middleofsomewhere | Not with a Bang: Conclusion

Not with a Bang: Conclusion

The base camp is a mess by the time the fight is over. The heavy rain alone would have been enough, but the battle has churned up the earth itself. The previously peaceful clearing is pockmarked with craters and dark puddles where ash has mixed into rainwater, along with oil and blood that swirl unpleasantly through the shallow pools. The trees are bowed outwards with the force of the powers that waged through the area, trunks shattered and torn, boughs hanging haphazardly or draped with the remnants of tents and equipment.

Perhaps all that can be said is that it gives the Voidtrecker Express a decidedly clear landing spot. The train snakes its way through the jungle, coming to a stop in a familiar, though now lopsided, coil around the clearing, and opening its doors to allow injured to be carried on, or anyone from the train to disembark.

It’s clear that there are indeed people aboard - as the doors hiss open, activity is already visible inside, as well as voices audibly going back and forth over the tinny speakers of the ICP.

Now that the saboteurs are dealt with, the final repairs can be made to the damaged stations and the shields locked into place. By the time they are done, nothing and no one will be able to enter the planet - from space, anyway.

The train will remain in the clearing through the night of Imagination 12 and the morning of Imagination 13, until all the stations are prepared, the pandas returned to their rightful place and everyone has rejoined the train.

By midday of Imagination 13, the train is ready to leave. Everyone gets a message on their SCA to return to the train, if they haven’t already. Once all are onboard the doors shut and the train begins to snake through the jungle.

“Re-entering Voidspace in ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one.”

The train rattles and shakes as the greenery around them (and the purple of a few farewell pandas) fade into the colours of the void.

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Nita just plain doesn't respond, this time.

There's a look on her face, instead; anger, yes, but not at Eva - or not 'just' at Eva.

I should have been there to help you, get you out of there, she thinks, but doesn't say.

It's a good thing Fluffy isn't around to translate, huh?

Nita holds her sitting pose by the side of the bed, looking at Eva and at the same time, not exactly seeing her.

Well, this was unexpected. Consider Ken successfully snapped out of brooderland.

"....At the net?" Ken asks, the ball he'd kicked bouncing past him and rolling along until it bumps into a green "ball", who squeaks and flops his leaf in surprise. "Go ahead..."

He'll step out of her way, and gently nudge a different soccer ball in her direction. All yours, if you want it.

Nita's head briefly swivels towards Leafmon - but Ken's response gets her attention back again, and she nods.

"Yeah. Think I'm more of a 'throw' than a 'kick' person, but here goes..."

She makes a running start, bracing her feet on the floor so as not to slip-

The ball spins a hell of a lot more than it rolls, but roll it does.

Nita blinks.

"I'm... not sure that counts? What would you rate it, scale of one to ten?"

Probably a low number, she'll be honest with herself here.

Seto answers by opening his book.

"There's a lot I haven't had time to say publicly yet. Halo told us a little more...about the destroyed homeworld, the ministry. What our mission is, apparently."

He stares at his words. "I wrote everything I could remember. But the short version is this: the ministry is trying to suppress anomalies in the multiverse, and we're supposed to stop them."

"It was a mess," she says, frank and immediate. "Red team lost one guy and at least three more took injuries that would've killed a normal human. Should've seen it coming, given out equipment earlier, but it was all going fine..."

She trails off, not wanting to give excuses. Takes the bottle, and uncaps it. It gives her something to look at, at least. Something to do. She twists and untwists the nozzle. "Guess it's bothering me more than I thought."

"The homeworld of the Voidtrecker Express?"

Which other planet could Seto mean, really?

Nita's reaction to the further reveal, however, is a very tight frown.

"I know that kind of person. In the last place I was... I helped clear up the remains of the Deva who'd tried to achieve 'Perfect Order'. Though-"

She says, train of thought jumping from one thing to another.

"Does that mean they're responsible for the destruction of that planet? Or just covering it up, because they don't understand what did it?"

Both ideas are disturbing, but one makes things rather more simplified - and, she'd be the first to admit, almost too easy to consider. 'Fight one organization and be done.'

He folds his arms around each other, now with his hands free. Listening, and he can't argue completely. Maybe they should have moved the camp, or figured some better way of keeping people protected at the base. They knew about the miners, could've guessed they would have known about them too.

But this wasn't like before, when they were dealing with just a few sentries at a time. None of the smaller maintenance bots going wild too.

"Cassie was saying we need to chip in and get more weapons. It's expensive on the train, but," he shakes his head. "We're not doing any better, unless people can figure out how mangle something from the weapons the sentries have." Even if they were part of the sentry. "Even when we know there's going to be a fight, not everyone leaves. They want to help."

He pauses, and - it's been on his mind too, after another discussion.

"...We should talk with Piccolo. See if he's willing to give everyone weapons again."

"..."

Nita could only stare, wondering what had brought this person all the way up to the engine wall.

Shifting the basket of cleaning products in her arms, she considered her options:

- Ask this man to move, which would disturb his rest.
- Fetch him a blanket, which would take a minute or two-

Nita's decision process didn't move much further than that; opting to do the cleaning later (read: as soon as plausible), she put the basket down and went hunting for soft fabrics.

Once she had one, she knelt down next to the man - Sanzo, that was his name, she remembered him from the jungle - and tried to tuck him in.

Which... might also wake him. Whoops?

Nita's hands are currently unoccupied, though the look on her face implies she's concentrating on something-

But whatever it is, she's glad to be distracted from it. Brows furrowing, she nods.

"I brought the plants in here earlier; I could have a word with the rock itself, see if any weeds will take root here now that we're not going to be using this place. Think that could help?"

If it wasn't what Gyousou had in mind, Nita would think of something. Try to meet him at whatever it was he needed.

Curufin is with Kaiba, Roland, Koumyou, and Reno as they crowd around Halo's SCA. He is tempted to reach past the others' shoulders and tap that 1 when Koumyou did it instead. Good for you, Koumyou!

"Let's hope there's something as interesting in that message as her music choices are," he snickers. Not criticizing. He likes heavy metal and classical. Just trying to lighten the moment with humor.

There was a fraction, just a tiny fraction, of a second where Koumyou was wide awake but not showing it. Hands near the sutra could do that to any Sanzo.

But, just as fast, he determined this wasn't an attempt at removing the holy artifact from his shoulders.

Which was why Nita didn't get attacked. Instead, Koumyou suddenly jerked to sit bolt upright, declaring-- "Purple-haired guy said to!"

He doesn't hear it.

Of course he doesn't - no one ever does. It seems the melody is for Siebren and Siebren alone, as beautiful and lonely as that may be.

As he has done so many times, Siebren boxes up that tiny spark of hope and stows it away. It never seems to die; the best he can do is put it out of his mind for the moment as he tries to explain, expression falling ever so slightly.

"Music," he says, voice still quiet but growing in volume and enthusiasm as he continues. "The universe sings for me. It is the melody of the cosmos itself - the answers are there, if only I could-!"

He cuts himself off and leans back abruptly. Stop. Hold it together.

He will lose himself again, pursuing it that fervently, even in explanation to another.

He takes a few moments of silence to gather himself and tries again. "It is...loud, sometimes - too loud to think, and I become...distracted." Ken has witnessed as much.

At least she'd learned her lesson about taking breaks and not wearing herself thin. It was an odd kind of feeling--relief--to spot her sitting down for once. 47 approached slowly, walking over to her while eying the armadillo with something akin to amusement perhaps. His eyes flicked to her as he leaned against the carriage and slowly sunk to the ground to sit beside her, opposite side from the animal.

"...long day," he commented idly. Of course, they both knew that but what else was he supposed to say. He had come over for a reason, one she was probably already aware of through their bond, but he didn't really want to address it. It was just something he probably should because he didn't want her to be the one chiding him later in the day.

It's not like his injuries were that severe, after all. A few cuts and scrapes, a burn or two from all the laser fire--but he'd sat in the back this time for the most part and took his shots carefully. It had more hectic than even usual with all the teams gathered in one larger area for once. And since he'd gotten separated from Lightning in the final battle, well, he sort of missed his healer. But he'd been here before--injured in the line of duty like this--had had worst even, and this was nothing to him. He wouldn't ask for anyone to bother with it.

...what.

For a moment, Siebren stares. Is this man narcoleptic or simply odd?

...well, regardless, it is not his business what his impromptu breakfast companion's sleeping habits are, and he has certainly seen odder things during his tenure on the train. For now, he is content to sit and wait for his coffee to cool in silence.

He has only just taken a sip and safely set his mug down when the man suddenly jerks awake. Siebren startles, then relaxes, grateful he had set his cup down before the jumpscare. "Of course," he says flatly, "though your tea is getting cold."

Koumyou made good use of a sleeve of his blue, train-issued hoodie, to wipe the thin line of drool off his chin. That had been a deep two or so minutes of sleep.

"My tea?"

Oh. Right. His tea.

"...Ah, that tea."

That fraction-of-a-second warning passed by Nita completely, meaning that her resultant jump in surprise was entirely genuine.

Mission accomplished!

"Wait, what?"

She hadn't even asked him a question - maybe he was embarrassed about being 'caught' here?

... Best not to assume.

"... You all right?"

Genuine concern, despite just about having a heart attack for a second, there.

"Mm? Why wouldn't I be?" Koumyou seemed... like he could just doze right back off again, too. Already slumping against the wall again, face lax.

Maybe just... for a minute...

"... You looked like you needed to be more comfortable, is all," Nita said, looking as awkward as she sounds.

She gently tugged part of the blanket down.

"So I brought this - if you want it, I mean."

She could take it back, if he'd rather do without... but he didn't have to.

He...took it off. His sole lifeline in a dangerous situation and he took it off-

Siebren closes his eyes and presses his palms together just under his nose - it's more of an expression of frustration than a prayer for patience, though it may look like the latter. He takes a breath and lets it out slowly. "It seems I will be having a conversation with Senku next." There are several different definitions of having a conversation applicable here, and none of them promise to be fun. He had known that Senku was cavalier with his own well-being, but this-!

But that is a conversation for a different time. There are other matters at hand. "I will return shortly," he says, leaving Seto to his notebook as he exits the train.

Shortly turns out to be after the better part of thirty minutes, and Siebren returns carrying a toolkit in one hand and floating half a dozen maintenance automatons with the other. They had been used in the previous evening's battle and were very creatively broken, but they looked salvageable amongst the wreckage. "I hope you are up for some repair work."

"Hmm? Oh," Koumyou wiggled a bruised hand out of the fabric to pluck at it questioningly, then covered his mouth for a massive yawn. "--I hadn't even noticed it!"

It hadn't been on him for long at this point, after all.

"It's fine, I should probably... get up though. Right? Not like I don't have a bed to nap in..."

Yes. That tea. The tea that he had brought to the table. The tea that was currently sitting in front of him. That tea.

He cannot help himself. He has to ask.

"Are you alright?"

Nita shrugged, settling somewhat on her knees into a less-awkward position.

"It's not as if I'm staying here - though if anyone comes in here to do laundry, it'll probably get loud."

Just so he was warned.

He'll find Seto obediently in the same spot, agitatedly twirling a pen as he tries to puzzle out their next move with incomplete information.

But he's determined to be useful, most of all, so he gladly takes the broken bots and studies them. He's just slightly slower than he was back at the start of the mission, but his fingers are still working as intended.

And because he's had time to think about Siebren's initial reaction, he adds:

"I would've called you if I could. I'm not fond of the train being cut off from the mission base."

Oh, that tea. His tea. The tea for Koumyou.

Koumyou's tea.

Koumyou cracks a huge yawn, covered by one hand, and then picks up his spoon and starts digging into his ice cream. Priorities!

"You know, everyone keeps asking me that?"

Can't imagine why.

"Yes. She was also from the Express's home world. Its name was Enrara. She also mentioned Thistea, which is likely a planet, but could be a person..."

It's headache-inducing, is what it is. He turns the page in his book of incomplete thoughts.

"I don't know enough to draw a conclusion, but the ministry doesn't like our mission...so it's possible. She was piloting a single-person voidcraft called the Voidflash, and said she was on the run from the ministry...that she was an anomaly like us."

He sighs. "But she also said we should've remembered volunteering or training for this. Mentioned a golden station."

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Page 15 of 55

Not with a Bang: Conclusion

Imagination 12, night

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Wildcard~ Stores, the 14th? Or 13th, if that's better.

Clearing Up

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sentinel

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