T h e P r o m i s e

---

The giant never stood a chance.

The explosion rocked the entire surrounding area, sending shockwaves of energy through the room and its surrounding hallways. A tremendous finale to the great boon that had been the orientation meeting. As the smoke cleared, the enormous form of a reptile- covered in shrapnel and horridly burned, stumbled from out the kitchen. It fell, seeming too angry to simply die outright, but its spirit seemed to burn out when its contact with the floor- all of its strength having left it. It struggled vainly, but ultimately stilled. It was quiet for another moment, with only the hiss of sizzling oil and steam keeping the still bodies of Lynn and Archie company.

It was broken when the giant's body began to break. The horrible sound of bones breaking came from the great being's body- which twitched and contracted some with what little muscle function it had left. Its back split open, and a fairly burnt but otherwise okay Archie began slowly being rejected from the corpse- which was beginning to deteriorate itself.

The doors of the room busted open, and several guards and paramedics came into the room- which had grown loud once more. Men and women were on Archie's unresponsive body pretty quickly, he was in the middle of the room after all. Lynn was found only moments later. Both were rolled into stretchers and out of the room with cold efficiency- to be dealt with at a later time. Natalie and the others had been found in the Freezer and released- Natalie, having faired the best out of the three in the skirmish was sent to be evaluated for injuries. Amelia had come down when the coast was clear, and had been interrogated as to what had happened. She hadn't many answers, though. She had been a newcomer to the incident and had wisely made the decision to hide. This event had been a failure to organize on The Promise's end, but they would not dwell. People were to be helped, changes were to be made, and repairs were be to completed, after all.

---

---

"Did either of you hear about the cafeteria incident?"

”Yes, we did.”

“Unfortunate for a day welcoming new students.”

"Two girls were heroes. I'm worried about them, though. This is only the beginning."

The little boy slides in his office chair across the room to his desk, and retrieves a history textbook. He flips the pages to a dog ear’d bookmark, and turns the book around to show the two the chapter he had been reading.

"I was reading about trade the other day, and about how stowaways made it from one place to another. Vermin too. Big ship, lots of stowaways, lots of big problems."

The boy looks away from them and down at the textbook.

"I fear we may have more than we know."

”You fear?”

”Or you know?”

"I can't say for certain- looking forward is hazy on even my best days."

”We may look into it ourselves, if you wish.”

“We can tell you what we find.”

"Please do. All I could see clearly was this-"

Matthew shows them a rough sketch of a lever that reads 'RELEASE'.

"I'm not sure what it means. Yet."

Black and White look at the sketch with concern.

”We’ll see what we can uncover.”

“We’ll be back soon.”

---

Archie

---

A week had passed since the events of the cafeteria. Archie had woken up with all kinds of devices plugged into him, monitoring his vitals and keeping track of any activity in his body during his unconscious state. His memory was spotty at best- the last thing he could recall with certainty was the tread of the shoe that had collided with his face. He did remember how he felt, though. Seeing the recordings of what happened was somewhat of an out of body experience. It had felt familiar, but distant. It scared him what he had been capable of, and it dawned upon him that perhaps the restraints he had worn on launch might have not been enough given the situation. Seeing his naked, burnt body get ejected from the corpse of a giant reptile was hard to watch. He had mixed feelings for why no one was around to see it- the more selfish side of him was happy for them being unconscious, and the selfless side of him recognizing that he had been the reason for that.

Of course, as soon as he had been freed from the hospital, having not even needed a healer at that- just time to rest, he had been immediately questioned and guaranteed for observation. It took them three days to conclude that he was not an immediate danger to the public. At least, not anymore than anyone else on The Promise was. The event was ruled an anomaly, and he was not faulted for the extraordinary events that had led up to his transformation. He did have mandatory therapy sessions now. Something about Black and White fellows. Oh well, he would save tomorrow’s problems for tomorrow’s him.

"I don't know… I still think the coffee at the Cianwood Shop is better. Nothing is imported or stuck full of preservatives there; they grow their own coffee beans and make it all from scratch. No one can make coffee like that little old lady. What's her name?"

He took a drink and lowered the still-steaming cup. "Carla. Also, aren’t the coffee seeds imported?"

"Yeah, Carla. Such a sweet thing… Did I ever tell you about the time she…"

Archie listened as the little old waitress rambled on, telling a story he’d heard a few times over the past few days, but he didn't stop her. He never stopped her. After everything he’d been through over the past two week, he didn't think he'd ever tire of hearing a new person’s non-judgemental voice. They’d become fast friends since he had begun visiting the diner after being released from quarantine. So she talked and he listened.

It was getting late, but the streets were still full of people milling about. Men paused at shops to look at possible gift ideas, women juggled bags and guardians herded children past stands selling hot chocolate, and lights strung up in the trees and around doorways twinkled merrily in the fading light. It was coming up on holiday season, the crisp bite of the coming winter already beginning to fill the air. At least, he had instinctively thought it had. It turns out that The Promise emulated the four season cycle and adjusted the temperature accordingly. Evenings on The Promise were extremely different from those on earth. The subtle stretch of day into night was far more prominent than one would think given that the entire canopies of the ceiling were clear- allowing full view of the stars and the ink void. The whole planet below them, which was visible on the side of the ring furthest from earth slowly descended into darkness while the curve of the planet dressed herself for the occasion, traditional reds and yellows and clouds like silk skirts the color of forget-me-nots. The moon hangs further out, visible to the side of the ring closest to earth like a cold, shiny button, pensively quiet.

It's a lovely backdrop, Archie thinks—almost like a canvas sewn together by messy cloud stitches. Earth has peppered stars along her furthest edges like silver rhinestones. Charming, really—the night has always been impervious to criticisms. The sun itself is distant and slowly but surely is beginning its descent behind the planet. Below, the lights of cities were beginning to light up the land. One certainly could not get this view from home.

Archie is broken from his thoughts by a slight chill. It was only just beginning to fall into evening now, but he was still beginning to get cold. He was wearing a pair of blue jeans, some standard sneakers, a white henley shirt that he had owned for years and was now definitely no longer entirely white, and a black and red flannel with rolled up sleeves. Two layers, and he was still getting shivers! His little island home was never very cold, so he was unused to the feeling. He had been given some credits to buy essentials for his stay aboard the space station- and he would have to pick up a coat soon if the climate was going to be like this for too much longer.

A part of him winced, thinking back to Amelia’s coat and how he had ruined it. More importantly, it made him think of those who had been present in the cafeteria a week ago. He had ruined a lot more than their coats. Archie put off visiting them for the week, initially for obvious reasons- he couldn’t leave his dwellings for the first three days, but the past four had been out of choice. They probably didn’t want to see his big ugly mug very much- but the recording had been pretty telling. When he was hurt, both Lynn and Natalie had been ready to help him. Natalie leaving to get more help, while Lynn acted as a first responder. That was kindness- and after their conversations before he had flipped shit they had shown to be honest enough people. He owed them an apology, and a thanks. Both for making sure he was okay, and then for beating his ass.

“Girl trouble?”

Archie shifted to the waitress, who was now leaning forward in her seat. He smiled at the little old lady. “Yeah, I guess you could say that.”

“You know, when I was your age, my husband would hold my hand whenever I was mad at him. Let me tell you young man, it is almost impossible to be angry with someone when you’re holding their hand!”

“Huh.” Archie thought out loud. That might not actually be bad advice. Especially given what he had seen of Lynn when talking to her and after seeing the video. At least that way, he’d know if she was going to kill him before she could swing by feeling her temperature rising. He could get a running start that way. Natalie- she seemed receptive somewhat when he had touched her shoulder. Some physical contact to ground them when he made his apology might help. He nodded as the waitress walked away and decided to save the advice for later. He looked down at his now empty table. He’d have to get a job pretty soon.

“Hey, Cara?” He said out loud. Not loud enough to bother anyone, but regular talking volume. He had seen many people do it over the past several days and had come to the conclusion that speaking to the station AI was a fairly normalized practice here. If he was to be here for any length of time, he might as we adjust. A small speaker built into his table came to life.

”Good evening, Archie! What can I do for you?”

Archie thought for a moment. To visit Lynn, or Natalie first? He wasn’t sure. Natalie would almost certainly take to him easier, but getting the hardest part out of the way and visiting Lynn might be the best approach.

“Can you flip a coin for me?”

”Sure!”

The sound of an actual coin being flipped played through the speaker. He thought to himself: Heads for Natalie, tails for Lynn.

”Tails!”

Archie wasn’t sure whether to be pleased or disappointed with this outcome. Well, if she killed him, at least it would be fast.

“Can you tell me where Lynn...” he trailed off, trying to retrieve her last name from the files he had been shown since she had not given it to him in conversation. “...Holmes, I think, is?”

”It’s normally against procedure for me to give out information like that. But, I take it this relates to what happened last week?”

“Uh… yeah.” was all Archie could come up with in response to that.

”She’s currently residing it the Pioneer Clinic, room 244. Bring flowers. Good luck, Godzilla.”

Archie didn’t dignify this with a response, more dumbfounded that the AI had given him advice and a nickname. When he finally overcame his stupor, he grabbed his things and was off in the direction. He had never been one to stay indoors unless he had to, and had accomplished some serious exploring over the past few days. He didn’t need a map to navigate much anymore.

The Promise, for all of its grandeur, was more like a small town of a few thousand than it was some new age space colony. He had found himself forgetting that he was even off world as of late, with the trees and the birds and the little river than flowed along the ring. The station had done an excellent job of reminding its occupants of their real home below them. He was adjusting well to this new normal, all things considered. As he walked, he picked wildflowers from their bushes in an effort to make some small peace offering. They were small and he hadn’t the time to go searching for a proper vendor, but they had to count for something, right? Concern crept through him like a bead of sweat down his ass on a hot day as a realization dawned upon him. If Lynn was still in the hospital, how badly had she been hurt? He quickened his pace. He was a man, and he would face the music for his actions, even if he wasn’t the one at the wheel.

The hospital was not nearly as busy as one might think, given that the primary occupants of the space station were superpower imbued individuals. It had felt so much busier when he had been wheeled in several days ago- but Archie supposed that being as injured and delirious as he was added to that.

“Looking for someone?” he heard someone call. He stopped, turning his head to find a receptionist waving him over. “I recognize you- here recently?”

“Yeah, actually. To both.” Archie said, wincing in embarrassment. The woman gave him a warm smile for his trouble. “Dont sweat it too much, everyone ends up in here now and again. All part of the gig.”

Archie wasn’t sure how to take this, but he supposed that it made sense given the station’s population. It was a small comfort, though. Knowing that he wasn’t the only one to have landed himself up shit creek without a paddle. “I’m looking for a girl named Lynn Holmes, do you know where her room is?”

The receptionist’s expression immediately darkened. “That one has been so frustrating as of late.” She said offhandedly. She produced a clipboard from behind the desk and gave it a quick glance. “Cordelia Lynn Holmes. Room 244.” She read out loud. The woman leaned forward over the desk to see down the hall and pointed in the direction she was looking. “She should be right down the hall on the right.” She looked down at the flowers in his hand and gave Archie an unreadable look, then winked at him. “Try to talk some sense into her.”

Archie was unsure what to make of that, but nevertheless after a quick ‘thank you’ he followed her instructions. Sure enough, room 244 came into sight. He felt his heart rise into his throat- he was anxious, and nervous. This woman had put him down in a state far more powerful that he was in now. Granted, she had help, but she wouldn’t need that in order to turn him to ash. He knocked on the door, and waited a moment before letting himself in. As he stepped in with a he briefly considered that perhaps letting himself in was a bad move. He led with the flowers he had picked, the words “Hey, it’s Archie.” left his mouth, stating his presence as if stepping into her room hadn’t already announced his intrusion. If she was indecent, or in some sort of embarrassing state then she was almost certainly going to kill him for it.

Assuming, of course, that she wasn’t going to kill him already. Heh, rule number one. Double tap.

---

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.

…


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.

Natalie Ellis

---

---

Natalie had been released from the hospital after a few hours. Partly because despite the force of the blow she took, which numbered in the tons, Natalie had suffered no damage besides some minor burns and some bruising, for which she was wearing ointment and dressing. The other reason was, given Natalie's past, she hated hospitals. Even with nullifiers present, trying to so much as take a blood sample from Natalie was like trying to bath a cat except the cat would scream, bite you and claw you much, muss less than Natalie did to the doctors and nurses. They frustratedly gave up and told her to come back if there were any problems.

Outside, Natalie learned that she had a reputation as something close to a superhero. She was suddenly kind of popular. And sure enough, a gathering of the students she had saved from the table came to meet her. A lot of them hugged her, and shook hands with her, and took selfies, and it's as if they were all talking at once. Natalie couldn't make out any one thing any of them were saying. She presumed they were thanks and muttered a shy and humble "You're welcome" but still the overwhelming din continued. Looking back, the situation may not have been as much of a swarm as she remembered, but she did remember almost feeling claustraphobic surrounded by all these people, and their voices blending into one large sound.

"Guys. Can you speak one at a time?" She asked quietly, though it was lost in the mix. "Guys? Can you give me some space?"

The potted plant that was beside them smashed into the wall...at the far end of the room. The group immediately stopped talking, but it was too late. The one who was unlucky enough to be standing closest got hoisted up by his lapels with one hand.

"SHUT UP AND LEAVE ME ALONE!" Natalie snarled into his face, raising her fist. But the fear in his eyes, and the eyes of the crowd around her, prevented her from striking. Tears forming in her eyes, Natalie pushed her way past the crowd and ran off. None of them had the courage to follow.



"So, you're telling me you want a shock collar to be put back on you?" the student adviser asked. "But you've made such strides! If this incident you've told me about, you were able to calm down, by yourself, without the need to any shock collar. I can't understand why you'd wish such a thing on yourself."

Natalie was idly playing with a hole in the sleeve of her newly bought cardigan. A good deal of her allotted funds had gone into clothes, toiletries, books and her very own phone, none of which she had owned for a long time. She had yet to gather the courage to talk to her parents, though, which was the main reason she had bought a phone.

"I stopped myself that time, but what if I don't next time? I don't want to hurt people, but I can't be trusted. I'd feel a lot better if measures were taken to make sure the people around me are safe."

"Natalie, you're an incredibly sweet and kind person, and honestly, I don't think those kids who called you a Hero were too far off the mark. You have issues but even in those areas you're making progress already. I admit I haven't read your file, and I don't know what happened in your life before you came here, but I know who you are now, and you're not somebody who needs to wear a shock collar."

"...I think you're wrong," Natalie replied simply.

"Tell you what? How about we set up with some therapy sessions, nullifier present of course, and then we'll monitor your progress and see how you feel after that. Deal?"



Natalie was sitting on a bench overlooking the river that ran through the 'town', idly reading a book. Since that incident six days ago, though she was still thought of as something of a hero, she had also developed a reputation as being crazy, scary, dangerous or all three, and there was no argument she would make to the contrary. Due to this, she had few friends. Amelia was the only person who really talked to her. Lynn was still in the hospital and she hadn't seen anything of Archie since the first day. Not that she could blame him. if their situations were reversed, as they could have easily been, she'd be putting off seeing him too.

Lynn

Lynn woke up chilly, which she took for a sigh of relief. She blinked and began thrashing, scrambling - the lizard, Christ, she had to -

She was bound to the bed. "Oh motherfucker," Lynn muttered, although her voice sounded strange. She blinked again. There was something strapped to her face. An oxygen tube. Huh. Well, at least these halfwits had figured something out. Lynn shook her head as best she was able. Something scratched against the pillow behind her. Her hair was starting to grow back, at least. There was an IV in Lynn's arm - one in each arm - and Lynn had a suspicion they strapped her down partially to keep her from pulling them out with the other arm. Not incorrect. Lynn lay back and glanced around for any kind of panic button, her initial skyrocketing fear subsiding. She'd...she'd blown up the cafeteria. Yeah, that was it. Had she killed the lizard? Or Natalie?

Lynn's eyes settled on the corner, where someone had lain her hoodie. That calmed her down a bit. After about ten thousand years of staring at the ceiling, or fifteen chronological minutes, a nurse came by and unstrapped her. Lynn shifted uncomfortably in the paper gown. She was asking how Lynn felt.

"I got blown through a wall," Lynn said.

The nurse did not seem pleased with this response. Lynn chewed on her lip for a minute and worked up the nerve for her next question, like she had to push the words up from her gut into her throat and out her mouth with one long shove.

"You guys have confidentiality agreements, right? Like you can't narc to anybody?"

"Yes, it's called HIPPA, and we- "

"Did anyone see?"

"...yes, the explosion was quite massive, but - "

"No, I mean after, did anyone..."

The nurse paused for a minute. Damnit. Lynn leaned back into the pillow even before hearing her answer, some nothing about camera footage but covering her with a blanket as quickly as possible. The nurse went on to describe the symptoms of hypothermia, which Lynn was somehow suffering from despite being partially on fire when they found her. Lynn cursed, which made the nurse startle. Now they have it on file, she thought wearily. Day one and they know. They all know.

Lynn was ready to go after a day or two, her shoulder aching but by no means unusable. Her hair had grown back out to what would be considered an alternative length, and changed color once every hour or so. The doctors wanted to continue to monitor her for a variety of reasons, including any lasting effects of hypothermia, which involved a lot of needle pinpricks to her fingers and someone taking her temperature like every thirty minutes. She was hovering somewhere around 90 degrees the first day, but was back up to normal by the next.

"I am fine," Lynn said. "Just let me eat and get out of here." They'd at least unstrapped her, but she still wasn't allowed to leave without supervision. Fortunately, they gave her a TV. Lynn watched Maury. She was politely asked to keep her voice down, as her heckling was disturbing fellow patients.

"Well, why aren't they watching?" Lynn asked. "Just trying to enjoy the TV in here. Not much else to do. You want to scream at me for smiling?"

There was then a rather awkward exchange, in which a child psychologist and the nurse, whom Lynn had given a variety of nicknames in her mind, largely relating to her rather equestrian features and Lynn's theories about the lack of sex the nurse was having. The psychologist began to talk to Lynn about a disorder called anorexia, and body dysmorphia, and -

"Oh cut this shit out," Lynn said. "I'm not fucked in the head, I just burn through more calories because -"

"Mental illness isn't being 'fucked in the head'," the psychologist said with the patient tone of someone who has had this conversation a million times before, which just made Lynn more irritated. The last thing she needed was for everyone in the school seeing her naked and bald and throwing up ash on the first day, and then rumors going around that she was some special snowflake who neeeded people to hold her hand. The doctor told Lynn that one of the IV's was supplementing her with nutrients to ensure she got back up to a healthy weight.

"Dude, I'll eat food."

The doctors nodded politely and continued with their presentation, which at one point included sock puppets that learned not to make fun of their classmates for being too skinny or too fat.

"But that one puppet is a fatass. Like that's just a fact."

"Do you feel like that puppet, Lynn?"

"I feel like wearing your asshole like that puppet, Doc."

"Angry outbursts are common, Lynn," the doctor said, smiling unshakably.

This continued for several days, in which Lynn devoured every bite of food they put before her. The nurse quickly figured out that mentioning that Lynn couldn't do something was a pretty surefire way to accomplish it, although Lynn had no real reason to spite her on this. She was still starving days after the whole mess. If she'd only had another few meals in her before she'd had to throw down, she thought, she could've lasted a bit longer. She also offered to eat one of the nurses, having not learned that outbursts were not conducive to being released from the hospital more quickly. Fortunately, by a week's time, she'd gained several pounds and her hair was still a short shock, but it was flashing different colors every few minutes. She started melting their thermometers to piss them off. I will destroy your bottom line one thermometer at a time.

Lynn had a lot of time, during commercial breaks of Judge Judy, to wonder what went down. They hadn't shown her the footage, which she had been pleased by. Apparently, she'd fucked up the cafeteria and the kitchens pretty good, but Spoons had made it out alright, as had Archie. Lynn grinned at that. Yeah, that's right, you big ass lizard. Lynn Holmes, punching above her weight class. Lynn did wonder how Archie - non lizard Archie - had turned out. She was pretty impressed with Spoons, she had to admit. Spoons had punched that thing like Tyson. She wanted to talk to her at some point and see how she made it out. Truthfully, Lynn hadn't had any idea if that walk-in freezer thing would work, so it was pretty cool Spoons hadn't died.

"Well well," Lynn drawled. They had removed the oxygen tank after Lynn asked them to rewatch footage of the explosion, so she didn't have any crap on her face. Lynn had also gotten them to let her wear her hoodie instead of that scratchy paper gown. She felt weird having her cheeks on a hospital bed. "You lost weight, Boat Farmer." She paused. "Oh, fuck me, don't tell them I said that, they're convinced - " Lynn looked at his hands. Flowers. Lynn opened her mouth and closed it. What was this? Did...that's..."I..." Lynn's voice tapered off into some kind of stammer. "I, geez, Arch, you, nobody died, I..." she shut her mouth. Motherfucker. Trying to mess with my head. Thinks he can play mind games.

The truth was that Lynn really didn't hold Archie accountable, in an act of emotional maturity from her that would surprise most. Lynn had gotten chewed out so many times for after-effects of her powers that she couldn't hold it against him. A lot of her friends would bitch that their cigarettes only lasted half as long when she was around, amongst other things. Heh. I still remember that time J shot himself in the foot because I made that gun go off. Good times. On top of that, Lynn had enjoyed the tussle. A part of her liked that the station knew she could throw down with the best of them on day one. She hadn't been planning on starting any fights, but sometimes, one just has to get knocked around a bit. Lynn was cool with that. Archie manning up and apologizing was pretty cool of him, too. Lynn couldn't fault him for that.

And maybe, in a corner of Lynn's mind she wouldn't admit, there was a sliver of her that was afraid of that thing, and didn't want to be on the wrong side. But until then, she was happy to throw a tennis ball for the human golden retriever every now and then.

The flowers. "Um, thanks. That's...that's, uh, cool of you." She looked around. Chromatic changes in her hair and eyes were normal for Lynn, but her face was as red as her hair this time. "Look if you can bust me out of here that'd be really cool, I don't know why I'm still here." Everyone was going to think Archie had fucked her up, which she also did not want. Lynn thought maybe she needed to get a PR agent or something. She thought about asking Archie about what he'd heard about things - if that footage had gone around, but she thought better of it. Only security and stuff would've pulled you out of there, she thought. This was strange. She didn't know what to say. She felt like something was crawling around inside her. Why did he come by? Now she was sure this was some kind of power play. "Do you watch Maury?" she blurted out. "This - this asshole won't pay his child support. It's fuckin' great."

The other thing that Lynn could not engineer a conspiracy theory or questionable motive or ulterior goal for was that no one had ever brought Cordelia Lynn Holmes flowers of any kind. They're pretty. she thought for a moment, before she gave herself a mental slap to the face. Stop being a complete sissy. The dude threw a table at you.

---

The next week or so had passed by far less eventfully then that first day. And god damn, Amelia couldn't decide if that was better or worse. The worst part had easily been the questioning. At least her cover held up, and they were really more interested in the fact that apparently Godzilla had been Archie. Good to know there was a man on the station who could tear shit up if he got pissed off. Amelia made a note not to vandalize his room. With him and Lynn stuck in the hospital over the last few days, Amelia thought it best to give them two of them some space for now.

In the meantime, Amelia had been keeping an eye on a few things. Mainly Freaky D. The sign of his tags scattered across the promise had almost come across to her as a fresh breath of hope for her. If only she could get her hands on some supplies. Spray paint, cardboard, and some box cutters. What she wouldn't give to wage a tagging war with Freaky D himself. She was sure she could give him a run for his money too. Unfortunately, at least for the first week Amelia found acquiring the necessary tools were too difficult to be worth it. She'd just have to get on that later.

On the other hand, Amelia had also been keeping watch for any signs that she was being followed by the woman involved in that rather incriminating bondage session in the AP Bio room. She'd deliberately been trying to keep a furtive presence around staff because of that, keeping her head down and trying not to draw attention to herself. Still, from what she'd been overhearing it looked like the staff was either keeping hidden what had happened, or didn't know. Either way, she was not entirely convinced that she wasn't marked for seeing too much.

Amelia had been ambling through what amounted to a town, and once more was confused by the way this place was designed. Notably, why the hell did it get colder in the evening? It was an environmentally controlled habitat, they didn't need to mess with the temperature. Still, eventually she came across Natalie by the river. Amelia had been trying to get to know Natalie a little better, seeing her as something of a paradox to her own worldview. Well that, and she had no problem with piggybacking off her reputation to be left alone. Glancing around to make sure no attention was on her, she teleported over, appearing suddenly sitting on the edge of the bench on the opposite side of Natalie. "Sup. What'cha reading?"

Archie

---

Lynn was adorable when she stammered. Archie was not a man that was terribly in tune with human nature, but he could tell when someone was embarrassed. Or was it flustered? She seemed mostly positive, so Archie settled for that. Flustered. That meant that she most likely was not going to kill him.

She didn't move to take the flowers, she seemed more stunned that he had brought them than anything else. While she was busy talking her way into a coherent sentence, Archie walked to her room's sink to get a coffee mug and fill it with water. He placed it down by the windowsill, and deposited the flowers gently into the mug. He took a moment to adjust a few of them to ensure they would receive their sunlight, and turned back to Lynn just as she asked him about busting her out- immediately following up with whether or not he watched Maury.

He hummed, taking the seat near the foot on her bed- his hand coming up to stroke his chin in pensive thought. "I used to hear some of the people around the island watch something about 'You are not the father!', but I never watched it myself." he explained. He looked up at the TV wistfully. "Never had a TV. Or a computer. Or a phone up until a few weeks ago. Never had the money." he said, pulling his phone out of his pocket as if to prove that he did in fact have a mobile device. "Awful bad at typing, though. Winky said I have fat fingers."

He shrugged and put the phone back into his pocket. He was certainly raised poor. And illegally. It had never really bothered him because he had been a pretty happy kid for the most part- distracting himself on the water or working on boats so he didn't have to spend too much time considering what had happened with his mother and father. Not that he ever had the spare change to go to therapy anyway. That was just how it was- sunshine and sea salt. Some kids were significantly more well off than him, but it just never really clicked with him that wealth mattered.

His eyes moved to the flowers he had brought and he remembered why he had come in the first place. He swallowed and scooted a little closer. Remember what the old lady had said! He channeled his courage and her kind advice and reached forward, resting his hand on top of Lynn's. It was his turn to stumble through words.

"Listen, I uh-" Archie began awkwardly. "I'm sorry for what happened." he said simply. "I have some issues I'm here to deal with and stuff and-" Archie fumbled with his words more, becoming somewhat flustered himself. "The last thing I remember is what the tread of that boot looked like. I was shown the footage and you were immediately trying to help me." Archie looked down at his unoccupied hand, trying his best to not meet her gaze. "Thank you. For trying to help me, I mean." he steeled himself and met her eyes. "I'm sorry for hurting you. I'd never hurt anyone if I could help it. I- I wont ever hurt you again."

He let the words linger for a moment longer and looked away again. He did not move his hand. "You mentioned getting out for a bit, right? I, uh, probably cant get you out for long or anything but if I'm withyoutheymightnot-" he stopped and took a deep breath, having forgotten to breathe throughout his stammering. He composed himself. "What I'm trying to say is- do you wanna go for a walk? The river's nice this time of night."

---

@He Who Walks Behind

Lynn

Archie went and started fiddling with the flowers in the water, which was awfully convenient for Lynn. It also made her a bit irritated - that takes a certain amount of balls to turn his back on her given recent events. Lynn let the fingers in her formerly-fucked-up hand dance for a minute, eyes on Archie. Sure, he seemed nice enough. I mean, even Lynn couldn't deny that he had literally brought her flowers. But Lynn wasn't about to play the fool for the first smiling face that came along. Again. Lynn, at some level, was seeing Archie very much differently, but in ways she wasn't quite sure she could put into words or fully process yet. She was a bit more afraid of him, but also less afraid at the same time. Natalie and I put an ass whipping on him the first go round, Lynn mused. If I had more time to prepare I might've been able to do it alone. Might. She watched him for a moment, wondering how much it took to put him in that state. One kick. Granted, a steel-toed kick out of absolutely nowhere, but...

He'd been strong. Very strong. Lynn felt something almost like respect.

Amidst her attempt to suss out Archie's motives - because she could not shake the feeling this was all convenient, that Archie had been triggered into going beast mode on the first day by a stowaway who had no business being here, who no one could track down. Lynn could tell a disavowable asset when she saw one, although she'd no familiarity with that term in particular. Lynn knew all too well how that game worked. Lynn figured there was another angle to Archie that she couldn't quite piece together - and more importantly, trying to figure that out helped get her thoughts gathered back together, keeping her tongue in order. If Archie was on the level about growing up, Lynn had another mote of grudging respect for him. Even she'd had a phone - a shitty one, four or five years old, and admittedly not a legally acquired one, but still. She had a lot more to learn about Boat Farmer. Someone is pulling all these strings, Lynn thought to herself. And you'll have to be dumber than Spoons is sad to let yourself get tangled up in them. He's a bad day away from turning into that thing again. And you're one glance in the other direction away from getting your head cut off.

He was thanking her for trying to help him, which Lynn had quite frankly forgotten about in the rush of things. He said he wouldn't hurt her again, and Lynn realized his hand was still on hers. The back of Lynn's mind was full of very annoying thoughts, like wondering how plants could live in such a hot environment, or the last time -

Strings, strings, strings - and, of course, Lynn's favorite way to solve a knot.

"You're right," Lynn said, drawing her hand back and crossing her arms. "You won't." She began to stand up, pulling the IV out. Underweight. Fuck you, I'm underweight, I ate a two ton lizard for lunch last week. She cursed at the trickle of blood that oozed out of the crook of her arm for just a minute before grunting and cauterizing the wound shut. Lynn had to keep her powers as idle as possible to not melt the plastic too quickly, and even then they'd been changing out needles and IV bags constantly on her. None of the medication they tried to put in her seemed to work very well after the first day or two, which she had told them would be the case. Lynn slid on the tennis shoes that the facilities had provided for her, as some kind of courtesy. They were ugly as sin, Lynn thought, and entirely too new. Regardless, she began lacing them up. There's gotta be somewhere to buy shoes on this place. Lynn did have a moment of excitement at the idea of wandering around the Promise - she truly had no idea how there was a river on a space station, but wasn't about to look like an idiot saying that. She'd never been anywhere this big or fancy, and wasn't about to let that on with comments like that. The more these people knew, the more they could use against her. She wouldn't mind trying to sniff out the Metal Head, either. She wondered how isolated this river was. She'd heard you could talk to the ship at any time, which meant that the ship was listening at any time. Maybe the river was less eavesdropped upon. Did Archie have something he wanted to talk about? Or maybe a secluded location to get the drop on her. The flowers would be a good way to get her guard down, Lynn figured. She felt foolish for getting tongue-tied before. Just what he wanted, you idiot. Lynn didn't have any idea what game these people were playing, but that had never once stopped Lynn from trying to win (or, some may say, never once prompted her to try to learn the rules). Lynn's initial cornrows had been completely undone by the events of the last week, and she ran a hand through her hair periodically. It was perhaps three inches in length, and looking choppy and messy. For whatever flaws her wardrobe had and whatever scars were on her person, Lynn's hair was always pretty healthy - an element of her powers sorely wasted upon her.

"A walk literally anywhere but here sounds freaking amazing," Lynn said. "They kept me here mostly to ask questions," Lynn lied. "I reckon I saw the most. Chefs came by, and they were pretty pissed." She frowned, looking at the door. "And I'm not asking for Seabiscuit's permission. Besides, you're some kind of thick if you think any of these doctors are going to tell the two of us no." she chuckled. "They have insurance premiums." Lynn stood up. She was fairly confident she was going to be discharged later that day anyway- and as a matter of fact, they'd given her an hour or two to walk around yesterday, in a fundamentally misguided attempt to pacify her, but she thought it seemed better if she was a rulebreaker. Archie was still an unknown variable. Lynn looked at the wildflowers again. A very confusing unknown variable.

Lynn grabbed the notepad and pen off her table and wrote "RETURN TO MY DORM" and went to put it on her bag. She paused. Archie was over by the door, her body between the notepad and him. and the flowers she added in a smaller script at the bottom. Stupid. "Cool, let's bounce." Lynn led the way out, flicking the lights as she went. "I will literally burn this place to the ground if we stay here any longer."

Natalie Ellis

---

---

Natalie jumped when Amelia popped into existence right next to her, and the book flew out of her hands and onto the floor, closed. Natalie started at the book for a few seconds, before taking a few deep breaths, picking it up and showing the cover to Amelia. It was Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë. She opened it again, flicking through until she found her place, and slid a bookmark onto the page, before putting it down beside her.

"Can you please give me some warning next time before you do that?" Natalie asked slightly irritably, before sighing. She didn't like getting harsh with the only girl who actually spoke to her, but Amelia always found new and interesting ways to annoy Natalie. "And I'm alright. And I had my first therapy session yesterday. It was alright. Having a nullifier around makes it much more relaxing than before I came here, when worrying about hurting people stressed me out and stress made me hurt people. What about you? What have you been up to in the past few days?"

---

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.


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

---

After the fiasco on the first day, Keaton found the rest of the week pretty tame. In many ways, she picked up right where she left off in university, and though classes were much smaller on the ship, all the college-level basics were available either in-person or via the ship’s seemingly all-knowing AI, Cara, who took online classes to a whole new level. If anything, Keaton was learning more on the ship than she had on Earth, and she wasn’t sure what to feel about that. On one hand, it was great to be taught by an AI program that tailored the class for her; on the other, it was a tally for the running count of reasons why she’d been correct in agreeing to come to The Promise, and she wasn’t so certain that was a good thing.

That aside, the fiasco had left a pretty big mental mark, especially considering that someone had vomited on Keaton’s favorite jacket and then proceeded to turn into some huge lizard hybrid and trash the place before someone else turned into a human fireball and crisped him. Though she’d been tempted to toss it out, it remained a fond piece of home, and she’d been able to get the stains out after some wrangling with the washing machine and the detergents available to her. Wearing it, though, was another matter entirely, and currently it was hanging at the far side of her closet, in limbo until she was able to decide its fate.

Jacket aside, there was the matter of the people Keaton had met the previous week. Well, ‘met’ was a strong word, but the past week had been freshman year all over again, with people introducing themselves at the drop of the hat, hoping to form some type of connection with just about everyone they could. She was on friendly terms with a few of her classmates, but just like in college, it was hard meeting people outside of her day-to-day routine, so when she spotted the boy who’d been turned into a giant lizard last week passing by, she paused to turn and stare. He was carrying flowers—visiting someone, a girl, who he was courting? Uncertain. But, given that the other few people Keaton had seen with him last week were girls, perhaps it was one of them.

At this point, the boy turned into the hospital, and the dots connected. There were only so many people sent to the hospital that day, after all, and while the number the boy could be visiting with flowers was around three, only one of them had blown up the cafeteria. Now, she might have been jumping to conclusions when assuming that he was seeing the girl who’d called Keaton ‘Denim,’ but just because she didn’t get confirmation for that didn’t mean it wasn’t true. That the girl was still in the hospital, though, was a little alarming. One week—her injuries had been somewhat serious, then, at least compared to the others in the cafeteria. It made sense, though, considering that she’d literally exploded into flames. Whatever details Keaton hadn't been privy to firsthand were provided to her throughout the past week as the subject of the explosion in the cafeteria was used and reused as a conversation starter, and at this point she figured she had a pretty complete picture of her class' memorable first day.

Despite the fact that she might very well be interrupting some sort of romantic reunion, Keaton elected to follow the boy into the hospital. She’d introduce herself, see if the girl was doing alright, and go from there. Fake it until she made it and all that. Sure the boy had a tendency to transform into a huge lizard man he couldn’t control and the girl appeared to be some sort of living flamethrower, but Keaton was beginning to accept that people with such powers were her version of normal now. The girl, at least, seemed like a good person, and good people were the sort of people Keaton wanted to get to know.

The inside of the hospital was relatively quiet with the bustle limited to the side of the hallway which saw new arrivals. Unfortunately, her delay in following after the boy had caused her to lose sight of him, and after glancing down the empty hallways, she idled in the reception, not sure whether to leave or just head down a random hall.

“Can I help you?” the receptionist asked from her desk.

“No, um,” Keaton said, glancing down the hallways again as she looked for an excuse. Instead, she was surprised to see the boy emerging from a nearby door with a girl in a hospital dressing gown—the fire girl. Their wary glances down the hall and general cautiousness, however, said that they were up to something. Sneaking out. Keaton could help there.

“Actually, yes. I’m meeting a friend here, Amy? She was visiting someone else but I’m blanking out on his name,” she said, pursing her lips as she crossed her arms on the counter.

“Well, can you get in touch with your friend? Or do you know what her friend is in for?”

“A fractured arm I think? Or was it a foot?” Keaton frowned, then shook her head. “Some bone. He got checked in recently?”

“I don’t think we had anyone come in with a broken arm or leg anytime soon but let’s see,” the receptionist said, pulling out a clipboard and looking it over. “No, no broken bones as of five hours ago.”

A glance down the hallway showed that it was now empty, and Keaton fished out her phone.

“Hold on, let me text Amy,” she said, pretending to check it. “Oh, wait... she left already. Damn it.” Keaton flashed the receptionist an apologetic smile. “Sorry about all that, but thanks anyway!”

Just as she turned to leave, though, a crashing sound from down the hall drew her attention, and she watched in surprise as the red-helmeted figure from her first day skated past, waving at her. After taking another few moments to stare at the door he'd left through, Keaton glanced back and, seeing the receptionist on the phone, fled for the exit.

Outside, Keaton found a street that was no longer calm. Freaky-D was what the man had been called, or so she'd been told. Though she'd personally never heard of the name, it seemed he and his exploits were somewhat of a thing online, and Keaton's classmates had readily filled her in on all the pertinent details. His getaways were apparently as much of his brand as his outfit, and she wasn't surprised to find that he was nowhere in sight. This all, she supposed, was another part of her new 'normal.'

Archie

---

"You're right, you won't."

Archie smiled at this. Lynn believed in him, too. His apology was successful.

He followed her out of her room, content to let her lead the way out of the hospital. They were nearing the exit when he excused himself to the little boy's room. That had been interesting. More interesting than squeezing the lemon had any right to be. He turned the little ball in his hands a few times- inspecting it's surface, then pocketed the item. He was still unsure of what to make of that.

Normally when he was anxious or the threat of danger was nearby, and sometimes just for the hell of it his chest would heat up. He had come to recognize it as a warning sign. The hotter and more painful his chest became, the closer he was to an unfortunate accident. He placed his hand on his chest, trying to calm his racing heartbeat, and was surprised that he didn't feel the normal heartburn that was so often associated with the feeling of danger. It had become commonplace, and honestly? It was somewhat comforting to know that if he really, really needed it he had the nuclear option. Since the cafeteria his chest had been still. It had not hurt or burned- it was just... normal.

Archie had mixed feelings on this. He shook his head and left the bathroom and continue after Lynn. She didn't need to worry- he was fine and that's what had mattered. If she had seen Freaky D, she had hopefully not seen him come out of the bathroom. That would take some explaining and he was suddenly very tired from the whole ordeal. It was beginning to get darker now- or at least dark enough for some of the light posts to come on. It was only 7:30ish but when one is surrounded by the dark void of space, the light of the lamp posts was welcome. Archie and Lynn walked in an easy silence, Archie for once in his life was content to shut up and enjoy the moment. He had stuffed his hands in his pockets and simply kept pace with the smaller girl. This had all gone over easier than he thought it would. Hopefully Natalie would go well enough, too. He cast a sideways glance at Lynn and the edges of his lips curled upwards at their situation. She had just walked out of the hospital, and in most cases the person in his position would be the one making sure she didn't get hurt. But of course that wasn't the case here. No, he was quite sure that of the two of them he was the damsel in distress. At least, in his current state. She had more than proven capable of handling herself and if her attitude was anything to go by she would do it with gusto.

As they walked, Archie elected to try and start up conversation.

"So..." he began, kicking a rock off of the sidewalk. "What was your home like? Before this?"

---

@He Who Walks Behind

Lynn

Lynn had glanced a familiar-looking girl at the front desk of the hospital, asking about an Amy. Lynn couldn't put a finger on where she knew her from, which irritated her, but she observed her for a minute. Definitely not from before. The event? Lynn only remembered really Natalie, the punk one, and Archie from When Shit Went Down. Hmm. Lynn would figure it out at some point. She looked a bit older than Lynn - maybe 20? - and had some rough-looking fingernails. But not coke nails, Lynn noted. Hm. She'd deal with that later.

Archie came out of the bathroom quiet and a bit off, but Lynn figured he'd just taken a particularly traumatic dump or something. She made a brief stop to get a cup of coffee. Lynn's power had many side effects that were not immediately obvious at first glance, some positive, some negative. She'd been a constant pain in the ass for most of her foster families as a result of the absurd air conditioning bills they'd had in the summer (although her presence was more welcome in the winter). More to the point, the pots that Lynn watched always boiled, and her coffee was no exception. It stayed at a perfectly toasty just-brewed temperature cupped in her hand, which Lynn was not complaining about. Lynn was by no means a coffee connoisseur - Lynn thought that being able to get coffee the same place you could get gas station hot dogs was like the sickest fucking business plan of all time - but she enjoyed it, and they hadn't let her have any in the hospital. She'd also grabbed a pastry she couldn't pronounce, relieved to be free from the bland fare of the hospital. She munched somewhat noisily, taking in all of the Promise. Archie seemed pretty nonplussed by it, which tracked given that he'd have more time to wander around. These lab coats kept Godzilla under lockdown less than they did me, Lynn realized, suddenly pretty pissed about that. She balled up her paper wrapping and let it casually start smoking in her hand, not seeing a trash can anywhere nearby. Lynn's hair changed color slowly and subtly, shifting from yellow to a red that was almost strawberry blonde - just more vivid - over the course of a few minutes. It was darker and pretty, which didn't bother Lynn. She was a mostly nocturnal creature. Vaguely, she figured she might need to get a job at some point to try and make a bit more money, but that was a concern for later.

Archie stayed mostly quiet, which Lynn appreciated. Some people just wouldn't stop talking. She wiped the powdered sugar off her face and drank another sip of coffee. He really was a big clumsy thing. Lynn could tell he'd not had a particularly rough upbringing. Lynn figured from his build - he looked plenty strong, even out of lizard form - and the scars and whatnot - that he'd been working, and if he was indeed a Boat Farmer, that tracked. But Lynn didn't think he'd gotten his ass beat regularly or grown up in the hood. He walked kinda hunched over and lost in his own thoughts, which was a good way to get kindly asked for your wallet and other belongings in certain neighborhoods. Then again, they had Big Brother always watching here. This wasn't a tremendous paradigm shift for Lynn - the cops had always been the bigger danger in her life, she had felt. For a minute, Lynn remembered the scratchy feeling of the juvy clothes, and there was a brief minute when her coffee practically smoked with heat before she calmed back down. Those fuckin' traitors. If I ever get back planetside I am going to roast each and every one of them. Lynn drank her coffee again, focusing on the pretty trees or whatever. She didn't want a rep as someone who couldn't keep her cool.

"Home?" Lynn frowned. That was a hell of an opener question. "I dunno, man, kinda all over." Archie had asked something similar back at lunch, she remembered. She couldn't recall exactly what the question was, but it was something like that. Was he fishing for information? Lynn hadn't taken a walk out to the river alone at night much as a threat, but the possibility was definitely there. Maybe he doesn't like competition at the top, Lynn thought. She wished she'd gotten another pastry. Lynn glanced around quickly, looking for anything useful in a fight as her heart rate picked up just a bit. Nothing but water. And her coffee. She had about a third left, and stopped sipping on it.

Wait, there was something. There was a bench nearby, with Spoons and the punk one. "It's a reunion," Lynn said. "Let's see who she's wearing today." Lynn walked over towards the bench, where Spoons was reading some absolute mind-numbing, Nyquil looking book. That didn't raelly surprise her. Lynn hadn't seen - Amy? - that was the name the other girl was asking for in the hospital. No, no, Amethyst. No, wait, that's a rock. Shit. Lynn had taken her jacket, which she appeared to have recovered. That was pretty fortunate. Lynn wasn't planning on buying anyone any replacements.

"What's up, Spoons?" Lynn asked, looking down at her book. Spoons looked mildly irritated from Punk Girl's presence, which made Lynn grin a little bit. A more astute listener might have picked up on something as well - Lynn's comments the week before had been snide, her tone sharp and acidic. There was respect to Lynn's voice now. She wasn't sure if Spoons had fought the lizardling out of utter panic or some kind of Vietnam vet breakdown rage, or if she'd actually rolled up her sleeves and stood her ground, but Lynn figured any of the three merited some respect. Lynn could dig her leave me alone vibe a little better now. "Hope there was something good to eat in that freezer." Lynn looked Natalie over. No burns, I can see. She glanced up at Amelia and gave her a nod. "'Sup." She didn't really know what to say. She figured Archie would come over and ask a really soul-searching question, or maybe he'd want to apologize to Spoons or something.

Lynn started to take another sip of her coffee and something hit her - how come Archie didn't have any flowers for Spoons? That didn't make any sense. That didn't make any sense at all. Lynn lowered her cup and swirled it in her hand idly. Lynn was one of those people who always had to be moving. What's his angle here? Lynn wasn't really looking to stand around and discuss literature for the next half hour, as Lynn could not remember the last time she read a book, but she didn't want to brush these two off. Well, the jury was still out on Amelia. Lynn wanted to find out what this girl's deal was, which necessitated hanging around her a little bit. None of these people were entirely in the clear in Lynn's book, although Spoons was doing some good work. You'd think for somebody who can bench press a mountain she'd have filled out a little better. Lynn chewed on her lip. I'm probably not one to talk, there.

---

Amelia grinned a bit, initially starting to lean back, but catching herself when she remembered she was sitting on the edge of the bench and there was nothing to lean back on. She pivoted down onto the actual seat of the bench, leaning back comfortably. "Sorry about that. I'm used to having to hide my ability. Now that I'm free to use it I'm just....doing it to get everywhere, you know?" She glanced over, and smiled as she saw the book. "Ah. Jane Eyre. Good choice. I think that and 1984 were the only high school literature books I actually enjoyed. Honestly, I thought I was gonna hate it at first, but it surprised me."

Amelia pulled out a little sketch book from her bag. She flipped through it, each page filled with sketches of rebellious imagery, things that would clearly be more expected on a vandalized billboard or an alley wall. Reaching a blank page, she began to sketch something new into the book, stopping every now and then with her pencil in her mouth as she thought. "Oh, you know. Keeping a low profile. Scoping the place out. I was gonna check out where some good tag spots are, but apparently somebody is already grabbing them up." She sighed. "And me without my supplies."

Amelia liked hanging out with Natalie. By nature of Natalie's whole....reputation, it practically guaranteed a quiet spot without other people cluttering the space. And while Natalie might try to bury it, apparent because she didn't want to decapitate someone with a hand, Amelia could just smell a quiet wit in there somewhere. Hopefully her own poking and prodding would eventually draw it out.

And then here came the peanut gallery. Lynn and Archie coming down from wherever they were. She gave them a friendly, if mischievous smirk as they walked over. "Well well well. If it isn't the walking molotov cocktail and actual Godzilla." She gave a wave. "I see you two aren't dead. Good start!"

---

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.

Natalie Ellis

---

---

"I kind of know what you mean," Natalie answered. "Most of the people here have abilities of some kind so the mere fact you have one doesn't make you an outcast. And thanks. This was actually the book we were going to be reading in junior year, but I...uh...well, didn't make it to junior year, let's say." A tense, melancholy silence settled as Amelia started sketching something. Natalie though about talking more about the book but decided against it. Her therapist had told her to open up more if at all possible, and talking about a book felt...boring, honestly.

Luckily, Amelia started talking again. Natalie opted to ignore Freaky D for the moment. She did not have a good opinion of him. The cafeteria incident, she viewed as entirely his fault, both for kick Archie and being the reason there were no security present. He was pretending to be cool and rebellious when he was actually being reckless and dangerous, and didn't seem to be showing any remorse. Part of her hoped his recklessness would get him into serious trouble so he could realize the error of his ways.

"You like to tag?" Asked Natalie, before looking over at the sketchbook. It wasn't drawings of what was in from of her, or the kind of artistic sketches you'd expect to find. Everything in this book looked like a graffiti design. Natalie had no problem with graffiti usually, but The Promise was so futuristic and pretty in its aesthetic. Why would anyone want to mess with that? Why would they want this space station to look like downtown?

At that point, Natalie saw that both Lynn and Archie were approaching. Natalie actually looked pleased to see them. Sure, none of them had talked much that day but at least they had talked. And they'd done more than that. There was now some kind of palpable bond between Natalie and Lynn. They had fought side by side in a sense. Natalie might be reading too much into it, but Lynn certainly sounded friendlier than Natalie remembered.

"Noth much, Lynn," Natalie answered. "I was just enjoying the evening by the river, reading. Amelia just got here too." She glanced at Archie but had absolutely no idea what to say to him. What would she want someone else to say if she were in his shoes? Well, truthfully, she wouldn't want them to say anything until she went first. So, Natalie waited.

Archie

---

"I dunno, man, kinda all over."

Archie hummed, it's vague, sure. But it had reminded of her here and there comment. Archie decided not to push further. She didn't want to talk and he wasn't going to make her. The continued on, the comfortable silence returning- Archie being content to enjoy his walk. His curfew would call him back to his quarters in a few hours now. His little room was not very homey and he always found himself having little to do.

They had been walking for ten or fifteen minutes when Natalie and Amelia came into sight. Archie felt something in his chest at being surrounded by people whom he had attacked. It wasn't the heat that warned of an accident- rather it was normal anxiety. Both were fairly unwelcome feelings. Lynn walked ahead of him to greet the two women and Archie was reminded of how quiet class had been over the past several days. Well, quiet wasn't quite the right word. Lonely was better. People gave him a wide berth and there were always nervous undertones to the people that spoke to him. At least, the new ones. The people who had been here for years had been nice and even understanding. They spoke about how it usually happened to everyone at some point. Some were worse than others of course and while his incident had been on the worse side it was far from the worst story to ever come from the school in the stars.

Natalie was looking at him expectantly now that he had caught up. He feels guilty now, since he didn't have flowers on him to give her. He had been able to plan for Lynn's apology and not for Natalie's, and while she had no way of knowing this he felt like that somehow made it less earnest. They had both played equal roles in stopping him from really hurting people. He owed them equal in that sense.

"Hey," He began. Archie looked between Natalie, Amelia, and Lynn and remembered the he owned Amelia an apology for ruining her jacket. Just one more thing on the to-do list, he supposed. He would get to her after he spoke with Lynn. Archie sighed, and squared his shoulders. Real men take responsibility for their actions.

"Can I talk to you for a second?" he asked Natalie, who nodded wordlessly. He gulped and led her off to the side, only a few feet away from the other two but enough distance away that they'd have some small degree of privacy. Natalie waited- so Archie took that as his cue to start. "I wanted to say thank you, and I'm sorry." he said, somewhat more articulate this time than he was before when he was talking to Lynn. Practice makes perfect, after all. "I have ah..." He trailed off, trying to find the words. "A condition. It had been a while since I had an accident and being hurt like that had set me off." he explained further. He was rambling now, and he didn't want to waste her time. It crossed his mind that he should probably follow the woman's advice again- perhaps his meaning get across better. He reached forward slowly and took her hands in his own. "I'm sorry for hurting you. Thank you for stopping me from hurting anyone else."

---

@He Who Walks Behind@Silver Carrot@levinfist

Natalie Ellis

---

---

'Here we go,' thought Natalie. She knew firsthand how awkward this must be for Archie but had never realized before how awkward it was for the other side too. She got up and followed Archie to a spot just a few feet away, where they would be able to hold their own separate conversation. It was exactly what she was expecting. In fact, Natalie had given very similar apologies more times than she could count. She was ready with the reassurances she'd want to hear, but what Archie did next threw her off. He took her hands. Whatever was prepared in her head? That was gone now. She'd have to start from scratch. She looked from Archie's hands up at his face.

"Uhh...It's no problem. I know exactly what it's like. In fact, I'm far, far easier to set off than you. I just did what I'd always wanted somebody to do for me when I got emotional. You weren't there for it but I screamed at some guys and grabbed one by the shirt the second day, so now I'm kind of an outcast too. I think we should look out for each other from now on. Help each other stay under control and stuff."

---

Locating the girl and boy took a minute with the people milling about after Freaky-D’s appearance. That the girl seemed to have completely changed her appearance didn’t help since Keaton had been looking for a blonde in a hospital gown, not a redhead in a hoodie. What gave the two away, then, was how short and skinny she was compared to the boy, who rather towered over her petite frame. They made an odd pair, and Keaton’s lack of answers at this point was referring her to ‘no’ rather than ‘yes’ in the relationship department.

Currently, the two were approaching a bench, and Keaton placed the pair at the bench as the other two girls she’d seen with them on the first day. A reunion for a group of friends, then. The fire girl’s hospital stay would have kept them separated if no one had visited her, and considering the flowers from the boy who’d technically put her there, Keaton figured this was the first time the crew had gotten together in a week. Approaching them would be interrupting that, but she’d already made it this far, so now she just had to choose an opener.

The mere act of thinking she needed to choose an opener was rather unfortunate considering she’d been raised in a “can-do” town to have a “will-do” personality. Everything about her upbringing suggested that she should have mastered the art of butting in and making scenes by now, but she hadn’t, and it was at these moments Keaton wished she was one of the many brainless extroverts she’d met, inconsiderate but somehow doing fine anyway. With this thought, though, came the one that so often accompanied it: She should just go for it, because what’s the worst that could happen? So, over she walked, half braced for impact and half regretting her decision already. The flowers weren’t there, so they’d be a lame lead-in. As was her jacket—that was a non-issue. She’d assume the boy’s reptile form was a taboo too unless otherwise said, so leading with something she did seemed appropriate.

The boy was leading another girl—the one with superstrength—away from the group, adding another tally to “no” and tipping it into confirmation territory for Keaton. So, no relationship despite the flowers—but first things first.

“Hey, you get out the hospital okay?” she asked, walking over to the shorter girl at the bench. “Denim, from the first day,” she supplied, indicating herself in another denim jacket. There were certain things she owned too many of. “But Keaton to most, fancy seeing you again.”

With a polite smile and bright eyes, she felt, for the nth time that week, like she was living freshman year all over again.

Lynn

Spoons and the Breakfast Club were talking about high school books. I have to spend eight years in this place. Good Lord. At least Archie will probably manage to tear my head off by year three, max. Amelia looked up at her and said -

Just throw it.
I don't know.
Do it. You have to do it. Don't you care about me?
Y-yes, but - but this is -
C'mon. Be tough. Be tough or -

"Human molotov cocktail," Lynn said back somewhat neutrally. Her coffee cup steamed up a bit. "That one's new," she muttered. Molotov cocktails were something she could do. She could do those really well. Lynn shook herself. Fuckin' daydreaming. They'll spot you're not focused from a mile away, and start talking about what you were in that hospital for. Man up and get a handle on yourself. Spoons is watching. So is Archie, even if he's too dumb to admit it to himself. The lizard part of him certainly was. That's everyone on this tin can, Lynn told herself. All of them are that hungry somewhere deep down. They just don't all flip it on and off as easy as Archie does. But they'll eat the meat off your bones the minute they run out of food.

Lynn smiled. Anyone who tried to eat her was going to burn the hell out of their tongue and be left hungry at the end. Natalie and Archie took off away from earshot, which made Lynn start for a moment. What were they talking about? Lynn figured just an apology, but he didn't have flowers for her, which she couldn't suss out. They glanced back in their direction and Lynn couldnt figure out if it was at her or just the nervous askance eyes of people who aren't committed to what they're doing. They're talking about you, Lynn thought. He reached out and grabbed Natalie's hands. Her eyes narrowed. She'd known it. This one was playing games. He might play dumb, but this was textbook fucking around. Did he think a handful of roses and an extended hand would get her guard down? Maybe Natalie would be dumb enough to fall for something like that, but not Lynn. She turned back to Amelia, her suspicions validated. That was equally problematic. If Amelia brought up more books or something she was going to throw herself in that river. Lynn could not recall an assigned school book she had ever read. The list of non-assigned books was not much longer, either.

Fortunately, a third party approached Lynn and Amelia. Lynn eyed her. One of Lynn's traits which some would call useful, and others would call highly concerning, was a kind of hypervigilance. Lynn had learned fairly early on in her rather dangerous life choices that not keeping an eye out, or having a knack for faces, was a good way to wind up in trouble with one side of the law or the other. Girl from the hospital, Lynn's gut confirmed. Did she track us? This didn't bother Lynn a terrible amount. A drawback of Lynn's abilities was that she was never terribly difficult to track down - she did not have a gift for subtlety, and anyone with a nose for smoke could track her relatively easily depending on the wind. This to say nothing of thermal vision. So which one is it? Lynn wondered, looking her over. Not much makeup. Not much taller than Lynn, but she filled it out a lot better. Whatever. Lots of denim. Well that was certainly familiar, but -

Keaton confirmed it. Lynn chastised herself for not remembering, although she supposed it had been a particularly busy day. Or even week. Lynn was interested in why Keaton had tracked her out here. And asking about the hospital as well - everyone wants a fucking piece of me. "Hospital survived me," Lynn said, eyeing Keaton for a moment. "I'm Lynn." Lynn looked over her jacket. She'd asked for it, hadn't she - but this one was different, wasn't it? "I'm guessing your other jacket got fucked up something bad, huh?" Lynn took a sip of the coffee, pulling up the sleeves of her hoodie as she brought the cup back down. Lynn didn't bother trying to make introductions for Amelia. She figured Amelia would start talking when she was ready, and besides, Lynn wasn't anybody's mom. She cast a sideways glance at Spoons and Boat Farmer off to the side. Alright, then. Lynn turned back to Keaton, racking her brains. She had been focused on more immediate, scaly issues when she and Keaton had crossed paths previously. "What brings you out here?" Lynn asked. She figured that was pretty straight up. Lynn was tired of this double-talk, skulking around, subtext-ridden bullcrap.

And she'd been walking around outside for twenty minutes.

---

Amelia took Natalie getting up to talk with Archie as an excuse to steal her spot, and she smirked as she vaulted down onto the bench, finally taking the time to lean back and stick up her feet. She gave a grin up at Lynn at her reaction to her own bestowed nickname of human molotov cocktail. "Really? It kind of fits, you know. That was badass what you pulled back in the cafeteria." She frowned. "That name's a bit long though. You should just try molotov. Rolls of the tongue better."

She closed her eyes a bit and relaxed, carrying on the conversation a bit. "I'm guessing Jane Eyre isn't your style then. Don't suppose you've tagged before, have you? Been looking for some good spots to fire a response off at the guy stealing all the best places, and I was...." She stopped and frowned at Lynn staring away from her, and leaned over to get a look behind her back. And there was Archie and Natalia. And Archie was... holding Natalia's hand apparently. Amelia started putting two and two together as Lynn turned back to her, frowning sympathetically. "You alright? Godzilla over there isn't two timing you, is he? Man, you'd think after-"

Amelia abruptly shut up as the newcomer arrived, not wanting to spread gossip of that nature so readily. She seemed all right. She hadn't been amongst the degenerates originally, but the fact that she was daring to talk to Lynn of all people was a good sign. She gave a two fingered wave and leaned back a bit with a grin. "Sup. Name's Amelia." She gave a whistle at Lynn's comment that the hospital had survived her, grinning with amusement. "Oh really now? I thought you mentioned you'd be the last person to wind up getting caught causing trouble."