voidmissions | [M15] ENEMY: UNKNOWN

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

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Guess this isn't a good time to tell you I'm NYPD," he sighs. "Not that I have jurisdiction here. So I tried to counter-interrogate them, 'cause I know what kind of tactics we use. Didn't go so great."

Jake idly kicks against the floor. "Couldn't even give us a lawyer."

And just like that, he realizes what he'd forgotten. Big oops.

Ken narrows his eyes at Jake. "So how many kids have you not believed, then?"

Sure, it had been a fantastical story. But it was true.

Some part of him is aware that he's just frustrated and taking it out on someone, but the rest of him doesn't care.

"Whoa, hey, I..."

Jake has to stop and think about it.

"It's rare that I get any cases dealing with kids. I mostly deal with murders and drug trafficking, and most suspects and informants are adults. But I want to be better. I joined the force because I had a terrible dad who treated my mom like dirt, and I wanted to protect her and people like her. Nobody believed me when I was a kid, and I don't want to keep that going."

He's quiet for another moment, and then: "They dismissed you?"

"Yeah. ... I mean... I told them a monster did it. And it did. But they didn't believe me. They didn't even look into her death. They just went with 'car accident' because that's what the company trying to cover it up probably wanted them to put."

Jake's story gets him a little more sympathy though, and Ken relaxes a little bit. "They just cared about getting my case processed through. And the company that covered it up sent someone to try to convince me to join up with them. ... So I ran away."

"...that's definitely wrong. Even if a detective thinks it's an open and shut case, they should always look. I admit, I would've found monster a little hard to believe, but I would've looked to see why you were telling me that, 'cause if you just assume your witness is lying from the jump, you're getting nowhere. I mean, I'd probably think it was a Scooby Doo type deal, but then a real monster jumps me. Good times."

He lapses into silence for a moment. "You didn't deserve any of that, man. I'm sorry."

"... Yeah." He's never had a cop apologize to him before, but he's just quiet for a minute.

"I... shouldn't have snapped at you. S... sorry." Ugh, it feels awful to apologize, but he has to. There's no real choice in this situation.

"Hey, it's okay. And I totally get why you wouldn't trust me. I've seen the dirty side of the system, I've been to prison. A lot of us aren't great, to put it...extremely mildly."

He flicks his gaze over at the screens. At their teammates still working.

"Did those two treat you like that?"

"They listened to me, but I can't tell how seriously they took me with that getup they were wearing." He sighs and turns back to the screens, worrying at his bottom lip a little before speaking again.

"... You might find family here, you know. It won't be the same as a birth family, but it's... it happens a lot. So... don't give up on stuff like that."

"...I hope they listened to you. You know what's going on."

Jake lets that hang a moment, and then the mention of family brings a little smile to his face.

"I had that, back home. My captain. I didn't get him at all when we first met. I called him the meep-morp robot because he was so strict with rules and regulations. He's a very straight-laced, serious guy...hates the spice of life so much that he'd call this nutrition slime they gave us totally satisfying."

He pauses, imagines Holt eating the sludge and declaring it the perfect food, and smiles.

"But he always looked out for me. There wasn't anybody else I trusted more...think I might've slipped and called him dad a few times, but he never minded. So yeah, I totally believe it's possible. Thanks for the reminder."

One last pause, and then... "But you're saying that happens more than usual?"

"I mean, I don't know how often it usually happens, but I've picked up brothers, a sister, dads... I never had a dad before. My mom was the only family I had. But people here took me in... treated me like family and didn't care that I was a kid, since I knew what I was doing."

"...I'm really glad. Everybody deserves to have people looking after 'em. Especially because it can really hurt if you don't."

Not that Jake knows anything about that...or anything.

"I did tell the interrogators that you're good people and deserve to stay together. Glad I wasn't just pulling stuff out of the air."

"... I don't know how much they'll listen to us about... anything. But I guess it might help. It can't really hurt..." He's not sure that there's much at this point that will hurt.

"At home I have some people looking after me, but I was on my own for about a year and a half."

"...and you made it that long? Wow. Respect, seriously."

But that's also incredibly sad. Jake knows kids hate being patronized, he hated it at that age...so he'll keep it to himself, but be glad the kid has a family now.

"I hope they let us go back soon. I feel like I've got so many more people to meet."

"Mm. There's a lot of people on the train. It's... good to meet them, though it's... sad sometimes. Since none of us know when we're going to go, and we're not in control of it." It makes him wonder if there's a pattern, but...

... If other people haven't figured one out by now, there just might not be.

[M15] ENEMY: UNKNOWN - THE INTERVIEW

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