middleofsomewhere | What their Eyes See: Start

"Good Morning Voidtreckers, today is day five of the month of Llama." The voice echoes through the train as passengers wake up in their beds. Not long afterwards their SCA’s glow with the colour of the void and a holographic image will appear.

Preperation and Arrival

As usual they have a couple of hours before arrival to ready themselves for the mission ahead. As promised the dressing carriage is open for them to find suitable clothing. Trench coats, a lot of leather, a lot of black with neon colours thrown in here and there. There is a lot of choice in a variety of sizes so everyone is bound to find something to fit. Hopefully something they like, though some passengers may be more comfortable with the fashion choices than others.

A couple of hours after the announcement of the mission the voice speaks again. "Shortly arriving in system #93426194992. Arriving in ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one." The train shakes as it leaves the void, colours fading to be replaced to a grey thick smog outside the windows.

The train bumps slightly as it hits rails, snaking its way towards the city before entering a tunnel. A few moments and they come to a stop, the doors open onto a platform. Stepping out into the station the first thing to hit them is noise, it sounds like there are ten different advertisements blaring, someone or something is playing loud music. There's a lot of flashing signs, screens with advertisements, bright lights that change colour for no real apparant reason. Heavy on the senses as they make their way to the gates.

They will find that their SCAs allow them through the barriers and into the wider train station, which is somehow even louder. It is busy as well, people hurrying from place to place. There are signs declaring this to be Tier Three, Home of Manufacturing. as well as signs pointing the way to lifts, to take them to other tiers.

Tier One

Mapping

For those travelling up to tier one the first thing they will notice when they leave the lift is, it is a lot quieter up here. Peaceful even, there are people around, all looking official and busy. None will pay the Voidtreckers any mind unless they are acting particularly suspicious.

The air feels better here, probably because the whole tier is encased with a dome that they will be able to see as they enter, coming from a lift near the edge of the tier. The buildings are all harsh dark metal, almost uniform in design. The streets are clean and there has been an attempt at greenery with some shrubs and simple plants.

The buildings all need to be accessed using their SCA's. Their SCA maps show them where the buildings are but give no information about them, nor do they have maps of inside. Once the voidtreckers enter they will find that their maps fill in as they explore.

There are plenty of different buildings, offices, labs and meeting rooms. There are also a lot of security staff and anyone acting too suspiciously will be approached and questioned. Hopefully they have a plan, blend in or sneak around.

Flickers

Sometimes though that is a little harder, they might enter a room to find themselves on their old street, in a world they have visited before on the train or somewhere else that is decidedly not here. These illusions get more common as time goes on and people will begin seeing the illusions of others or find the two scenes merging together.

Voidtreckers who are immune to illusions will not see these strange visions and those who are particularly strong willed will be able to fight them off. Once people know they are illusions they can focus through them to see reality even if it is overlaid with what their minds want to see. It will take a lot of concentration to stay focused and get an accurate map.

Tier Two

A Mystery

The lift here brings them out into a glass covered corridor. Outside the glass the air is thick with smog but the filtration systems means that the air seems fine inside, especially with their SCA's helping out. Outside the tunnels they will be able to see the lights of hovercars zipping around and the silhouettes of buildings. Office blocks and large houses make up this sector. Large billboards blare out advertisements at all hours, neon lights shining through the smog.

The atmosphere of the sector is one of fear, people hurry about their business, keeping an wary eye on their surroundings. The newcomers won't get too much scrutiny but people are likely to be very wary if approached or questioned.

But they will talk once they guage them to not be a threat. Murders. Six people dead, from inside their own houses. Locked doors, security systems, all for nothing. Is it a serial killer? But the reports suggested an animal attack? From what animals?

Getting access to the houses will take some negotiating or breaking and entering. The bodies themselves have been cleared by law enforcement, caution tape still up to keep out any nosy public.

The rooms the bodies were found in were all rooms that used holograms as decoration and the voidtreckers will realise when they enter them that these holograms seem a lot more realistic than some of the others they might have seen in their stay in the sector so far.

Creatures

As they talk to people, or overhear gossip they will hear more about animal attacks. Someone swears they saw a lion prowling the streets. A hovercar crashed and the driver swore they had been attacked by an eagle. Neither of those creatures live in the city. Neither of those creatures exist on this world anymore.

But the Voidtreckers will quickly learn there is something to these rumours, especially as dark falls, the feeling they are being hunted. A paw tread, a tail disappearing around a corner. As days go on they may get attacked by a bear, a tiger or perhaps a creature from their own world, one that should not exist here at all...

Tier Three

A Crisis

Leaving the station brings them into crowded streets, air thick with smog, Up above them is the floor of the plate above, set with bright lights to offset the lack of natural light getting through. Billboards and screens blare advertisements, traders yell their wares. Life is fast and swirls around them as they step out into the streets.

Here also there is an air of worry. The talk is all of Spectura, kids unconcious after playing video games, hospital overflowing. Spectura's fault, there are calls for accountability, claims of sabotage. No person gives the same story and it becomes clear that most people don't know what has happened but almost everyone knows someone who has been affected. Fear, blame, tensions are high.

But life must go on, the factories never stop, people can't not work and with so many people unconscious people have to pick up the slack. The whole sector feels at breaking point.

If they try and buy Spectura systems they will not be stopped though they will need to sign a waiver, to take on all responsibility for what might happen to them if they go into the system.

Spectura

There are a whole range of games to look through, though the two most popular ones where the majority of players can be found are an open-world farming MMO called AgriTopia VI Ultimate, with bright landscapes and calming diegetic music, and Aegis Force, a tournament team shooter with short battle scenarios and smaller maps.

Those entering the system will fall unconscious in the real world and as they enter the problem will be pretty obvious straight away. Red vines, covering everything, tangling trees, creeping up buildings, coming straight for them to attack.

Anyone who gets overwhelmed by them will be stuck, unable to move or progress. It is possible to fight them off and for those voidtreckers who have faced the vines before they will find their soothing powers will work here as well.

People are tangled throughout many different games and once they are freed will need some help to find the next save point or exit. They need to help plant the final hundred potatoes, or team up to take down the level boss or solve the next puzzle, keep the vines away and free as many people as they can.

Tier Four

A Way In

As they leave the lifts they will find this tier is dark, dim lighting barely penetrating the smog. Homes are makeshift and all on top of each other. The streets are crowded, loud and people don't stop to chat. It is incredibly claustrophobic, with large support columns, exposed wires and large pipes running alongside and over the 'roads'.

Here there are plenty of stores selling anything and everything, certainly not above board. Credits are sometimes accepted but more often store keepers will prefer to trade in barters, food is popular. Anything that isn't nutri slime or the even worse unbranded basic version.

Bars and other seedy establishments are open all hours, neon signs beckoning. It is here that they will find the entry points to the fighting rings.

People don't talk about it openly but you look big enough, mean enough or dramatic enough then it will be slipped into conversation. Have you heard? Winners get a dream come true.

The fights are a mix of one on one and group fights. All terms are negotiated before hand with an overseer and fights are to the yield. The crowd wants a show and so dramatics are encouraged.

What was that?

The rumours about people going berserk are spoken in whispers. No one really knows what has gone on. A few fights have gotten out of control, a couple of fighters broke down after fights, at least one has quit for good. Most spoken about is The Crimson Fist. The best fighter in the ring who two days prior just left. Left the city with no protective gear, no word to anyone. No one knows what happened to them.

As the voidtreckers get further into their fights they will begin to realise something strange is going on. That opponent you are facing? They now look like your worst enemy, or perhaps your best friend, your lover. Sometimes you're no longer in the city but in a place of fond memories or your worst nightmares. Fights can very quickly go south when your opponent believes you their greatest foe.

Advancing the ranks now seems like it might be more difficult than first it appeared.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

They're standing some way from the house, the police on guard having sent them away; and Tidus doesn't want to make a scene too early, to be suspicious. But how long can they keep that up? Either them being on the younger side was for or against them, hanging around a murder scene.

"You can sneak in easier." That was one thing for sure. Tidus sighs, tapping a foot. "What should we do, work 'til night time? They can't hang around here night and day. There's six of these houses too - we can keep taking a look around."

"No telling what we might miss if we wait too long, though," she says, keeping an eye out for the police. "The police here have seen us, but if we go to one of the other houses, I should be able to phase us inside."

"That eager to get looking, huh?" It's teasing, though lightly so with the nerves of what they're planning to do. "Alright, so we just need to look for another. Wonder if they're close by... that'll mean there's a pattern or not, right?"

He's seen a few movies. That's totally a thing that people look out for them.

She rolls her eyes playfully, but the serious mood settles back quickly as she nods. "Yeah, I think so. Let's check down this street and see if there are any other houses with police in the front."

That'd be a pretty good indicator.

They're both in agreement, and so Tidus starts walking, head down the street away from their first house. Eyeing the different houses that they pass; not quite his version of modern, but probably the most best-looking that their missions have ever led them around.

"All these different jobs we're doing, on every team. You think they're gonna be connected? Murders, weird fights, something about the videogames... that last one sounds like what happened to us on that planet-space-station that was getting built."

Funny. Would that help them out any, with whatever was going wrong with the Blues?

Kitty frowns a little as they headed down the street, looking around at the houses. "I dunno, maybe, though I'm not sure how. People getting trapped in video games, a fighting ring and fighters going crazy, murders...It all seems so random."

She tries to think. "What was Orange's mission again?"

"Something about an information hub?" ...he can bring it up on his SCA still, right? Might as well, just to get a refresher. He wasn't going to look like a weirdo when other people had fancy wrist gadgets.

"An infection in the information network... yeah, don't know how that's gonna connect with Red's job." Actually, re-reading that part again- "Who'd believe a prize like that? 'Make your wish come true'. Sounds like a scam from the get-go."

"Yeah, a little bit..." She frowns a little. "What's making them go so crazy though?"

As she continues to think, she glances at Tidus. "Hang on...what did the police say about how the people were murdered?"

"Eh?" Tidus pauses, thinking. What was the word going around? "Something about...making it look like a crazy animal attack? Even though they don't have animals around here."

Which makes it all the more weirder. Why make it look like an attack by something nobody's gonna believe?

"Yeah...no animals...and they were all indoors, right? Locked houses, alarmed, everything."

That especially made no sense.

"We definitely need to take a look inside one of the houses."

"Time to show our detective stuff."

It's said half-heartedly, an attempt, but there's a part of Tidus who doesn't know what they'll find - or, how they'll even find what they need to. They will however eventually find their next house, signalled first by the tape that surrounded the front of it, but there's no police to be found outside this one.

As Tidus notices it, his steps slow, and he looks back at Kitty.

"--You think it's clear?"

Was there maybe someone inside...?

As they approached the next house, Kitty glances around before motioning Tidus to follow her, and ducks around to the back of the house.

"I don't see anyone in the window...I can take a quick peek inside and come back and get you, if you want?"

He follows her round the back, wanting to get out of view from the main street. Nodding at her idea as she presents it.

"I can't go in with you." Unfortunately, or he wouldn't stay outside! But he smiles at her, nodding.

"Good luck!"

He was trusting her!

"Well I can come back and get you if no one's inside."

With a nod, she sneaks up to the wall of the house, she takes a moment to peek through the window before actually phasing inside to get a better look.

Once she's sure the coast is clear, she returns and motions for him to follow her.

"It sounds like the place is empty, so now's a good time to get going."

Bless phasing powers. Tidus comes on in after her, closing the door behind them despite the back side of the house they've entered in. There's a silence about the place, but nothing too out of place from where they've entered otherwise. Now was the time to find the crime scene... what a life they've found themselves in.

"You, uh... you've never done this kind of thing back home, have you? Broken into a crime scene?"

She hesitates a bit as they quietly move through the house, and finding a set of stairs she motions towards them.

"Not...exactly a crime scene? I did have to infiltrate a government facility once, though."

Tidus moves over to the steps as she does, peering up from the sleek banister the way that leads up. Some of the landing can be seen from the lower floor, but nothing more than the glimpse of a door before the walls get in the way.

He doesn't mind going up them first, unless she gets there before him. Saying as he does, the soft tapping of his feet underneath him: "Oh, yeah? What did you do that for?"

It's a minor distraction as they climb the stairs, everything else about the house quiet. All the doors up there closed, except - there's a trail of blood, leading into the farthest room.

(Or was it someone trying to crawl out?)

She follows after him up the stairs, hesitating a moment. "Long story short, some of our people had been captured by someone who...had a problem with mutants." To put it lightly. "So the rest of us were breaking in to free them."

She spots the blood, and though she swallows nervously, she motions towards the door where the trail originates from.

What their Eyes See: Start

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