LAL2: Return of the Missing - IC

The Overarch was quick, as well as clever. Having seen the knife coming even before it was out of the little syratope's hand, he moved to the side, just enough for it to miss hitting him.
No - instead, the knife plunged ever so neatly into the middle of the pauldron-like plating that covered his shoulder. Being mainly for show by now, the material was just soft enough for the knife to sink in about halfway.
The Overarch smiled. "Impressive." He removed the knife and pocketed it, looking to the guards. He gave them the go ahead to take the unconscious prisoners away. They knew what to do, and quickly enough, everyone was out.

For a moment, the Overarch turned and looked at Kydi. He didn't say anything; he didn't do anything; he just watched his face. His reaction to having seen all of that happen, and having not done anything at all to stop it.
Then he briskly turned on his heel and left, abandoning both Kydi and the Hunter standing in the hall by themselves.

Kydi sank to the floor, hands on his head in horror. His glasses were askew, causing one eye to look slightly larger than the other. He had never expected to see them all again. And if so, never in this situation.

But now they knew. And now they would never think of him in the same way. He sat for a long moment, staring at the floor with his eyes unfocused, trying to come up with some logical solution for this nightmare.
Yes, they had used him. Maybe....But from the look in their eyes, they had also trusted him. They'd come for him. That had to mean something.

While Kydi struggled internally, the Hunter watched with fascination. It didn't show on his face, which remained a cruel blank, but he found Kydi's turmoil educating. Interesting, even.

Kydi took notice of the Hunter watching, and paled slightly.
"You're going to kill me now, aren't you?" he blurted.
In response, the Hunter gave him a strange look, as if to ask, why would I do that? He then extended a hand and pulled Kydi to his feet.

Come, he signed. Back to your quarters. He then turned with a flourish of his cape, and walked down the hall in the same direction the Overarch had gone.

Puzzled, Kydi followed at a slower pace.

Opajik hadn't really expected to wake up.
His last thought before he'd been shot was that he might be about to die.

So it was a pleasant surprise to open his eyes and find himself, very much alive, on the hard metal floor of a cell.
Behind bars again.
Perhaps it wasn't so pleasant...

He rolled over, turning his face out of the ground, his teeth gritted. After blinking away drowsiness, he looked around him.
Vienna was laid out at his side. She was still asleep. So was Faez, who'd been placed in the same cell.
Just great.
It looked like Safyr3 had just awoken. She was contained separately, as was Kalia and the four syratopes.
Just like they'd been before. Reverted back to their previous situation. All progress erased.

Opajik groaned.
He felt a pair of eyes burning into him, and turned around.
A guard stood leaning against the wall outside his cell.

Opajik stopped.

He knew this guard.

Safyr3 paced angrily, searching for some way to escape. As usual. Her stripes fluxuated from an angry red to black, indicating just how upset and battle-ready she was. She spotted Opajik looking at the guard, and wondered if he'd come up with an escape plan.

She stopped pacing and watched.


Faez, meanwhile, twitched in his sleep and opened an eye.

Opajik faltered. He opened his mouth to make sound, but only the tiniest squeak would escape. He sat staring for a good minute or two, incapable of speech.
He stood up. His eyes were scared, confused, and painfully hopeful.

"Eti?"

He didn't get a response at first. He ran to the bars, and grabbed them.

"Eti!"

The guard took in a breath.

"Eti it's me!"

A shaky exhale.
The guard tensed. Teeth clenched. Hands balled.

There was only a moment's hesitation before his fist connected, rather abruptly, with Opajik's bottom jaw.

Safyr3 hissed, and gave a low growl. She clawed at the bars, but they had obviously put her in a cell that her enhanced rippers would do no good against.

Faez shuddered and snuck over behind Opajik, hiding in fear.

Safyr3 began pacing again, growling menacingly. He claws clinked against the metal floor, and her tail weaved out behind her in the deadly rhythm of the hunt.

Opajik's teeth rattled.
He cried out as he was thrown back, stumbled on Faez's tail and was quite close to falling over backwards when he found himself leaning against the other wall.
He thanked the cell for not being too large.

He groaned in pain, but kept himself standing.
After blinking a couple times he refocused on what was going on and approached Eti again, not even wary of what he might do.
Of course, he was swung at a second time. He managed to see it coming, and ducked.

"What's wrong with you?" Opajik cried. He opened his mouth again to say something more; ask a question; but there were too many worth asking and not enough time to get answers right now.
He was in total shock.

Vienna had woken up just in time to see the punch, and Opajik flying backwards. In just a few seconds she was on her feet and taking a defensive stance.
"What's going on?" she asked. There was no answer from Opajik. She looked at Safyr3.

Faez cried out in pain, as Opajik had stepped on his tail.
He scrambled backwards out of range, trying to find somewhere safe to sit and watch.


"That guard there," Safyr3 mumbled to Vienna, "punched Opajik."

Her claws clicked against the floor, showing her deep agitation.

"Well I see that," she hissed. "Who is he?"

Opajik turned around. "Th-this..."
Eti glared through the bars.
"Is my brother..."

Vienna hadn't been expecting that at all. Her eyes widened.
She'd known Opajik had brothers - two, if she remembered correctly - but it made no sense that either of them would be here, now.
She looked at the two of them standing there. She hadn't noticed the resemblance before, but now she saw it. It was subtle, she'd admit. But it was there.

Eti was shorter than Opajik by about a head; he was at least a good three or four years younger. He wore a dark teal suit and a helmet, and his eyes were a light greenish colour that matched it nicely.
He looked angry.

"He--" Opajik turned back to face him. "You can get us out of here!" he practically shouted, his eyes lighting up with hope.
Eti's tone was bitter, but there was a bit of a nervous shake in his voice. "You honestly think I'm going to help you escape?"

"Why wouldn't you?" Safyr3 asked pointedly. "You're his brother! Brothers help each other!"

She had come closer to the bars, staring at Eti with enough hostility to stop a charging rhino.

He looked at Opajik. Behind the anger in his eyes, there was fatigue and sadness. "I thought that too."

Opajik looked shocked, and a little bit sad. "But Eti I--"
Eti shook his head. His eyes closed for a second, and when they opened they were even more mad.
"How could you?!" he yelled. It was good that this area of the prison was completely empty, aside from them, because his voice echoed across the walls and ceiling, repeating what felt like a hundred times. Opajik winced.
"I--"
Eti was leaning in close, his face almost touching the bars. "Why?!"

It was at this point that Kalia woke up. Immediately she winced. People yelling, always with the people yelling.

She got to her feet, stumbling slightly as she tried to wake up. She growled quietly. Whatever was going on, one of the guards was very angry at Opajik. She walked as close as she could get, sliding her nose between the bars as much as she could. Honestly, it made her look like a mindless animal who thought she could fit through, but she wanted to do everything she could.

She wispered under her breath, "What's going on?" but she did not take her eyes off the guard.

Safyr3 explained what had just happened in the last few minutes to Kalia, in a low tone. She had a feeling it wouldn't be a good idea to interrupt unless things got violent again.


Faez however, had other ideas.
For the moment, he held his tounge.

Immediately, there was something about Eti that made you feel sorry for him.
He was yelling, but he'd hesitate with every word.
He was yelling, but there was something in his eyes that told you what he really wanted to do was cry.
He was yelling, but oh god. He was terrifed.

Unsure of what to do, Opajik was watching all of this with wide eyes.
Eti had fallen apart.

He was almost out of breath when he eventually stopped his rush of words. Then, quietly, he looked Opajik in the eye and said, "You promised you'd come back."

"But--" He couldn't argue.
He remembered it.
"I'm sorry," he whispered.

"For what!? For breaking your dumb promise? Or for murdering hundreds of people?! You can't say sorry for that Opajik!"
Opajik opened his mouth to say something, but was cut off again.
"You were a mass murderer! And all we could do was watch the news! Never a word from you, of course!"

Opajik's face was caving in, into a mess of guilt and fear.
Eti was right. He'd left them completely alone, when he'd promised he'd find his way back to them as soon as he got out of work.
And the whole time... The betrayal they must have felt.
It was horrific.

He swallowed and stumbled back a bit, all of these thoughts rushing in hitting him in the gut with the force of a speeding train.
It was his fault.

Safyr3 could hold her peace no longer.

"Hey!" she growled. "If anyone's to blame, it's ME! I'm the one who messed up all your crazy plans! I'm the one who kidnapped Opajik! I'm the one who should have lost her memory but had to be strong enough to fight it! I'm the one who killed soldiers with my bare claws! I'm the one who broke through the hull of a ship, leaving thousands to die in the explosion of the self-destruct!"

She paused for breath.

"...If anyone's blaming anyone..it's me..." she continued, in a lower tone. She looked up at Eti. "If your brother had never met me, none of this would have happened."

She left out her rage-rant on how if the Kyreniens had just left their planet alone, nothing so detrimental to this family unit would have happened. She had to leave it out.

For now.

Eti was surprised. He'd forgotten about his brother's companions.

His glances shifted in between the fraethre and Opajik as he tried to think of a response.
Eventually he just looked at him with a tired expression. "But I saw it. You chose to fight."

"I had to fight," Opajik insisted. "Don't you see how wrong everything is here?" He gestured around him. "Someone needed to stand up!"
Eti looked Opajik through the bars of the prison cell and said, "That worked out great for you, didn't it?"
Opajik bit his tongue. "...Yeah. You know, for a few years, it did."

"Yeah? Well now you're locked up and you're probably going to die."
Opajik flinched.

"Who's going to kill us?" Safyr3 taunted. "You?"

She laughed wickedly.

"I tell you, small one," she growled, "death threats don't scare me. And if they were going to kill us, why bother putting us in jail?"

Eti stared at her for a minute, daunted.
Then he blinked, and pulled out a gun.

It wasn't a large gun, but this time it was clearly something that no one would be waking up from.

"Oh yeah?" he said shakily, like some naive child taking up a dare.
With one hand, he held the gun, and with the other, he opened the cell door and stepped inside. It was shut almost as quickly as it had opened, leaving no opportunity for escape.

Eti was now inside the cell with Opajik, Vienna, and Faez, wielding a weapon.

Opajik's heart skipped two beats when his brother held the gun out towards him. It was almost rattling in his shaky hand, and a hesitant finger trembled over the trigger.
Opajik put his hands up in front of him. "Eti, don't." He tried not to choke over his words, but he was suddenly very afraid.
Eti didn't say anything. He just glared with defiant eyes.
"E-Eti you can't," he said, desperation creeping in.

Eti looked just as scared; he was trying hard to keep his brave face on.
He said, "I can."

Faez hid behind Opajik again, and turned invisible in fear.

The Syratopes watched numbly, afraid to speak.

Safyr3 growled. "You don't want to do that."

It was true. Eti didn't.
He couldn't bring himself to.

But he wasn't letting them know that.

Opajik looked horrified. He'd suddenly gone ghostly pale, and was shaking like a leaf.
It felt good to have some power.

But power could easily turn to cruelty, and Eti could feel the guilt making its way into his mind as he watched his brother's face.
It was desperately, sickeningly, pleadingly afraid.

Eti didn't move, even though his brain told him to lower the gun.

"I'm sorry," Opajik whispered.
Eti looked away.

"I don't care."

"If you do this," Safyr3 growled to Eti, "I swear to Fraethra, I will eviscerate you the moment I get out of this cell. I might get shot in the process, but I will take pleasure in watching your blood pour out, especially as my dying act."

She hissed softly to anunciate her point.


Parell resisted the urge to vomit.

A chill went up Eti's spine. The scary part was that he knew she wasn't bluffing.

He was thinking about lowering the gun when suddenly, something punched him in the gut. He was slammed against the wall with great force, and before he could react, the weapon was out of his hands.
He doubled over, winded from the punch. He coughed and scrunched his eyes shut, leaning against the wall for support.

When he opened his eyes and glanced up, he found himself staring into the muzzle of his own gun.

Safyr3 blinked.
"Nice job, Vienna," she complimented, gazing at Eti with something close to amusement. "That was some fast action."

Safyr3 grinned. Eti had either not taken into account how determined Vienna was, or had just mistaken her as non-threatening.
Well, he was paying for it now.

Kalia growled. "If you missed your dear brother so much, you wouldn't have tried to kill him," she spat. But what now? Could they even get out?
She assumed that Eti was more than scared enough to let them out of the cell, but... After that?

Shaenn just kinda hid in a corner. He had had more than enough of guns.
If I had known I was gonna be alive I would have wanted my knife...
Though he was pretty sure he wouldn't have it now anyway, he still wanted the knife back. It was an incredibly handy tool for pretty much everything.

Vienna kept the gun trained on Eti's face as he slowly stood up.
He glanced hopelessly at Opajik, but he was just staring, looking hesitant.

"Are you done?" she asked in an unimpressed tone, raising her eyebrows.
She didn't get a response.
Vienna nodded towards the cell door. "Let us out. Now."
Eti swallowed. "And if I don't?"

"Are you really that dumb?" Vienna gave an upwards flick of the gun, as if she was firing it. Eti got the picture.
Slowly, he made his way towards the door, and slipped a cardkey off of his belt. He was quiet as he inserted it into a slot that, luckily, both sides of the door had. It swished open.

He stared at the ground. His expression wasn't visible from the angle he was standing, but he clearly wasn't pleased with himself.