Outside In (ID)

[Pink Moon Wolf]

Things seemed to have calmed down. The outbreak at the research lab in the mountains was far behind them. And though there was more to come, at least they had a brief moment of levity. Lord knew they needed it.

The jet soared through the void between the island and the moon on autopilot, following its preset course to LunArc HQ without a hitch. The time would come for manual input, but for now, Lydia was taking a breather one of only two ways she knew how. There was no alcohol to settle her nerves this time, but she could take what she could get.

Her arms were temporarily freed from the motor cortex override unit, her direct visual feed goggles were resting atop her head, and her jacket was bundled up off to the side. Liberated as best she could get for now, Lydia grooved to the music broadcasting through the pod and all its connected equipment, softly singing along to the chorus, watching infinity race by through the pod's monitor as she bobbed her head and swayed back and forth in her seat.

"Hey y'all, prepare yourself for the rubberband man
You've never heard a sound like the rubberband man
You're bound to lose control- Will, c'mon, jam with me!"

The stillness outside Proteus II bothered her, more so in a teasing way than a disturbing way. Sure, part of Lydia was concerned for her friend, not to mention the rest of the team both on board and still on land, but it wasn't often that she looked on the bright side, and she was gonna run with it. "Hey, c'mon, buddy! Why so sour all of a sudden? We're just a short hop away from getting me outta you!"

[DanteMGalileo]

"♫ With the lights out, it's less dangerous
Here we are now, entertain us
I feel stupid and contagious
Here we are now, entertain us... ♫"

With Lydia presumably still in control of his limbs, and playing her outdated cheery pop song in his head, Will resorted to quietly singing outdated grunge songs. Can't say he was ever a fan of cheerful music. Besides, this band influenced Moksha, so it was cooler by definition. Still, one good thing about not having control over his own body. More time to think.

Had Percy escaped? Probably, if he went full space chimera bullshit thing or something. What about green asshole birdy? Hopefully too wounded to follow. And what about them?

Well, he knew Ryan was capable of defending himself, and he knew Max's gun was quite effective, he experienced that firsthand, thank you very much. And Will himself? ... Eh. He's gonna see if he can keep it inside and not puke his guts out.

From the corner of his eye, Will watched as a foreign landscape passed by, black with specks. He wondered if those were stars. "... Are those stars? If so, that means I just might be the first person from my world to see them in like, ten thousand years."

Their unauthorized guest sighed, watching the island shrink. You see one landmass shrink as you leave it, you've seen 'em all. Looking around, a mass was coming close. Liderc switched on the communicator, careful to keep his voice down. "... Good doctor, it seems as though we'll be landing on your moon soon." He poked his head out of his hiding place to confirm that he had not been detected. "... Yes, I can breathe in space. It just feels funny for a few minutes."

[ColArana]

Ryan had a really, really bad feeling about all this. His sonar had pinged a few times while they were on the Quinjet but whatever was keeping the device protected from the vacuum of space was blocking his sonar. "Does it bother anyone how easy that escape was?" He asked. "Not a single person jumped in another aerial vehicle after us. Nobody physically stopped us besides that green psychopath. Nothing. We didn't face any resistance. That's.... That's something that's really freaking me out, if I'm gonna be honest." He said. "I'm worried that they have some way of tracking us... And if they do, they'll know where we're going by now."

Ryan sighed miserably. "Maybe I'm being a pessimist, but do we have a game plan for when we land?" He asked. Planning for the worst case scenario.

[ParamountKeymaster]

Once the initial shock of Will flying a plane had worn off, once she was absolutely certain they weren't going to crash and burn, Max went silent and remained that way for the rest of the flight to the moon.

She spent the first half of the trip writing in her journal, keeping her notes well hidden from the rest of the crew. She was still trying to piece together this plot, and even after recording everything she had been told and everything she had discovered herself, there were still so many holes that she couldn't help but feel cheated and infuriated. Even now, stuck on a jet hurtling towards a secret scientific facility on the moon of all places, Max wasn't sure what they were hoping to find here, be it the microchip stolen from Mexus, or Lydia herself.

The rest of the flight she spent going back and forth between scowling at her journal and staring out into the void, constantly in deep thought. When she wasn't trying to figure out the what, where and why, she was thinking about the people entangled in this chaos. She hoped Percy was handling himself well; she hated the idea of him getting hurt for what could very well amount to nothing. She felt pity for Ryan, given what he had put himself through for her and the looming threat of what was to come. She feared for Lydia... Where was she? How much longer did they have to save her? How could they even hope to accomplish that now?

Looking out at the vast multiverse stretching before her in all directions, Max wanted to feel awe. She had never left the island before. This was an adventure the likes of which she had never been on before. It should have been exciting and spellbinding. Instead, all Max felt was emptiness. A sprawling expanse of emptiness where nothing made sense and the things that mattered to her were nowhere in sight.

As the moon grew larger in their window, Max turned to look at Will. Hearing his comment about stars finally pulled her out of her silence, albeit at a hushed, emotionless tone. "You could technically call them stars. Within a self-contained universe, stars are just giant balls of fire held together by their own gravity. Like the sun, but much further away. Out here, those 'stars' are other universes."

She turned around in her seat to look back at Ryan, looking much more anxious and empathetic now. "You're not wrong. I'm not expecting a warm welcome, let alone total ignorance on their part. Given the mess we left back there at the research base, I have no doubt they're gonna be ready for us."

Looking between Will and Ryan, Max continued with a worried tone, "I don't know if stealth will do us any good, but I'm not eager for another full-on assault either. We're gonna need a solid plan. So first things first... can you guys please tell me what we're looking to accomplish here?"

[Pink Moon Wolf]

"Tch... Yeah, I guess that's a good point..." Lydia conceded as she listened in on Ryan and Max's vocalized concerns. "Should probably think of something fast."

Checking the monitor, she saw the moon filling up a great deal of the cockpit window. Surely they were within its gravitational field now. Bearing this in mind, Lydia donned her goggles again and started slipping her arms back into the pod's mechanized cylinders. "I'm gonna plug back in and take this baby to manual. Once we're over the lab's airspace, we can try to gauge where they might be keeping the chip."

With the cortex override reactivated, after ensuring that Will was comfortable with her actions, Lydia once again puppeted Will's arms and took control of the jet. The engines started roaring again as they dropped down into the moon's atmosphere and quickly turned upright. The lunar surface raced by beneath them, and up ahead, a network of buildings started to appear...

"Okay, strike that, the chip could be anywhere in that labyrinth." Lydia bit her lip and sucked in a breath. "Uh... I vote for stealth and evasion."

[DanteMGalileo]

"... One gets the impression that we did not think this through."

With Lydia once again taking control of his arms to land this jet thingamajig, Will took a moment to take in the sheer size of the faculty. So much for popping in and out...

Oh what the fuck was he thinking?! Of course it was going to be needlessly complicated! Because nothing is ever simple when he and Percy get involved in anything! Ahhhh!! Why does it always end up this way?!

Will exhaled sharply through his nostrils as Lydia landed the jet. "I vote for... Hmm, well, we don't want to hurt Lydia, so taking this down isn't really an option. Wonder if I could pull off the impersonation stunt again..." Will's judgment council of one ruled one-zero that that idea was incredibly stupid.

"... Okay, anyone got a plan? Because all my plans go to shit."

Sensing that these intruders were preoccupied with their plans, Liderc activated the cuff, speaking into it. "We're landing. Bring out your best." The green angel then climbed out of the engine, ready to pounce on whoever came out of the jet first, breathing silent.

[ColArana]

Ryan sighed as Will suggested his solution. "I doubt that will work twice. They'll probably know this jet..." He looked at Max, and there was obvious fear and nervousness in his face-- he wasn't bothering to hide it. "As far as stealth... Maybe. If we can get through the first part anyways. We'll probably have to deal with a welcome crew..." He grimaced. "What about.... What about a distraction?" He asked. "A way to cover up and get their attention elsewhere as we get in? How we'll do it without someone sacrificing themself I have no idea though...."

Ryan looked at Will as he suggested the impersonation stunt. "Probably not Will... It got us this far, but they know about it now." He mentioned. He sighed as well. "What we're looking for.... The head of this place would probably know. So we'll... have to get to them, won't we?"

[ParamountKeymaster]

"Right... The ground team has undoubtedly passed word of your little hat trick onto the guys up here," Max sighed as she looked around at the landing site they had touched down upon. "And I have no idea how the three of us could even put a dent in this place."

Her gaze once again flicked between the two boys, an obvious air of annoyance in her eyes. Will had subtly offered one goal while Ryan remained vague about his. "So we are here to find Lydia, then? Well... I think a distraction could be useful, but I don't really have anything on me that could create one far away enough from our position. And I'm really not anxious to confront Dr. Michaels on this. I don't even see how we could plausibly take her or anyone else in this building hostage and squeeze the information out of them."

Max took a deep breath and dropped her head into her hands. "Yeah, I have nothing, guys. And it's a little too late to turn around and regroup. They know that someone is here. They won't let us go that easily."

[Pink Moon Wolf]

The landing was smooth and graceful, with Lydia pulling the jet up over the facility's runway and adjusting the wings for a slow, vertical, helicopter-like drop. Once they had entered the artificial, earth-like atmosphere surrounding the place and were safely perched on the ground, she shut down the plane's engines, then the pod's override system, freeing Will's arms again. With a sigh of relief, she pushed the control cylinders back in their place, removed her goggles, and turned her MP3 player off.

Well, here they were. At LunArc HQ. Now they just needed to figure out the next step.

Lydia sadly stared at Max through the monitor. Now that they were about to jump back into the chaos, she was starting to feel for her friends and her ex again. This was going to be the toughest part of their journey, no doubt about it. These people were gonna be put through the wringer for her sake. She wanted to help, but she was just as clueless on what to do next as they were, and as such, she had nothing to say to Will on the matter.

Now was probably a bad time to tell them that the motor cortex override system was severely taxing on Proteus II's power, and by extension, the oxygen, so they likely had one less hour to get her out...

Lydia sighed and rubbed her head. She'd been so excited on the way up here. Now the somber atmosphere was starting to get to her. Flying really was her kryptonite, blinding her to the cold, severe reality. Wasn't that what got her here in the first place?

[DanteMGalileo]

Ah, sweet relief in having control of his body back.

Said relief lasted all of two seconds before the crushing reality set in. Yeah, he figured the impersonation stunt wasn't going to work a second time. But now what? Will wasn't sure how much longer Lydia had left before she became a dead drifter in his body, and to be frank, he didn't want to think about that.

"Well, if they've been informed of that, then I'm sure they'd be informed of our arrival," Will inferred, summoning his sword to hand, blade alight. "Everyone, get whatever you have ready. True stealth's out the window." Once he was sure everyone was armed, he nodded and made his way towards the door. "Stay behind me. I'll keep you guys safe..." The tall blonde sharply inhaled, pushing open the door and taking his first steps out...



Just as he had fully exited the jet, Will found himself being hoisted into the air by the talons of a giant green swift, the bird's claws sinking into his shoulders. "G-GHK?! What the hell, man?! Why do you have it out for me?! Did you seriously follow us all the way up here just for a shot at me?!"

The swift strained slightly from Will's weight, shooting a glare at the man in his grasp. "Lose some weight!" it managed to shriek out. "You've got something I need, otherwise my hopes of getting off this worthless rock are null!" Liderc's voice, rather than sounding confident, sounded desperate. "You! Metal man and reporter!" He glared at Ryan and Max. "This doesn't concern either of you! Get back in your ship and turn around now!"

"What the hell do you need from me so bad?!" Ow, ow, ow. Yeah, he's starting to feel blood. "I'll give you anything if you'll leave us alone!!"

"You know damn well what I need, Lowe! And seriously, go on a diet! Less edible flesh and distilled grain products, more photosynthetic green edibles!"

[ColArana]

Ryan looked at Max sadly, seeing her evident frustration. He bit his lip angrily, looking at Will and glaring at him, as Will began to exit the craft. "I'm going to tell her. At this point she deserves to know, regardless of what you say." Ryan said, audibly enough for Max to hear-- but it almost seemed like he wasn't necessarily talking to Will when he did so. "This has gone on long enough, and at this point staying quiet about it is actively going to hurt our ability to do this right." He said, before turning to Max. "Max--"

And then Liderc made his move. "WILL!" Ryan exclaimed rushing out of the jet, and lifting his arm. Electric sparks began to flicker around it. "Put him down or else!" Ryan snapped at Liderc. "I'm not going back at this point, lives are on the line you stupid green.... green..... winged.... guy!" Ryan was not very good at insults.

[ParamountKeymaster]

Max just sighed and shook her head. So they were going to run around like headless chickens again, huh? Why was she not surprised? She couldn't think of any sort of rebuttal for Will's proposal, feeling more or less resigned to her position now. As such, Max quietly stood up and started looking through her tote for her taser gun.

While Will got to work opening the door, Ryan suddenly spoke to him in a clear show of defiance. Max raised an eyebrow at the teen cyborg, taken aback by his argument, then she turned a hard frown on Will, frustrated to have her beliefs confirmed. "So you have been holding back information! What? What is it?"

But of course, since everyone and everything had it out for them, Will was hoisted away by the giant green bird before Max could receive an answer. Max let out an involuntary yelp at the sight, following Ryan out onto the runway and watching Will struggle in Liderc's talons. Whatever the two were arguing about didn't faze her. At this point, she just wanted the prick to get off their backs already.

"RGH...!" And to further emphasize how horribly everything was going, Max's search through her tote bag for the one weapon she had was proving fruitless. "WHERE DID I PUT THAT DAMN...?! GAHHH...!"

[Pink Moon Wolf]

Lydia couldn't help but let out a distraught groan at Will's suggestion. Nonetheless, as he stood up and armed himself, ready to face down LunArc once again, she took a deep breath and braced herself as well. "Alright, buddy. We made it this far by the seat of our pants. We can do this."

All of that confidence was quickly thrown out the window when Lydia overheard Ryan threaten to spill their secret to Max. "WHAT?! NO NO NO RYAN I'M NOT READY TO- GAH!!!"

And the next thing she knew, Will was being lifted into the air, suspended several feet off the tarmac, his thrashing motions violently shaking the pod, a painfully familiar voice shouting in his ear.

"F*CK ME!!!" Lydia couldn't see Liderc on her monitor from this angle, making it hard to judge where Will could strike him. Still, she felt inclined to desperately bark instructions at him for lack of anything else she could do. "WILL! TAKE A SWING BEHIND YA! LOOSEN HIS GRIP! GRAB A WING! DO SOMETHING! PLEASE!!!"

Two loud zaps and two subsequent thuds were broadcast through Lydia's headset. Her heart skipped a beat as, just out of the corner of Will's eye, she saw Max and Ryan down on the ground, still conscious but writhing uncontrollably.

A group of guards quickly surrounded the fallen pair, putting away the stun guns they had used on them and picking Max and Ryan back up, keeping the scoundrels' hands firmly behind their backs. Several more members of LunArc's personnel calmly walked out of the building and approached the rabble, parting halfway through so that the one in the middle could step forward...

Clad in an elegant maroon dress and impeccably well-kept white lab coat, brown curls resting neatly and comfortably above her shoulders, Dr. Cora Michaels surveyed the ragtag group held captive before her with a relaxed but haughty grin on her face. She didn't speak for a while, simply relishing in the moment and studying every detail of the scene. Then she let out a deep, self-assured sigh and looked up at the bird carrying the man above her head. "Excellent work, Mr. Serapis. You can let him down now. The boys have you covered."

While the guards got to work helping Liderc restrain Will, Dr. Michaels stepped closer to the other party members, taking each of them in one at a time. First she nodded to Max with little more than a passing interest. "Miss Niles... What a shame. I liked you."

Then she stepped closer to Ryan, her deep green eyes full of a sort of wild, uncomfortable curiosity. "Ryan Summers... My goodness, it's been so long since I last saw you, and under such unfavorable conditions too... Oh, to have my own handiwork used against me. Sad... but fitting, I suppose."

[DanteMGalileo]

!!

Oh shit. Out of all the ways this could have gone, short of everyone being killed on the spot, this was probably the worst. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw something strike Max and Ryan. They weren't unconscious, but the writhing was worse. Even whatever Max had accidentally hit him with yesterday just knocked him out on the spot!

"Max! Ryan! What's- AUGH!?" Will felt Liderc's talons sink deeper into his shoulders, even as they grew closer to the ground. He was panicking, thrashing about, prompting the swift to further sink his talons into his flesh.

"Stop talking, Lowe," Liderc hissed out. Once he deemed himself and Will close enough to the ground, he reverted back to his humanoid form, holding the taller man in a chokehold, slowly cutting off his air...

"W-Wh-What'd you want...?!" Oh gods, his vision was blurring, darkening. Oh gods, Lydia, I'm so sorry. I failed. I've probably got Max and Ryan killed too.

"Count some fleecy baaing beasts." The angel's chokehold slowly tightened, slackening only once he felt Will go limp in his grasp. Checking for a pulse, he felt a weak beat on his neck. Liderc smirked, turning to Dr. Michaels.

"He'll be out for a few hours. You may have to patch up his shoulders, but the rest of him should be unscathed." Liderc handed the unconscious man over to the human guards. Surely, even they could handle an unconscious man. "I believe I've fulfilled my end of the bargain, good doctor."

[ColArana]

An electric current blazed through Ryan’s body and the young man did not scream so much as gasp. Screaming was impossible. Normally Ryan was fairly insulated against electric currents but some of the damage he’d sustained against Liderc had left him vulnerable. Electricity coursed through his body, sending multiple systems haywire. It wasn’t permanent and his body would be able to rectify the damage on its own given some time. But as of right now? Ryan’s body froze up like it was having a seizure and dropped like a stone, hitting the ground with a heavy “Thud.”

No, no, no, NO! Ryan’s Mind freaked as he tried to will his temporarily disabled body to move. Beside him, he saw Max go down as well.

”M... Ma....” Ryan tried to call out her name but found himself barely able to vocalize. In fact if a few parts of his mouth weren’t still biological even that much would have been beyond him right now. His still human eye darted around in a panic as Cora approached. She seemed familiar with all of them, but confusion registered in Ryan’s eye as he tried to piece that together. He hadn’t exactly been conscious for the procedure that had left him like this.

Will went down shortly after. ”Will! Lydia!” Ryan tried to uselessly bring his spawning body to move as he wanted it to but it was useless. Even the sensory input was fried, and he couldn’t even feel the security staff binding his arms behind his back.

Had they just failed completely?