Interstice

[in_extremis]

WHO: Tony, Tommy, Reeve, Shaw, Cayde
WHERE: Agrii Ship Ground Zero
WHAT: Fixing some stuff!
WHEN: Shortly after the explosion.
WARNINGS: We'll see what comes up.
NOTES: Hit me up here if you want to plot some event stuff, or just tag in and surprise me.


a. the precipice [for tommy]
An explosion out the side of a ship in the vacuum of space should have been worse. It was as though everything necessary was in place to manage this crisis, both the execution and the recovery, leaving Tony very focused and calm in the chaos of the crime scene. He didn't hesitate when Ga Re's message came, and had been rapidly ushered through the halls to the engineering room, where he simultaneously assessed the space and who was in it, and quickly scanned the panicking Agrii still present as he passed to act as triage, getting them moving if they seemed capable and shouting for help if they were not. He was already set on a path that he wasn't going to be diverted from, heading straight for that smouldering hole and the ten thousand possible worse outcomes that had to be managed quickly if they were going to be avoided. He only slowed long enough to assess how far down he was about to fall as he knelt over the melted metal, not even waiting to test for residual heat as he gripped that sharp ledge to drop down.

He landed heavily, and from the rapid transition from the noisy cabin above into the eerily empty space below, the echoing rattle of his toolbelt suddenly felt dangerously loud. This wasn't a cloistered cooling system; this was an open space, navigable. It was lit by the forcefield to his side, open, dark space just beyond the cold light, throwing shadows across the barren cabin. The air didn't feel close and closed off, nor was there bitter smoke from the explosion, all gone with the strange, brief flash of the burst itself. The result was what felt like a rapid evacuation instead of a longstanding abandonment, like he was the last one left waiting for the disaster to strike, like the explosion had just been the warning siren.

"Something wanted out," he muttered to himself, producing a flashlight from his belt to scan the floor for evidence of approach to explain the upward twist of the metal above him. The explosion had started down here, where he stood, so it had to have come from somewhere. Taking a few cautious steps further to try to find that source, he continued, "Reinforce the shell, find the source of that shield, confirm timeframe, can't be long, maybe divert power to buy more time..." There was never going to be enough time. He scanned the light up, across the walls, worrying his lip anxiously at the dark yawn of open hallways; too much to search, too much that they didn't know.

b. the fall [for reeve]
It had been quiet for some time now. The regular cycles aboard the ship were already imprecise, mercurial, and in the wake of the explosion they shifted in reaction, until there simply couldn't be any further reaction, and the batteries were drained. Tension gave way to exhaustion. Only a few bodies remained in the strange engineering room, still thrumming with anxiety, where it was redirected into focus rather than dispersed in rest. Tony hadn't realized he had even stopped talking himself through his process, and had been leaned back on one hand and staring into an open panel, focus distant and mostly empty cup held against his chest gone cold long ago. The whole place was cold, it was hard to keep warm at all. Despite this, his shoes had been abandoned early in the process, scattered among the tools that he had spilled across the floor throughout his work with just as little care, though that never seemed to slow him down when he was in need of one and he easily could pinpoint the exact screwdriver he needed, or had to hand to Reeve when his brow furrowed and he started to glance around. It had been a while since Reeve had said anything either, Tony realized abruptly, making him blink out of his trance to take a breath and wet his lips, glancing around for his engineer. "I'm going back to the computer," he announced, though it took him some effort to untangle from his seat on the floor, muscles gone stiff from his crossed legs and the cold seeping up through the metal. He took the time with a hiss, rubbing some life back into his thigh and leaving him continuing through grit teeth, "Maybe it's not even structural, it's a programming problem, partitioned off in that mess of security measures." He hadn't gained full control of the AI that seemed to be managing the ship's systems yet, and this engine was not getting fixed by staring at it.

c. the probe [for shaw]
Someone on this ship must have seen something. There had been so many bodies so close to the explosion when Tony had first arrived. The problem was, if any of them were willing to talk to him, managing the language barrier on top of their anxiety and pain was enough of a challenge that Tony was being thrown out of the medical bay before he had made much progress. A ship didn't just explode, especially not from an area where everyone he did manage to speak to had claimed there was no way to access. If he didn't figure out why it had happened, that why was going to find him first. One thing he was sure about was that a little lightshow and some scared Agrii wasn't a finished project.

Head down in focused frustration, he went stalking back toward Engineering and the damage done to properly assess what exactly had been accomplished. He had been looking for crises at first, likely points of catastrophic failure in need of immediate correction, and hadn't been categorizing any of it as intentional targets in the blast. He moved easily through a high tension scene even as he got closer and more people were filling the hall, taller than most of the non-Agrii and easy to spot, and accompanied by the percussive clatter of his toolbelt as he walked. It was rare that he had to lay a hand on someone's back, a light brush of his fingertips to get her attention, and mutter, "Excuse me," to try to squeeze through where several Agrii crowded around a broken computer and bottlenecked the flow. He glanced around at them irritably, sure they had better places to be than collectively failing to fix this one machine.

d. the breach [for cayde]
Most of the bodies who cared to remain on this ruptured ship were either focused, committed to the crisis area or medical bay, or sequestered, gathered in communal areas to minimize the distribution of power and keep them all breathing. Most of the rest of the ship was not cut off, necessarily, just dark and cold and empty. Ideal for the bodies remaining whose any sensory input was a stab of pain.

Tony found out rapidly that the doors to any of the private quarters were locked as he went mincing gingerly by, trying several as he passed and not slowing to test just how securely locked they were, or how easy they might have been to force. Even thinking about trying to wire into one of them made his vision fog into dark clouds, leaving him walking blind with a hand on the wall and eyes closed against the ring of pain until he could feel the next door. It wasn't like he really needed to get into any of them anyway. He just needed somewhere quiet and dark to lay down for just a second, to let the nausea subside and vision clear enough to go back to work trying to get through that forcefield. He would have stayed if everyone's voices weren't so loud and the tools would stop falling from his hands to ring and spark violently. He slid down the wall, then over onto his side, where he could press his cheek into the mercifully cool floor, unable to squeeze his eyes closed tight enough to block out the strange black explosions, ruptures and oil spills behind his eyelids that felt like fire in his skull.

He didn't realize he had fallen asleep, it hardly felt like it, until he felt something awfully wet and spongy on his face. It came with a sound, moist and sucking, right against his cheek. It wouldn't be there, it could go away with the pain still drilling into his temples, if he could just slip back into the cool darkness, except that he was already shivering in the damp residue of his own sweat, and that squelching was suddenly inside his ear. He flinched and flailed a hand up to swat it away, nowhere to recoil with the wall behind him, so keeping his eyes securely closed like this might be a safe retreat. His knuckles connected with something soft, silky on his skin and yielding up until they found a sharp edge, then the snuffling was suddenly a yelp and he could hear a heavy body scrabbling away, nails clattering on the floor.

He was up, but not nearly fast enough, eyes wide in guilty panic before they were squinting closed again against the flare of pain. He got as far as pushing himself up on one hand to try to see what had just happened and what he had just struck. By then, the animal had bolted, and he only caught a glimpse of motion darting around a corner, listening to the click of its nails echo down the empty hall.

Comments

You called for a speedy boy?

[doubled_speed]

Someone think 'search'? Because damn wasn't there a light footed man falling down through the hole, landing with all the grace of a cat and strolling around the hole in the floor/ceiling and looking up at it. Then he comes to Tony's side, humming to himself.

"Centered here probably," he points at a specific point where the wall was blown open to the outside. "Judging from the size and pattern that it's unfolded in. Weird shit, right?"

[in_extremis]

The arrival only had Tony glancing back briefly to make sure it wasn't anyone that needed help, then he was back to trying to find the most logical direction to take, anything, but the nature of an explosion was a chaotic one and didn't leave any obvious paths to him. Dust could have been disturbed and debris scattered from the blast, not from the approach. He hummed his acknowledgement at the sheer range of weird they were considering, and after a beat noted, "They waited until we were off the ship. No witnesses." That didn't narrow down the list of potential suspects all that considerably, the Agrii in general were quite fixated on them and any one of them could have been tracking their movements. On the other hand, "Means it probably wasn't one of us." Someone getting in and out of this area, under that same obsessive scrutiny, would have been noticed.

[doubled_speed]

"I mean, could anyone get down here before?" Tommy asks. He sure didn't try and get down here of course. So he's got no input on that.

"And since we don't have the GPS stuff we'd have on Agra-10, we can't track people's movements, right?"

That's frustrating.

[in_extremis]

Some skepticism was reasonable, the place seemed to be entirely inaccessible without an obvious bout of violence, so Tony readily provided, "Wesker did." So there was a new access point, which might have been the means for this explosion, though as far as Tony knew, it wasn't a particularly useful one, and he couldn't see it from where he was standing. He did tip his head thoughtfully, even as he raised his light in the direction that he thought Wesker had approached that unforgiving wall, then turned toward Tommy to ask, "They don't just watch us when we're on the planet, right? They're tracking us when we're here, too. There's cameras." They weren't connected to the Control Room, those displays all looked like they were planetside, but someone must have seen something.

[doubled_speed]

"Of course he did," Tommy says, disapproval heavy in his voice. He really didn't like that guy, not by any measure. "We sure he didn't do this? Seems capable."

Yeah, he has clear opinions.

"Haven't seen any cameras on us here, but I could be wrong. Probably am wrong."

[in_extremis]

"More than capable," Tony agreed, but had to point out, "So it's strange that he would have waited." There wasn't an obvious benefit to that kind of sabotage timed precisely for when the Agrii decided to banish them back to their own ships, unless the intention had been to destroy the whole vessel and made sure it was only the aliens caught in the disaster. Why not wait until they were entirely clear, then? That math didn't work, leaving Tony not convinced enough to pursue it immediately. Instead, he suggested, "You should check it out. Do a quick pass," holding out the flashlight for Speed to take and get a scan of these darkened hallways. "See if you can spot any kind of monitoring or security systems."

[doubled_speed]

"Unless he doesn't want people looking at him. Or he only wanted to hurt Agrii, or whatever."

He thinks that much is obvious. Listen, he's suspicious of the guy, even if it isn't fair. But right now there are more important things to consider, and Tony's offering him something to look into.

"Like I'd know what most would look like. Got a flashlight you can spare?"

And an architect

[plate_builder]

Reeve's been thinking a lot about the structural things, which has of course meant his brain kept slipping off of the actual project they were working on. Perhaps that was just what his brain did when tired, fell back to the sorts of things he knows the best. Sure, he knows engines, but more in a 'generator' sense, than in this way.

When Tony rises Reeve actually takes his eyes off of the data he's been comparing to their repair attempts, and his eyes follow. He can see the way Tony is trying to deal with pain. So Reeve rises and follows him.

"Stand still for a moment. You need at least a shoulder rub."

[in_extremis]

Flirting wasn't usually making the list of anyone else's priorities in a crisis situation, earning Reeve a wary glance of disbelief for the offer while Tony tried to figure out what it was that he had done to earn the mockery. Maybe Reeve was just trying to fill the vacuum since Tony hadn't been playing his role properly, preemptively tense and pessimistic. He flapped a hand dismissively, muttering, "I'll stand still at the--thing," mind already passed what he meant to argue about to fixate on translating more of this code and getting it to do what Tony told it to. That was really annoying, when someone always refused to do what they were told.

He was already at the computer and yanking at its wires to pick the lucky one to try to connect to his nanoweb this time when he continued, "I should have realized what was taking you so long, I know I'm a distraction, but try not to stare at my ass and keep your mind on that engine for five minutes, sweetheart. If you can get it running, I might even let you have a squeeze."

[plate_builder]

Flirting? Dear Tony, this wasn't flirting. This was a man who lived his life as a designer, an architect, and an engineer. One who knows how bad someone's muscles can get when distracted by the project. And since of them only Tony can talk to the AI in the system, he can at least support the guy. So he follows and moves his hands to Tony's shoulders.

And his hands are warmer than they should be. Definitely some magic use here.

"Richie would prefer I stare at his ass, Tony. And you need the tension relief."

[in_extremis]

That was usually a more effective deterrent, so Tony tried one more time in a less confident mumble, "I won't tell if you don't." He was less prepared to deal with Reeve actually putting hands on him and went very rigid under the touch, until he willed himself through a deep breath and the reminder that Reeve was well beyond seeing what might have been under his clothes. He kept his focus on the wiring as he built himself a connection through the ports up his arm until he managed a consistent enough speed to greet, "Wakey, wakey, Sparky," then continue seamlessly, "I gotta say, I never noticed his ass, I must be missing out, if it's got you this serious."

[plate_builder]

"It's really not that impressive of an ass, if we are being honest," Reeve says as his magic warmed hands work at Tony's back.

"And I think it's probably polite to be kind to the man you sleep with."

[in_extremis]

One thought didn't seem to follow the other to Tony, who had to conclude against all of his bulletproof logic that it was his own ass that Reeve didn't find that impressive, and turned a raised eyebrow on him to challenge that position. That move didn't help with his tension, his muscles one dense knot under Reeve's hands, and had him betraying a wince even under that artificial warmth before he was quickly turning away again like he had any reason to look at the computer console. "You think it's impolite to notice somebody else's impressive assets? What kind of relationship is that? Are you some kind of concubine?" he pressed.

[cactusy]

Messing around with computers is very much not in Shaw's wheelhouse - there have always been other teammates for that. But here she is all the same, also doing her best to bob and weave through panicky Agrii, her attention fixed not on any of the screens but on the damage around them. And when Tony tries to brush by, rather than just moving aside and letting him go, she waves her hand to get his attention.

"Hey, take a look at this," she says, nodding at the blown-out area she's trying to push her way towards. "I've seen the aftermath of a lot of explosions, and this looks like some kinda ground zero to me. It's the second spot I've found so far, and the other one was also right by a mess of computers; I'm thinking that's not a coincidence."

[in_extremis]

This was not where Tony thought he was about to begin his search, and looked slightly bewildered, definitely impatient, and like he might cut Sameen off before she could divert him with whatever new argument she was itching to get into, only for the hand he raised to put a pin in that to freeze, forgotten as he considered her presentation. He didn't look convinced necessarily, skeptical with one eye winked shut, not sure how much he should be weighing her 'I've seen some explosions' experience against his 'I make some explosions', but considering. He did have to point out, "I don't know, that big hole over there seems pretty hard to ignore, if I were looking for where an explosion happened, you know, in my opinion."

That was about how long it took him to reach the end of his fuse for these idling Agrii, though they probably understood his tone more than his words as he snapped, "This equipment can be pretty delicate, a little disturbance could have just thrown the wrong spark." They didn't need to understand what he was saying to see the melted snare of wiring that he swept down to yank out of the smouldering case they were standing over, which usually meant the problem was more significant than a quick reboot might solve. At least a couple of them got his message, skittering away and buying Tony the space for the time being.

[cactusy]

His first comment earns him the most unimpressed look, but she waits before continuing, letting him get a good look at the fucked-up computer system.

"Two wrong sparks, at least," she says, once most of the Agrii have scattered. "At the exact same time. Sabotage, or unstable system?"

[in_extremis]

"Okay," he seemed at least willing to entertain, still considering the mess in his hand until he tossed it back among the rest of the broken parts with distaste, not about to get that one working with a few bypasses himself. Two at the same time did feel distastefully coincidental. "Walk me through it. Is that one just a distraction?" he said, nodding toward the major damage.

[cactusy]

Shaw makes a big show of looking over the damaged system, then looking at the hole above them, and finally looking back at Tony, raising an incredulous eyebrow.

"Dude. Explosions plume up."

[in_extremis]

"Dude," Tony returned, hand on his hip but not returning the incredulous look as he continued to study the hole. "Heat plumes up. Explosions explode. Even distribution of pressure. This hole is smaller than that one. If this," he pointed to the computer, "is the source of that," then to the hole, "then--" The argument he was building up to clearly changed directions with the cant of his head, and he concluded, "That was already a structural weak point." Maybe one that hadn't been properly accounted for by the saboteur. There had been at least one person looking for a way into this space in the last few days.

d

[deal_me_in]

Cayde had mostly been keeping out of the way of the people who were actually able to do anything. The emergency itself hadn't been something he was particularly unacquainted with, but when there were no obvious culprits or threats to shoot, he had to fall back on rescue.

Even that had been limiting- the space that needed rescues was tight and there were enough people going in and out that Cayde only helped usher off the unnecessary bodies that were attempting to bring in more. It might have been awkward to carry off a couple of Agrii who were just as big as you were, but as an Exo, it was more than manageable weight, and eventually they started to get the message, clearing out unnecessary clogs. When people started filtering from private quarters, Cayde moved through the halls to help with whatever the pink aliens needed help moving, whether it was furniture, personal effects, or a gaggle of young'ns. He was good with the latter, and jouncing them around to keep their spirits up, telling them stories of his adventures and like instances, and while he was pretty sure they didn't pick up on everything they said, his tone still had a way of captivating an audience, and sound effects could be a universal language in itself.

Eventually Cayde had extracted himself from public relations, taking to some makeshift patrol in search of stragglers. Specific stragglers, in this case. The sound just then was a curious one, prompting him to pick up his pace. The one he did come across wasn't on that immediate list but always existed on one of some form, and as soon as the Exo saw him, he hurried down the hall to where Tony was.

"Hey chief, you okay?"

[in_extremis]

While Cayde moved mercifully light and silent for a heavy, metal man, his voice had a hollow, tinny quality that Tony otherwise found subtle and warmly familiar. That was when he didn't already have a headache, and the thin, silvery sound didn't jangle around in his skull as he did his best to push himself up and look convincingly normal. He got as far as sitting, leaned back against the wall with a knee drawn up to balance his heavy arm and let him rub restlessly at the hinge of his jaw. "Of course, always," he still answered, and gave another glance the way the animal had gone. "I think I just punched a dog." He didn't have a great explanation for that one, so he was rapidly on to turning his squint up at Cayde again, or somewhere over his shoulder where the glow of his features that had been so charming yesterday couldn't threaten Tony's delicate equilibrium, and maybe he just looked accusatory. "Where have you been? There's a robot and a sword I could have used a little help with." The sword would have helped with the headache. If it didn't, he could use it to cut his brain out. Why didn't Tony carry it around? Besides the fact that that would mean carrying a sword around.

[deal_me_in]

Unconvincing as it was, Cayde didn't call Tony out on his response. He did look bewildered for a moment before blurting, "-the bikini!" as he looked down the way Tony seemed to be indicating it had gone. He looked ready to go sprinting after the already absent creature when Tony's inquiries caught up with him.

"-you have a sword?" Of course he focused on the weapon first. "Felwinter's better with that sorta thing- what all are we talking about?"

[in_extremis]

Right, Tony knew they had a silly name, and he tried his best to mirror Cayde's finger guns with one eye winked shut and mostly a vague, pointing wave for correctly identifying the animal that Tony had abused. Now they could accurately tell everyone what a terrible person he was.

"Sword's just a big knife," he observed, raising his eyebrows. That sounded like the kind of thing Cayde was into, and Tony was a little unsettled by the concept of Felwinter with his sword. "The Agrii thought I should have them, I don't know," he continued to try to explain, meanwhile pushing himself up the wall to achieve a reasonable standing position, gritting his teeth and taking much more time than he wanted to. "It feels like some kind of test. Cap got booze. What does that mean? He immediately failed, I think. Turn around, let me see something."

[deal_me_in]

"Why'd you punch it? I was trying to find it, there is a very sad Agrii waiting back there." Cayde tried his best to pout as though to mimic a disappointed Agrii but some expressions were better pulled off than others when you had a metal face.

"Knives are more flingy," he countered. "You got a weapon?? I only got a stove. And a cassette tape. How'm I even going to play one of those?" He tried not to hover too much as Tony started to try getting himself to his feet. "See what?" Cayde asked even as he turned, brow quirking.

[in_extremis]

"I thought it was..." Tony started, and faded quickly, because now that he was awake and upright, there didn't feel like there was any reasonable justification. He finished by flapping his hand, you know, the normal reasons someone might punch a kid's loved, lost pet. At least Cayde was turning away by then, so Tony could redirect his frown as he peeled away from the wall as much as he could bear to twitch Cayde's cloak out of the way. The top of the list didn't seem right. There was no way Tony had translated the weird ranking system properly. While he considered the finer details of Cayde's butt, he muttered, "You ask Jon. What do you mean, a stove? Like, an oven?"