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Post by Pink Moon Wolf on Aug 8, 2019 14:56:11 GMT -5
Alt Title: The Part Where All the Really Insane Crap Happens
There was no jovial atmosphere inside or outside Proteus II to match the upbeat tune playing through its radio. Lydia had simply turned it on to settle her nerves, even if it wasn't having much effect. She sat there rigid in the pilot's seat, both that of her pod and that of the jet currently carrying her and her team back to the island.
Once she had ensured that doing so would not burn up every ounce of the jet's fuel, Lydia had sent them rocketing home at top speed, which still resulted in an uncomfortably slow crossing through the void. There wasn't much she could do after that, to her chagrin, so she shut down the pod's motor cortex override until it came time to land. The jet wasn't the only vessel whose fuel she was concerned about.
OXYGEN RESERVE: 10%
Right then and there, with her eyes flicking between her visual feed monitor, her instruments, and the dark realm of Will's cranium outside her window, Lydia was doing everything in her power to focus on the positives. Everyone was safe and none too worse for wear. They had the microchip. They were mere moments away from getting her extracted and back to normal. The island was within reach and there was still no sign of the miniaturized cyborg assassin still somewhere within Will's body. In light of that unsettling detail, things seemed to finally be going right. It was just too bad there were still so many ways in which things could go terribly wrong.
Well, no sense in waiting around any longer for disaster. As the island drew closer, its gravitational pull becoming ever apparent, Lydia started booting her system back up in preparation for reentry. Her tone was calm but sullen, well aware of every variable. "You guys out there ready for touchdown, Will?
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Post by DanteMGalileo on Aug 8, 2019 15:14:54 GMT -5
Oh, why this song? I utterly despise this genre.
It'd been a bit too quiet for Will's liking after their initial takeoff. Excluding the annoying song in his head right now. Well, at least he had control over his own body for the moment. Lydia was probably concerned about her own oxygen supply now. Trying to save as much as possible. Yeah, he could relate. Not the running out of oxygen part, just saving as much as possible.
He hadn't heard anything suggesting there was fighting within his body. No news was good news, he reckoned.
As he watched the island slowly come into view, Will stood up, turning to face the other two people in the plane. "So..." He paused, not eager to jinx the situation further. "It's been an... interesting few days, hasn't it?"
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Post by ColArana on Sept 3, 2019 16:55:24 GMT -5
Ryan had been on edge the entire flight, stealing repeated furtive glances at Will. He's not made any freakouts so Lydia's not in danger. Yet. Somehow he kept expecting something to go wrong. Things had been too smooth on the flight back. Even considering all the shit that went down on the lunar base, it scared the hell out of him that there was no response team sent to intercept them yet.
Ryan shifted in his seat uncomfortably, watching the cockpit again. It was something of a relief when Will finally spoke up, breaking the tension of Ryan's mind. "Interesting is putting it lightly. I haven't been involved in anything like this since... well...." Ryan awkwardly gestured to himself. "Since this happened to me." He noted. "What about you Max? Have you undergone any insanity like this in your career?"
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Post by ParamountKeymaster on Sept 27, 2019 13:48:06 GMT -5
Max stared out the window, her wistful eyes fixed on some unknown point in the void. Her knuckles were stark white as they gripped the seat of the copilot's chair. It was safe to say that she was coming down from an adrenaline rush the likes of which she had never experienced before. Breaking into a high-profile laboratory, being imprisoned, engaging in gunplay, stealing trade secrets, learning that her ex-girlfriend was presently shrunk and trapped inside the body of the young man that had led her down this rabbit hole... It was all a bit difficult to process in such a short amount of time, and she was oxymoronically straining to relax after the endeavor. The fact that it wasn't even over yet didn't exactly make it easier to catch her breath.
It took a while for Max to realize just how tense she was, but she finally managed to pry her hands free and let the blood flow resume as normal once Will spoke up. She awkwardly glanced at the unwitting host, words utterly failing her. Then she looked back at Ryan as he offered his exasperated two cents. In response to his question for her, Max let out a deep sigh and faced forward again. "I can definitely say this is the most involved in a story I've ever been. I'm sure one day I'll be able to look back fondly at the excitement, but... right now I'm just trying to focus on getting everyone out of here alive."
She turned back to Will, her expression displaying nothing short of genuine concern. "Are you guys alright?"
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Post by Pink Moon Wolf on Sept 27, 2019 14:24:59 GMT -5
"'Interesting,' nothing. I don't think there's a word in the English language that adequately describes this adventure," Lydia muttered, leaning into her visual feed goggles and hooking her left arm in for one last puppet routine. "Let's just hope the worst is behind us. ...I probably shouldn't have said that. Sorry. Can't really take it back now."
Her focus settled on Max in Will's peripheral. The mutual concern between the exes was apparent, and at least Max wasn't stark raving mad anymore. Ryan's comments elicited a sigh out of Lydia, expressing pity for the poor guy trapped in the middle of this fiasco. And Will... he'd been through so much for her sake. Every bit of anxiety Lydia felt for her own sake was doubled when she considered his perspective. It was going to be a major relief for both of them once she was out.
Max was asking Will if they were alright. Lydia could sense that worry piercing right through him to reach her as well. "Yeah..." she breathed, anxious to be heard. "I have enough oxygen for this last leg. Don't worry about me. I'll make it."
If there was one thing Lydia could take comfort in, it was the comradery she was feeling between the four of them. It was nice to know that despite the hectic experience they were recovering from, they all seemed as ready as ever to end this.
"Alright..." Lydia reached over and switched off her radio before securing her right arm into the override system. The island awaited. "Ready, Will?"
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Post by DanteMGalileo on Sept 27, 2019 15:10:19 GMT -5
"... Lydia says that she has enough oxygen for the landing," Will relayed, opting to omit the remark about the day being something beyond interesting. Sighing, he allowed his limbs to fall under her control, become her meat puppet. "I'm ready. Well, ready as I'll ever be. Take it from here, Lydia."
Ah, there it was, the sensation of being unable to move his own limbs, watching his arms handle the contraption in front of him with a level of expertise the blonde knew he would never be capable of. "So," he began, trailing off. What was the best way to phrase this to avoid angering the gods of fate?
"So... When this is all over, what do you guys plan on doing? Me? I think I'm going to give up drinking for a bit. Maybe reduce the smokes down to less than half a pack a fortnight. Maybe see if I can't actually relax a bit on what's left of my vacation. Max, Ryan?"
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Post by ColArana on Sept 28, 2019 17:54:12 GMT -5
Ryan nodded. "Yeah, that's.... Fair. For sure. I guess it's the same here. I just want all of us to get home safely, and finish this with everyone alright." He agreed. "I'm holding up alright. Don't even feel the after-effects of getting zapped like that anymore." He replied to Max, looking out the window. "Got a plan on where we're planning to land?" He asked. He figured as close to Lydia's dad's lab as possible would probably be the correct answer there.
Ryan was relieved to hear Will state that she had enough oxygen for the landing. "When all of this is over? ....I.... Dunno. I mean. We've kind of pissed off LunArc. So... I have no idea. I feel like I've made a bit of an enemy. I'm really not sure where to go from here." Ryan looked at his arms. Despite all of this, he still wasn't sure how he felt about his body. Part of him was convinced he had to tinker with it and make adjustments in case something like this happened again. But the other part of him still wondered if that would be fully accepting what he'd become. He frowned a bit at the conflict within him. "Though I guess if we're talking about the immediate future, I wouldn't mind going out and getting a celebratory drink with all of you if you're up for it." He offered.
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Post by ParamountKeymaster on Sept 28, 2019 18:37:54 GMT -5
Max let out a low sigh of relief, sinking back into her chair. She felt bad backing Lydia into a corner when her oxygen and her life were on the line, but having Lydia control Will to land the plane really was the safest way to get them home. Hearing that she felt comfortable enough to do so was a tremendous wight off of Max's shoulders.
She glanced up at Will with a smirk and a muted snort. Ryan was the first to offer a proper response to Will's question, bringing up a good point in the process. Max craned her neck to look back at the meek cyborg, offering him a smile. "Yeah, you're probably not wrong. I'm gonna be walking on eggshells as it is when it comes to how much I can leak through the press. But... we have solid evidence against them... and I think we make a pretty good team. If you'd be willing, Ryan, if LunArc comes knocking on our door again, I feel like we could take them on in a... less physically demanding manner. I wouldn't mind working together again."
Chuckling to herself, Max faced forward again, watching the atmosphere outside grow visibly hot as they entered the island's atmosphere. "As for drinks... well... in a time like this, I can't say I would blame anyone for having a few."
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Post by Pink Moon Wolf on Sept 28, 2019 19:13:56 GMT -5
Lydia couldn't help but laugh to herself as the crew on the outside talked amongst themselves; what for, exactly, she couldn't tell. She remained quiet otherwise as she stared through her visual feed goggles and manipulated Will's arms, pulling the jet into a steady decline as they reentered the atmosphere. Any turbulence was lost on her –nothing different from the near-constant movement she experienced while inside a body– and her head remained completely cool as they dropped towards the ground. Tropical trees passed by beneath them as they sailed above the canvas of the southern rainforest.
The prospect of celebratory drinks was brought up. To that, Lydia had to laugh again. "Under most circumstances, that would be my go-to response. But... I dunno. I think it's about time I got on the wagon. Maybe just dinner would be nice. Y'know, once I've made sure this project is shut down and the worst of it really is over. And after that... well... it looks like I'm gonna need a new job. Hahah..."
Skyscrapers started to appear on the horizon. Void City was fast approaching. Almost home...
"Alright. We're gonna touch this baby down right next to the lab. Mexus's property is wide enough for a makeshift landing zone. If my dad or anyone wants to complain, they can kiss my microscopic a-"
BEEP BEEP BEEP
"FOREIGN OBJECT DETECTED. APPROACHING THROUGH SUPERIOR SAGITTAL SINUS."
Lydia uttered an involuntary squeak, leaning away from her eyepiece to check her computer. The monitor displayed a detailed, digitized map of Will's cranium, pinpointing the pod's location on his motor cortex. A conspicuous red dot was approaching from atop the brain.
"Oh... there you are..." Again, it was probably very much to Will's benefit that the brain itself could not feel pain.
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Post by DanteMGalileo on Sept 28, 2019 20:09:10 GMT -5
"Well, I wouldn't mind going out for drinks," Will conceded. Damn, was he really that weak? Was his resolve to actually get clean going to amount to nothing in the end, resulting in him likely ending up piss-drunk next week? No, let's... actually try to follow this through for once. "Though I think I'll stick to virgin cocktails this time. Or maybe see if Lobo's got that weird angel mixer."
Hang on, things were going way too well! This isn't normal! Nothing goes over well when they're involved! So this-
Lydia said something. Something that did not bode well. Taking a moment to swallow the lump in his throat, Will asked the uncomfortable question.
"... Is it the crazy guy?"
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Post by ColArana on Sept 28, 2019 20:13:55 GMT -5
Ryan gave a weak chuckle at the answers. "Alright that's fair. I suppose maybe not the most appropriate thing to offer you Will." He smiled though, a fairly genuine smile. "Dinner sounds good though. It can be on me. Just you know... a "I'm glad we all got through this without dying" dinner." He stated. "Well, figured it'd be nice anyways." Then Will said something and Ryan paused. "...The crazy guy? What do you--"
Then it hit him.
"Oh no..." Ryan started to get up and approach the cockpit. "....Lydia's gonna have to lift control pretty shortly isn't she?" He said with a gulp of nervousness. He looked around at it. "Max are we going to be alright if Lydia has to give up control to get the hell away from that psycho?"
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Post by ParamountKeymaster on Sept 28, 2019 21:00:49 GMT -5
Max snickered a little, staring outward with a thoughtful smile. "I could go for dinner. Just like the old times..."
And then, with a simple question backed by Will's nervous tone, everything started predictably crashing down.
Max turned to Will with a wide-eyed grimace, already uneasy for everyone's sake. Mr. Stone had caught up with her? Why now? They were so close! Landing the jet in her position had to be difficult enough as it was for Lydia, but now...?
If Lydia really did have an assassin breathing down her neck, there were really only two options for the crew at large, and both of them placed them all at risk of death. It wasn't an ideal crossroads, but thinking it over, Max had to settle on the one that at least gave her ex a fighting chance.
"Lydia? If you need to escape, then do it. I... We can try our best to get ourselves back on the ground. You don't have to risk your own skin for us."
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Post by Pink Moon Wolf on Sept 28, 2019 21:09:24 GMT -5
"That is a fair presumption..." Lydia whimpered, still awkwardly staring at her monitor. With a slight jolt, she straightened back up and looked into her visual feed again, steeling her nerves as best she could. Time was of the essence now more than ever, and she didn't intend to waste it. "I-I can do this. We're almost there. I just need... five minutes to land... and... two... minutes to unhook..."
Oh Christ, wording it like that only hammered in that seven minutes to herself was a luxury she did not have in there, a fact that was painfully obvious in her tone.
She heard Max speaking directly to her, offering her leeway to save herself at the risk of leaving the landing process in unqualified hands. Appreciative as she was by Max's concern, terrified as she was by the approaching threat, Lydia remained resolute, even if her shaky voice didn't convey it in the slightest. "No! I can do this! I'm the only one who can! I'm not abandoning you guys! I can't! Not again!!!"
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Post by DanteMGalileo on Sept 28, 2019 21:26:53 GMT -5
Seven minutes. Will wasn't an expert on anatomy, or most things for that matter. Hell, even before he dropped out of school to support his siblings full-time, his grades were somewhere between 'acceptable' and 'horrible.' But while he would freely admit to being book dumb, he liked to think of himself as having a lot of practical knowledge.
Such as knowing seven minutes would not be enough for Lydia to do whatever it was she was trying to do. Well, time for him to try and do a thing he knew he was terrible at. He closed his eyes, inhaled...
"No," Will said in a firmer, lower tone than he was used to, trying to get to his feet, movements stiff. His eyes opened, the brown rings around his pupils seeming a bit larger than normal. "Dammit, Lydia! You don't have the time for that! The crazy guy could very well get you in the amount of time it'd take us to land and you to detach yourself from my brain!" A jerky hand tightened, almost corpse-like. "Get out of there! We need you to live! Don't try to do everything yourself! Dammit! Listen to me! Get out of my brain and avoid the crazy guy! NOW!!"
His eyes closed again, and Will took a few more deep breaths. Did... did he really just tell someone to do something like that? In such an authoritarian tone, at that? "... My apologies," Will stated, body still stiff, voice back at its normal register. "I didn't mean to lose my temper. Max? Ryan? Are you up for this?"
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Post by ColArana on Sept 28, 2019 21:40:07 GMT -5
Ryan nodded in agreement with Will as he protested Lydia's decision. He couldn't hear what Lydia had said, but he had a good idea. "Lydia. If you die here and now, then everything we've gone through until now has been for nothing. We'll make it. You got us this far. Trust us to do the rest." He said, getting up and walking towards the exit of their ride. "Max? Will? Someone?" He asked. "Someone pop this door. I can't fly this thing, but I can try to help guide us."
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