Enemy Unknown: Conclusion

[voidtreckermods]

The third night is as long and creepy as the others...

It might be that they found the engine room, solved the puzzles and found themselves in the hangar bay with no way out. It might be that they were still in the station hiding from the invisible monsters. Or it might be that they had been plucked from the mission and were waiting in their holding room.

Either way morning dawns on the fourth day...

---

ENEMY: UNKNOWN

---

DAY FOUR

the trapped. THOSE WHO SOLVED THE ENGINE ROOM SPENT THE NIGHT IN A LARGE HANGAR THAT DOES NOT SEEM TO HAVE ANY DOORS. Their SCA's are working, so they can still communicate with those in the station, perhaps talk them through the engine room puzzles or tell them to stay clear. As morning comes all the lights in the hangar come on. Brighter than any lights so far in the station, harsh white light after the eerie red of the rest of the mission.

Everyone still in the station wakes where they fell asleep - if they slept at all. It's not long after most people are up and about that they will hear a high-pitched beep from their SCA, and then a blue light will envelop them and those around them. It might be they spot their friends vanishing before they too disappear.

They arrive in the hangar, reunited with those who spent the night there. All their gear is with them at least, but that doesn't solve the problem of being in a hangar with no obvious way out. Nor are any of those who vanished during the last three days here, their SCA's still go unanswered.

---

the vanished. FOR THOSE IN THE HOLDING ROOM, THEIR NIGHT HAS PROCEEDED MUCH LIKE THE NIGHTS BEFORE. One of the screens showed the hangar, and those that had succeeded in completing the engine room task. The lights had dimmed for sleeping and turned on again bright in the morning. For those watching the screens they will see those in the station vanish in blue light and turn up in the hangar.

Around half an hour later a voice sounds in the room. "Please gather your belongings and prepare for release."

It's another ten minutes, allowing them to make sure they have all their things before their SCA's beep. They are then surrounded by a blue light, taking them from the room they had spent the last few days in.

REUNITED

reunion. AN HOUR PASSES AFTER FIRST ARRIVALS PASS IN THE HANGAR. Suddenly, there is another flash of blue light, and the missing eighteen Voidtreckers appear with the rest of their crew. They will find they had all their gear as well, including their missing weapons.

They are left to their own devices for a small while, a time for reuniting with friends, but not long enough to exchange stories before a voice rings out in the hangar:

"THANK YOU CREW OF THE VOIDTRECKER EXPRESS FOR YOUR COMPLIANCE. YOU MAY RETURN TO YOUR CRAFT."
There is a loud mass of beeping as everyone's SCA's flashes at the same time, holographic messages popping up too fast to be able to read them in their entirety.

Voidtreckers come in.

All Voidtreckers return to the Voidtrecker Express

Voidtreckers evacuate now

Voidtreckers do you read?

Layers of holographic messages pile on top of each other but a moment later everyone's SCA's glow gold and everyone vanishes from the hangar...

LUGGAGE CARRIAGE

return. EVERYONE ARRIVES INSIDE THE LUGGAGE CARRIAGE, PACKED LIKE SARDINES BETWEEN SUITCASES AND TRUNKS. There is no announcement, no warning of returning to the void; just a lurch that is likely to throw anyone on the train unaware of what has just happened off their feet, no matter the carriage they're in.

They return to the void at what feels like breakneck speed. Colours fly past the windows, and it is a good few hours before they seem to slow to their normal travel speed.

---

Comments

Around the Train

[yondu]

It's in the music car that Yondu finally is able to catch up with her. The luggage car was just to frantic, and he was just too angry about having been dicked around for a little while to be the right kind of supportive.

But when he does see her in there he beelines over.

"Hey! Hey Kitty! You doin' alright?" The answer would probably be 'no' but asking like that's almost an obligation.

[goingthroughaphase]

She's scrolling through the musical library idly, not really looking for anything in particular and not really paying attention, but she looks up when she hears her name being called, and when she sees him she lets out a breath.

"Yondu..." She hurries over and can't help throwing her arms around him. Because even though they'd been watching, and could see what the others had been doing, seeing him is just such a relief.

[yondu]

Thank fuckin' god. He reaches out to her when she rushes over, wrapping his arms around her and hugging her in close, a hand at the back of her head.

"Gonna be honest I wasn't as worried as I shoulda been. I figured you'd make it alright. If I'd known it was them I woulda been clawin' down the walls to get to ya."

Sure, monsters? 'Kitty'll be fine, she can handle it!' Cops? Being detained for bein' nothin' but decent? That has him seeing red.

[goingthroughaphase]

She breathes out a little laugh, even while she hugs him tight. Now that things are starting to settle, she's starting to realize just how bad a situation like that could have been.

"I'm okay, really," she manages after a moment. "Just kind of tired. Their accommodations makes this train look like a five-star hotel."

[yondu]

"I actually want to ask you about that, but later. I wanna make sure you're good, first." He finally pulls back and holds her shoulders to get a good look at her. Not just for injuries, but for anything obvious behaviorally. Who the hell knows what nonsense they coulda put in their heads.

"I really hate that they took advantage of our better nature an' brought this on us."

[goingthroughaphase]

She does feel fine for the most part, and she hadn't noticed anything too unusual. Though it probably would be better to get someone else's opinion, since she might not notice if there was something off anyway.

"I know. They said that it had been 'necessary' to get the train to that station, but that just says a lot more about them than anything."

[yondu]

"Necessary, huh?" Sounds a little like 'Slimeballs, huh?' when it comes out like that. But he cups her face briefly in a friendly little clutch before letting go.

She looks normal enough, for now anyway.

"I always figured they'd turn off our powers but I'm damn pissed I didn't have the chance to figure out how. But that's how it was always planned, weren't it? The second we started catchin' on that nothin' made sense, we come back here."

He gestures towards the kitchen car. "You want me to go get ya somethin' decent to drink? I ain't Soldat but I've met enough teenage girls on this train to learn how to do hot chocolate an' the like."

[goingthroughaphase]

She smiles a little, leaning into his touch slightly before he pulls away. "Yeah, I know. It all feels really sketchy."

Which only makes her worry about how much she'd actually shared with them when she'd been interviewed.

But his offer helps put her at ease, at least for the moment, as she nods and moves to follow him. "Honestly, something warm to drink sounds nice."

[yondu]

"Yeah, come on. Let's see about that."

On the way, though, he does ask. "Did you get a good look around the room? Doors, exits an' such? What did the people look like?"

Though if she doesn't remember much he can't blame her.

[goingthroughaphase]

She shakes her head as she walks alongside him down the hall. "There wasn't much, really...the room was pretty closed off and bare. Some places for us to sit or make food, some cots to sleep on, a bathroom, and some monitors on one wall to watch you guys in the station. The interviewers were pretty tall, and were wearing armor and masks. It was impossible to see anything about them."

[yondu]

"What kinda masks?" He asks, suddenly sounding a little suspicious of something. Not asking outright about it. A memory was just trickling into his head. "Somethin' like gas masks?"

[goingthroughaphase]

Taking a moment to try to recall, she nods. "Yeah, actually, they did kind of remind me of gas masks."

[yondu]

"Then I'm reckoning it's void inspectors from #392. They got these psychic powers an' rooms meant to turn off powers. Supposedly a privacy an' relaxation thing but I could see it turned against us real good."

Yondu's been researching the ministry hard for months now. If he'd been taken, he might have seen the likenesses. "Their rooms don't got doors or windows."

[goingthroughaphase]

"Yeah, that sounds like the guys we met and where we ended up," she confirms. "It turned out fine this time, but it could definitely be a problem if they'd intended something a bit more malicious."

[yondu]

"Dammit... I had Agent 8 look at the architecture book 'cause I figured somethin' like a cephalopod'd be the best bet for findin' an exit like that. I never figured they'd chicken peck who they'd take."

At least his predictions had mostly been correct, even if the situation had boggled him. The funny part being he'd been looking at how traps could have been laid but didn't consider the whole situation was a trap.

"It's a damn shame that happened, though. I been there quite a few times. It ain't a good feelin'." Being powerless and unable to escape a captor, that is.

[goingthroughaphase]

"Yeah. It looks like they were pretty careful about who to pick up too." At least from what she'd seen, the people they had chosen to interview hadn't put up too much of a fuss during their time in holding.

She shakes her head a bit with a sigh. "No, not so much." She hadn't been captured exactly before, though it is something she sometimes worried about back home. But the helpless feeling had been something she'd struggled with since arriving on the train, thinking about what she might return home to.

[yondu]

His expression softens up, though. She probably went through a lot of emotions in that short amount of time. She'd known she was helpless from the moment she entered that station. Being crammed into a room with no exits? As a teleporter? He can't imagine the nightmare that would have been.

"You know, I might not be the happiest fella in the whole of the universe sometimes but if you need somebody to talk to, I'm happy to make myself useful."

For her, anyway. He's walked off from other people before, classy soul that he is. But Kitty's firmly on his good side.

[goingthroughaphase]

His offer does get a smile from her, as she glances up at him. "Thanks. I really do appreciate it. Right now, I think...I'm mostly just trying to figure out how I feel."

She did experience a lot of emotions in a short time. And at the moment, she's not entirely sure she knows which one she's currently feeling.

[yondu]

"It doesn't gotta be about feelin's. You know, you actually got to do some normal shit in your life that I never got when I was a kid. Playin' with kids your age. Actually goin' to school. You even went on dates. I never did any of that. So about anything you'd tell me is new and interestin'. I like seein' the whole of the universe, even the little parts of it."

Well, okay, sometimes normal is boring. But he can absolutely listen if someone is enthused about it and just wants to take their mind off something hard.

Sorry for the delay! I hadn't been feeling very well this past week

[goingthroughaphase]

Kitty considers that for a moment. It has been a while since she's even thought about those little moments, or really felt normal. Even with going to school, pretending to be just like every other teenager, things really did change after her powers were awakened. But even with everything happening back home, there had still been time to think about things like getting her license and making sure all her homework was finished, and all the little things she'd taken for granted.

Even here, on an interdimensional train filled with people from all different universes, there were still time for moments like this between missions. And it was just...nice, having a reminder of that.

"Yeah, okay. I mean, if you don't mind some of it might be boring, I wouldn't mind sharing."

No worries! It's good to see you kicking.

[yondu]

"Gotta be more interestin' than a business deal or providin' security at a royal party where nothin' happened."

Okay, things did happen? But after the party because it's a good place to meet fancy ladies who might wanna slum it. Something he keeps his trap shut about though.

"Or these missions so far. Maybe it'll pick up." He is somehow doubting it. "I'd like us to keep our powers, feels like we're just scrapin' by whenever we're goin' up against shit in the suped-up equivalent of our skivvies."

<3

[goingthroughaphase]

She breathes out a small laugh. "Yeah, that'd be nice. We've at least gotten to keep our powers for some rescue missions, which helps." It did make searching for people a bit easier, at least. "But it'd help not having to worry about whether our powers will work or not the next time something dangerous happens."

[yondu]

"Yeah, I told Raven an' Kyoko I'd teach 'em some extra hand to hand. In a way that wouldn't go against their moral character." In reminding Raven sometimes fighting is for something and not against something.

"That somethin' else they taught at that school of yours? I mean I actually ain't seen you even fight yet. I always spoke to ya under peaceful circumstances."

Which is an odd thing to think about. Not many people he's only seen under peaceful conditions. Not that he'd be upset to see how she fights, he's always curious about that kinda thing, but so far that's the side he's seen from her.

[goingthroughaphase]

She nods. "Actually yeah. We've had practice with hand-to-hand combat, as well as wilderness survival training, and some others. They wanted us to be as prepared as possible, including what might happen if we couldn't use our powers."

So she wouldn't be completely helpless without her powers...it's just that she does prefer having them in emergencies.

"Plus, I've had some extra practice here too, as well as learning how to fight with a sword. Have you ever met Trunks? He's been teaching me."

[yondu]

"Yeah, I'm buddies with his dad."

Which is strange, honestly, to be able to just outright label people as friends himself. Though judging from his choices in friends it's more like he's one of those guys that just hangs out with other parents. Maybe that's what he'd needed back home, that select crowd of people to exchange 'well this is what my turd did' stories about their little'uns.

"What else they got you learnin'? Any stuff you been able to keep up with here?"