THE FIRST.

[oorah]

»all systems go

---

Their communicators claim it's October 1st, it's been over five months since Frank and Karen first arrived here. Then the others had trickled in: Elektra, then Matt and finally Jessica. It can't be a coincidence that as surely as the B list keeps showing up, the Avengers vanish one by one. People who die come right back, but people who vanish just go without leaving a trace. All of it is a painstaking record kept, but it doesn't mean anything yet - not without more data.

A night or two before, a team found the illustrious Drive spoken about in that witchy girl's seance. Against advice, it was activated on the Bridge and the Station was immediately plunged into chaos. There's no explanation yet, but the planet they've been staring at ever since they got here is gone in one blink. The space quakes are nonstop, electrical surges constant, but even though Reverie Terminal has been inexplicably moved, there was no shift beneath their feet. The sky was the same as always one moment and blank and vast the next. There's debris, possibly a dwarf planet, but it's too far away to see with the naked eye, it just looks like a dim star.

As the Station is combed for any other changes, a body appears on Deck Two. She's wearing an RT uniform, an ID proclaiming her to be "Lucia" like the medic Vanessa had spoken to. There's blood everywhere, the lights are flickering overhead and the closer anyone comes to her the more violently they'll be jostled around by the 'quakes. There's something protruding from her chest, the glint of a metal orb that pokes through the tear in the front of Lucia's jumpsuit. CIRSTA's voice comes over the speaker system, informing them to stay calm and that everything is under control. It certainly seems that way, doesn't it?

»left fear behind

---

A video of a woman and her children plays on a loop on the Big Screen while Lucia is transported to the Medbay. They're laughing and smiling while someone films them in shakycam. She can be recognized as a dark-skinned woman in the footage that was previously found. If anyone tries to disrupt the video, the controls will be hot enough to burn to the touch. The volume keeps climbing higher and higher until someone takes out the power supply. If they reboot the system, the woman that until now has only been referred to as Ghost appears, relaying the same warning message she gave Frank and Kamala once.

"Be ready to initiate lockdown." She doesn't engage with the feed, but every time it loops she appears just one centimeter closer to the screen. Or is that all in your head?

One deck lower, people are prying Lucia's ribcage open. It's a messy business and inside is a perfect sphere. Which is strange, because there's a circular cut-out in the center of the drive with little ridges that might interlock. It seems obvious the two pieces must fit together, but just installing the drive has already gotten them here, what happens when they make it whole again?

It seems there are two choices before the current crew: to install the core or to uninstall the drive before Total Power Failure. Talk amongst yourselves. If the AI Cirsta is addressed, she only repeats a countdown that seems to have been put into effect by the Command Center reboot.

"Lockdown will initiate in 24 hours." Each time she's asked, she'll update with hours and minutes of how much time is left to decide.

Comments

[blindninja]

No, I don't want for us to dwell on that anymore. [It's happened. They can be sorry about not being able to move past that moment to see that they were more than that, but there's nothing either of them could do to change how that transpired. He's not looking for apologies and he hopes she isn't, either.]

It wasn't your fault. [Not entirely, anyway.]

How do you want to spend the time we have left? [Arguing over the woman in the video or how to proceed from here? That's not going to be much different.] I don't think you'd want a space wedding.

[blacksky]

[That's all a relief to hear. The horse is pretty dead and beaten at this point. They should find new and exciting things to fight about if anything. Elektra doesn't bring it up in case he actually does find something real to yell about. She shakes her head at his last statement.] Of course not. Any wedding of mine would have to the event of the century. We can't do that in space.

[She quips in that cheerful way that makes it hard to tell if she's kidding or not. The rest is given its proper weight.] Together. What we do depends on you. Still going to throw up on me if I move three inches to the right?

[blindninja]

[Well nothing makes a prospective husband sweat like threatening to go entitled bridezilla on him. At least they'd already established they were past the notion of wanting to get married. Small comforts, and all.]

No, I'm fine. Getting used to the shakes. [He can handle an earthquake just fine but it's the combination or everything that's making him queasy.]

It'd be nice if you want to stay over sometime. [Or regularly. Or all the time.] We could do Thai. Every Thursday. [Okay maybe don't talk about food while he's prone to throwing up.] Go out after a few drinks at Josie's and. Just do something normal.

[blacksky]

[Elektra can read the subtext, but doesn't comment on it. He's talking fancies. She always likes getting carried away in his.] You do have a comfortable bed. I suppose I could be convinced to do at least spend my Thursdays with you so long as there's fresh noodles involved.

[She says like she ever resented those instant noodles.] Drinks are an added bonus. Of course you'll have to do something I want too. [She trails off dramatically before........] Pizza and ice cream in bed. Every Saturday.

[blindninja]

[He doesn't know how 'fresh' they are. She wouldn't want to know the things he knows about commercially prepared food. Nobody would. But it's certainly a step up from the yellow bricks he paved his law degree road with.]

Every Saturday? [He sniffles and puts on a thoughtful expression.] I hope you have some... 'rigorous weekend exercises' penciled in to work that off. [And here they go again.]

[blacksky]

[She laughs haughtily. Yes, they're back at this again during a space quake. Literally nothing can discourage them, but the meddling of evil old people and their tempers.] Oh, Matthew. Who do you think you're dealing with? You'll need a few hours of work before I can let you have pizza and ice cream. Think of your figure.

[Elektra pinches his side lovingly.]

[blindninja]

[A few hours? She'd likely break his jaw and other bits before it's time for pizza and ice cream.]

I'll have you know, I worked hard for these love handles. [Of which there are none because he hasn't been eating the 3D printed plastic that passes for food around these parts and he's been hitting it hard at the gym since there's no work for Daredevil here.]

I'm either too uncomfortable to sleep on or I've let my figure go. I can't win with you, can I?

[blacksky]

[Elektra smiles slyly. There's no sense in denying it. Her life is being a playful thorn in Matthew's side when they're on speaking terms. She certainly appreciates the look even if it does make him hard to sleep on.] You can't, but you love it that way. Admit it.

[blindninja]

Maybe just a little. [He keeps his voice down as he stays close to her, trying not to distract everyone else from the video. His heart hadn't really been in this to get out of this place, but all this is starting to make him have doubts about his stance.]