimly humored smile anyhow.] I can only hope you agree, that we've had a few too many rash decisions for the day already, hm?

(ota) wishing on a falling star, waiting for the early train;

[besixdouze]

[Any newly escaped prisoners emerging out on the deck might find a handful of piquing things to see. For example, the empty and seemingly endless void that stretches throughout the space beyond the ship on all sides might draw some prompt notice first. There's also a single pretty sizeable crater beaten into the concrete of the deck itself somewhere towards the middle, as if something of considerable size and weight had been slammed into it with considerable force.

...And, a bit off to the side of that crater, lays a little astronaut. The gold-foil scarf around his neck perpetually flutters no longer, but sprawls in a tangle underneath him instead...and a striped prison shirt for someone of a larger size is wrapped haphazardly about his torso, rather at odds with the bomber jacket and bulky space suit underneath. Flickering flecks of something gold and dust-like drift slowly into the air about his person.

He doesn't move, and hardly even seems to breathe. Might respond if someone speaks up close...but otherwise, the bridge door is visible across the way past him, and that's where you likely really want to be going! So, you know. Nothing to worry about here overall, really. This is fine.]

Locked away forever. But I’m feeling better!

[angrycrabnoises]

Once Karkat has confirmed that Phil is being taken care of, he scrambles through the hallway calling out for Nepeta and Nimona.

[not_the_last]

She can almost feel the line go taut between them. Something they can both hold on to.

"Right," she breathes. "Yes. Let's get everyone together." Dedue, and Helena, and ... and as little as she likes the idea, the reminder that not everyone can see what's happening makes her realize that someone needs to see to Arthur Lester.

(And she hasn't yet given up on the idea that Erin might still be here, somewhere.)

[glassaxolotl]

Since leaving his cell, Dedue of course intends to make a beeline to wherever Dimitri and Darcy are. However, he knows he was in the adjacent cell to Ossie and wants to make sure Ossie and Giles have been reunited.

He steps over and finds himself maybe awkwardly staring at their public displays of affection as he waits for a break in the conversation.

[not_the_last]

"That's the main reason I thought of this, it's a solution that means we don't have to agree on --"

The rest of what she intended to say is lost in the noise, as everyone's cell upends.

[nepetaleijon]

"Karkaaaat --"

He does get that much of a warning before he's unceremoniously pouncetackled.

[skaikru]

( you remember how, during some of the slightly better days, their close woven little friend group would have mocked the unflappable but very flusterable genius that is rita mordio over her disbelief and fear over ghosts and dancing skeletons? and then ultimately would have been forced to eat their own words in the middle of reeling from the horror perpetrated by those fears turned solid? (this applies to the ghosts, at least.) well, clarke would have never batted an eye if something more reasonable like being potentially crushed to death had cropped up, and doesn't judge the run-off of fear that surrounds rita here now. probably can't even parse it completely from her own, that was a wild few minutes back there.

rita grabs for her first, but clarke squeezes the other girl's fingers in turn with that same need for confirmation. (yes her hands are definitely clammy and cold.) )

Looks like someone out there is making some headway, at least. ( is the best answer she can come up with, glancing at the ceiling. somewhere on the deck, or the bridge, or the vents, or somewhere else — the rusted gears of this clock have begun to creak and give way; the rest of them are out and the chaos can truly begin. but yeah, the cat. )

That was Jenny's brother, right? I hope she's close by. I didn't see the vent they went through, should we look? ( their mutual first priority is out there, and rita is in good company to fret with. )

[angrycrabnoises]

“OH FUCK!” Karkat grips her as she engages the pouncetackle, which lands them both on the floor. He squeezes her tight and rests his chin on her shoulder.

“WHAT HAPPENED?” he asks, sniffling back a tear.

“I KNOW YOU WERE THERE WHEN NIMONA AND I WERE TRYING TO SNAP THE CAPTAIN OUT OF IT AND ATTACK THAT CRAZY LADY, AND I HAVEN’T SEEN OR HEARD ANYTHING ABOUT YOU SINCE THE AFOREMENTIONED CRAZY LADY MAGICKED THE SHIT OUT OF EVERYONE TO AVOID HAVING TO DEAL WITH THE CONSEQUENCES OF HER OWN ACTIONS.”

[nepetaleijon]

"That's all I know too! I've b33n here efur since then, I couldn't s33 you anywhere -- Siffleur got out of his cage and he and a bunch of other people went to try to find a way to get us out --"

She pulls back, just enough to look him in the face. "Meowbe that's what just happened!"

[mistertwister]

[ Okie hovers around the edge of the room, trying not to mess with the burns he got from Voyager. ]

We know where this door's gonna take us?

[myagic]

[How much things have changed over the past two years--seeing Clarke in front of her would've once garnered a very different reaction, but here and now, she's nothing but relieved to feel the solid warmth of the other girl's hands in hers, clamminess that she's going to ignore and all. Not being able to talk for the past--whoever knows how long sucked. All she'd been able to do was think about how she should've known the letter was bad news, should've insisted Clarke not go through with it, that they just burn the letter and the string with it-

And finally there's something to do besides stew in doubts and regrets, even if that something is mostly fretting about Natsuno.]

I guess so--I didn't know her brother was a kitty-cat. [At Clarke's suggestion, though, she does look up at the ceiling where it joins the wall. No vents to be seen, but that is the way they went, isn't it?] It's--it's worth a shot. That sounded like bad news earlier...

[angrycrabnoises]

“WELL DEFINITELY SOMEBODY WAS FUCKING AROUND AND FINDING OUT. WHATEVER JUST HAPPENED WITH THESE CELLS DIDN’T SEEM LIKE IT WAS DONE BY THE ASSHOLE IN CHARGE,” he muses. Then chews his lip and adds, “FUCK, SIFFLEUR AND THE OTHERS BETTER BE OKAY.”

[angrycrabnoises]

Nearby, Karkat scrambles out of his cell. He is tempted to immediately go looking for his friends, but he has spent long enough across from Phil while he picked at himself that Karkat can’t just leave him alone.

He gets close to where Phil and Cass are, but the blood smell gets worse, causing his nose to wrinkle. He covers his nose and mouth with a hand. “FUCK, FUCK. IS HE OKAY?” Karkat asks in a muffled tone.

[ossie_oswald]

"Hullo Dedue!" Ossie greets, still blatantly in Giles' arms.

"Just a moment and we'll pop out to go look for Dimitri, mm?"

[sailmods]

[a pause.



then the man throws the box at Natsuno's head.]

[sailmods]

[the group has entered another room. it is dark, too dark to see, but there is a very helpful emergency light next to the switch again. convenient!]

[teethoftherisk]

[Siffleur takes a second to sniff the air of the room they've stepped into, but the sound of the others behind him is a reminder to act so they aren't kept unaware in the darkness. He moves to the switch, flicking it on so they can see what waits for them as they come through the door.]

[sailmods]

[the room is a bit bigger than the other, which makes sense, considering its occupant. leaning its back against the wall is some sort of machine: humanoid, with a wide chassis and massive arms and legs. on top, where the head would be, a clear glass dome. inside the dome, a crab.]

[configuration_birdwatcher]

[ Bastion waves, which is somewhat painful and makes their armour rattle. ]

// Hello.

[ Is that Ody??? ]

[decohere]

[squints]

Ody!