SepticGentleman

The Promise - Second Star to the Right, and Straight on 'til Morning.

---

After the all the rounds of questioning were all wrapped up, Radvi was excused from the security station to carry on with his midday patrol. Before beginning his loop around however, he’d decided something to eat was in order. Cup of coffee’s nice, but it’s not a whole day’s worth. Griffin had excused himself from accompanying Radvi to do… something else, he wasn’t really sure. But that was fine.

There was a nice little place he frequented called the High Rise. A pleasant, nothing-fancy, generous-with-its-open-hours breakfast spot, operated by a supposedly ex-parahuman woman named Noelle. Both of her arms were gone and replaced with advanced prosthetics. How that all happened, Radvi didn’t know. He never pressed her about it.

All he ordered was a small hot chocolate and a bagel with cream cheese and strawberry filling. He often didn’t eat much for most meals. He found a seat at an empty table - of which there were quite a few - and sat down to enjoy his meal, in relatively short order. He decided to check his phone for the morning news.

HEADLINE: Criminal figure ‘Freaky-D’ apprehended by Promise security, escorted off-station and back to Earth

And a little bit below that...

Well liked instructor Arthur Coleman elects to further parahuman education on Earth

It would make sense that Gennedy would want the removal of that roller skating fool to greatly overshadow any mention of Coleman’s sudden disappearance. Fog up the real goings on with some boasting about getting rid of someone who, yes, kicked a student’s face and set off a very unpleasant event, but in the end did nothing of note afterwards, save run around leaving his graffiti all over the station. Radvi didn’t want him sticking around anymore than the next guy, but spacing him? He still felt a knot in his gut over it, but the feeling was soon interrupted.

“Agent Radvi.”

Radvi raised his head upward, his attention turned to a pair of monochromatic figures who’d just… showed up out of nowhere, when he wasn’t looking. Two colorless, faceless men, dressed in opposing suits and counter-opposing ties. They stood before the table with their hands behind their backs, in what could very well have been perfect symmetry.

“Haven’t seen you two in a while.” Radvi said, in some sense of disbelief. Mister Black and Mister White were rarely seen outside of their office… wherever the hell their office was in the first place. They were probably two of the most secretive people on the whole station, only ever talking to a scant few random people, like a handful of staff or a scant few students, the latter of which weren’t always signed up for their counseling sessions. Honestly, it barely seemed like they worked on the Promise at all.

“We have been preoccupied.” White said.

“Apologies for our absence.” Black added.

“It’s fine but, I mean-” Radvi began, “H-how does student counseling keep you that busy?”

The duo simply looked at each other without a word. Radvi sat there, waiting for an answer, but didn’t receive one. After a moment of silence had passed, he decided to just push ahead and say to them, “Forget it, do you need something?”

“Not at all. We are simply here to ‘check in’, as it were.”

“We were present for your questioning those five students this morning.”

“Not perceived by any parties present at the time, however.”

“You’ll have to forgive us for that.”

“Y-...” Radvi stammered, “Yeah, sure, fine. What exactly do you know about all this, as it stands?”

“It would seem that the most noteworthy events taking place on the Promise as of recent, have consistently involved the same collection of five students.”

“Last week’s ruckus, last night’s scare, all very unexpected and, dare we say, concerning for the station at large.”

“And all of this, with some unknown party operating in the shadows, if what Miss Nelson stated is to be believed.”

“Very exciting.”

“Very dangerous.”

“Okay, okay-” Radvi said, raising his hands in a halting gesture. “But what is your interest in all this?”

“Concern.”

“Curiosity.”

“The Promise’s continued stability.”

“The wellbeing of its inhabitants, parahuman and otherwise.”

“Our interests as counselors, and yours as an agent of the law, always end up being quite similar.”

“Wouldn’t you agree?”

“...Right.” Radvi replied, after a moment’s hesitation, “And yet you two will continue to be, just… non-participating bystanders?”

“For the most part, yes.”

“We’re not what you would call ‘men of action’.”

“Sure.” Radvi said, nodding. At that moment, the High Rise’s clerk, Noelle, came around towards the table the trio were all situated at. “All good here?” She asked, looking at Radvi, to which he nodded in affirmation, taking a sip of his hot chocolate. Noelle then turned her head towards Black and White then, saying to them, “And how are you two doing?”

“We’re just fine. Thank you, Miss Cambry.”

“How are the arms?”

“They’re doing just fine too.” Noelle replied, moving away from the table and back to the counter. As she did, Radvi returned his attention to the monochromatic duo. “Will that be all, then?” He asked, “I gotta get on patrol here in a bit.”

“Of course. Take care, Agent Radvi.”

“We’ll be seeing you again soon, we suspect.”

“Right.” Radvi replied with a nod, taking a bite out of his bagel as Black and White seemed to simply vanish, into thin air. And Radvi was left, just about alone, to his own devices, inside the High Rise.

The Promise - Second Star to the Right, and Straight on 'til Morning.

---

With everything that was happening lately - the orientation mess, Freaky-D, Coleman turning up dead - it was understandable that a few things would slip by Radvi’s attention in his mental action-item list. He forgot to get something to eat last night after bringing Ellis and Anderson in. He forgot his baton in his quarters this morning and had to run back for it. And he forgot that he’d been told he would be partnered up with a new security recruit a couple days ago.

His head was a mess. Some coffee on his way to the station helped, though.

As he made his way towards his destination, he started making a mental note of what he had to do. First things first - go meet his new partner. ‘Griffin Aparo’ was the name listed on the small memo he’d been sent earlier. Male, 19, nullifier, practically raised from birth to be a parahuman-beating machine. As far as backstories went, that was certainly a more interesting one than Radvi’s. He was just a beat cop from Richmond.

After that - questioning. Several rounds of it. Ellis and Anderson, plus three other students who had apparently fled the scene, only for the cameras dotted around the brush to spot them. He’d be handling one of them - Keaton Plasse. Someone with… ‘very accurate guessing abilities’ was what he’d been told. Gennedy would be handling the other two, Lynn Holmes and Amelia Nelson.

God help the both of them.

Radvi made his way inside the station, tossing his finished coffee in a trash bin outside. Once within the reception area, Radvi looked around for one Griffin Aparo, who would supposedly be meeting him right…

There he was. Sitting by. Definitely a lot less rugged than the average guard. That would be his youth at work, though. Still, Radvi wasn’t one to assume so much based on appearances - you absolutely cannot do that on a station full of parahumans. Speaking of which, Anderson was also present - just waiting for his turn in the hot seat. Seated near the further end of the reception area. Helping himself to a donut. Radvi shook his head and went back to agenda item number one.

“Griffin Aparo?” He asked, approaching his new partner.

@Daydreamz

The Promise - Second Star to the Right, and Straight on 'til Morning.

---

Radvi had descended the most compact route of ramps and walkways to make it down to the brush as quickly as he could. He headed along the river pathway, keeping his guard up as he went. With everything that was happening on the Promise, he was beginning to feel rather uneasy, no matter what the present circumstances might have been. The fact that someone had gone missing for a whole week was enough to unsettle a lot of personnel. Searching all that time and having no leads come up, only for a body to suddenly make the scene… there was just nothing good about any of this.

Radvi saw his destination up ahead. An ambulatory vehicle with its lights flashing had reached the spot before he had. Several medics were standing by, two closer to the river, where Coleman’s body supposedly was. The only other people present were two students - a boy and a girl. Girl must’ve been the one who made the call, one Natalie Ellis. The boy…

Oh, no. The one from last week’s mess during orientation. Archie Anderson.

Did he... no, no, no, it’d be irresponsible to jump to that kind of conclusion when Radvi had only just arrived. He pulled up to the scene on his ATV and dismounted it. He walked by the two students, doing his best to keep any sense of unease, undetectable. “Stay right there.” He said to the both of them. He’d have to question them later.

Radvi headed towards the river, where the two medics were examining the body. The moment they noticed him, one of them looked up at Radvi and just… shook his head. No words had to be spoken. The gesture itself wasn’t even necessary - he could see how damaged Coleman’s body was from a few yards away. Bent legs, chest caved in… good lord. He turned his head and sighed, anticipating yet still feeling very unnerved by how this whole thing had unfolded.

Oh, well. Had to act on it.

“Cara.” Radvi said, connecting to the AI through his earpiece, “Coleman confirmed dead. Get a team of the closest agents here. Need to set up a perimeter and get him out of sight.”

“Will do, Agent Radvi.”

With that, he returned to where the students had been. With the situation as it was now, some proceedings had to be taken care of before questioning could be done. So for tonight, these two were off the hook.

“You two will get brought to the station in the morning for questioning.” Radvi said to them, “Head back to your quarters for the night. If anyone stops you, tell them to contact Radvi.”

@JunkMail @Silver Carrot

The Promise - Second Star to the Right, and Straight on 'til Morning.

---

With the morally negative business of sending that fool Freaky-D forward unto the infinite vastness of space, Radvi was sent back to doing late hour patrols along the Promise concourse. He was on his tri-wheel ATV once more, lower towards the brush but still somewhere along the walkways, just slowly cruising by and observing the goings on. He could honestly do without anymore trouble popping out of nowhere for the re-

”Agent Radvi?”

God damn it.

Radvi sighed, pulled his ATV to a complete stop, raised his hand to his communications earpiece, and responded to Cara’s request for his attention. “Copy, Cara, what is it?”

“I just received a distress call from a student, Ms. Natalie Ellis. Dr. Coleman has been found.”

That got his attention alright. “Wh-” He replied, stammering a bit, “Jesus Christ, where!?”

“About a quarter mile, left from the clinic by the river. I’m pinning her call location for you right now. Medical staff have also been alerted. Be prepared for relative hysterics- Dr. Coleman has allegedly expired.”

“Fuck!” Radvi blurted out, dropping comms and putting his ATV to speed, heading for the location showing up on the curved screen dashboard. Coleman had been missing for a whole week, ever since the orientation incident. No one could find any trace of him, and now he turns up dead in the river? And a student had found him before anyone else. Hardin - hell, pretty much all of the higher ups - weren’t going to be pleased with that development. He had to find this Natalie Ellis and ask her what all she saw.

Radvi didn’t want to admit it, but he felt it was true. This station was going to hell.

@Silver Carrot

The Promise - Second Star to the Right, and Straight on 'til Morning.

---

D was on his merry way. To meet his end. Couldn’t you see how excited he was?

The two guards were dragging him by his arms. His legs dragged on the ground as if he were passed out. Radvi led them through the Promise’s inner workings - the cold, metal hallways that most students would never see. Nary a soul was around to watch them as they went to commit a blatant murder. But even if they were, who would object?

Gennedy’s orders. Get this fool off the station.

As they went, D’s helmet sounded some, making a few low whirs and static noises. After a bit of that, he went silent again. Moments later…

“A long, long time ago…
I can still remember how that,
Music used to make me smile…”

“Oh for-” One of the guards dragging him said, “I thought his helmet was broken?”

“And I knew if I had my chance,
That I could make those people dance and,
Maybe they’d be happy, for a while…”

“Quiet!” The guard said angrily, proceeding to hit D’s helmet several times in an attempt to kill the music. The other guard dragging the other arm interrupted him and said, “Hey, hey, c’mon. At least this is a good song.”

“Fuck’s sake…” The first guard said in defeat, ceasing his beating of D’s helmet.

Radvi didn’t say anything. All he noticed was that the music didn’t sound like it was coming from D’s helmet, but his chest rather. A secondary sound system? How’d he even activate it without the use of his hands? Questions he wouldn’t be getting any answers to, it seemed. No point in further interrogating someone who had already been condemned to a cold, airless death.

“But February made me shiver,
With every paper I delivered,
Bad news on the doorstep,
I couldn’t take, one more step…”

They rounded a corner.

“I can’t remember if I cried when I,
Read about his widowed bride…
But something touched me deep inside,
The day…
The music~, died…”

They were approaching the airlock at the end of the hallway.

“So bye, bye, Miss American Pie,
Drove my Chevy to the levee but the levee was dry…
And them good old boys were drinkin’ whiskey and rye,
Singin’ ‘this’ll be the day that I die’...”

They opened the airlock.

“This’ll be the day that I, die…”

They forced him into the chamber. The moment he was free of their hold, he shot right back up as the song kicked into its beat, straight back to his merry self from a mere hour ago, seemingly free of injuries. And then, he danced.

“Did you write the book of love?
And do you have faith in God above?
If the bible tells you so?”

D pointed upwards with both of his hands as the airlock door closed. He then proceeded to begin playing an air guitar.

“Ah, do you believe in rock n’ roll?
Can music - save your mortal soul, and,
Can you teach me, how to dance, real~ slow~?”

Radvi and one of the other guards simply watched the fool dance as the third guard rested his hand on the ‘VENT AIRLOCK’ button. And unamused at the idea of listening any further, he went ahead and pressed it.

“Well I-”

The outside door quickly opened, interrupting D in the middle of his jig and releasing him out into the great dark nothingness of space, aimed away from both the station and Earth proper. His body would float forever in that direction, never to be found. The three guards watched for only a moment before the airlock’s outside door closed back up. And with their assigned task seen to, they elected to leave. Radvi, of course, hesitated. He thought of how this could have all been handled better, but… it seemed pointless to dwell on, ultimately.

And so he left too.

…

…

…

Some minutes after they had all left, and the coast was well and clear…

Oh, as the players tried to take the field…

An air vent on the ceiling swung open, hanging on its hinges. And from it, down dropped D. A new D, still onboard the Promise, while his predecessor continued to float out into the emptiness of space. His lights all slowly went out, while his successor’s were bright and alive.

The marching band refused to yield…

D - the new one - stood and saluted the airlock door.

Do you recall what was revealed,
The day…
The music~ died~?

The Promise - Second Star to the Right, and Straight on 'til Morning.

---

Promise Security HQ. Shortly after D’s capture.

D was seated in a little metal chair. His hands were cuffed together behind his back. His helmet was still very much broken, attempting to display his default face, but ending up as a mess of colors and cracks. He sat in the cold grey interrogation chamber while three guards waited outside, his more-caring-than-would-be-expected captor Radvi included. After some moments of silence, another man entered the room. Middle-eastern, somewhat average build and height, short hair and a well trimmed beard.

The Promise’s own Head of Security, Gennedy Hardin.

“Jacob.” He said to Radvi in greeting, before turning towards the interrogation chamber. He took one look at D through the glass window and said, “Why’s his helmet still on?”

“We couldn’t get it off.” Radvi replied, “It’s sealed around his head somehow. Rest of his clothes are, too. The medical team tried to give him trauma care but-”

“Forget it, forget it. I don’t need details.” Gennedy said, “I’m gonna talk to him, you stay put.”

Radvi nodded. Gennedy went to the door leading into the interrogation chamber and stepped inside. D very slightly turned his head in his direction, though all the Head of Security saw were broken pixels and cracked screen. He grimaced somewhat as he rounded the table. There was a second chair available, but he decided to stand.

“A whole week.” Gennedy calmly began, “Impressive, staying on the station that long. Dodging us the whole time. Leaving your… ‘tags’ everywhere.”

D didn’t respond.

“Had to come to an end at some point.” Gennedy continued, “And better it turned out to be sooner rather than later. Because trespassing and vandalism are both mild crimes, sure, but that stunt you pulled last week? During orientation? The first thing you did was over the goddamn line. Kicking that kid’s face and setting him off, making him turn into that monster, putting other students’ and my own men at risk.”

Still no response.

“If your goal here was to just have a laugh, you convinced me otherwise with what you did.” Gennedy said as he planted both of his hands on the surface of the table, leaning forward. “I would get a crowbar and pry that ridiculous helmet right off your head no matter how well it’s sealed on there, and then beat you into a bloody smear with it, but frankly… I could not care less who you actually are. Because I am not going to entertain your foolishness on this station anymore. You are out.”

And yet still, no response. It wasn’t clear if he wouldn’t or couldn’t, but D was remaining silent in this man’s presence. Gennedy stood back upright, giving D one more look of utter disdain, and at the same time, dismissal. He stepped out of the interrogation chamber and stood before his men.

“Take him to an airlock.” He said, “Space him.”

“Wh-” Radvi began, “Sir, is that… really necessary?”

“As far as I am concerned, he is directly responsible for last week’s mess.” Gennedy replied, pointing at D through the glass. “He is a danger to the Promise, hiding behind that jokester disguise. And if we can save the authorities down on Earth from having to deal with him, I consider that a bonus.”

“Sir, I honestly don’t think-”

“Jacob, I don’t fucking care what you think.” Gennedy retorted, “He’s getting spaced and that is final. We’ll tell Dunbar that we put him on a shuttle and handed him over to the right people planetside, and as far as she’ll be concerned, that’ll be the end of it. And no one will explain to her otherwise, or there will be consequences - severe. Consequences. Is that clear?”

Radvi didn’t respond right away. He knew full well that attempting to argue with this man would likely result in nothing good happening to him. So he yielded and said, “Yes… sir. I understand.”

Gennedy nodded and left the room without another word. The other two guards moved to secure D and begin escorting him to his demise.

Radvi hesitated. All his good will was for nought, it seemed.

The Promise - Second Star to the Right, and Straight on 'til Morning.

---

Take a ride on the Black Dragon!
Room enough for everyone!
Take a ride on the Black Dragon!
If ya down and need some fun!

Promise security forces had caught up to D fairly soon after his escapade from the Pioneer Clinic. Just like last week, they all found themselves in a chase running through the busier parts of the station - busy, at least, for how late it was getting. The pursuing officers were on their tri-wheel patrol vehicles again, and had more space to maneuver without fear of running any folks over by accident. But with how some of them were driving this time, you could maybe hazard a guess that they didn’t care about that sort of thing.

D was on his skates, nitro boosts taking him up and down the ramps going through floor after floor. He could have gone down into the brush again, but something in him felt like they’d be expecting that and have forces on standby to sniff him out. Besides, last week’s chase was over so quickly that it couldn’t have been nearly enough fun for anyone involved, so he elected to keep going this time.

Tight turns, wild jumps, the works - they were all put in effect to keep the guards on their best senses. At some point, he decided to swerve around in order to skate backwards for just a few moments, waving at his pursuers like a child. The moment he turned back, however...

As if lying in ambush it came from around a building corner. Sleek, white, narrow. Hovering above the ground on four giant fans, all spinning fast enough to project their force outward. Twin fins on the undercarriage like a fish, and a big glass window stretching over the driver.

D had made a mistake.

TAKE A RIDE ON THE BLA-

The moment he turned around, he collided with the passenger’s side of the hovercraft. His helmet took the almighty brunt of the impact, cracking the vehicle’s reinforced glass only slightly, while his own helmet suffered much more gruesome damage. Little shards of screen flew outward, his normal happy, grinning face suddenly becoming a mess of random colors and jagged shapes. He fell backward onto the floor beneath him, the impact having just enough force to nudge the hovercraft only a little bit forward.

The other officers on their smaller vehicles pulled up and formed a perimeter around their fallen target. The gentleman from before, Radvi, had led the charge again. He dismounted his ride and ran over to D’s side, seeming concerned for his well being.

Odd, that.

“Jesus Christ!” The driver of the hovercraft exclaimed, opening up the cockpit to get a better view of the scene. “Did you see that?”

“Landon, what the hell is wrong with you?!” Radvi called out angrily.

“Hey, he crashed into me!” Landon replied, almost sounding insulted.

Radvi returned his attention to D. “You still alive?” He said, strangely concerned about his target’s current status. D, helmet still a broken mess, was putting out garbled mishmashes of sound clips and songs, with a low and distorted laugh on top of it all. He slowly raised a hand, and gave Radvi a thumbs up before dropping it back down.

Sturdier than he looked.

“Get a medical team here! Now!” Radvi called out to one of his subordinates. Nearby civilians watched as the scene played out.

Unfortunate turn of events.

The Promise - Second Star to the Right, and Straight on 'til Morning.

---

Archie had excused himself from Lynn’s presence to make use of the little lizard’s room, suggesting she simply wait outside the entrance for him. He asked a clinic employee where the nearest one was located, found it, walked inside, and beheld a setup that was, honestly, a lot nicer than most you’d see in the hospitals back down on Earth. This one had stalls and everything, and the sheer cleanliness alo-

Okay, time to stop glorifying the restroom.

Archie took one of the stalls, not seeing anyone else occupying any of them, or even the whole restroom proper. Moments after his locking the stall door however, he heard someone wander in and just start… washing their hands. He paid it no mind, focusing on his own ‘thing’. Once he was done, he took care of the cleanup, opened the stall door, and…

There at one of the sinks was Freaky-D, unceremoniously washing his gloved hands. Archie was still as a rock as D turned his attention towards him, nodded, shut off the sink, and dried his hands with some paper towels.

No words came out of Archie’s mouth. He couldn’t find any, electing to just stand there, mouth agape, as D stepped towards him. As if realizing Archie’s fear, he proceeded to raise his hands in an attempt at a calming gesture. As that proceeded to not work at all, D then went on to take a bowing stance, with a bit of flourish. He remained hunched over, his helmet in prime kicking distance to Archie’s foot.

Eye for an eye, right?

“Kick me in the jimmy!” D said, pulling a voice clip out of a cartoon from the goddamn 90s. His invitation to Archie to return the physical attack that had taken part in setting him off last week was met with apprehension and, somehow as to be expected, rejection. He just stood there, confused.

Looking up and dropping his arms in disappointment, D regained his upright stance and moved on to part two of his apology process. He waved his arms around as if performing some kind of magic trick, complete with sound effects of an audience gasping. A drumroll sounded as he raised his arm upwards, and then held it in front of Archie’s face. Now occupying his hand was…

A little red ball. With Freaky-D’s face on it.

D gestured for Archie to take the ball, pointing at it with his free hand. Archie, still very much anxious and apprehensive, slowly did as wordlessly requested. He took the ball in his hand, looked down at it, and noticed some white lettering scrawled on the side opposite the grinning face.

APOLOGY BALL
Good for one emergency service!
(Applicable when thrown)

He… didn’t quite know how to respond. Luckily, he didn’t have to, as D proceeded to back away from Archie, holding both his thumbs up and cackling quietly. If the face underneath that helmet could be seen right now, there was a good chance it’d be stretched in a very awkward smile. Maybe. If awkward was something D even felt. He backed out through the door and into the hallway.

And then Archie was alone, in the restroom, still holding the little red ‘apology ball’ in his hand.

…

Mere moments later, the Pioneer Clinic’s reception area was suddenly home to the scene of Freaky-D, somehow having found the time to switch to his skates, making his exit as people around him either got out of the way of the madman or immediately began alerting the authorities via contact with Cara.

D swerved out the front doors, laughing like a gremlin, waving goodbye to whoever might have been waiting in the area as he made his escape from the scene before station security could arrive.

Mission accomplished!

@JunkMail@He Who Walks Behind

The Promise - Second Star to the Right, and Straight on 'til Morning.

---

INTERVAL 02 - MY BEAT, MY BAD, MY BUDDY, MY BALL

---

After the events of day one, D had lied low for the following week. Security teams had been assembled to search for him all along the stations at varying hours of the day, nearly constant. They’d found nothing in the brush, the mall, or any other locations on the station. What they had been finding, however, were fresh tags made by the perpetrator. His big, dumb, red face plastered on wall after wall, dotting the station sporadically. To the point where it seemed almost impossible for him to have made so many in a single afternoon. Regardless, personnel had been dispatched to wipe away each tag mere hours after they were discovered.

D himself, however, had not been seen during that time. Astounding, given his appearance. A short meeting had informed the majority of the Promise’s workforce who exactly he was and what he’d been up to down on Earth before last week. Many of them seemed perplexed, annoyed, and just straight up pissed off at the very concept of this intruder. So some among them were more eager to see him apprehended.

They’d have to wait.

…

‘HELLO’
‘HELLO HELLO HELLO’
‘HELLO WORLD THERE’S A SONG THAT WE’RE SINGIN’’

“Come on, get happy,”
“A whole lotta lovin' is what we'll be bringin',”
“We'll make you happy”

‘ARE YOU OFFICIAL OR ARTIFICIAL’

“Probably both.”

‘I LIKE YOUR GUMPTION’
‘YOU’RE ON THE TEAM’
‘NOW GET OFF THE TEAM, YOU MAKE ME UNCOMFORTABLE’

“Thank you for hiring me, sad you’re firing me.”

And that was D’s very first interaction with the station’s AI attendant, Cara. He looked down at the phone he had pilfered from… somewhere, and laughed quietly. Evidently this computer synchronized with his kind of crazy just nicely. He was afraid it was gonna be a lot more boring than that. He then proceeded to take the phone and chuck it vigorously into the open space before him, watching it careen down into the flowing river in the artificial brush below.

He was standing on a balcony to some unoccupied store space in the upper mall district, having just recently finished spraying another one of his tags on the smooth white wall nearby, accompanied with a message.

‘IF YOU’RE READING THIS,
YOU GET A GOLD STAR!’

And his happy, smiling, devilish face lied in between the two lines of bright yellow text, with that same ridiculous grin.

Now! Off to other matters. D had someone to deliver an apology to. That poor shaggy boy who’d accidentally become intimately acquainted with his boot during the whole school orientation fiasco. From what he’d heard, things got a little crazier after he’d absconded from that bad business. Something involving a lizard, he was a little lacking on the details at the present moment. Oh well. He’d set about finding him, and find him he shall. To make amends!

Goodness knows what his definition of ‘amends’ entailed, though.

The Promise - Second Star to the Right, and Straight on 'til Morning.

---

A tall gentleman, dark-skinned with a rough beard and short dreads, dressed in a Promise security officer’s uniform, scanned the immediate area before him. He pressed the button on his communications earpiece and spoke.

“This is Radvi. Patrol unit 15 has arrived at last known location of subject, over.”

“Copy, any visual?” Came from an officer on the other end of the line.

A team of five Promise security officers had mobilized towards the shopping district that Freaky-D had headed to mere minutes after the debacle at the school. A piece of the station cut out for recreation and capitalism, with stores and food courts spread over multiple floors, all going on for a decent stretch.

The officers were all on separate vehicles - very advanced, almost ATV-looking, sleek build with two front wheels and a single back one. Designed for easy maneuvering through high-traffic areas.

“Negative…” Officer Radvi replied, “No sign of him.”

“He’s got a giant head that’s as red as a stop sign, he shouldn’t be hard to spot!” The other officer responded.

“Well we don’t-”

_{Wah-oh!
Wah-ah-oh!
Wah-ah-ah, ah-ah-ah-oh!}

“What the fuck is that?” One of the other officers in the patrol unit said aloud. They all looked around as the sound of song quickly became louder, as if approaching. Once it was loud enough to be right next to them, sailing over their heads went Freaky-D from the next floor up, now strapped into a pair of roller skates with bright red wheels. He went flying off the top of an escalator with downright absurd speed, landing nigh-perfectly and continuing his escape.

“We have visual, in pursuit!” Radvi yelled. He and the four other officers immediately began chasing after D on their vehicles. How he was able to reach that kind of speed on roller skates, they had no idea. But they were quickly catching up to him.

Up ahead was a ramp leading upwards to the next floor of the district. Sloped to allow vehicles to access them. D was heading right for it, with no sign of slowing down. He wasn’t gonna be able to maintain his speed going uphill, absolutely not. Or so Radvi and the other officers had assumed.

Components on the sides of D’s skates activated, extending outward and jutting in the opposite direction he was heading. Red lights began emanating from within, quickly turning orange, and then much closer to yellow. A blast, and then D was accelerating up the ramp, almost lifting off of it completely once he reached the top. The boost gave him a bit more distance between himself and the officers.

“What!?” Radvi called out in disbelief, as he led the pursuit up the ramp, attempting to catch up to his target.

People wandering around the shopping district quickly moved out of the way as the chase continued through the second floor. He made for another ramp, once again activating the boost modules built into his skates. The next floor up, he drifted towards the railing. Once he was right up against it, he crouched and made a leap over the edge, the song he was playing having cut out. The officers hit the brakes on their vehicles as they caught up to where D had jumped off, Radvi immediately dismounting his to look over the edge. There he spotted D having landed on one of the connecting bridges running to the other side of the station ring, skating past the few people who happened to be crossing it at the time.

“Damn it!” Radvi called out, immediately returning to his vehicle. The officers rode back to the ramp they’d taken before, descended, turned around, and headed for the bridge. But in the short time it’d taken them to reroute themselves, D was nowhere to be seen.

“Hey!” Radvi called out to the closest civilian on the bridge, “Did you see where the man in the red helmet went?”

“He jumped off!” The woman replied, pointing behind her and towards the artificial wilderness below the bridge. Radvi ran forward and looked over the edge, as did two of the other officers, while the other two observed over the opposite side in the event their target had decided to switch direction.

“I don’t…” Radvi began, stopping halfway. He couldn’t even spot that bright red head through the thick brush below. It was as if D’d just up and vanished. Conceding to his moment of defeat, Radvi hit up the other officer with his earpiece again.

“This is Radvi. We lost him.”

“You what?”

“He jumped into the brush. We can’t spot him from up here. We need to get a search going as soon as possible.”

“God damn it!”

The other officer cut the comms, leaving Radvi and the other four members of his team standing there with nothing to show for all their effort. He pinched the bridge of his nose, sighing, and then rearing his head back in disappointment.

_{“What the fuck...”} He muttered to himself.