SepticGentleman

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

---

“You still haven’t told me how the hell you got back on the station after being spaced.”

“Cause Little Willy, Willy won’t, go home!
But you can’t push Willy ‘round, Willy won’t go!”

“That doesn’t answer my question!”

The newfound duo had commandeered a hovercraft to reach the public shelter in short order. ‘Commandeered’, that is, meaning they found a hovercraft that had been previously occupied by a single guard, only to have met his fate at the hands of - what would most likely have been - a parahuman who could blow up peoples’ heads with their own. No such aggressor was present however, so they gently removed the body and set it against a wall, then took off with the hovercraft. Radvi drove, of course.

“Fine, then.” Radvi said as he kept his eyes focused on the path ahead, “Wouldn’t suppose you know who’s behind all this madness?”

“There’s a traitor, there’s a mole, it’s a peacetime overthrow-“

“Stop, stop with the songs! Just use words!”

“NO.”

Well, technically, he did as asked. Radvi just groaned in reply, letting silence befall the two for a moment. “I…” He began, D turning his head slightly to face him as he continued. “Sorry. Thank you, for helping me back there. I… wouldn’t have made it, if you hadn’t stepped in.”

Radvi shifted his head to the right. He wasn’t met with a song or sound clip, just a friendly thumbs up from D. He nodded, returning his attention to the road. “I still don’t know what you’re doing up here in the first place.” He said, “But if you’re ready and willing to help with this, this goddamn mess, then... I’ll look past your, ‘prior transgressions’.”

D, in response, played a sound clip of several children cheering, leading Radvi to smile and snicker a bit - something that was, admittedly, very rare for him. But just as it appeared, so quickly did it leave when he raised his finger and said sternly, “No more kicking any students in the face though, that’s over the line.” D’s response was to play a clip of a dog whimpering, sinking his head.

After several more minutes of driving, the public shelter finally came into view up ahead - as did the scene playing out in front of it. The woman from the High Rise, Noelle, was standing in front of the closed-up entrance to the shelter, with a guard-issued shotgun in her mechanical hands - she must have taken it off of another dead one. She had situated herself between the shelter, and a single escaped prisoner who looked like she wanted to get inside - but not for the purpose of safety. Three others lied around her, dead on the floor, shot and killed. The fourth prisoner was a spindly thing, lithe and tall but frail- as if a breeze would knock her over. She appeared emaciated, as if her build was not natural to her. She had long silver hair thatrand down the length of her back. Why she had been trying so hard to get in couldn’t be known, but it wouldn’t be difficult for one to ascertain that she desired to have control over others. She was obviously far from one of the top dogs in the rehabilitation facilities.

“I’ll scream!” she threatened, less weight to her words than she probably intended. There was a crazed look in her eyes, though. As if she refused to go quietly even if Noelle had her at gunpoint. “I’ll blow the doors down. I swear to God.”

“I said, get back!” Noelle yelled, keeping her shotgun trained on the woman, attempting to maintain a threatening stance. The thin girl’s jaw dropped to an unnaturally wide degree and she inhaled.

_{“MOVE BITCH, GET OUT THE WAY-”}

She was interrupted in her action by the approaching sound of-

“GET OUT THE WAY BITCH, GET OUT THE-”

The hovercraft collided with her, sending her flying forward with thin trails of blood spreading out. D had raised his head out of the window, playing yet another song, watching with masked yet eager intent at the moment of impact. The hovercraft came to a halt just a bit past the location of impact, but the prisoner was further away, looking much worse for wear - as in, quite dead. Noelle simply watched in bewilderment as the glass pod doors opened up, and out jumped Radvi and D.

“That was…” Noelle said, shotgun lowered, “Well.”

“Sorry I wasn’t here sooner.” Radvi replied, “Got hung up before, but…”

They both turned their attention towards D, who had climbed up on top of the hovercraft.

“I thought you sent him back to Earth?” Noelle said in visible confusion.

“Yeah. Apparently he came back.”

“And now you two are working together.”

“I… yeah.” Radvi replied, “You were able to hold this location well enough?”

“Yeah, I picked this up on my way here.” Noelle said, motioning towards her shotgun, “But the thing only had a few shots left right up until that last prisoner. They all came around right after I did, but they weren’t that much trouble.” She proceeded to toss the shotgun aside, having no further use for it given her lack of ammunition. “How the hell did this all happen?” She proceeded to ask.

“I don’t know.” Radvi replied, “Right now, I’m just focused on holding this location until the rest of the force comes in. They got held up in the sector tubes. Someone forced a lockdown while they were headed for the spire.”

“Who the hell could’ve done that?”

“I think he has an idea.” Radvi said, shifting his attention towards D, who was still keeping a vigil atop the hovercraft, scanning his head left and right, playing a repeating sonar sound. He returned his attention to Noelle and asked her, “How many are in there?” He motioned towards the shelter.

“About a couple dozen short of fifteen-hundred.” She replied, “They closed up before I got here. And before you tell me to go join them, fuck that. I may not be a guard or a parahuman anymore, but I’m not gonna sit and do nothing. I’m staying out here and helping.”

“Fine by me. But you need a weapon.”

Noelle nodded, shifting her gaze towards D. “Hey!” She called out, getting his attention. “You wanna be useful? Go grab any guns and ammo you can find on any dead guards!”

With a salute and the beginning of the William Tell Overture’s Finale playing, D performed a backflip off of the hovercraft and raced down the nearest pathway he could find, on the hunt for some armaments.

“He’s… something.” Noelle said.

“Yeah.”

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

---

Sector B was coming up. Radvi and the other five guards hadn’t encountered any resistance on their way there so far, but they could see the destruction becoming more and more prevalent the closer they got. All the while, Cara was notifying them of more distress signals popping up around the shopping district, and slowly beginning to spread further out. Casualties had already been confirmed beyond the death of their fellow guard Mitchell just moments ago. The longer this breakout went on, the worse it was going to get. And still, they were six men with no nullifier and no immediate backup. They had to hope that the rest of the force would break out of the lockdown as soon as possible.

This, at its core, almost felt like a suicide mission.

“We’re closing in on Sector B now, Chief!” Radvi said into his earpiece as the group sped along, with the communication system reboot having since been completed. “Orders?”

“Get to the public shelter and secure it. When it’s full, lock it down and form a defensive. We’ll provide reinforcements as soon as we’re out of here. In the meantime, any other forces still outside of the sector tubes will be converging on your signal.”

“What about the prisoners?”

“Lethal force authorized. Do not attempt to capture.”

“Understood, sir.” Radvi replied. ‘Lethal force authorized’ were not words he enjoyed hearing, but the present situation left no room for security to hold back. There were so few of them, and so much of the opposition. They couldn’t take any chances.

The public shelter’s location was coming closer. As they drove along the concourse, up ahead came a figure from around a corner leading into a pavillion within the shopping district. A young woman, somewhere in her early twenties, thin and ragged brown-blond hair, eyes wide open with scars surrounding them. Dressed in a standard prisoner garb, several bloodstains adorning it. She stood in the middle of the oncoming guards’ path, silent, holding a soft smile across her face, never blinking.

“Got something up ahead!” One of the guards called out. As they approached, getting ready to draw their weapons, the woman shot out her arms. Radvi, all of them, immediately tensed up, straightening their backs, gritting their teeth. They were lifted off of their ATVs, which all proceed forward, either crashing into each other or veering off into a nearby wall. The woman stepped forward, keeping her arms raised, watching all six of the men intently, with her soft smile and wide eyes still very much persisting. She tilted her head to the side some, scanning over her captives. They floated up above her, arms outstretched. She could feel them resisting, but to no avail. She nodded her head, as if pleased, and then turned to carry them all away.

Radvi fought. God, he fought, but he could feel... fingers underneath the skin on his neck, his arms, his torso, his legs. Wrapped around, digging in, holding tight.

This is what happens when you have no nullifier.

…

They were situated a single floor up now. The woman, she had already carved out a little spot for herself within an open foot court, now void of any civilians after the chaos had driven them away. She stood by the railed edge with her back facing the open air, smiling as she looked at each of her captives once again. They were arranged side-by-side, Radvi being all the way on the left. The woman bowed her head to them all, and by the force of her will, they all did the same.

And then, they danced.

The woman must have been a ballerina or something similar before she was this… horrible monster, because despite her disheveled appearance, she moved with such grace and elegance that, were the circumstances much more different, she’d be receiving rounds of applause instead of pained and strained looks of terror. The guards under her spell all matched her movements, like uniformed puppets on invisible strings. They formed circles, criss-crossing lines, held and spun each other around. If not for the extremely prevalent feeling of muscles taut in wires, these men would almost certainly be feeling extremely emasculated. And yet, they had no choice in the matter.

The performance went on for several minutes. It seemed as though the woman had started to become bored of her playthings however, as she gazed out into the open air between spins on her heel. After a moment, she stopped, and so did the guards. She fashioned them into a line, Radvi in the very back. She stood by the railing and smiled at the guard in the front of the line. He, against every shred of his will, bowed to her, spun some, and proceeded to initiate a running start, leaping gracefully into the air as he approached the edge, soaring over the railing, and then plummeting into the brush below. She let her control over him go once he was out of sight, allowing him to let out a few seconds worth of screaming, before the silence returned.

She turned her head to the next in line. She bowed. He bowed. He spun around a few times before he took his leap.

And then the next.

And the next.

The second to last guard, the one who had already been grieving the loss of his friend Mitchell, was up. As he was forced to spin around a few times, Radvi could see the tears in his eyes. The redness. The fear. The universal look that told you ‘please don’t let me die like this’. But there was nothing Radvi could do, except watch as the young guard took his run, leapt forward, and fell screaming to his death.

And then there was just him. She watched, smiling, as Radvi did his spins, inching forward, getting into his run, seconds away from the edge…

But then...

---

---

INTERVAL 03 - TUNE UP, TURN AROUND, DROP KICK

---

“SUBALUWA-“

Out of the blessed unknowns of nowhere, D came running forth, charging at the woman. Once he was close enough, he took a leap off of the floor, raised both of his feet forward, and planted them both RIGHT into her unalerted spine. The both of them fell to the floor - Radvi too, released from the woman’s tormentous hold. D wasted no time getting into his own spin, atop his head, flinging himself back upright and standing before the woman, still keeled over. Radvi was free, but he was taking a minute of his own to breathe deep.

Just then, she spun her around, her smile gone, the unmistakable look of anger flaring up in her big ol’ eyes. She shot out her arm at D, attempting to bring him under her control.

Yet, D felt nothing.

She lied there, confused and still very much angry. D simply moved into a low chuckle, until shifting his attention to the right, towards Radvi. The woman did as well, just in time to watch him aim his handgun straight at her, and fire.

The bullet went right through her forehead. She fell limp. She was done.

Radvi let out a few strained pants. The shock of seeing D very much back on the station instead of drifting out into the darkness of space was momentarily lost on him, as he scrambled to stand back up and race for the edge of the floor. He peered over the railing, almost immediately reverting his gaze at the sight of the other five guards, all dead and spread out along the grass below. Radvi closed his eyes, pinched his nose, fought away the distress. D looked over the edge himself, not very pleased with the sight either. But when he turned back, Radvi had set his attention on him now. His gun was lowered, but still being held forward.

“How…” Radvi said, still with some stressed breath, “How did you... get back?”

D just shrugged. What could he say? He never left.

Radvi waited for a verbal answer, but no such thing came. He gave the matter all his thought. Out of the blue, D had come and saved him from flinging himself to his death, but not before his five fellow guards had done so. That… that was no act of malevolence. Even after he’d taken part in D’s, apparently failed, execution.

“Oh, when times get hard,
You can’t give in!”

A clip of a song sounded softly from his helmet. D eased forward as friendly as he could towards Radvi, extending a hand.

“If you need some help,
You’ve got me, my friend!”

Radvi dropped his pistol to his side, and pondered. Here was D, offering his assistance… supposedly. Even after everything that happened the day before. He would normally, of course, refuse. But in this present situation, he had no other guards in his company thanks to one downright crazed escapee, he didn’t know how much backup was on the way - if there was any in the first place - and he had no nullifiers around to mitigate the powers of the enemy forces. D, somehow, was unaffected by the woman’s attempt at controlling him. How? He couldn’t spare the time to wonder.

He decided he had no better options, and he shook D’s hand.

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

---

"Attention all units, full penitentiary breakout in sectors A and C. Requesting backup of all nullifier and available personnel."

The message looped a few times to make sure everyone was getting it. Patrols, breaks, everything anyone was doing was all immediately dropped, in a single, station-wide pulse of action. The guards all raced to their vehicles, and raced again to the nearest sector elevators - the immense pillars built into the Promise’s bridges, leading upwards in triangular fashion to the central spire running through the ring. That was where the ‘uglier’ aspects of the station were housed - including the prisoners. The parahumans who just couldn’t be helped, whom for it was decided to keep them on the Promise and out of the way of the Earth-side public.

Radvi was on his ATV. He hurried along the concourse towards the sector C elevator. Along the way, he’d grouped up with several other agents who’d split from their patrols.

“How the fuck did a breakout happen?” One of them shouted, as they rode.

“Either one of the prisoners must have broken free and started it, or someone hacked into the penitentiary systems from outside!” Another shouted back.

“Doesn’t matter!” Radvi chimed in, “No matter what, we need to keep them from breaking into the ring!”

They all knew their mission. Maybe some number of the guards were eager to swoop in and stamp out those prisoners like they were a rodent infestation. But Radvi and a fair few others were more focused on, frankly, what many would call a lie - keeping the Promise’s populace safe. Parahuman or otherwise, there were people around who absolutely didn’t deserve to get caught up in all of the problems that had so recently been plaguing this godforsaken station. Hell, Radvi knew a lot of them.

The Sector C elevator was coming up. Built into the center of one of the bridges connecting both sides of the station’s ring. As they made their final approach however, something uncalled for began to happen. A loud buzzer sounded, and a system of reinforced shutters began spiraling around the elevator’s entrance. Radvi and the other guards raced forward, but by the time they reached it, the elevator was completely locked down.

“What the hell!” One of the guards exclaimed, as they all dismounted their ATVs. “Who initiated the lockdown?!”

“Chief, this is Radvi!” Radvi said into his earpiece, putting in contact to Gennedy, “The Sector C elevator just went into lockdown! We’re stuck out here!”

“Ra-... what’s-... y-...”

His voice was being bombarded with static before cutting out completely. “Chief? Chief!” Radvi said aloud, “God damn it, someone’s tampering with the comms! Cara!”

“I have already begun a full reboot of the communications network, Agent Radvi, and I am also attempting to override the lockdown. I must inform you however that multiple distress signals have just arisen within Sector B’s shopping district, near the sector elevator.

“What?!” Radvi called out in disbelief, “Fuck, they’re already out!”

“What the hell were we called to the other sectors for?” One of the other guards asked aloud.

“Doesn’t matter right now!” Radvi replied, “We need to get back to the shopping district and secure it! Make sure everyone is safe inside the public shelter!”

“We’re only seven men, how the fuck are we g-”

The guard’s sentence was interrupted, by the immediate yet unnoticed sound of loud, crazed screaming fast approaching the group. None of them had any chance to react as their fellow guard was swept off the bridge by a bald, frail man in pale blue scrubs, flying through the air, laughing like a madman.

It only then crossed Radvi’s mind, for a just brief second during that horrible scene, that there wasn’t a single nullifier amidst their unfortunate group.

“Mitchell!” One of the other guards loudly called out, turning along with everyone else to watch the airborne bedlamite hoist up his victim, swinging him around in circles by the straps on his shoulders. One of the other guards immediately drew his handgun and aimed it at the aggressor, attempting to line up a shot. “I’ve got him!” He said confidently.

“No, no!” Radvi called out, “You could hit Mitchell!”

“Well what the fuck do you want me to do then?!”

Radvi wasn’t given a chance to respond before the bedlamite rounded back, swinging Mitchel around in a few more circles before finally letting go. He came careening through the air, screaming, headed straight for the bridge. Several of the guards extended their arms in some effort to catch him, only to end up watching Mitchell’s face collide head on with the bridge’s railing with a loud, metallic thud. Blood shot from his face as he flipped backward, falling down into the brush below.

“MITCHELL, NO!” The same guard from before had called out, watching in vain as his friend’s body landed on the grass below, leaving him as nothing but a tiny, bloody mess far below the group. Several of the other guards refused to hesitate and immediately began firing at the flying psychopath, though no shots connected with him as he rocketed further and further away from the bridge, cackling all the while until he was completely out of view.

“What the FUCK was that?!”

“Jesus Christ, Mitchell…”

“There’s nothing we can do for him now!” Radvi called out after a brief moment of hesitation, “We have to get to Sector B now! C’mon!”

The rest followed his lead as they raced back to their ATVs, the one guard doing his best to put the death of his friend out of his mind for the task at hand. He couldn’t stop his own face from turning red and the tears welling up in his eyes, but he was still managing to push himself to keep up with his fellows.

Radvi was taking charge. All hell was breaking loose, and he had to do his best to help stop it.

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.