detective comics #73 (1943): the scarecrow returns

First design showcase is here and it’s actually someone who didn’t have a fully worked-out design beforehand. I made up a bunch of stuff (the coat, the shoes, the spades, the striped leggings) on the fly and coloring was a nightmare, but I think it worked out. Either way this guy gets to skip the line because I’m using him as this blog’s icon so like I might as well parade him around a little.

Anyway this is Nesdin, he’s the third jester of the estate. Some info about him under the cut:

He’s...well he’s not actually a human. He’s a demon, specifically an ambush predator who is usually summoned to be sent after a specific target. Since he kills via ambush, he’s able to disguise himself as a human, and takes a new identity every time he’s summoned.

He’s also capable of dissociating his physical form into like hundreds of identical, completely black, amber-eyed cats. This is extremely helpful for gathering information.

If he’s summoned and isn’t given a task for a long period of time, he tends to get violent cravings. Striking fear, fighting, or killing are all ways to keep those cravings in check. If he doesn’t keep them in-check, he’ll completely lose it and go on a bit of a mindless murder rampage. Also, being near his summoner automatically numbs the cravings.

He likes to roam around at night and also likes to spook people (yes it helps the cravings but it’s also just enjoyable for him to do).

Killing him will just send him back to The Void and he’ll stay there until he’s summoned again. Being in the void will also emotionally distance him from his own memories to ensure he never forms attachments that may cause problems down the line. 

The summoning that brought him here right now was botched, so he showed up in the middle of nowhere and was left to hunt down his summoner, which brought him to the estate. He got his shackles after getting captured by a cult during his travels (he broke out but never figured out how to get the shackles off, and now he thinks they’re just cool bracelets).

He has a lot of cat-like tendencies because he’s a cat-like demon. So he likes to lay around in the sun, hisses when he’s angry, is able to purr (though he tries not to), pushes things off counters, gets zoomies on occasion, so on and so forth. He has his hat’s bells tied in a ponytail because if they were loose his cat brain would kick in and put him in Silly Mode.

He’s surprisingly tactile towards those he cares about for how mysterious and sinister he tries to act. He’s known to bump against his friends without provocation and will sometimes just lay in their laps. He absolutely adores having his hair stroked and played with, and also likes having his back rubbed, his face held, etc. Again, though, he only lets people he trusts touch him like that, anyone else is probably going to get stabbed.

If he gets sick he becomes the biggest whiniest baby. He may be a powerful murderous demon but he will be laid out flat by a head cold (and will also try to eat very inedible things so he needs to be looked after).

He’s sex-repulsed aroace. He has engaged in sexual activity before for the sake of landing a kill, but he’s never happy about it.

For a creature who’s so prone to causing nightmares, he’s actually really good at preventing them if he tries.

Though he’s centuries old, his human disguise looks to be around 21 years old.

A Legacy Left Behind - Chapter - 5 - The Gemmond Incident

Part 2

P3X-422 - Planet Gemmond

John was glad that he'd activated the stealth mode on the Jumper the moment he entered the Gate. He was pretty sure that was what kept them from getting blown to hell by the nasty-looking craft that flew past right in front of them.

"Sheppard!"

Lorne shouted out a warning even as Sheppard jinked the Puddle Jumper violently to the left to avoid colliding with the other Dart that came swooping down from above. The pointy little flyers looked like they were made of biological - or maybe organic stuff - combined with metal alloys. They emitted a loud whine while flying and John felt that the name 'Dart' would suit them nicely, what with them being so pointy. The design of the exterior of the flyers reminded John of the exoskeleton-like layers on the Wraiths. The moment that thought crossed his mind, he knew they were facing the Wraith. He wondered briefly why he wasn't experiencing the change that overtook him when he was in the vicinity of the Wraith. Then he realized the link with the Puddle Jumper was acting as a buffer, maintaining a safe environment for the moment, preventing the embedded instinct from taking over.

He kept flying the Jumper in a series of left, right turns and corkscrews until he was clear of the angry, buzzing nest of Darts that were flying randomly around the Stargate. The inertial dampeners thankfully kept everyone inside the Jumper from truly experiencing the g-forces Sheppard was pulling while flying. The previously clear screen in the front of the Jumper had now transformed into a transparent Heads-Up-Display, with the gathered data scrolling down, as the little ship ran its scanners on their surroundings. Everyone in the cockpit and the back of the Jumper was focused on the screen, trying to get a feel of the situation they had just flown into.

Sheppard didn't really focus on the HUD. He had it all in his mind, therefore he was completely focused on flying.

He finally managed to get the Jumper into a higher altitude, turn it around, and then hover. The ship had finished the scan and was informing him what it had found.

'There are five Wraith Darts in the immediate vicinity,’

Clever, little shit had picked up on the name, John thought fondly. He could feel the Jumper preening in the back of his mind at the praise.

“They appear to be flying at random as they try to pinpoint our location. The sixth Dart that was on the ground maintaining the dial-in, has now joined the others to continue the search.'

John could see the dimensions of the Dart appear on the interactive HUD with neat little labels on weak points, weapons, hull compositions, etc. He watched Lorne minimize the window on the Dart and bring up the map of the area again. Lorne was tracking the six Darts now flying around looking almost panicked, vainly searching for whatever had just come through the Gate.

"These are Wraith Darts." Lorne inhaled sharply the moment he realized what everybody was now looking at.

John felt Steve squeezing his shoulder in response to the other Major's exclamation. John knew he was asking whether they could maintain control without Steve having to ask the question out loud.

"It's alright Steve. We're good. The Puddle Jumper is acting like some sort of a buffer. We're not directly engaging the Wraith at the moment, so the imperative isn't going to take over as long as we are inside the Jumper," he assured Steve and Lorne. Lorne had started to go pale, realizing that he was going to go through his first 'Online Experience' before the day was over.

"They know someone's here - they've probably informed the others in the swarm by now. So I'm going to take us on a flyby over the city to see what these things are doing here in Gemmond," Sheppard announced, as he turned the Jumper back from the gate and pointed the nose towards the city.

..........

It took about a minute to get right above the city. There were fifteen Darts circling the capital city of Gemmond and Sheppard maneuvered right through their ranks to get to a higher altitude. He held the Jumper stationary while scanning the city below. They were all focused intently on the HUD.

It was carnage. It was horrendous.

The natives were all in states of absolute fear and sheer panic as they were all running around trying to get away from the Darts. The Darts were behaving in a certain pattern - They'd circle around the city, then the moment they noticed a cluster of people, one of them would swoop down on the huddle, emit a transparent yet shimmering transporter beam, fly over the group, dematerializing them and sweeping them up into the Dart. Then it would fly away and another Dart would take its place to repeat the same actions.

"It looks like these things are collecting the humans and taking them away for storage as if a farmer would herd his sheep into a barn, or scoop his chickens and drop them in a coop," Adam Noshimuri commented quietly, greatly disturbed by what they were witnessing.

"Let's follow the next one and see where they’re taking them. They’re not killing them, so they must be still alive somewhere," said Sheppard. He felt the anger rising in him as he watched the horrific scene unfolding beneath them. What was obviously a once-thriving city, was now in a state of chaos. Its citizens running around and screaming in fear instead of celebrating the fruits of their hard labor. Some buildings and structures seemed to have blown up or set on fire. Sheppard figured the Darts must have fired at the buildings to get the people out in the open, making it easier to hunt them. He unclenched his fingers that had unknowingly tightened around the flight controls and took a deep steadying breath. He was going to destroy each and every one of these Wraith assholes, he made a promise to himself.

Then another Wraith Dart suddenly swooped down to sweep another group of Gemmondians into its belly and started on a direct course away from the city. Sheppard abandoned their observation post and directed the Jumper after the Dart. They flew for about five minutes, passing a few cities, a couple of farms, and then a jungle terrain. Just after the Dart cleared the jungle, they could all see its destination ahead.

There was a bigger ship that had landed on the ground. The Jumper scanned the ship and scrolled the data on the HUD. It was made of the same organic/metal combined composites just like the Darts. It was only two-thirds of an earth warship in size. The Jumper identified it as a 'Wraith Dart Carrier', a slightly smaller spaceship than a 'Wraith Cruiser'. It had the capacity to carry thirty-five Darts but had only fourteen Darts inside it at the moment. The rest were away busy collecting humans and guarding the Gate. There were fifteen 'Wraith Drones' inside the ship for security and they had over one hundred live humans in captivity. There were two male Wraiths controlling the entire operation.

Sheppard was starting to feel the change slowly beginning to take over, responding to the Wraith atrocity that was right in front of them. He could see Lorne was still himself, but he knew it was going to change the moment they closed the distance.

"Alright, here's what we’re going to do. I'm going to follow one of those things in and land us inside somewhere clear of the Drones. You guys are going to separate into two teams, one take left and the other right. You go after the prisoners and take them out. Then lead them out of the ship and get everyone as far away as you possibly can."

Then he concentrated. Two interior hidden compartments opened and two small rectangular PDAs came out. Sheppard took one out as Lorne took the other. Then he activated the PDA which was actually an LSD, a life-sign-detector, with a thought and programmed it. He handed it to Steve over his shoulder. The LSD stayed active with its screen blinking and emitting a soft blue, despite the fact that it was in the hand of a non-gene carrier. Then he did the same to the other detector and handed it to Danny.

"I’ve programmed it to stay active for three hours. It’ll show you any Wraith-related life sign in a red dot and humanoid in a blue dot. You can also see a map inside the ship here. It’ll orient automatically as you move along and show you scales and dimensions."

Both the SEALs studied the instruments intently.

Then Sheppard focused his attention on the data on the Jumper screen. He went through a few information windows at speed and got the information on the Wraith weapons to the front and center.

"Steve, if you can get your hands on a few of these Wraith stunners, you should be able to stun them quietly and then shoot them. According to this, the stunners work on them better than bullets since the stunner attacks the nervous system while bullets just bounce off their skin." Steve and the rest of the group went through the data Sheppard pointed out quickly.

"What will you two be doing?" Danny knew the answer but asked the question anyway. He didn't like the fact that the two zoomies were going to turn into out-of-control killing machines the moment they touched the ground inside the ship.

"You know we’re going to go after the Wraiths; it won't help any of us if they manage to get into your heads and turn us all against each other. We’ll close in and engage them directly, keeping them distracted while you carry out the prison break. Radio in the moment you clear the ship, we’ll finish them and get back to the Jumper. Once you're all clear from the blast area, I’ll blow this thing to hell." Sheppard laid out the plan.

They had all practiced war games on scenarios such as this and Sheppard had the tactical lead on this mission as it was Wraith-related. They were all well-versed in the comms codes they'd be using once they were on the ground, keeping chatter to a minimum. Sheppard only outlined the rough plan, knowing the SEALs, the Agents, and the Marines were all capable of taking care of smaller details on the go as they carried out the mission.

"Just saying, man, you two are the only ones who can fly this tin can and I don't want to walk all the way back - I've got a bad knee," replied Danny pointing at his right leg with the fake ailment, looking quite serious. Sheppard recognized the unvoiced message hidden inside: 'be safe and get back in one piece.’

He gave a smile and got ready to fly the jumper in, right on the tail of the Dart. It was just entering the ship through an entrance on the cargo bay which had slid open, recognizing the Dart that was closing in on it. Steve and the rest of the team quietly got ready, mentally preparing themselves for the task in front of them.

Inside the Wraith Dart Carrier

Planet Gemmond

Sheppard had followed the Dart inside the Carrier and then taken them closer to the bulkheads above to see what it was doing.

The Dart had entered the spacious cargo area and then carried out a low sweep, depositing its terrified cargo. The newly re-materialized, scared, and panicked group of Gemmondians were then herded further into the ship by the Drones that were waiting for them. They used the pointy ends of their stunners to poke and prod the prisoners until they moved along the path presumably leading to their cells.

The Jumper now had a detailed map of the interior and was showing them the cells area, cargo bays, the bridge, the living areas for the Wraith and the Drones. Sheppard slowly guided the Jumper further inside until they came to a secluded area. It was a food storage bay for their human cargo and was not under guard at the moment. It had enough space to land the Jumper.

Once they all got out, Sheppard locked the back door and turned to face the group. Everybody took a collective step back noticing the expression on his face.

Sheppard was different. His normally bright and hazel eyes had gone completely dark, pupils blown, almost swallowing up the entire sclera. His expressive face was blank, lips flattened in a tight line and his head cocked to the side slightly, as if he was listening to something far away. His demeanor was decidedly more alien and predatory than human.

Lorne wasn't much better. But he looked downright normal compared to John. His pupils were enlarged to a point to cover only his irises. Not the entire eye looking like a black hole like Sheppard's. And he looked somewhat pale and afraid which was much more easier to digest than Sheppard's visceral metamorphosis into a deadly, alien hunter.

"Go free the humans," said Sheppard. His voice was quite different from his usual lazy drawl and now had a deep and vicious quality to it. With that he turned and took off through a tunnel exit leading towards the middle of the ship, way faster than any of them could match, with Lorne following closely behind.

..........

"Fuck," said Danny softly. Steve felt that it was an apt description of what they had just witnessed. They had all known about this, but seeing it for the first time was an entirely different experience. He didn't know whether to be disturbed, happy, or scared. He had plenty of reasons for all those emotions. But he firmly pushed all those thoughts away to deal with later. For now, they all had a job to do. They were on a timer and they had to move fast to make the maximum use of the elements of stealth and surprise they had on their side at the moment. So he signaled everyone to separate into two teams and move.

..........

Steve cautiously led his group towards the left side of the Carrier. 'Spaceships are supposed to be cool. This one’s a nasty piece of crap.' He complained to himself. The interior was dark with a red hue, thanks to the membranous interior, with what looked like veins spread inside them. It gave off the feeling of being inside the belly of a beast instead of a spaceship. Steve thought that he saw the soft tissue-like areas of the bulkheads moving at random intervals as if the thing was breathing. It made a creepy sort of sense because according to the data on the LSD, these ships were grown out of bio-organic materials and then blended with metal alloys to make them space-worthy. It also had a strong, pungent, almost rotting smell that reminded him of a carcass of a dead animal. Steve suppressed the shudder at the thought of walking inside a cadaver.

Then the screen on his Detector flared for a brief moment, alerting him of the incoming three Drones only a few yards away from a corridor to their left. He had a few seconds to act before the Drones took the turn and came face-to-face with them.

He quickly signaled Adam to come over and give him a boost. Steve lightly stepped on his cupped palms and pushed himself up, hanging onto the narrow ledge that was protruding out of the wall. It ran horizontally along the wall about 7 ½, maybe, 8 feet above the ground. It seemed to be a part of an interior major vein/pipeline system and was sturdy enough to support his weight. At Steve's signal, Bates boosted Adam onto the ledge directly in front of Steve and then quickly retreated to hide in the small alcove they just walked past with Cadman.

Steve hauled himself onto the ledge and stood straight, plastering his torso against the wall, the narrow ledge barely supporting his footing. Adam positioned himself on the ledge on the opposite side of the narrow corridor and gave Steve a nod. Steve glanced at the LSD once more, started a mental countdown of seconds, and placed it inside his tac vest. Then he took his K-bar out and got ready to face the Wraith Drones.

Just when he reached six on his mental countdown, the three Wraiths took the turn and stepped into the corridor Steve and Adam were waiting. They were staring straight ahead as they walked, oblivious to the threat that was hanging above them. Just as the trio walked past them, Steve and Adam made their move.

Adam jumped onto the back of the Drone that walked closest to his position and landed on its shoulder. He wrapped his knees around the Drones’ upper body and drove his knife into its exposed throat twice in rapid succession. Then he switched hands and stabbed it again on the other side of the neck for good measure. The whole thing took about five seconds and the Drone slowly sank into its knees, the stab wound to the enzyme sack on its neck proving fatal.

He looked up to see Steve finishing up his Wraith Drone in the same manner. The third Drone was frozen in shock and it took a few seconds to move towards Steve, his stunner pointing at the SEAL team leader's face. But that few seconds’ delay proved to be a fatal mistake. Steve dropped to the ground and extended his leg, sweeping it in an arch along the floor, catching the Drone on the foot and toppling it over. The Drone landed on the floor on its butt and Adam didn't waste any time dragging his knife along the thing's neck, splitting it open and killing it where it lay.

Then they dragged the bodies to the side and propped them up against the wall. They collected the three stunners the drones had dropped and Steve tapped his comms to let the others know to join them. Now armed with more effective stunners, they continued towards the holding cells where the captive humans were held.

They reached the cells without running into more Drones. The six Drones that were standing near the cramped cell area were quickly dispatched with Stunner fire to their heads followed by quiet shots to the necks with suppressed MP7s. Bates made quick work on the cell door by shooting at the keypad-like thing with his suppressed handgun. The cell door retracted with a sickly noise.

"Hello people, we’re with the SGC, you need to move now and come with us, we’re going to get you guys out of this messy place," Cadman had a ready smile on her face while she talked to the scared and pale Gemmondians. Then they broke out of their frozen stupors, finally recognizing the uniforms of their allies, the Tau'ri, and they all started spilling out of the cell eagerly. Cadman managed to keep them quiet, celebrations at being rescued to a minimum, got them all out and paired them up efficiently. She signaled that they were ready to leave, and Steve, who was keeping watch, acknowledged. Then they all started moving towards the closest exit out of the ship with Steve and Adam in the front, the fifty or so Gemmondians in pairs in the middle along with Cadman, and Bates taking the rear keeping an eye on their six.

..........

Danny's team was having a bit of hard luck. They had been edging towards the right side of the ship and managed to dodge a few Wraiths by taking cover, thanks to the advance warning received from the LSD. Now they were facing a problem. They were all taking cover behind a small wall that was jutting out from the floor and peering over to observe the holding cell. They could see there were about fifty people crammed in the entirely too tiny cell and there were five Drones milling about in the area. They needed to distract the Drones and lure them away from the vicinity of the cell, so Kono and Vega could take the shots from their positions.

A quick rock, paper, scissor session elected Danny Williams for the bait. He sighed and started to crawl back from the safety of their cover to reach the corridor that ended at the cells. Then he stood up and walked back in the corridor about a ten-meter distance from the cell. Once positioned in the middle of the corridor now in plain view, he waved at the Drones with a grin on his face to get their attention.

"Oi you, fuck-face, where's the.." He didn't even get to finish the question as the Drones all reacted. They all adjusted their weapons to face Danny and came running towards him.

'Oh, you aren't very bright, are you?' Danny had a few seconds to shake his head in sympathy before they started firing their stunners. Kono and Vega, who were ready with their rifles primed, but couldn't risk the shots earlier because of the prisoners, now had clear lines of sight to fire. They dropped three Drones with shots to the necks before the Drones even had the chance to fire. One Drone got a shot off as Danny threw his knife at it. Then he dove off to the side to dodge the stunner fire. He only partially succeeded. Vega finished off the remaining Drone as Kono shot the Drone that was already on the ground writhing with Danny's knife buried in its neck, killing it. Higgins came running towards Danny to see whether he was okay.

"Ah man, I can't feel my shoulder, please tell me I still have a shoulder." Danny was concerned. He wasn't panicking at all, not really - just very very concerned about his shoulder which he really couldn't feel anymore.

“Yeah, man, you're good. It only grazed you. Not even a tear on the uniform to show for it. You'll get the feeling back soon.” Higgins was palpitating his shorter colleague's shoulder with a chuckle. Danny could be a downright diva when it came to field injuries.

Danny moved his own gun to the back with the help of Higgins and picked up a stunner with his left hand. His entire right arm was going to be out of commission for a while. They all armed themselves with a newly acquired stunner and moved towards the prisoners. They had to move quickly. They were not sure whether the dead Drones somehow managed to send out an alert that there were intruders on board.

Kono and Vega got busy getting the prisoners out of the cell to move. They quickly organized the now big group and started their trek towards their closest exit with Danny and Higgins in the front, and Kono and Vega taking the rear while keeping the newly rescued bunch of Gemmondians safely in the middle.

pspspspspsps come here kittys! i got the treats you like!

(1/5 You know what, I’ll put one of these up every day, because my brain is leaving my body and I don’t have the energy to gather them all up at once) Instantly both of the cats perked up, their ears twitching. Mary gasped, in pure terror. “OH NO, IT ISN’T CATNIP, IS IT-“ But before she had managed to reach them to prevent it, they had shredded open the packaging, proceeding to glitch out and scream loudly and continuously. The poor Candy Guard could only watch on in terror as the machines went fully feral, shredding the entire nearby furniture. “I- I am SO sorry, oh my god, oh please, I’m so sorry, they- sometimes do that at our location, but I thought-“ Mike was watching on, grinning slightly self-satisfied. “Well, I guess I’ve been a little too hard on our shitty machines, huh? They never pulled this fucking nonsense, I can say that.” “U-Usually they don’t just- bring- catnip-“ The cats have started to run around wildly, dealing with the zoomies- And that’s cute and fun with two cats that go up to your ankle… … it was less fun with two GIANT machines, that were heavy and left nothing but destruction in their wake. Hell, even the Marionette had fled to the ceiling, holding up Jeremy to ensure he would not get in any way hurt. Phone Guy was angry- certainly not at the girl, but absolutely at the machines. “STOOOOOOOP THAAAAAAT!” However- They didn’t stop. At all. They didn’t even PAUSE. They were just ripping apart the location, while everyone was watching. Distraught Phone Guy turned to Mary. “THEY’RE- THEY’RE NOT U-UH- LISTENING TO ME! D-DO SOMETHING!” “I’m sorry, sir, but- when they’re like this… I don’t think I can do anything-“ “DO YOU WANT ME TO DO IT MYSELF?!” “C-can you do it? That would be fantastic, I-“ “G-GET THE GUNS.” “… wait what.” Mike threw his hands up. “Can I? Because last time I tried-“ “LAST TIME Y-YOU TRIED YOU WERE AIMING AT A CHILD.” “THE LITTLE SHIT DESERVED IT.” Mary was appalled. “Y-you did WHAT?” Too bad for her, she was being ignored. Finally, Mike showed his most morbid grin, as he reached behind him, pulling out the bat from behind him, his eyes following the kittens that were STILL SCREAMING AT THE TOP OF THEIR LUNGS. “I’ll be deactivating them the old fashioned way.” “N-no, please don’t!” Mary seemed about ready to jump in the way- But something slunk from the ceiling. Abruptly. Crushing down. A doll without strings. Of course, this instantly caught the cats attention- After all it could be a bird! Something to hunt and kill- However, as soon as they managed to get over, it floated upwards quickly, looming over them, grabbing them by the throats- Its eyes were bright and white. And glitching. The cats screamed and scratched- Then went limp. Glitching out too, until they were placed down again. Vinnie slowly dragged itself over to Mary, who took his hand, while the cats rebooted. “HELLO EVERYONE! I’M CAT!” “And I! Am Candy!” “And we are here to entertain you!” The aggressive guard lowered his bat, frowning. … he didn’t like that puppet thing. It was even worse than the one THEY had. “… did it protect you?” Mary was flustered at the question, just shrugging. “I- I think Vinnie here… just doesn’t like fights.” From the back of the room, a rather cold voice sounded. “And it is a him. Michael. You should rememb-“ “MY NAME IS NOT FUCKING MICHAEL YOU STUPID FUCKING BITCH, IT’S JUST MIKE. JUST FUCKING MIKE-“ Henry passed him, ignoring his words, simply throwing him a candy’s uniform. “We will have to be up to standard for the customers. They expect this to have Candy’s flair… and I do not care to test what will happen if we do not abide to the rules. Please change into these uniforms, employees.” Henry walked around, handing everyone their candy-blue uniform jacket. It was a much worse color compared to the superior Freddy’s “sky just before the first stormclouds approach” blue, and everyone could agree with that, however, they still had to wear it. Aside from Phone Guy, who seemed to be SEETHING as Henry approached with his jacket. “I- I am NOT- NOT h-HECKING wearing THAT!” His words got all jumbled up as he glitched. “Get over yourself.” Henry dismissed him. Huffing and puffing, Simon raised his fingers. “Y-YOU KNOW WHAT? I THINK I- I WILL NOT! I THINK I WILL G-GET- UH- EVEN MORE UPSET.” To stress his words he jammed his finger into Henry’s chest. “YOU! I-IT WAS YOU W-WHO PROGRAMMED ME T-TO FEEL LIKE THIS! Y-YOU HAVE NO RIGHT-“ “Oh, so now you are programmed again?” A rather cruel smile crossed Henry’s face, as he mocked his employee. “You made me this, you made me that… so you ADMIT that you are nothing but a machine who feels the way he is made to? Because I want you to know, Simon, you cannot have both. You cannot be your own person with thoughts and feelings that need to be respect and blame ME for your emotional tantrums when they are convenient.” His voice had abruptly turned cold. “You are all the same- but perhaps not because I programmed you. Perhaps you and all who were in your shoes merely realized they could get away with shedding all responsibility by harping on about your lack of your head. Perhaps you are all merely amoral cowards who love the path of least resistance, who love to point at the higher ups, or fate, or circumstances in order to never try and change themselves.” “You… y-you… you can’t talk to me like this!” “I cannot? Peculiar. Perhaps you should recalibrate your ability to predict people, because I seem fully capable of talking to you like this. Go cry to your partner, a partner who you have used as an excuse too, a partner you have left all the dirty, disgusting and violent work to in order to not do it yourself, might I add! Go cry to him and let HIM do what you want to do. Then sit back and feel good about manipulating others into doing what is needed in order for YOU not to change!” Freezing up, Simon stared at the man- this vile fucking man. … this was a ploy to make him act out. This was a ploy to make him- He clenched his fists. “I- I am NOT falling for this- th-this trick!” “Trick?” Henry merely raised an eyebrow. “… if that is what you would like to deem my words as. After all, if I am playing tricks on you, that is a rather comforting excuse to dismiss me, right? Put on your jacket, Phone Guy.” With that he left. Leaving the Phone Man to clutch the disgusting fabric in his hands.

What The Music Does: To You, To Me pt.2

Back with part two of this.

[Warnings before heading in: Descriptions of a manic episode of sorts, mentions of a past injuries (not described), and generally just a rough time over all.]

With this in mind, please proceed at your own discretion.

. . . . . . Ever since MC-473 had come into view, Meouch had felt an uneasiness coursing through his veins, but he refused to let it shake his concentration as he eased off the controls and let the ship drift down onto the landing pad, its belly stopping just before making contact with the concrete.

Shutting down the drive functions and securing the drift locking system, Meouch took a moment to look at the rest of the crew. Sung, who had been talking his ear off since their departure that morning, had grown quiet as he moved about the cockpit, checking the displays and recording the readings in a little black book, why he refused to move his notes to a laptop was beyond him.

Swiveling around in his seat and undoing his harness, Meouch caught sight of Phobos standing in one of the observation bays, his back to the group as he stared out at the surface. Meouch stood, prepared to join him, when he saw Havve approaching the other man, drawing him from his thoughts.

He didn't miss the little jump as Phobos turned to look at him, or the brief glimpse of... something on his eyes when he pulled away.

Meouch shook his head, it was none of his business what was going on in that guy's head, besides, Havve was already there. He could handle it.

As they did their initial scan of the planet's surface, Sung had taken it upon himself to keep him company as the other two lagged behind, checking the outbuildings for any signs of life. Meouch didn't really see the point in checking, the ship's readings had come back clean, MC-473 was abandoned after all, the only signs of civilization being the things that were too big or cumbersome to take back when the mining company that had owned the planet pulled the plug on its operations decades ago.

Tail swishing behind him agitatedly, Meouch had let out a little annoyed huff when he turned to ask Havve a question, only to find both him and Phobos still together on the landing pad. Thankfully, Sung calls them over in a chipper tone, saying something about getting eaten by a lizard monster, and the group carries on.

Bringing them to now.

As Meouch looks out at the crystal sea, he's hit with a lingering sense of deja Vu, which pairs disturbingly with the song his companions had been singing up until he'd asked them to stop because it was scaring him.

Placing his hand on his belt, feeling for his gun holster, he lets out a breath he didn't know he was holding, feeling a bit safer knowing that if things go south, if there really are weird lizard monsters, he can at least fight back.

Turning to face the others again, he purses his lips at the sight of Havve and Phobos once again falling behind. This isn't normal behavior for either of them, especially not for Phobos, whose sense of duty as a soldier usually results in him standing at the front of the line with Sung, playing bodyguard.

As he stares at them, Havve shoots him a look, unreadable beneath the mask and Meouch hears a click in his left ear as a comlink opens up, filling his head with a beat of fizzling static before a familiar voice mutters lowly, "Don't let Sung get too far ahead."

Meouch frowns and scoffs, "Sung is a big boy he can take care of himself." 

Still, he reaches out and grabs the tether trailing off the back of Sung's suit, which is there for exactly that reason, and tugs it twice to keep the doctor from straying too far.

Havve hums approvingly and the link closes. 

Looking down at the lead in his hands, Meouch frowns,  thinking about the other reason for the tether as Sung turns to him, giving him a questioning look, his good eye narrowing as he quirks his brows. 

"Am I too close to the edge?" He asks, gesturing ahead of them at the ridge leading into the valley, it's maybe ten feet ahead of them right now, but to Sung, Meouch knows, the drop off is a lot farther away

Meouch nods, motioning for him to step back in line with him. Once Sung is situated, Meouch glances back yet again, relieved to see that Havve and Phobos have caught up, falling in line behind Sung.

Phobos is looking around and hopping slightly on his feet as they stand still. 

‘Leave it to dog boy to get the zoomies while on a mission.’

Meouch snorts and moves the group forward, keeping a wide berth around the ridge, Sung's hand on his shoulder.

As they reach the bottom, finding themselves amidst a forest of towering crystals and twisting trees with oddly shaped leaves, Meouch signals from the group to circle up.

"The path up ahead seems narrow." He says, "Too tight for us, let alone the rover to have gone through."

"I don't wanna risk getting stuck in there either, so if we're going to proceed, we're gonna have to go around.  Personally, I'm getting an itchy feeling just being here..." He admits, then adding, "What do you guys think?"

"I want to stay." Phobos says, his tone light and happy in a way that makes Meouch's fur stand on end, "I like it here."

Sung first hums in agreement, but then shakes his head roughly, "No." He says, "We have to go, something is wrong."

“I want to stay.” Phobos repeats stubbornly, shifting on his feet in the direction of the forest, but Havve is quick to reach out and grip his arm.

“Let go!” he yelps, trying and failing to violently pull himself from Havve’s grasp, Havve’s hand acts like a vice though, and his legs remain firmly planted on the ground, “I have to go! I have to go in there, you understand?! You can hear it right??” 

Sung shudders beside Meouch, bringing his hands up to his ears, eyes watering painfully, “...We have to go. NOW.”

Despite the protests of Phobos, who only grows more frantic as the distance between the crystal forest becomes greater, and the occasional faltering steps of Sung, the group makes it back onto the landing pad, tired and out of breath, but otherwise physically fine.

Emotionally however...

“Eughh... I can’t... I can’t freaking see anything.” Sung whines once they’re back on the ship, hovering outside of MC-473’s airspace, wiping his eyes with a tissue, “They just won’t stop.” 

Meouch pats Sung on the back, wincing slightly when they hear a shrieking sound from another room.

“Seriously, fuck that place.” Meouch mutters, clenching his free hand into a fist, “Those crystals must have been radiating some kind of weird energy, and that song...”

Sung finishes rubbing his eyes and blinks before replying, “It’s possible. Crystals of that size have to have been created using a lot of power, and Phobos did touch-”

“No, he was acting weird even before we landed.” Meouch interrupts, then pauses, gritting his teeth, “...You could feel it, right? That he was off?”

Sung tilts his head and then frowns, “...When he got closer, I felt...” he rolls his hand in front of him, trying to come up with the right words, “...Distress, misery, longing... MC-473 means something to Phobos. I can feel it here.” he slaps his chest.

“If it means something to him, why didn’t he mention it when the name came up in the mission report?” Meouch questions, flinching when he hears another cry, this time more subdued and a little less unhinged.

“MC-473 has only been known as that for a short time, before that, there’s no details on its history... Researchers think it may have been part of a larger pl...” Sung’s voice trails off, “...Meouch, do you remember what Phobos’ homeworld looked like?”

A chill runs up Meouch’s spine. 

His memories of Phobos’ planet are hazy, largely because he smacked his head pretty hard hauling ass out of the place, half fighting, half dragging a hysterical Phobos along with him.

“My memories are too vague...” he waves his hand in front of his face, “...but now that I think about it... Stars... Did we just bring Phobos back to... Shit.” he curses under his breath, standing slowly.

“What are you doing?” Sung asks, moving to follow him, “Havve has things under control.”

That doesn’t stop him from quickening his pace as Meouch heads through the door into the medical bay.

“I wanna go back... I wanna go back...”

Meouch bites his lip at the sound of Phobos’ whining, looking down at Sung, who is once again rubbing his eyes, “Are you good?”

Sung nods, “The sooner we get back, the sooner it’ll stop.”

Meouch hums and heads towards the sound of Phobos’ voice.

As they round a corner, Havve can be seen leaning over one of the beds, an arm firmly resting across Phobos’ chest, keeping him pinned down as the other writhes wrapped up in a blanket like a strange caterpillar. Havve looks up briefly, nodding in acknowledgement before returning his attention to their friend.

“Where... Where do you want to go back to, Phibs?” Meouch asks, “Home?”

Phobos’ eyes dart over to him and he lunges forward, stopped only by the force of Havve’s arm slamming his torso back down, “I want to go home! I want to go home!” he cries.

“We are going home, buddy.” Sung says softly, reaching out to touch him, only to have to rip his hand away as Phobos snaps at him with a growl, “Whoa... Okay, buddy, okay... Not gonna touch you.”

“Why are you taking me away?!” he wails, “Couldn’t you hear them?! They were right there!”

Meouch hisses, closing his eyes, “Fuck.”

As Phobos continues to struggle, there’s a click and Havve speaks up, “Phobos is seeing... things.” he says, looking to Meouch “...Memories...” he whispers, tapping the side of his head.

“You... When do you think he’ll snap out of it?” 

“Soon.” Havve assures him, “His heart rate is lowering and his breathing is normalizing, he’ll likely stop fighting and fall asleep soon.”

Meouch swallows a lump in his throat, “...Is he going to be okay though...?”

Havve makes an uncertain tsk with his teeth, “...I’ll keep an eye on him.”

“Mn... We’ll... We should... When we get back we should talk about...” Meouch bites the inside of his cheek, “You know?”

Havve and Sung nod, and Phobos gives another whine of protest, weaker than before.

The trip home is quiet.