[b]Cordelia Lynn Holmes[/b]

Lynn took a moment to stare at Archie. Lynn had learned a thing or two about eye contact that did not necessarily translate well to the outside world. Staring at someone, in certain subsections of Lynn's upbringing, was an invitation to a fight - at the same time, it was a declaration that you were watching a motherfucker, and you didn't care if you had to fight them anyway. This time, however, Lynn was for once not really considering that sort of subtext in her actions. Lynn was staring up at Archie's mouth, which was over a foot above her own, and trying to determine if Archie was playing some kind of game, or was truly a giant human puppy dog. He stood there trying to talk through two donuts at once, which was a feat Lynn had never before seen attempted. [i]What did he tell them in there?[/i] Lynn wondered. Her eyes fell to his arms and chest, and Lynn found herself how strong he was when he wasn't covered in scales and ten feet tall. Lynn shifted her weight back and forth, uneasy enough at being in a police station. [i]If he's taking their donuts, maybe their nice cop shtick worked on him.[/i] Lynn had a bit of a dull headache. [i]I hate this,[/i] Lynn thought. [i]There are too many questions and no answers.[/i]

She turned and looked at Keaton and Natalie, who were talking over in their chairs. [i]Everything in here is wired,[/i] Lynn wanted to scream. And what were they discussing, anyway? Lynn was more and more sure that Keaton was the only one who really stood a chance at getting Lynn out of this whole ordeal. If she could pick needles out of haystacks like she claimed, maybe she could help Lynn track down some dirt or something. [i]They injected us when we came on-board,[/i] Lynn remembered. She'd melted the first needle they'd brought out, just to spite them, before they'd slapped a nullifier collar on her, and held her shivering arm steady against the cold steel of the surgical table. The faces of the Promise's staff who'd done it swam back into her field of vision and Lynn ground her teeth for a moment. [i]There must be some way to control it. Some central unit or...or something.[/i] Lynn did not want to entertain the notion that there was any semblance of a happy ending for her on this ship. For a few foolish days she might've thought so, might've half-heartedly entertained the notion that this place was going to reform them and get them jobs and Get Them Out, but Gennedy had broken that apart. [i]They want lapdogs like him or they want corpses.[/i] Lynn thought.

She looked back up at Archie, and without realizing, a melancholy smile stretched at her lips. She turned and followed Archie out, grudgingly admitting that she wanted food. Lynn was still not used to the regularity and availability of meals here on the Promise. As much as a group picnic with Narcy Narc and the Funky Bunch disinterested her, she had to admit that she would need to keep her energy up if she was going to be throwing any kind of weight around later, which she felt very certain she would. [i]Friends close, enemies closer,[/i] Lynn thought. Besides, Lynn was reasonably certain, just based off how these sorts of conspiracies operated, they would want as few witnesses as possible. The threat of Archie flipping out over seeing her brains get blasted open from a grassy knoll somewhere was enough to reassure her she was not in immediate danger.

Lynn chewed on her lip. At least, assuming they weren't going to trigger another event like Freaky D had. [i]Now did they really airlock him, or was Gennedy lying?[/i] Lynn had difficulty believing someone was able to outright sneak on-board the Promise. If he was able to, it raised interesting possibilities. Smuggling possibilities. Lynn a year before would've seen this as a way to make some side money, a few extra bucks - but this was different now. Figuring out a way off this might be the only way she survived. [i]We saw too much,[/i] Lynn thought. [i]Whoever narc'd - and Amelia's been in there a damn long time - is gonna get me locked up in a day, maybe two.[/i] Whoever was willing to torture a professor would kill a witness or two without any scruples.

Lynn followed Archie out, having to powerwalk to keep up with him (this put a scowl on her face), rolling her hoodie's sleeves back up as they fell down every minute or so. Lynn glanced around as she often did, eyes flickering here and there, shoulders back and fingers dancing in her hoodie pockets. They stopped walking for a moment. Two guards passed by - both older than the dead eyes puppy dog she'd seen back in the precinct - with a girl behind them. A young girl. Lynn stared at her. She had a pretty round face, and a blue skirt, and light brown skin and dark brown hair, and -

Lynn's eyes drifted down to her wrists, where she fiddled with a bracelet around her wrist. It was small and fraying, worn out cloth with a few beads on it. A camp bracelet, or something like it, made by the clumsy but practiced hands of a girl her age. The girl made eye contact with Lynn and her eyes widened for a moment, but Lynn did her best to give her a smile back. It didn't seem to set her much at ease, but the girl sheepishly smiled back and turned away, following the guards off down a path. Lynn watched them go, lagging behind Archie for a moment. [i]No lawyers. No fucking lawyers.[/i]

Lynn closed her eyes and focused on breathing for a few seconds, then shook herself and caught back up to Archie, keeping pace with him much easier this time. Whether Natalie or Archie or Keaton or Amelia narc'd didn't matter. She'd beat their ass for it if they did, maybe leave a nice little SNITCH brand on their asscheeks or something, but it wasn't what was pissing her off now. Without realizing, smoke curled up off Lynn's hair, a ragged shock that was blue as her eyes down at the roots, the color creeping up to the red tips. [i]Keaton. I need Keaton.[/i]

"Where are we eating?" Lynn snapped, staring at the walkway ahead of her. "I don't - " she stopped talking, biting her tongue. Archie wouldn't get it and Archie would just want to hug it out if he did. If there was one thing she'd figured out for sure about him it was that she was confident he'd never done time or skidded onto the wrong side of the law. Now Lynn figured maybe his upbringing was rough - he had gaunt enough eyes and a nice checkerboard of scars on his arms - but Archie, Lynn was willing to bet, didn't really Get It. Archie hadn't asked for a lawyer, Lynn thought. Maybe Amelia had, before she narc'd. Maybe Keaton. Not Natalie and Archie. Lynn couldn't hold their faces in her mind's eye for terribly long. It was the guards, and Gennedy. [i]I will burn them all. Damn them. Damn them.[/i]