SILENT HORIZON - [Part 2: Facing the Faceless/Escape] [modplot]

[letsgolegion]

Who| Everyone in Silent Horizon plot
What| Fighting the Faceless, a perilous escape, and a chance to have a breather
Where| In the In-Between, the Silent Horizon, and then the Legion Cruiser
When| Chronologically, only hours have passed in the outside world from when the team disappeared, but it's up to players whether their characters perceived it as being hours or days
Warnings/Notes| Gore, blood, body horror, all the usual


They hear the voice again, calling out to them. Not the Faceless, not the dark whispers of this world. It's the same tinny voice that warned them, that told them not to give into the Faceless' offer. It's the voice that told them their Phalanxed teammates can still be saved if the Faceless is killed in time before they die.

It calls out again. Wherever they are, whatever the landscape is doing, they can hear it.

"I know you have no reason to trust me. I know you've been probably hearing lots of voices in this place, telling you all kinds of things. But I'm trying to help you. There's a way to end this, to stop the Faceless. Just follow my voice. My language synthesizer is broadcasting in the telepathic range like telepathic earplugs and I've managed to reconfigure it to broadcast through the entire In-Between. You should be hearing it wherever you are and you should be able to use its broadcast strength to navigate. I think I've managed to secure it from the Faceless and his Phalanx but there's no way to be sure."

How loud the voice is changes as they get closer or farther away. They can use it to navigate, albeit very crudely. And now that it's clearer, it's far more recognizable: it's the voice of the Robotican in the horrible footage that played before they were taken -- the one that had his head knocked off.

"My name is N-45LEN/Keth Series. My organic crewmates call --" He pauses, and sounds distraught. "--called me Lenny. I was a crew member of the Silent Horizon. This entire dimension is called the In-Between. It's made up of the body of the Faceless and I'm currently trapped at its core. I can see you Legionnaires from here through...what appears to be some kind structure for processing what equates to ocular stimuli for the Faceless. If any of you get lost, I can see enough to guide you here."

If they need it, they'll find that he can give them individualized directions, no matter what the landscape does, and he can give them to multiple people simultaneously. Having a complex processor for a brain has its perks.

"My organic teammate and I managed to discover the core of the Faceless and its nature, but I'm currently incapacitated and Bob...he just lost it. He nearly destroyed what was left of me and ran off before we could stop the Faceless. I saw him eventually accept the Faceless' offer and turn. If you make it here where I am, you may be able to destroy the Faceless' body enough to kill him, save your teammates, and destroy this dimension once and for all."

A pause.

"And if you could maybe take me with you when you leave, uh, I would appreciate that. Like, a lot."

[ooc post here]

Comments

[vata]

"I'm fine." Hollow words, breathed out with a raw shift in her stare towards him (he's put himself between her and the view she'd been slipping steadily into over time) but she isn't necessarily lying: the odds weren't stacked in her favor. The resources she'd carefully compiled as a safeguard against danger? Gone. Turned against her. She should have been dead or worse a hundred times over.

Normally that'd be a rush, knowing she survived— right now, all she feels are the ports along her spine and skull, aching where they've dug into her skin from impact, misuse.

Only after a few seconds does she realize the answer she'd given isn't what he'd asked, stepping in to correct herself. "I'll take care of it."

Eventually.

It's been a rough ride: including the painfully slow passage of time in a digital world— in someone else's head— Sombra can't remember the last time she was able to just...sit. Exist. Knits her fingers together and twists against the pull of gravity, staring right through him as if he was glass, unwilling to work up the willpower to pretend.

She doesn't even bring up Lena.

[mylawn]

It's immediately clear that Azúcar is not a fan of this intrusion, and really, he should just get up and leave--give her space. But it's hard to turn off the part of him that wants to debrief, even if this is far too personal and the very thought of being near people is too much to stomach. Of course she's not fine. Neither of them are fine, and 76 is at a loss for how to begin to cope with everything that just happened.

"Are you hurt?"

Physically, she seems uninjured, but it is hard to tell under all that blood. He remembers everything, unfortunately, but he wants to make absolutely sure.

[vata]

She looks at him like he's speaking a foreign language— blinks through it like a machine processing data— unexpected and entirely an afterthought. It's not as though she can't still feel it, how much damage she's sustained, but after a certain point it stops seeming less like a priority.

More like an afterthought.

"Nothing that won't heal."

But then it'd bother her less than having medical staff in her (usually isolated) vicinity, letting him lend a hand. So it's a careful invitation when she shifts back with a slow inhale, hair drawn away to expose a lengthy cut along her throat (a graze wound, she'd been lucky at the time)— and a deeper, gruesomely battered gash at her side that still seems entirely too keen to bleed. The worst offender is, in spite of it, the damage to her cybernetic implants, but that's well-hidden for the moment; he couldn't fix that if he wanted to.

And with that, her stare shifts from him towards the ceiling - if he feels like grabbing a kit and lending a hand, he will, if he doesn't, he won't: either way, it won't break her heart or change what's happened.

"Did you know they don't keep alcohol on these things? Not even in medical. Se trata de una regla estúpida."

[mylawn]

He hopes that he didn't do any of that, but despite remembering most everything that happened, he can't actually be sure. It seems best not to think about it, even though the wounds are ugly and he doesn't know why she hasn't sought out real attention. It takes him a moment (76 isn't so good at social cues anymore), but he realizes in short order that she's inviting him to administer first aid.

For someone who doesn't let anyone touch him on a good day, much less after an incredibly traumatic spaceship adventure, he understands that she's putting some degree of trust in him. That's unexpected, and he isn't quite sure how to feel or what he should be doing.

So he falls back on his training, reaching for one of the nearby kits, popping it open and starting to sort through the bandages and gauze. He settles on a bottle of sterile solution for flushing wounds, motioning for her to turn a little as he settles next to her.

"Could always drink the antiseptic."

[vata]

"Please. I'm not that desperate."

Been there, done that. Though he doesn't need the details — wouldn't like them if he had them. Still, it manages to drag a scoff from her as she turns onto her side (maybe for that fact alone), one hand tucked beneath her head; the ghost of a smile that never quite clears.

"But you owe me a drink for this one, hermano."

[mylawn]

There's a noise in the back of his throat that might be a laugh at the joke, but it's more than a little half-hearted. He doesn't imagine she'll begrudge him. 76 tries to be as careful as possible, but with wounds like this, there's no way it doesn't hurt.

"That sounds fair."

Seems like the least he can do, really. The wounds look better with some of the blood cleared away, but that doesn't change the fact that they're not exactly pleasant.

"This might sting."

[vata]

There aren't any obvious signs she's in pain: a tension that ripples through the muscles of her jaw, her throat - intermittent and slight as she swallows down any inherent urge to react as he works. She's had worse, and not just from allying with Talon; at least being a terrorist had left her with upgrades, escape plans. Gabriel had done his part to make the alliance more than worthwhile in stealing translocation technology, after all.

Before that? It was whatever she could get when she could get it, and Los Muertos always had their share of troubles.

So it's too quiet for a while, those seconds between breaths when neither of them are talking. Just the hum of the ship as it runs its course, life support systems thrumming away through narrow vents. A pulsebeat. "Hazlo de una vez."

His hands are warm, at least. She doesn't know why, but she hadn't expected that.

[mylawn]

76's talents mostly involve pointing a gun at something and pulling the trigger, but he didn't make it through the Crisis without field medicine experience. He's no Angela Ziegler, but he knows what he's doing in this department. His hands are calloused but sure of themselves and surprisingly gentle, flushing out the wound, applying disinfectant, and packing it with gauze.

"Shallower than it looks."

And feels, probably. She'll be okay, and 76 falls silent again as he starts to wrap the wound.

"You should see a real doctor, though."

[vata]

"What can I say? I'm good." It's a slow exhale, a promise of relief, however mild— eyes drifting shut after a beat. She's getting too old for this level of high-risk low-reward bullshit, but if she tells herself it won't be for much longer, it doesn't really matter.

To the doctor comment, she says nothing. Lets him work for a few beats in silence as he finishes up and her mind goes equally as numb as the wounds at her side beneath those bandages. And then, without fanfare or inflection— quiet as the din of the life support systems around them— she adds:

"Thanks, Jack."

[mylawn]

Despite remembering almost everything, some of the details are fuzzy, so he'd perhaps allowed himself to believe that Lena calling him by name was just something he invented. He didn't exactly plan on addressing it either way, perhaps hoping that if he didn't say anything, he could get away with it.

He doesn't get away with it--the way she addresses him is clearly pointed, like she wants him to know that she knows. 76 doesn't answer right away, almost as if he needs a moment to remember that name belongs to him.

"Don't."

It's not a conformation, but it is a warning--it'd be a better one if he wasn't so tired, but the sentiment is there all the same.

[vata]

"Mm."

A thoughtful little hum; toothless as his warning. Her attention slides over, eyes open again, regarding the contours of that mask. And then not. After seeing him so far gone, it's not exactly an easy sight to face.

Lucky for him, all things considered.

"Dígitos it is."

[mylawn]

He's silent again, apparently processing, or maybe just wishing he could make this go away. 76 can only stall so long by wiping his hands down with an antiseptic towel, crumpling it up when he's finished and tossing it onto the nearest available surface.

"Appreciate it."

But of course, the last thing he wants is to feel like he's indebted to someone, even if it's over something as simple as keeping a secret.

[vata]

"Hey, what else are friends for."

Nonchalant— or possibly just down-to-the-bone exhausted— either way the delivery's the same. "Aside from almost killing each other anyway, right?"

That's a joke, Jack.

Mostly.

From there she shifts back, seemingly content in her own space (and a little pain relief might be responsible for that) for the first time in what feels like forever, sinking down comfortably into the covers. "You should probably get some rest. People are going to be loco once we get back: the Legion, the press, the public— they're all gonna want to get a piece of you."

Of all of them, probably.

[mylawn]

76 immediately balks at the use of “friends”, but all he offers her is a sort of noncommittal noise in the back of his throat. He sort of wonders how he got to the point where it’s easier to hear a joke about how he just tried to kill her than it is to hear her call him a friend. Even the prospect of facing the Legion, the press, the public—he’d rather take that than accept friendship.

“They’ll have to catch me first.”

That is not a joke—he is entirely serious about that.

[vata]

That pulls a grin from her. A real, honest grin, her stare entirely fixed so he knows exactly how responsible he is for it.

"Don't say that too loudly, vato. You don't want to tip them off to your daring escape before it's even started."

Not that they probably aren't already anticipating more than a few Legionnaires bypassing the arrival process. She'd like to count herself among them (she could if she wanted to, after all) but the less of a disturbance she makes now, the better it is for her in the long run.

[mylawn]

Really, he'd welcome the challenge, but he feels like voicing the sentiment will just invite more grins like that from Azúcar, so he refrains. 76 doesn't quite know how to deal with this kind of teasing, a sort of camaraderie--well, he does, but that part of him is long-buried. Instead, he offers a sound in the back of his throat that might be a laugh as he leans back a little on the bed.

"I'll let you get some rest."

Lord knows they all need it--and it's a convenient exit from the situation, to boot.

[vata]

She does. More than she'd like to admit, she needs it.

And there's such a weariness in those few seconds between breaths when they aren't talking, but it's steeped in shock, in survival instincts that want nothing more than for her to stay alert and active against the logical fact that it's over. Done.

"Si te quedas conmigo, lo haré por ti."

Not that Sombra has it in her to wait for an answer before she's shut her eyes again, shoulders going slack by degrees. Whether he leaves or stays is up to him.

[mylawn]

He laughs a bit--and it sounds more real this time, an indication that he understands. But it's a nervous sound, too, and he doesn't seem entirely comfortable with the sentiment behind the words.

Still, Jack waits. Not very long, but he watches her eyes close and her breathing slow. He's not sure if she's asleep or not by the time he stands up and finds another part of the medbay to haunt, but either way, the sentiment is there.