[center][h3] [/h3][/center][h3][hr][color=#38547C]Keaton Plasse[/color][/h3][hr]
While it was disappointing that Radvi was the one answering her questions now, Keaton was distracted by the revelation that Arianna was responsible for the breakout a month ago. That Keaton’s power confirmed Radvi’s guess didn’t help her case of wanting to hear Arianna out, given the number of deaths that had resulted from the breakout. The chance that there was a cause to justify loosing criminals, murderers, and worse on a population of kids was slim to none, but it wasn’t none. It depended on what Arianna knew, then, and given the limited information the Faceless were willing to provide, Keaton was willing to risk getting more puzzle pieces from a risky source.

The chip Radvi produced was something Keaton instantly wanted. It’d help her locate Arianna, help her track down the parahuman who’d managed to elude everyone on board The Promise for more than a month. What held her back, though, were the strings Radvi had attached to the program on the chip—strings Keaton could only admit were smarter than she’d thought him capable of. Alerting everyone as soon as a chip was tripped made it pointless for her purposes since she didn’t know how much time she wanted with Arianna. At the very least, Keaton assumed it’d take more than a few minutes to approach and establish some form of trust with the elusive criminal, and the chip didn’t allow for that. Plus, there was the fact that Radvi had turned up nothing after an entire month despite him actively trying to find Arianna. Though the upcoming celebration sounded like the perfect time for someone to crash the party, it was also a bit too contrived and thus expected since it was fairly obvious that the cops would be on high alert for foul play during the festivities. Being distracted when people expected them to be would be a mistake, and they had seven years of practice and the glaring reminder from last month to motivate them.

The arrival of another police officer sent Freaky-D running, which prompted Radvi and the Faceless to leave as well. As much as Keaton would’ve liked to stop them to ask more questions, she’d already asked the important ones. Their answers pointed her towards new sources, and she was going to tap those as soon as she deemed it safe and possible. 

“Real unlucky,” Keaton said after Archie echoed the word. That everything only started going wrong after they’d arrived on the ship was a bit too coincidental to look past. Had some catalyst of sorts arrived with them? Arianna, or someone—some[i]thing[/i] else?

Eli’s words drew Keaton’s attention away from the chip and to Archie’s hand. A bruise? But Eli had said to run it under water. A burn—Lynn. Intentional? Doubtful. He’d chased after her when it was obvious she was close to snapping, which was as dumb as it was sweet. Keaton hadn’t had the same instinct, with the Faceless dangling the possibilities of answers in front of her, and perhaps she could put that down to a sense of self-preservation or a feeling that chasing after Lynn while she was agitated would achieve nothing. More importantly, though, was the fact that it only made sense for Keaton to stay back and question the Faceless. That way, she wouldn’t be coming up empty-handed when Lynn cooled down.

While Keaton kept a poker face as Archie invited Natalie to talk privately, she was both surprised and amused by how much he stumbled over his words. This wasn’t the first time he’d done so, after all, and Keaton had to wonder briefly how close they’d gotten during the past month. She’d been skimping on spending time with them, partially to avoid involving them in what she and Lynn were up to, so she wasn’t too well-informed on their relationship status. Judging by how awkward the whole thing with Eli had been, she’d assumed that they weren’t dating, and—no, no they weren’t. From what she knew of them, they balanced each other out weirdly, with their powers. Still, they both carried sizable baggage on their own, and the notion that people healed better together made for messy, dependent relationships. That said, they seemed cute together, and Keaton figured that The Promise needed a little more optimism and happiness.

“Natalie, you should probably keep the chip,” Keaton said, sliding the chip over to Natalie before she could leave with Archie. “You’d have a better chance with her than me. Both with surviving and bringing her in.”

Keaton stood after that, not wanting to give Natalie a chance to offer her the chip for whatever reason. As much as Keaton’s powers might help with locating Arianna, it stood that Keaton had no way to bring Arianna in, so Natalie keeping the chip only made sense. In the meantime, there was the intriguing new face of Eli, who was an untapped source of knowledge. Though Keaton already had a relatively clear picture of the ship’s past, there was always a chance for more information, and four years of first-hand experience made Eli a good source for that.

“I’m going to head off too, then. Eli, right? Are you sticking around?” Keaton asked. Retrieving her phone, she held it out to Eli with a smile. “Let’s keep in touch. I’d love to hear more about how The Promise is and all, and you sound like the perfect person to ask if you’ve already been here for four years.”