[IC] Omega Station / Boop!

[JBRam2002]

Ryobi entered the prison showers, a long room with a dozen or more individual showers along the right-hand wall and benches along the left. As he approached Pryce with the First Aid Kit in tow, he pointed to the bench near where she stood. "As the only person trained as a field medic, I believe I currently outrank you right now. Sit." Ryobi smirked at his superior. Although it was true that he had trained as a field medic during his days in the military police, he was by no means an expert in medicine, or first aid for that matter. "I need to patch up that cut of yours before you get an infection."

As Pryce complied, Ryobi gingerly cleaned the cut while explaining what had happened to him so far. "The worst part of it all," he continued as he began to wrap the bandage around the cut, "is that there is no way this happened without someone on the inside being a part of it. Someone at or above my level, I'd think. Everything just worked out too perfectly for this to be a coincidence or a plan that we couldn't intercept sooner. That's why I didn't want Kitt to call the medbots: I'm not sure if the Captain could be a part of this. Or the doc, or anyone else that's with Burch. Heck, I don't know if you could be a part of this, but obviously, I trust you more than anyone else on this floating tube."

With the bandage applied to his satisfaction, Ryobi stepped back, allowing the warden to stand again. "That should stave off infection for a bit, but we'll need to get to Medbay eventually. The question is whether we try to get more information before seeing Burch, or if we just take our lumps and head in. Now that I've got a gun, I can at least defend myself if someone tries to jump me, so I'd be more willing to head to the Cap now. He might have some plans for rounding up the inmates or protecting the civs. If we go somewhere else, we might want to check in with the Captain anyways. The only person I've seen besides you so far is Kitt, and she isn't quite as good at fighting as you are."

During this entire monologue, Ryobi's face was stoic, although his hands were gentle with Jan's wound. At the end, he looked back towards the Warden. "I'm damn glad we didn't lose you too, Jan," he muttered quietly. He normally didn't show her any sort of affection -- their relationship was of a different sort -- but with what had just happened... "I know you'll be okay, but... seeing as we ain't got a therapist handy, if you want to talk, I'm all ears."

[corneredbliss]

Janetta, surprised at the command and still a bit on edge from the earlier episode, opened her mouth to retort but stopped herself at the sight of his smirk. Everything's fine. Keep your shit together, Pryce. It's just Ryobi.

The warden closed her eyes for a second of relief at that last statement, and laughed softly at herself. She trusted this guy. Hell, she probably trusted him more than her own damn self right now. But she would rather bite off her own fingers than admit that Ginhearst had gotten her a lot more shaken than she cared to admit, and so complied by sinking down onto the bench without protest. Tilting her head back so that Ryobi could see the wound, she allowed a few hisses and flinches to betray her while he cleaned it. In all honesty, she had been so focused on recollecting herself under the comforting spray of water that she'd temporarily forgotten all about it. Once again, Ito had her ass covered, and Janetta's gratitude came in the form of listening to him without interruption; especially when he got to admitting his theory on this whole situation.

Her brows had furrowed as her gaze floated up to the man, who was now dressing the wound. She scoffed as if to say "obviously" when he mentioned the bit about trusting her. Did he really think someone on their team could be behind this shit show? Impossible. Well, not impossible - but definitely improbable. Why? Janetta supposed that was the million dollar question.

When Ryobi had finished with the bandages, Jan stood up from the bench, sweeping up the pistol beside her as she went. She checked the mag to see how many bullets were left, and satisfied with finding it full, she clicked it back into place just as Ito was finishing up. The warden tucked the barrel of the pistol behind her into the waistband of her jeans, and made to respond with her thoughts just as Ito spoke again: "I'm damn glad we didn't lose you too, Jan."

The tone of his voice was something almost foreign to her. They were never really sentimental with each other; it just wasn't their thing, and that worked perfectly well for them. In her denial of her current state, it almost offended her that he would bring it back up like this, after she had just worked so hard to get it under wraps before he caught up with her. "I'm fine," she snapped, her expression akin to a glare as she looked back at him. "I'm fine. I'm just-" She stopped herself, averted her eyes from his face and forced herself to take a breath.

After a moment, she shrugged her shoulders, and again, the vulnerability he witnessed in her office crept back into her figure. "It's done. Keep moving." It almost seemed as if she were just talking to herself, but she met his gaze again, and shifted her weight forward as if she were going to move towards him but changed her mind. "I'll be fine," she said decisively, though her voice was soft. Then she added, "I'm glad we didn't lose you either, Ryobi."

[JBRam2002]

"I really wish you would come home sooner."

Sayako stood in the doorway to their home in a short black dress with a plunging V-neck, blocking Ryobi's entrance as he removed the keys from the cart he drove to work. Her voice was steady and quiet, but her folded arms belied more than simple annoyance. Ryobi sighed quietly as he stepped out of the small vehicle.

"I don't control my hours; the warden does. You know this." They had gone through this conversation so many times previously that their neighbors could probably quote it verbatim. He stepped towards the door from the tiny parking space alotted and reached for Sayako to give her a kiss, but she turned her head away.

"Sure, she does," Sayako murmured. "You missed Benji's game again." On the station, there were very few sports that could be played, but the Captain had set aside an area to work as a soccer field for the children on the station. Sure, gravity worked a little differently in space, but the exercise was good for them. Every couple of weeks, the teams would hold a few scrimmages and reshuffle the players, helping the children learn teamwork instead of team identity. It was a brilliant system; Sayako was one of the parents who helped create it.

"Ah, shit. I forgot... I'll make it to the next one, I promise." Ryobi tried to push past Sayako, but she didn't budge. "You gonna let me in?"

"You said that about the last game. And the one before that. And you seem to have forgotten one more thing, Ryobi."

He glanced past her, seeing the candle flickering on a table, a half-eaten meal getting cold, the bottle of 2037 Chardonnay half empty. The realization hit him like a sack of bricks.

"Benji is at Sam's tonight. And you're going to Lucian's. If you have a problem with that, talk to the warden." Sayako stepped back into the room they inhabited and closed the door in Ryobi's face, turning the deadbolt. "Get moving, Ryobi," she called through the door as he stood dumbfounded.

~ = + = ~

Ryobi expected little different from Pryce. His only response was a nod before turning to exit the showers. The pair rejoined Kitt outside the office, and Ryobi collected the backpack and other items before handing a bottle of pepper spray to the warden. "If they aren't an inmate and they try to hurt us, we should use the spray if we can, "Ryobi stated, despite the fact that they both knew already. "Heck, probably should do that with inmates too. Gunshots will alert half the station to our position."

He picked up the radio and handed it to Jan. "Want to do the honors?" he asked. "Remember what I said. We shouldn't give away more info than we get."

[corneredbliss]

Janetta, back to normal if not just a tad quieter than usual, followed Ryobi out of the showers and back to her office, where Kitt was waiting for them. Her backpack was in her hands, and the warden raised an eyebrow at it before assuming that Ito had gotten what he could've from her office and thrown it in there. Again, she was glad that at least one of them was being thorough.

"Are you alright, Warden Pryce?" Kitt asked, watching her intently as Ryobi took the backpack from her.

"I'm fine, Kitt, thank you. Sorry about the show. I hope you'll forgive me for my indecency." The robot promptly shook her head in reply. "Nothing to apologize for, Warden. I am just happy that you are safe now."

Feeling something pushed into her hands, Jan looked down to see that she had been handed her own pepper spray. She nodded at his statement, tucking the small canister into the front right pocket of her jeans. There was a part of her that felt like responding with: Fine, let those fuckers find us. We'll give them hell. But she merely cleared her throat and said, "Right."

Finally, he transferred the radio to her. It was a small, light blue, circular device with a touch screen that came to life as Janetta wrapped her hand around it. She gave him a final, quick nod as she pressed the icon on the screen that read Captain Burchill. The screen went yellow for a few seconds, before going black. "That's... weird," she muttered as she hung up the call. Ryobi would know that the Captain's face should have been staring back at them after the few seconds of yellow, and the fact that it went black meant there was no answer. Janetta tried again, pulling up the yellow screen before it again faded to black.

Her gaze moved to Ryobi for his reaction, a furrowed brow and a quick lick of her lips showing her own apprehension. "No answer." She turned back towards their robot companion. "Kitt, no one's contacted you from the Captain's office, have they?" The receptionist shook her head no, and Jan sucked at her teeth for a moment of thought. "What are you thinking?" Her attention returned to her officer. "I think we should go check this out. Whatever we find in there... We need to know what's going on with the Captain."

[JBRam2002]

As Jan fiddled with the Comms, Ryobi pulled on the backpack, ensuring everything was in its proper place. The lack of a response was disconcerting. "My phone isn't working either, but I thought the radios were on a different system. He's just not answering?" Ryobi inquired before wracking his brain. "I was hoping to gather more intel before approaching the Captain, but you're right. We have little choice, especially if he's in danger."

Ryobi checked his weapon, making sure it was loaded before tucking it into his belt. "Best case scenario, Cap is just busy and he'll call back. Worst... let's not think about worst. Either way, I ain't letting those assholes get away with this, if it's the last thing I do." His face darkened, an expression unlike any Jan was used to seeing from the usually easy-going Ryobi. In all honesty, this was a new sensation for him as well: pure, unadulterated loathing bordering on bloodlust.

"Coming, Pryce?" Ryobi asked, his expression remaining. "This is gonna be something you don't wanna miss."

[corneredbliss]

"He's just not answering?" Janetta shook her head no, turning the device off and slipping it into her left back pocket. It wasn't a service problem. The call went through; there was simply no answer. This was definitely a red flag - Burchill never ignored a call, especially from what was technically his second-in-command when it came to the Prison Bay. And in a time like this, where he should be expecting contact at any moment, he would normally be responsive. It was just in his character to be on top of all responsibilities, and for him not to be spoke volumes as to the possible state of his being.

Suddenly, the tone in her officer's voice changed. Jan brought her attention to his face to see that it had darkened, almost as if it weren't really Ryobi anymore. It was strange, seeing her inner thoughts reflected there, as if he had been reading her mind. She had been so certain that she needed to keep composure to assure him that she was alright about all of this, but it was as if his enthusiasm about justice (as per what they probably both told themselves to conceal their true motivations) was giving her permission to express what she was in denial about. It probably wasn't the proper way to go about all of this, but Janetta embraced it anyway.

"Hell yeah, I'm coming. Let's get those fuckers."

The two of them took off in the direction towards Central, the spine of the station that held the Captain's Office. Kitt, having picked up on the change in their demeanors, followed along behind them with concern. If the Captain wasn't answering his comms device, it definitely wasn't a good sign. As she followed behind them, she tried her own radio system, but as it was on the same network as Ryobi's, it didn't work. Dutifully, she kept her scanners on, making sure to keep the two of her companions in sight as they moved.

The trio, careful to navigate their way towards the elevators, made their way there safely and without interruption. The two officers - very hyperaware and cautious - made sure to cover the camera system with a layer of the pepper spray, blurring their images in case anyone was actually watching the feeds. It was highly unlikely, but they couldn't be too sure. Two flights up, the doors of the elevator opened, and the party froze.

They couldn't see what was causing it, but it was immediately brought to their attention that the entire floor was silent but for a singular noise coming from around the corner. It was a repeated sound; a mechanical whir and then a thudding. It sounded like metal on metal, but they couldn't really be sure.

Kitt, already aware of what they needed of her, moved her attention beyond the corner, where the Captain's office was located. "Captain Burchill and Officer Benton are inside," she spoke lowly, and with a frowning intonation, "They're both on the floor, at the far end of the room. They don't appear to be moving, and their vitals are... They're dead. The Captain and Officer Benton appear to be dead." Now nervous, Kitt blinked and glanced at the two officers beside her. She hoped to whatever that her readings were wrong - maybe it was the distance that was screwing with her scanners?

Janetta had already reached behind her and slipped her pistol from its hiding place, holding it at the ready. She was watching Ryobi intensely, the noise from beyond the corner constant in her ears. "You ready?"

[JBRam2002]

The journey to the captain's office was mostly quiet, the two humans silently determined and Kitt not adding much to the conversation. The pair worked together mostly silently and seamlessly, almost knowing what the other needed before asking. Once they arrived, Ryobi already had his pistol drawn, ready for another grisly scene like what he had experienced before. At Kitt's scan, Ryobi sighed. "I won't say I made the wrong choice, cause otherwise I might have found you dead instead, but dammit."

He lowered his gun, although he wasn't about to holster it yet. "If they're gone or incapacitated, that puts you in charge of this station, Jan," he said quietly. They both knew it already, but Ryobi needed to say it aloud to make it feel real. "You're gonna have a hell of a time with that paperwork now." With that said, Ryobi stepped forward around the corner, his main intention to find the source of the mechanical sound, and his secondary intention to locate the Captain. Ryobi hadn't known Kitt to be wrong before, but there was a first time for anything.

[corneredbliss]

"If they're gone or incapacitated, that puts you in charge of this station, Jan."

Yet another fact that was not fully realized until Ryobi spoke it into existence. He was right, of course. If the Captain really was gone, she would assume his position and responsibilities. It just seemed silly to be thinking about distinctions in positions at a time like this, when her commanding officer could really be a lifeless body just a few feet away from her. She and the Captain were familiar in that weird way that happens when you work together as closely for as long as they have; they might have been able to pass for father and daughter to strangers. Janetta, not having had experience with one before, was reluctant to the relationship, but Burchill was persistent in his warmth, and eventually she simply allowed him to assume the roll of a sort-of step-dad.

A soft scoff pushed its way from her throat at his quip on the paperwork, before her expression slid back into concern. Steeling herself, Jan followed behind Ito out of the elevator, with Kitt just behind her. As they neared the corner, Ryobi and the warden pressed their backs against the wall, a general precaution to not knowing what would be around it. The sound had gotten louder the closer they got to the office, and its constant thudding seemed to be a slow interpretation of Janetta's current heart rate. The two looked at each other and shared a brief nod signaling green lights, before they took a breath and stepped out of cover, pistols snapping up at the ready.

Finally, the source of the sound revealed itself; ahead, in the doorway to the office, lay a dismembered robotic arm that was preventing the door from closing properly. Shhhhhrt, thud. Shhhhhrt, thud. Janetta's brow pulled itself forward into a furrow, and with her arms outstretched and pistol aimed at the white metal who's hand was facing them, glanced up at Ryobi. "What the hell...?"

Kitt, peeking out from behind them, put her hands over her mouth at the sight. "That's from a medbot," she stated as the two officers moved forward cautiously.

After realizing it really was dismembered and therefore rendered harmless for the time being, Janetta shared another knowing look with her officer as she moved toward the touch pad for print recognition to get the door open. Another nod, and Jan spread her fingers out onto the flat surface of the lock while Ryobi held his gun pointed into the room. The door opened and the thudding finally ceased, leaving them in silence to enter the office.

Whatever the two were expecting to find within the office, it wasn't this: The room was relatively dark, save for the flickering lights of monitors that seemed to have been smashed in. Books, tablets, papers, and other debris littered the floor, a mess that would not have stood if the Captain had been able to do something about it. There, off to the left, lay the rest of the medbot that might have been attached to the lonely arm in the doorway.

Further into the office, near the control center, were the two bodies - it didn't take too much inspection to realize that Kitt was right. Officer Benton's body was to their right; his leg looked bloodied and bandaged, but that could be assumed as the patchwork of the medbot from earlier. The rest of him, however, had been mauled and punched to a pulp - they two would have only recognized him from the name tag on his uniform. To their left, not too far from Benton, lay the Captain's body. He too looked beaten, with scratches on his face and neck. But the defining blow was a hole that went straight through his right temple and out of the other side. A pool of blood had formed around his head, and the gun that was probably used for the act lay somewhere between the two men.

[JBRam2002]

"You wanted to see me, Sir?"

Ryobi stood at the entrance to the Captain's Office, a rigid salute presented. The Captain glanced up and let out a laugh. "At ease, Ito," he replied, his voice warm and jovial. "This station isn't run quite so uptight as that. We're thousands of kilometers from Command up here." Burchill stood up from his chair and approached Ryobi. The man was just leabing middle age, the gray beginning to toy at the corners of his neatly-trimmed hair. "Not every day we get new recruits up here. I wanted to meet you and welcome you aboard Omega. You came highly recommended."

Ryobi relaxed his stance, glad that he would be relieved from the strict requirements of the Military Police. "I work hard, Sir," he replied. "I didn't request this post, but it suits me, Sir."

"Suits you?" The Captain returned Ryobi's gaze with a somewhat puzzled expression. "How so?"

"Always wanted to go to space, Sir. Glad to watch over those lowlifes and keep Earth free of the worst, Sir."

The chuckle returned as the Captain looked out the plate glass window overlooking the station. "Listen, Ito. A few tips. First: one Sir per response is plenty, kid. Second: if you keep working hard and stay on the Warden's good side, you'll be fine here. Just... loosen up a bit. Jan will chew you up and spit you out otherwise."

"Jan, Sir?" Ryobi replied. He had yet to meet most of his fellow crew before meeting the Captain. Heck, he still had half of the crates still unopened in their barracks.

"Janetta Pryce. Warden. Keep her happy, and you'll reach the top, mark my words." Burchill smiled warmly at Ryobi. "Anyways, that is all. If we can make your transition smoother, please don't hesitate to ask the bots."

~ = + = ~

Ryobi stoically lowered his gun. More death. More of his friends and co-workers ripped from him. He wanted to let out his frustration and anger, but that wasn't what they needed right now. They needed clear heads, measured planning. Ryobi stood in silence for a moment, staring into the eyes of the man he had trusted all these years and then doubted; a man whose life may have been saved were it not for his hesitation; a man whose life he had essentially traded for Pryce's.

It was an unfair choice in an unfair situation. Burchill was like a father to the entire station, whether they were civilian, officer, or AI. Benton was not as close to Ryobi, but they had shared a few good laughs. And now they were dead.

Ryobi turned away from the scene, instead choosing to inspect the medbot. There was nothing of this picture that made sense. The scratches on the bot appeared human in origin, as if someone manually fought it off. The arm had been forcibly torn from its socket and haphazardly disposed of. There was nothing more to see here.

Ryobi turned back to Pryce. "Well, Captain Pryce, where do we go from here?" he asked, his voice quiet and emotionless. "Pretty obvious that Burchill didn't do it. I'm worried about Amy. If I were going to disrupt the abilities of this station, I would target the Captain, the Warden, and the Doctor, and so far, we're two out of three."

[corneredbliss]

It was almost as if Janetta could feel the image being singed into her psyche, something more terrible than watching a coffin lowered into the ground. She had followed Ryobi as far as the corner of the table in the middle of the room though couldn't bring herself to go any further. But like the day of her mother's funeral, Jan forced herself to keep her gaze forward at the scene, demanding herself to give the Captain and her officer the respect they deserved. Death did not excuse anyone from their responsibility, and now was not the time for her to shy away from the person Burchill needed her to be.

Still, it didn't lessen the pain that came with seeing two innocent lives taken away - and for what? The two were no closer to answering the question than when they started. Janetta lowered her gun and clenched her shaky jaw, allowing the surge of emotions to run their courses through her before she released the breath she didn't realize she had been holding. Burchill would tell her it was no time for grieving; she now had a whole ship to look after.

As if on cue, Ryobi spoke from behind her, officially giving life to her new title. He sounded quiet and detached, but that was to be expected, as he knew just as well as she did that there was still work to be done. Ah, yes - Dr. Widmher. He was right, she probably was the next target for whoever was running this horrible escapade. Janetta nodded in agreement, tucking the pistol back into the waistband of her jeans and clearing her throat.

"Right, but first, I want to take a closer look at these two. We might find something..." Looking over her shoulder for the receptionist, Janetta spoke as warmly as she could, knowing the poor bot must be nearly as freaked out as her human companions. "Kitt, could you... Could you please come and scan the gun for prints?"

Kitt, who had been lingering near the doorway, unwilling to archive what she already knew to be true, padded forward slowly. "Of course, Captain Pryce." Lix, the medbot that had lost its arm and consequently powered down, was enough of a sad thing to see. But she wasn't going to avoid her own duty, especially if it would help solve the mystery of who killed the Captain in seemingly cold blood. She came forward and joined Janetta near the bodies, scanning the area and the gun specifically for clues. After a few moments, Jan, who had crouched down to examine Benton's beaten figure more closely, heard Kitt from behind her. "The gun has Henry Burchill's fingerprints all over it, Captain," she reported, "It seems that he was the last person to have control over this pistol."

Janetta's confusion colored her face as she straightened up from her position over Benton, glancing momentarily in Ryobi's direction before she lowered herself between the gun and Burchill's body. With newly determined eyes, she scanned the scene, gaze trailing from the gun, to the holes in the man's head. Then, an idea came to her. She gently picked up one of his hands and examined it carefully, taking a minute before doing the same to the other one.

"Ito, look... Burchill's knuckles are bruised and bloody," she said, her voice low and steady. "That could just be a coincidence, an act of self-defense if someone else did come in here to kill them. But... Only Burchill's prints are on the gun. If someone else had been in here, why would they have left it? And- And those scratch marks on his face and neck? It looks like a struggle... To get him off." Her voice trailed away as she turned her head in order to find the officer and lock him in a gaze that urged him to catch on and finish her surely impossible thoughts.

[JBRam2002]

Ryobi approached the two bodies hesitantly. Death was not entirely a stranger to him, but avoiding it had been one reason he accepted this transfer. Inmates killed or attacked each other on Omega, but far less frequently than in Tokyo, and his coworkers rarely received fatal attacks. But this... this was almost too much.

His footsteps slowly shuffled forward, each quiet thud bringing him closer to accepting his Captain's mortality. From a distance, it was easier to compartmentalize, to simply treat them as bodies. He knelt next to Jan and examined the Captain's knuckles, the same conclusion coming to his--

Keep her happy, and you'll reach the top, mark my words.

--mind. The Captain had always been... would always...

Ryobi drew in a deep breath, attempting to stabilize himself, but the breath drew in the smell of blood. Burchill's blood. Blood that Ryobi might as well have spilled himself.

If you have a problem with that, talk to the warden.

Ryobi looked over to Jan. "I uh..." His voice almost squeaked, and Ryobi quickly cleared his throat. "Perhaps he was defending himself from Benton? Or maybe..."

I didn't request this post, but it suits me, Sir.

Ryobi shook his head and stood up. He needed to put some space between himself and the deceased. "Kitt, I know this isn't your speciality, but please scan the entry and exit patterns. I want to know if the caliber matches the gun." Ryobi walked away from the scene towards the large window overlooking the station and leaned against the glass.

But it suits me, Sir.

[corneredbliss]

It was all Janetta could do not to follow Ryobi away from the bodies, to give into her own grief and turn away for at least a moment. Everything about today should have been the stuff of nightmares, impossible once eyes were opened. She could not have known what was going through Ito's head, but if it was anywhere near the caliber of flashbacks trying to cripple her with the tainted image of a bloodied Burchill, she could imagine. Eventually she did rise from her place near the Captain so that Kitt could move in and see what she could see. Jan made her way to stand beside him at the window, arms folded defensively across her chest. The two stood there in silence, probably watching clips of interactions with the deceased play one after the other inside their minds' eyes, before the silence was broken by Kitt.

The bot, unsure really of how ballistics worked, bent down to scan as Ryobi had asked, taking note of the measurements of the holes in Burchill's temples before comparing them to the few bullets still snug in the pistol's clip. After a moment of calculation, and another for realization, Kitt's strangely downcast tone permeated the heavy air. "It's the same from what I can tell, sir. The bullet fired into Henry Burchill seems to have come from this gun."

Somewhere inside of her, Janetta already knew this. Her face remained stoic and she continued to gaze absentmindedly through the window, only vaguely aware of Ryobi beside her. Further proof of her theory sank in between them. Finally, a murmur: "What are you thinking?"

[JBRam2002]

”What are you thinking?”

Ryobi looked incredulously back at the person who had asked the question. “You’re insane. Completely insane.”

“He said so himself. Get on her good side, and you’ll go far. So, get on her good sides. You’ve always excelled at that.”

Ryobi shook his head, unable to fully comprehend what was being said. “I’m not going to sleep with Jan. That’s ridiculous. Just be happy with what we’ve got for once.”

“I’ve never been one to be content with normalcy. You know that. I take what I can get. That’s how I got you. That’s how you got your job. And that’s how we’ll get on top, just like the Captain said. You’re not going to flake on me now, are you?”

Ryobi sighed and looked over at the sleeping toddler nearby. “Of course not, Sayako. I’d do anything for you. You know that.”

Sayako approached, a broad smile filling her face. “I’ll always love you, Ryobi-kun.”

“I love you too.”

~ = + = ~

Ryobi rested his forehead on the window pane, looking over the station. This was too much. He thought he could handle it if he looked at his deceased friends as bodies instead of people. That quickly proved to be impossible. A tear rolled down his cheek, and he wiped it away, hoping Jan didn’t notice. “They must have had to kill each other,” Ryobi replied quietly. “At this point, I don’t care why or who was at fault. We need to keep moving.”

He drew in a deep breath before pushing away from the window. “Can you lock out system controls from here? Shut everything down: airlocks to the ports, elevators, anything nonessential. We need to keep the prisoners away from the civilians, and we need to make sure the doctor’s okay. After that, we’ll just round up the prisoners, get them back in the cells, and re-open the station.”

His grip tightened around the handle of the pistol at his side. “Easy, huh? What could possibly go wrong? We’ve got to make this right, no matter what.”

[corneredbliss]

^{I N C O M I N G M E S S A G E}

- Captain and Benton are out. Gris and Davis next. Standby.

---

Janetta didn't fail to notice his gesture, but didn't think any less of him for it, at all. In fact, it pushed her that much closer to shedding her own tears, though they seemed to just crowd up in her eyes and refuse to fall out. She blinked slowly to clear her vision, allowing them to slide down her cheeks freely as she reached over and placed a hand on his bicep. There was a squeeze of comfort before her hand returned to her side - all the while she kept her gaze ahead of her.

"It just doesn't make sense..." she practically whispered in response. But she didn't press the issue. If Ryobi didn't want to talk about it, or didn't want to know, she would keep her thoughts to herself for now. It wouldn't change anything, anyway. Why waste the breath?

Jan seemingly snapped out of her reverie at his request. She nodded, frustratedly wiping her face dry as she turned back towards the control panels. Kitt had wandered to the opposite side of the room and had been quiet, either waiting for further instruction or simply at a loss for words. "Yeah, easy as pie." She couldn't bring herself to mention that nothing would make this right at this point; even if they could tear those fuckers from limb to limb. The newly appointed Captain of the station sighed deeply, forcing her emotions off as she made her way back toward the bodies.

"I'll lock the ports and shut down the grids for the carts," she said as she stepped between her fallen comrades to take place at the controls. Her hands moved around the dials and the keypad while the screen above her matched her commands. "We'll need an elevator to get down the levels, so I'll cut power from all of them except for the one we have up here with us." She was pressing a few more keys, securing control of the sole elevator now available, when something caught her eye. There, at the top corner of the screen.

The security feed for the port to Home Bay. Burchill was probably watching before... it happened. "Ryobi... Look." On the screen, the figures of Carillo, the Sterling siblings, and Fukuda could be seen idling in the visitation lounge. They all seemed to be talking, though the feed didn't provide audio, so who knew what they were saying. It seemed apparent that they were trying to swipe an access card to open reception, but it wasn't working. "They must have already locked down the Bay," she said, squinting up at the video. Nothing would be getting through there short of an explosive, so the two would be rest assured that Home Bay was safe for now. "Thank god."

[JBRam2002]

At the sight of the security feed, hope began to return to Ryobi where despair had previously taken hold. He rushed to the console to get a glimpse. "Yes... if we can see the Lounge... What other feeds can you show me?" he asked, excitement evident for the first time in a long time.

"If we can, we should check on the doctor, Home Bay, hell, cycle all the cameras. Maybe we'll see something useful." Ryobi leaned in over the console, pressing against Jan slightly in his haste. When he realized he had done so, one arm reached out to embrace her in a sort of half-hug. "They might have numbers and a head start, but we've got all the advantages. We've got you and me. We'll get through this, alright?"

[corneredbliss]

Janetta's brows pulled together as her hand toggled the switch making the camera feeds the central focus of the screens. This was a lead. Leads were good. She was in the midst of typing in commands to trigger the ability to cycle through them when she felt Ryobi's arm wrap around her. The sensation of touch was strange and out-of-place, especially in the context of such a morbid scene. Their boot soles were covered in the blood of their dead comrades and their faces were illuminated by the figures of their inmates on the big screen; but Jan welcomed the gesture without resistance anyway, pausing for a moment to lean against the only reason she was keeping her composure at the moment. She remained there for a few seconds, before nodding her head and lifting a hand to graze her fingertips lightly against his jawline.

"This is why I keep you around, Ito. Someone's gotta be optimistic," she murmured before returning her attention to the feeds. Soon they were staring at empty hallway after empty bay, finally landing on the one from the med bay:

The room was still, save for the sleepy blinking of lights on certain machines. Two med bots stood near a closet-looking door at the far end of the room, appearing to be off as they weren't moving. Slumped in a heap on the floor was a body, and even from the somewhat low-resolution of the video it was obvious that this body was badly beaten and bleeding. Standing above was another figure, shoulders moving up and down as if they were breathing heavily. In the clenched fist of the figure glinted a metallic object - perhaps a scalpel? A few more breaths passed, the figure looking this way and that way as if searching for something... Before suddenly whipping around towards the camera, revealing that it was Officer Gris. His face looked distorted, and though nothing was outwardly wrong aside from several scratches and a growing shiner, there was definitely something off about his demeanor. He took one more sweeping glance around the doctor's office before storming off to the right of the screen and out of the room.

"Shit..." Jan breathed, and as she was about to change the feed, the bots came alive and stepped aside as the closet doors opened and out stepped a nervous Dr. Widmher, eyes wide with horror at the pile on the floor that had to be Officer Davis. She cupped a hand over her mouth, looking as if she were about to throw up as she stepped around the body and gingerly made her way toward the exit, followed by her two bots.

"She's alive. Thank fucking god. But Gris is still out there... We need to find her before he does. Or any of the other inmates." Right. There was still the matter of the psychos they were normally in charge of. Great.

[JBRam2002]

With the sight of Lucian's crumpled body, nearly all of the optimism in Ryobi dissipated immediately. Davis had been a long-time friend of his, and they were closer than nearly anyone else on the station. And now he was very likely dead. "Gris?" Ryobi muttered, unable to believe the evidence before his eyes. "Why would Gris... He's always been such a nice guy. This makes no sense. Did he ever complain to you?" Ryobi turned to Jan, hoping the Warden might have some insight. "No, wait. We need to get moving. Tell me on the way."

Ryobi let his eyes pass over the former Captain and let out a sigh. "We should lock this door. Burchill has a key to his office, right? If we lock it, then people won't be able to get in easily and mess with station controls." He stepped back to Burchill, finally breaking the embrace he so desperately needed. "And to think, I told Sayako last week that things were starting to get a little boring and routine. Not anymore, huh?" He rummaged through the Captain's pockets, trying to remove the identity of his actions from his mind. It wasn't easy for him, and every action was forced, even his footsteps towards the body. "This was not how I wanted to spend my day off, Warden," he called back, attempting to maintain his glib exterior despite the sinking feeling in his stomach. "You always know how to screw with my vacations, it seems."

A few seconds of grim searching revealed the captain's key card, which Ryobi picked up and held out towards Jan. "You should take this and keep it safe, Captain. Let's lock this place up and get going. The doc needs us as soon as we can get there." He cast a look back to the monitors wistfully. "Hopefully we can come back soon and get more information, but there's no time now."

[corneredbliss]

All of the traumatic events of the day, occurring in such close proximity to each other, was finally getting to her. Janetta had covered her face while Ryobi spoke his own grief, trying to control the shivering that had begun creeping through her body. Her eyes were squeezed shut behind her fingers, still repressing tears of a medley of emotions. But Ito was right. This was not the time nor the place to mourn. Who knew if they ever would get to settle in their grief? Maybe this nightmare was meant to go on forever.

She felt him break away from her and let a few beats pass as the male spoke once again, clearly trying to lighten the mood and distract with banter. Though light quips were the last thing she wanted to hear, the logical part of her knew this would be the only way to get through anything right now. Your shit. Get it together. Jan nodded her head, though unsure whether Ryobi saw this, she finally revealed her face, wiping away the droplets of water that had managed to escape her eyes as she did. At the mention of his wife, she had cleared her throat slightly. "I've got to have my fun somehow, Ito," she called back to him, her voice still cracking slightly. Sick sense of humor, eh?

Janetta watched him loot through the Captain's - ah, Burchill's uniform with a subtle grimace, and reached out with a sigh to take the key card from him. Her eyes flashed with an idea and she turned her attention to the bot that was still standing sheepishly at the side of the room. "Kitt? Would you mind staying here and keeping an eye on the feeds for us? Officer Ito and I need to head down to Med Bay to find Dr. Widmher, but we'd like to be able to know if anything happens that the camera can see. Do you think you can do that?"

The receptionist blinked at her new Captain, still new to being given such responsibilities. While she was not really partial to staying in a room with dead human bodies, Kitt registered that she now had duties owed that went far beyond her normal name-checking ones. This was it, this was the big leagues. Granted, she wasn't sure she liked the big leagues that much; but she wasn't going down in Omega history as a scaredy cat. "Yes, I can do that, Captain Pryce. I'll stay here. Go find the doctor."

Jan waited for her confirmation before giving her a little, proud smile and moving to take her turn at fishing through Burchill's person. She retrieved his Comms device, the one she had called earlier, and passed it over to Kitt, who had come over to the control center. "Here, take this. Call me if you see the convicts moving from the reception lounge, or if you see Officer Gris on any of the feeds." Kitt nodded and held the device in both hands, then watched as the two of them made their way towards the exit. "I'm going to lock the door here, Kitt," Jan said, waving the key card once in the air for her to see. "You'll be safe. Just watch those feeds."

The Captain and Ryobi left the room, and after kicking the robot arm out of the doorway, Janetta swiped the card to lock the office. The two entered the elevator, and Janetta pressed the button for Med Bay. She looked at Ryobi, taking her gun from her waist band and checking the magazine out of habit, then held it at the ready. Her gaze was serious as she spoke. "It looks like we're going to have to put Gris down," she said, though Ito would know by her tone that she was asking him if he was prepared to do it.

Regardless of his answer, the elevator arrived at the Med Bay and the doors slid open. It was dead silent, so far as they could tell, and Janetta waited a moment before nodding at Ito and shooting out into the hall. She extended her arms and aimed the barrel of the gun towards the left of the way, knowing that behind her Ryobi was doing the same for the right. Another moment of silence, during which her gaze darted to every inch of the hall beyond her, before she said in a low voice, "Clear."

[JBRam2002]

"Welcome to Omega Station!"

Ryobi jumped at the pleasant female voice and turn to greet the woman. It took him an embarrassingly long time for him to realize the sound came from the small robot before him. "Uh... hi?" Ryobi ventured.

"I am Kitt. My job is to coordinate scheduling and track employee hours. You are 37 minutes early for your first shift, Officer Ito. Did you expect more traffic?"

Kitt's voice was deadpan, and Ryobi was unsure if the bot was making a joke or simply poorly programmed. "I uh... thought I would show up early. Find my locker, meet some of the crew, get settled in. You know. No need to waste paid time on that."

The robotic form blinked, then handed Ryobi a navy folder with the station's emblem on the obverse. Ryobi opened it to find a keycard, several leafs of letter-sized papers with instructions printed on them, and of course, his new credentials. "These are the expected guidelines for new officers. I hope you take the opportunity to read and understand all of the information inside. You will find directions to the Officer's Lounge, Warden's Office, and other important locales, as well as expected etiquette. I will let the Warden know of your diligence, Officer Ito. Please, have an excellent first day!"

Ryobi nodded his thanks to the bot and continued his path, entering the prison itself. He glanced back at Kitt, and she waved at him. Ryobi grinned at the bot and waved back before resuming his journey.

=+~+=

As Ryobi and Jan left the office, Ryobi grimaced at the thought of leaving Kitt behind. Of course, the Captain's Office was as safe as anywhere could be, but Kitt wasn't one to defend herself. On the other hand, all three of them knew the fact without saying it: Kitt would only slow them down and compromise their progress. He gave a small wave goodbye as Jan closed the doorway. "I'll be back for you, Kitt," he called out before the door fully closed.

Jan had transformed to full business mode as she exited the Captain's Office and entered the elevator. Ryobi's head was still reeling at the thought of Gris being the culprit, but the vids didn't lie. He readied his own weapon and nodded. "Gris was... well, I thought a friend. But Lucian and I go way back. He's basically family. And you do not fuck with my family. I don't want to kill him, but it looks like we've got no choice."

The elevator slid to a halt and the doors opened, cutting Ryobi's response short. As Jan took the left, Ryobi took the right, holding his gun ready and glancing quickly around. Thankfully, no one was here just yet. "Clear," he responded. "Where to next, Cap?"

[corneredbliss]

Janetta lowered her gun a few beats after Ryobi confirmed that it was clear, oddly paranoid about the phenomena that was happening. Burchill, Gris... They would never lay a finger on a fly. And now they were murdering their comrades? It just didn't add up.

"Where to next, Cap?"

Yet another million dollar question. "Well... We saw Ami leave her office, so she probably isn't there anymore. We might go check there anyway? Maybe we'll find clues as to what the fuck is going on in there... With Davis's body...?" Jan scoffed at the anxiety creeping into her speech pattern. She sighed heavily and wiped nonexistent sweat from her brow with the back of her hand. "Or we can just go ahead and try and find the doctor - somewhere. At this point it's just a fucking game of hide and seek, goddammit."