voidmissions | [M15] ENEMY: UNKNOWN

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[M15] ENEMY: UNKNOWN - THE INTERVIEW

On opening their eyes, Voidtreckers will feel a sense of disorientation, a dizziness to their vision and inside their head. Both clear quickly, letting them remember where they came from: in the midst of a mission, some unknown entity jumping them, and then —

They're here. Wherever here is.
They stand in an empty room. The lighting of the room stings their eyes after how dark the rest of the station has been. The walls, ceiling and floor are all bright white, tiles. There is no visible door, no windows.

After the disorientation comes fear. The hairs on the back of their neck stand up. For those with danger sense, these senses are going haywire, even though any other abilities are still not working. The feeling can be pushed down, it is similar to the air of expectation at the start of a horror film, the anticipation of fear rather than being in a truly dangerous situation. It might be that they have been on the train long enough to have felt it before.

Heavy footsteps sound, it is almost impossible to tell where they are coming from as the echo through the empty space. The feeling of dread grows until part of the far wall slides open with a mechanical hiss.

Filling the doorway are two huge figures, around seven foot tall and bulky. They are in large metal suits, almost like power armour, black with highlights of gold. They wear a mask that covers their whole face. It is impossible to see the figure inside at all. Their breathing comes through heavy and raspy and when they walk their footsteps are heavy. The door closes behind them and their presence makes the room feel smaller. One of them scans a green light over the voidtrecker.

"Do not be alarmed. Under sections ninety six of Inter-dimensional law and on behalf of the Void Ministry we have intercepted Voidcraft designation Voidtrecker Express as part of ongoing investigations. You have been taking part in a simulated excercise to gauge your skill and strength. No harm shall come to you or your crew, you are protected by inter dimensional law. You have been chosen for questioning and we ask that you comply. You have the right to refuse our interview but we have the right to hold you until our investigation is complete or one week in standard void time has passed, whichever is longest. Complying with us will ensure our investigation is more efficient."

The inspector talking pauses here, as if giving the voidtrecker time to take in that information.

"Do you accept our interview?"

ENEMY: UNKNOWN

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While Tidus is looking for the numbers, Inigo is watching, looking along over the other guy's shoulder as he browses the pages. Of course he can't remember the exact number, but when he sees it on the page.. it does look right. He thinks.

".. you think we can?"

After all, they already got kicked out of the interview zone. Is there even a way for them to still contact these guys from in here? Are they being watched inside this holding cell?

After glancing around them, as if he might find a microphone, Inigo looks back at Tidus.

"I don't think it can hurt. It's not like it's a secret."

Tidus looks over to the direction of the door he came out from, wondering if there was anyone still in there. But his look back to Inigo is quick, saying, "Let's try it", and knowing that's the only way to find out he stands onto his feet, the notebook still in his hands.

It's time to bug some weird inspectors, bro. He isn't sure about liking the idea of knocking on the door of an empty room, but he gives up that thought to rap a few times against the surface.

"Hey, -- ...." 'Inspector people'?? Uh, nevermind names. "--Are you in there? I got one of those system numbers for a planet that disappeared!"

Inigo follows the other guy, staring at the door. For a few moments there's nothing - just the two of them standing there, quiet, listening, but the door doesn't open.

Even though Inigo waits for a moment more, maybe two, just in case it's a bit of a belated reaction. The door remains shut, which isn't too surprising. He really didn't expect the inspectors to leave the room and come for them.

".. maybe you should just try saying it? They could be listening."

And it's not like it can hurt. Honestly, the two of them are probably already looking weird enough right now to the other people in the holding cell, if they're paying attention to the lads at all.

"What am I doing, trying to talk to the train?"

They could be listening, but they could also not even be in there, is what Tidus is thinking. He looks about the room with some exasperation huffed from his tongue.

"We have no way to talk to these guys. But they want info from us? What kind of set-up is this?"

Great, just great. But at least it wasn't completely hopeless, as he figures, "Let's wait 'til the door opens again and someone else comes out."

There. They couldn't ignore them then!!!

Look at Tidus. Even in this situation the guy seems to have it in him to make sick burns at the train's expense. If the situation was any less weird or tense, Inigo would've laughed.

But there's no time for that. Because Tidus is already making that suggestion before Inigo can say anything else, and it's bold enough to make Inigo's jaw drop. Even if he's putting at least some stock in these people who interviewed them, that's still..

"And then? Are you.. just going to sneak back in?"

Sure, it's not something that ought to be deserving of capital punishment, but who knows. Those guys are keeping them all locked up here.. And Inigo knows that Jingyi said he's overly fussy about Tidus, but doesn't he have the right to be? Especially in a situation like this?

"Maybe there's some other way we can find to let them know!"

Tidus is about to say 'why not?', before Inigo is then suggesting a possible alternative. But without an actual suggestion, which leads Tidus to look around helplessly, before looking back at Inigo.

"Like what? How? Is there something we can talk to them with?"

Some kind of panel? A phone? Inigo's been here longer than he is, so he's the one who must have some kind of idea!

Right, Inigo??

...

T-This sudden pressure on his shoulders! Inigo instantly starts to look awkward in that way that comes too quickly for him to even try to hide it. Because there sure is a sort of implication that he should know, because he's already been here for what feels like an eternity now, but Inigo is well aware that he's most likely just as clueless as Tidus at the moment.

"I.. um.." He may be starting to blush a little, just because he's kind of embarrassed by the unintentional callout going on here.

"I'm not sure.. I've already tried looking around plenty of times, but I didn't see anything.."

But then again, Inigo also isn't the most technology capable person around. He easily could have looked over some speak-to-the-inspectors-technology that anyone who is used to technology would instantly recognize. Hence the awkwardness. He's going to look like an idiot if Tidus can find something with one glance around that he couldn't spot..!

Look at Inigo, trying to find another way! But Tidus is sure of his Inigo, gives his pal a pat on the shoulder once in reassurance.

"Hey, don't worry! We'll just wait here 'til the door opens, and then we'll say something! And tell them to give a better way to say something. Unless..."

...could he use that? The radio, with its way of signalling the inspectors. But he doesn't want to bring too much attention to the device, with how emotions are with some people.

He looks thoughtful, forgetting the way he stopped there.

Inigo is so sure Tidus is about to continue.

But then the other doesn't, and that's exactly the tension that threatens to break Inigo. He's even starting to lean closer and closer towards the other. Slowly enough for it to be fairly subtle - by Inigo standards - but still enough to get him to practically end up right in front of the other's face by the time he speaks up.

"Unless?"

Something about Inigo's facial expression has a quality not unlike a dog waiting for its ball to be thrown away so it can go fetch it. Bro, what's it! What's the unless! You got an idea, bro? Let's do it! Let's solve this, bro!!

Huh? Oh, right - someone got stuck in their internal dialogue. Reminded of the outside world, Tidus waves a hand dismissively.

"Nothing. Let's wait for the door!" And with that plan set, Tidus walks to lean his back against the wall opposite, or whichever is near to the door. "How often does it open? Think we have to wait long?"

This is now the type of dogs they are instead: two dogs waiting on door duty.

Oh no, Tidus. No, no, no. You don't get to escape that easily. Maybe if there was something to distract Inigo, something important, than he would let Tidus off the hook. But it's not like the door in front of them is magically opening. All they can do is wait.

Which means Inigo has plenty of time to harass Tidus over this.

"Unless?" He repeats, as if he just plainly didn't hear the other guy say that it was nothing. Bro, you can't do this to him! "Unless what? You're not keeping a secret from me, are you? Come on!"

Brooo! Let him coolly dismiss a subject! Everyone does it in Spira!

"I'm not-!" He starts, glances around and then sighs between his teeth before, speaking low and head turned towards Inigo: "They did something to the radio. They put a button on. To call them."

Shhhh!

Inigo's jaw drops.

And thankfully there is some force out there that keeps him from saying it too loudly. Perhaps it's his two braincells finally deciding to rub up against each other, realising that he can't say this too loudly, considering it might not be the best information to share with just everyone.

And it's not like this place is big enough to have a super private discussion about it that doesn't involve practically whispering.

"They did? That's amazing."

There's some heavily subdued emotion in Inigo's voice. Audibly so. He's trying so hard to contain his excitement.

"I mentioned to them that you had it. They asked me for a way to contact us. I'm so glad they remembered." It must mean they at least took some of the stuff Inigo said seriously. ".. though I guess that means it's kind of my fault you're stuck here too now, huh."

Bless those two braincells for not having Inigo go loud in this instance. It wouldn't be the first time it's happened.

It's definitely a case that Tidus is hoping desperately against after saying the news, but after those first few seconds, Inigo's voice drops, and the relief is palpable. And it's rewarded by why a radio came up in the first place - so Inigo told them. He isn't sure if it's a good thing or not still (it's hard to tell anything, really), and the idea they took him because of what Inigo said...

"In that case, we might see Seto and Roland too. I... told them 'bout Halo." He tries to keep his voice particularly low. "That they met her. Didn't really want to let out too much, but... she's the only proof that the train's world existed, right? Her message."

".. yeah."

Inigo had been a little more reluctant to talk about anyone they met on their journey - other than Chaos, anyway - while he wasn't entirely sure the intentions those guys had. But he doesn't necessarily think it's a bad thing that Tidus talked about Halo. After all, she was.. already gone anyway, right?

If there's anything that gives him a faint bad feeling about it, it's that he remembers how Roland looked when they found him. And when he went back to that place with Roland too. Talking about it again can't be easy for him, but.. on the other hand, he knows more than either of them do.

"I wonder what they'll do with that. Or.. with anything. At least they're a little more forthcoming than the train so far, but I hope they'll be clear at the end of all this too about what exactly they're going to do with all this information."

.. though it's probably too much to hope for a clear plan of action to be presented to them, Inigo figures. At least he can hold onto the hope that they really will look into where all the people who left went.

Tidus hums, short and agreeing to Inigo's hope. Just having any clarity for once would be a blessing, and not just getting duped in playing along with them from a lack of having anyone to engage with in so long. He wishes he could talk to Anan now, see what she would say, but what difference would there be? She worked with the Ministry too.

Ugh. He hated these fuzzy futures dictated by anyone but himself.

"Guess it's back to seeing and waiting what happens as usual," Tidus sighs, moving his head back in a resigned motion. "Do we tell the train? Someone's gonna tell it about this, I bet. There's no keeping it secret."

Word was sure to get out.

Inigo considers Tidus's words when he mentions that - and it makes the bridge of his nose scrunch up a little, like he's smelling something particularly unpleasant, or thinking about something he'd rather not consider for too long.

"It's definitely going to find out." There's no doubt about that in his mind either. They - as a group - are notoriously bad at keeping things secret, if the train doesn't already find out by itself that this mission was nothing more than a fluke.

He shakes his head. "Honestly, I'm surprised it hasn't forcefully dragged all of us back yet." Because they know it can do that! It wouldn't be the first time it just threw all of them into the luggage carriage! "I guess it really doesn't know what's going on during a mission until it's over. Would it otherwise let us talk to the Ministry like this? I doubt it."

It makes sense, when Inigo first says it. If the train wasn't accepting communication with the Ministry, then it was likely it wouldn't be very happy about the Ministry being involved now. Was it ignorance? The thought lingers, but then he thinks to the SCAs, the fact they can't communicate with others now.

"--Has anyone tried escaping to the train?" He raises his SCA, looking at it on his wrist. "Push it two, three times, and we end up back, right?"

The evacuation method they share with others who need it.

"Can they jam that too?"

For a moment Inigo stills at the answer.

He glances around them, at the rest of the people in the holding cell, definitely looking more uncertain by the time his gaze lands right back on Tidus's face.

"I mean.. I don't know. I didn't try it myself," he says, his voice a bit softer and lower this time. Like he doesn't want to give anyone here any ideas before he's exactly sure how good said ideas are. He doesn't think he saw anyone attempt to go back that way yet either..

"If the train takes Taiki next, I wouldn't want him to just show up here and don't have anyone waiting for him, you know?"

Which would be a significant downside of a succesful experiment.

He pulls his mouth, thinking it over, but soon starts giving his thoughts a voice.

"Well... I could always try it," he says at first. "If we wanted to know. He wouldn't be alone anyway." Meaning, Taiki, whether it was outside or in here. "But... do we want the train to do anything?"

He looks at Inigo with that last question, that thought, before letting the question turn inward. Was he that desperate to get back and see the train react? It sucked being split off from the others, and anything could happen from now to later, but-

If they went back, they couldn't return, either to this room or the station. As far as Tidus was aware...

Was sitting around stuck on the train any better?

"Do anything?"

It wasn't exactly the direction Inigo was thinking in - which is why he seems to surprised by the question, before frowning as he tries to consider it. Inigo was mostly thinking about how it would at least be more comfortable to be back on the train, because just when he thought they couldn't be stuck in a smaller space than that, they were suddenly all stuck in this holding cell..

But it's true that it's not the only possible reason for going back.

"I don't know. I don't want it to leave just yet."

Not prematurely, anyway. And Inigo is worried that it might try to do that once it finds out what's going on. That it will forcibly pull them all back and disappear from here.

".. maybe those guys from the Ministry are still going to get back to us, after all. Maybe they'll still tell us something important."

(Or maybe that's just a faint hope he's holding onto.)

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[M15] ENEMY: UNKNOWN - THE INTERVIEW

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