Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Small creatures skitter under various rocks and other crevices as the rumble of an incoming dropship ripples through the air. The dropship touches down on the landing pad of the newly constructed Polus Research Outpost, aka Polus Outpost Omega, since this isn't exactly the first one in the archipelago, but it is the first one built closer to one of the main magma channels. “Well, here we are!” A female voice calls out gleefully as the dropship door opens with a hiss.

The 11-member crew, consisting of a red Crewmate, Elmer Danell; yellow Crewmate, Jia Lee; mint-coloured Crewmate, Leeann Snyders; sky blue Crewmate, Zephyr Almr; purple Impostor, Kazimir Ambrosius; rose Crewmate, Elaine Marston; pink crewmate, Yvette Marston; tan Crewmate, Hyder El-Hashem; white Crewmate, Vincent Fletcher; grey Crewmate, Artemy Vasilyev; and black Impostor, Dimitri Thorley, all step out onto the purple ground, looking around in awe.

Elaine sighs calmly, stepping forward in front of the Crew. "I suppose this applies to myself as well, but welcome to Polus! We'll be staying here for the next... Six months, I believe? Before another part of our Crew comes to take our place? Unless something goes awry in that time, and we have to make an early return back to the Skeld... But hopefully we don't have to deal with anything..." She announces.

“Woah…” Dimitri gushes, curious as he walks forward with a slow but bubbly stride. Kazimir remains towards the back of the group, looking around silently, intrigued by new environment, which, unfortunately due to the polar climate, is mildly freezing for him, though he won’t voice his troubles to the rest the crew to avoid detection. Dimitri goes over to and grabs Kazimir, dragging him away gleefully to have a squiz at the rest of the Outpost, while Elaine and Artemy make sure all the preparation affairs are in order prior to them wandering off to do whatever they need to do.

“It’s been oddly calm the past few months… You think everything’s ok?” Artemy questions as the duo walk, looking over at Elaine with a worried expression on his face.

Elaine shrugs and sighs, before speaking up. “I’m not sure… I hope it is… I’d hate for the rest of our crew to be killed off whilst we’re here…” Elaine responds nervously, scratching her head.

Artemy nods in agreement. “Or worse…” He adds, his visor narrowing in concern.

“As much as yes, the others dying isn’t the worst possible scenario, we also don’t need to be dwelling on the negative stuff… Let’s just focus on what we have now…” Elaine suggests, crossing her hands/arms as the duo walk throughout the Outpost, mostly admiring everything, likewise with everyone else in the new Polus Crew.

With it conveniently being afternoon at the location, the crew eventually opt to settle into the Meeting Room to have some lunch, which this time, they decide to have burgers, as pizza wouldn’t be an entirely suitable option for gaining nutrients after a long space trip. Some members have proper burgers with lettuce, tomato, etc., and others opt for cheeseburgers.

“We’ll have to compile task lists for tomorrow, the construction workers seem to have left quite a mess here- Ugh…” Artemy states, slightly annoyed by the fact that the Outpost was left in such a sorry state after construction, oh well. Everyone else nods.

“It kinda feels like MIRA’s falling out of line lately, if I’m going to be honest.” Vincent states, frowning, everyone else nods in agreement.

Jia sighs before speaking up. “And yet we can’t leave them… Which is… Unfortunate… And we can’t kill any of the authorities to free ourselves either… Because A: that’s wrong, and B: we don’t want to be mistaken as Impostors.” They express, crossing their hands.

Everyone just looks at each other in thought, not bothering to even recognise Kazimir’s somewhat neutral expression to all of this, no-one but Elaine, who keeps quiet about it.

“But… By what standards would killing be wrong, only in the sake of morals and fear of the consequences of betrayal?” Vincent questions, tilting his visor. The rest of the Crew continue their thinking, only this time, everyone was dead silent. Jia nods, and the rest of the Crew find themselves agreeing as well.

“Either way… Despite our views, we’re going to have to keep tagging along, I suppose.” Kazimir states, narrowing his visor.

“I guess you’re right, Kazi, we just gotta keep going… Even if we don’t want to.” Vincent states in slight defeat.

Elaine looks quite sorry for everyone else, considering the unfortunate moral predicament that the Crew has now been faced with.

Artemy shifts in his seat slightly, sitting up. “Well… Now what?” He questions, tilting his visor in mild confusion. Yvette shrugs, before speaking up.

“Not sure… Do we just eat?” They ask in response, looking towards Elaine as a silent query to any possible ideas. Elaine shakes her head.

“I wouldn't go for that considering some of us would be too uncomfortable to eat at this point, I'd believe.” She responds with a concerned expression on her face, giving a disgruntled sigh as she stands up. “We have other matters to attend to, let's go.” She orders, leaving the room.

Everyone else just glances at each other with concern, looking confused and even a bit distraught. “Did… Did that seriously just happen? We’ve… Only been here for like- an hour…” Kazimir queries with genuine worry, which he follows up with the remark about the Crew’s time on Polus.

“It would appear so… But now that we’re on the topic… Something seems… Quite off about this place…” Artemy replies, frowning slightly as he looks towards Kazimir, then proceeding to scan the rest of the Crew with the same expression, the Crew haven’t really moved from their spots, even after Elaine left. Everyone else nods in agreement. They sit in silence, pondering how to go about this. After what seemed like an eternity spend in awkward silence, everyone decides that perhaps they should just follow Elaine’s instruction and just get up, do tasks, clean the outpost up and figure out what they’re doing from there. This whole situation’s making everyone uneasy.

Meanwhile, Elaine’s sitting at part of the cliff overlooking the outpost. “… Only an hour here and something’s already out of proportion… But what exactly?” Elaine mutters to herself, looking over the outpost and sighing. She gets up and heads back down to the Outpost, tense and keeping her guard up in case anything attempts to ambush her from the shadows. She wanders the Outpost, looking around to see that the Crew’s on cleanup duty, which she wasn’t expecting, but one would suppose she’d have to deal with it if she wanted to get anywhere with what MIRA has planned… Even if she doesn’t entirely want to follow the procedures, neither do the other Crew members, but MIRA’s sending out a surveillance dropship in a few days to check on the state of Polus, so the cleanup and tasks need to be completed before then, otherwise the Crew will face some serious consequences. Either way, Elaine’s got shit to do and places to be, so MIRA is the least of her concerns right now, if anything, she’s concerned about what’s possibly here that could pose a threat despite Polus’s promise of sanctuary, but the lingering feeling remains, and everyone is aware that it can’t be benevolent, nor beneficial, in the slightest.

Despite everything, the Crew must prevail, and continue with their mission at all costs, even if it is potentially at the cost of their lives… But MIRA doesn’t care, they never will, whoever dies or quits is just as replaceable, and there’s nothing any of the employees can do except try to survive in the hostile environments that they work under. In the meantime, Artemy is setting the communications tower up alongside Vincent, making sure it can make and receive calls, and provide internet for the Crew to be able to access their tasks under the network, the tie between Earth and Polus being formed by the Skeld, which is currently hanging stationary near the planet.

“You think everything’s going to work?” Vincent queries, looking at Artemy with a concerned expression.

“I’d hope so, otherwise we’re going to be having a… Minor… Issue…” Artemy responds, being sarcastic on use of the word ‘minor’, he glances at Vincent and sighs, booting up the communications... Which fails. Artemy stares at the error displayed for a few seconds in disbelief. “… We’ve got a problem.” He utters, rather unnerved.

Vincent pauses, looking over at what Artemy’s seeing. “What…? Comms sabotaged? How is… How is that even possible, this is only the first time we’ve tried to set up comms and it’s sabotaged already?” Vincent questions, tilting his visor in confusion.

Artemy sighs, before walking towards the door. “I’ll try to resolve the sabotage… But if we can’t… Then… I don’t know, we’ll figure it out…” He vacillates, exiting the building to go attempt to fix the satellite. Sighing, he turns the dial slowly in different directions, but no orientation works. Getting mildly frustrated, Artemy proceeds to smack the console, which, oddly enough, resolves the sabotage. “… Weird…” Artemy mutters, he decides to think nothing of it and proceeds to go back into the building. “Try booting up the comms now…” Artemy suggests to Vincent as he walks in through the door.

“Alright…” Vincent accepts, attempting to fire up the communications again, which, surprisingly, works this time. What the hell is going on? No-one knows, unfortunately.

“Hm… Well, that’s strange, I had to smack the damn console in order to get the comms to work.” Artemy comments, looking at the now functioning communications.

Vincent’s gaze diverts to the doorway, seeing something pass by. “I just… Saw something pass the doorway… And it wasn’t a Crewmate…” Vincent murmurs, his visor widened in fear.

“Could you describe it, or did you just see it out of the corner of your visor…?” Artemy questions, tense. Vincent’s heart is racing, he collects himself to answer.

“The latter…” He briefly explains, before returning to panicking. Artemy tries to comfort him, but his own mind is racing, he can’t think straight, that’s for sure. As Vincent finally calms down, he looks up at Artemy. “We need to warn the others…” He whimpers, his voice trembling and his breath shaky.

Artemy nods in agreement, immediately running off to the Office, dragging Vincent along with him. Artemy dashes into the Meeting Room, lifts the cover of the meeting button and slams his fist into it, which sounds the alarm and triggers an Emergency Meeting. Hyperventilating and waiting, looking towards the rest of the Crew as they rush into the Meeting Room.

“What’s going on?! Why the meeting?” Hyder questions, having Zephyr beside him.

Everyone looks just as concerned as each other, even The Impostors within the Crew are genuinely concerned, as they have no idea what’s going on, and nor do they want to find out, besides, if the Crew skip the meeting rather than straight-up dismiss it, they will see that The Impostors are there, and the Imps cannot afford that, not now.

“Well, uh… I… Saw something go by the door to Comms… It definitely wasn’t one of us, whatever it was…” Vincent answers, crossing his hands/arms and glancing at everyone in the room.

“Oh… that’s not good…” Elmer mutters, trembling slightly before looking up at everyone else.

“So… There’s… Something else here with us but we don’t know what it is?” Leeann queries, tilting her visor in concern.

“That’s correct…” Vincent answers, sighing.

“Well… I don’t think there’s anything we can do… Meeting dismissed.” Elaine states, dismissing the meeting and walking off, as do the rest of the Crew.

Kazimir goes towards the doorway out of Dimitri’s sight. “Phew… Thank goodness they dismissed instead of skipped… I’d be in a bit of danger, even if they don’t know I’m The Impostor…” Dimitri mutters, Kazimir hears him but decides not to bother and proceeds to walk off.

Whilst Dimitri’s lurking in the Office, wondering what to do, Elaine and Artemy are off fixing wires, Kazimir is watching the security cameras, Vincent is updating the Skeld Crew on the status of the Outpost, Elmer and Jia are discussing medical matters, Leeann, Zephyr and Yvette are sorting out samples that were transported to Polus from the Skeld, and Hyder is sitting at the lava pool.

“… I don’t think we’re safe here… Even if MIRA said we’d be just fine…” Elaine expresses, looking at Artemy with a slightly fearful expression, her hands shaking is a good indicator of just how uneasy she feels, even if Artemy didn’t feel the same sentiment, which he does.

“None of us do… Look at Kazimir, even he’s quite unnerved and he’s never been entirely fearful of everything…” Artemy comments, and it’s true, the vibe of the Outpost is making even Kazimir unsettled, and that’s not a good sign.

Elaine sighs, checking the area around her and Artemy out of paranoia. “We need to stay alert, anything could try to surprise us here, especially since we’ve confirmed that there are other entities on this planet.” Elaine declares, her expression becoming one of determination.

Artemy nods. “Yeah, Lord knows what the creatures are, or what they’re up to.” He responds, closing the wiring panel and looking back at Elaine, who looks just about ready to go to bed. “You look tired… Go rest, Elaine, you’re going to need it.” Artemy comments, with Elaine taking a deep breath and exhaling softly in response.

“Alright, I’ll go sleep… Goodnight, Artemy, wake me up if you need anything.” She states, turning on her heels, making her way out the door and then proceeding to go find the sleeping quarters. With that, Artemy, and quite frankly the rest of the Crew, decide it’s best they all go sleep, so everyone also makes their way to the sleeping quarters, finding their assigned dorms and entering, the Outpost falls mostly silent once again, the only sounds being the crackle of the generators at Electrical and odd functions here and there.

Chapter Text

A rather peaceful night, surprisingly, followed by an oddly foggy morning. The unsettling peace and quiet brought forth by the night has not gone unnoticed by a certain insomniac, and he, like everyone else, does not like it at all, as it could only mean one thing: Something big is brewing, and it’s not good at all, the ‘calm before the storm’, as per a popular saying that seems to carry across all of mankind, nevermind those affiliated with MIRA.

Elaine, being the early bird she is, wakes up first, pulling an all-nighter on Dimitri’s part does not count as waking up first. Elaine stretches and yawns before getting up, getting changed into her usual outfit and leaving her room to go to the kitchen. As soon as she opens the door between the sleeping quarters and outside, she notices the fog. “Huh… Didn’t think it’d get foggy on Polus, but here we are.” Elaine comments, exiting the building and closing the door behind her to continue her mission of grabbing breakfast.

Vincent is the second to wake up, meandering out of the sleeping quarters and to the kitchen to also get food. Elaine notices him as soon as he enters the room. “Mornin’ Vincent.” Elaine greets as she fixes herself a cup of coffee and a bowl of cereal.

“Ello Ela! A bit foggy out there, innit?” Vincent replies, commenting on the fog. Elaine looks out the window, frowning as she sips her coffee.

“It’s beautiful… But quite ominous at the same time…” Elaine answers, looking over at Vincent before sighing, grabbing her breakfast and going to sit down in the Meeting Room at the table. Vincent finishes making his waffles and goes to sit down at the meeting table as well. “Mmm, I’d have to agree on that… It’s weird.” Vincent hums in agreement.

Not too long after, Kazimir and Artemy enter the room, having a casual conversation, mostly focused on their opinion on Polus and the weird occurrences going down not even 24 hours in. “Oh- Hey Kazi n’ Artemy!” Elaine greets in a sorta cheerful tone. Kazimir and Artemy pause and focus their attention on Elaine.

“Greetings, Elaine.” Kazimir responds, finding his spot at the meeting table and sitting down, whilst Artemy waves and simply leans against the wall next to the doorway.

“So, we’re the only ones up at this current time?” Vincent asks, to which Kazimir shakes his head.

“I heard some shuffling in Dimitri’s room, I doubt it.” Kazimir expresses with a touch of uncertainty in response.

Vincent pauses for a moment, before sighing. “Ah, right…” He states in understanding. Though, everyone currently present in the room find it difficult to hide their concern.

“Dimitri’s been up at odd hours of the night the past few months, I hope he’s alright…” Artemy adds, scratching his head. Kazimir gives a solemn nod whilst Elaine and Vincent hum in agreement.

There’s a brief pause before Elaine speaks up, her expression telling her determination in trying to figure out what’s going on with Dimitri before anything sub-optimal happens to him or between him and the crew. “I’d be damned if we all don’t share the same sentiment.” Elaine says with a mild hint of annoyance among her generally determined demeanour, crossing her hands/arms and continuing to sip her coffee, putting the mug down as she finishes and sighing. The other three nod in agreement.

“Yeah…” Kazimir responds with worry. Vincent glances over at the doorway, tilting his visor. Kazimir looks at Vincent in confusion whilst Artemy and Elaine look at each other and shrug.

“Isn’t everyone else supposed to be awake by now?” Vincent questions.

“Would they be dead by now?” Kazimir jokes light-heartedly, everyone just turns to look at him in confusion.

“I beg your pardon-?” Vincent queries whilst tilting his visor again in the other direction. Artemy’s just giving Kazimir a raised eyebrow.

“What-?” Elaine blurts out, raising a hand but slightly lowering it with partially curled fingers aside from her mostly extended index finger. Kazimir just awkwardly glances at the other three staring at him with raised eyebrows, Vincent and Elaine being confused at hell.

Kazimir sighs with a mild sense of regret. “I’m joking-” He corrects, not sure what he just caused. Elaine and Vincent collectively breathe a sigh of relief, though Artemy already had a hunch that Kazimir was just goofing around.

“Right… Uh, well… Now what?” Elaine asks.

Not long after Elaine’s request for suggestions, Dimitri finally makes an appearance, walking into the room with quite a groggy expression. “Oh, hello there Dimitri!” The four present chant in unison to greet him. Dimitri waves in response. “Hiya…” He says with a hint of fatigue to his voice.

“Are you alright…?” Questions Vincent with a worried tone of voice, shuffling in his seat to gain more comfort as he rests his hands on the meeting table where he is sat. “We’ve noticed your condition lately and… It’s concerning us… A lot.” He continues, his visor narrowing in apprehension as he looks at Dimitri.

Dimitri pauses for a moment, sitting down and glancing at Vincent blankly. “I’m fine, really…” He replies with the same exhausted voice, even though he says he’s fine, he’s not, and the others know it. Everyone’s just sort of sitting there. “How are you guys…?” Dimitri asks, tilting his visor in curiosity, crossing one leg over the over as he glances over at the others, awaiting a response.

Everyone else chimes in with “We’re doing well!” as an answer.

“That’s good… I suppose I should get something to eat.” Dimitri remarks in response to a bit of pain in his stomach due to hunger. He gets up out of his seat, shuffling over to the Kitchen to get himself some food, being eggs and bacon due to his hidden diet, of which the others, minus Kazimir, are not familiar with at all, nor do they find it odd in the slightest… That’s unfortunate…

Vincent is just looking at Dimitri with suspicion, however, Dimitri’s behaviour is strange, yes, but in Vincent’s eyes, it seems a bit… too strange… he’s just not the same… not anymore. Since he’s sure Dimitri can’t hear him, he decides to voice his concerns to the other three. “I don’t know guys… Doesn’t Dimitri’s behaviour seem a bit suspicious…? I mean, he’s been withholding information among other stuff… Surely there’s something he’s not telling us?” Vincent expresses, narrowing his visor.

“Are you trying to imply that he might be An Impostor?” Artemy questions with doubt.

“Are you out of your mind, Vincent? Of course he’s not! He would never be one of them!” Elaine adds on, refusing to believe that Vincent might as well just be correct… But how would the Crew know?

Unfortunately, the debate does escalate, Artemy and Elaine having a heated discussion with Vincent, whilst Kazimir and Dimitri just watch in confusion, and in Dimitri’s case, slight concern for himself.

“What the hell are they on about…?” Dimitri asks, looking towards Kazimir in worry.

Dimitri is met with a shrug by Kazimir, but someone else answers from the doorway. “Vincent’s got suspicions on you being An Impostor…” Hyder speaks up in response to Dimitri, looking at him with a pitiful expression. “But even if you are… What does it change…?” He says to complete the sentence, walking up to Dimitri and putting a hand upon his oxygen tank in the same fashion that one would put their hand on another’s shoulder. Dimitri shudders and nods, Hyder giving Dimitri as much of a smile as a Crewmate could display. “I don’t know if anyone else shares the same sentiment, but frankly? Impostor or not, you’re still Dimitri, and that’s all that matters.” Hyder hums in reassurance, Dimitri hugs him in response, which does partially confirm Vincent’s suspicions to Hyder, but Hyder won’t say anything about it, no-one else would if they were in the same situation… Well… Vincent would rat Dimitri out, but no-one would care.

Kazimir just sighs and goes over to Dimitri and Hyder, crossing his hands/arms and glancing towards the three arguing. “Well isn’t that a way to start the morning…” He remarks, annoyance evident in his tone and a slight, yet unnoticeable hiss creeping under his voice. “If that ain’t out of the ordinary among other things, I don’t know what is.” He comments, narrowing his visor.

“Apparently we can’t have peace for a day…” says Leeann with a hint of disappointment as she leans against the doorway with Yvette, Elmer and Jia standing beside her with mildly annoyed expressions on their faces.

Hyder shakes his head. “Apparently not.” He responds.

Leeann sighs, facepalming. “What are those three even on about, anyway?” She asks, bringing her hand down from her face to gesture towards the argument, her movements are more erratic due to tension and overall annoyance, and those who aren’t in the argument notice, but don’t point it out.

“Oh Vincent’s accusing Dimitri of being An Impostor… Idiotic, really, it’s eight in the fucking morning, too early for this shit…” Hyder answers, taking a deep breath before exhaling an excessively long sigh. He’s getting tired of Vincent’s antics. “Will that man just pick a fucking side…” Hyder mutters, shoving his face into his hands out of both frustration and disappointment. No-one can blame him, really.

Leeann facepalms. “Good grief, what is that man’s problem?” She questions, glancing up at Hyder. The others shrug, not entirely sure what the problem is with Vincent, nor Elaine and Artemy.

Jia sighs and plants his face onto the wall with a mild amount of force, enough to give them some pain. “Why can’t we just have a normal day for once, is that too much to ask for?” They ask, backing away from the wall and entering the room to lean against the doorway to the kitchen. “Sometimes I feel like Vincent especially has either gone crazy, is on his way to becoming rogue or he got infected himself, either way, he’s been actin’ weirder than Dimitri and I don’t think that’s a good sign.” They add, crossing their hands/arms and glancing towards the arguing trio, before glancing back at the others.

Kazimir tilts his visor towards Vincent, Artemy, and Elaine. “Should I break ‘em up before the fight turns physical?” He questions, glancing over to Leeann and Hyder.

“Wouldn’t be a bad idea…” Answers Hyder, promptly nodding in approval.

Kazimir gives a solemn nod in return and walks over to the table to break up the fight. “Alright, that’s enough, fellas, quit your yammering.” He demands, pushing both sides of the argument away from each other. Vincent, however, doesn’t take too kindly to this, and proceeds to throw a punch at Kazimir’s side, resulting in Kazimir stumbling back slightly and glaring at Vincent.

Everyone else stares at Vincent in shock, though Kazimir retaliates by throwing a left hook at Vincent’s face, hitting him with enough force to knock him out. Though, in the process, Kazimir had to hold back from using any excessive strength in order to not break Vincent’s skull, jaw or deal any sort of fatal injury.

“Well… That’s… One way to deal with him…” Hyder states, not expecting Kazimir’s retaliation in the slightest. He shuffles along to Kazimir, looking up at him. “You good?” He asks, concerned.

Kazimir sighs, glancing at Hyder. “I think I’ll be alright… Aside from some bruising…” He replies, turning to face Hyder with a slightly nervous expression. “He’s just knocked out, by the way.” He adds, scratching his head. He hadn’t actually considered how tall he is compared to most of the Crew as they hadn’t actually stood less than a metre from him before.

Hyder nods, stepping away from Kazimir. “Maybe we should go do our tasks…” He suggests. “I’ll be in Specimen if anyone needs me.” He continues, walking out the doorway to Admin in order to reach Lower Decontamination. Everyone else just watches, nods, and heads on their way.

Artemy and Elaine wander around, documenting everything they find around the Outpost. They decide to even venture a few metres beyond out of curiosity. “It’s just snow for miles!” Elaine complains, seeming pretty damn tired of seeing all the snow, rocks, and endless fields of purple. Her legs are tired, and she isn’t really intent on continuing on further, much to Artemy’s disapproval.

“It might be snow for miles, sure, but we’ve gotta continue on and make sure everything’s documented, we need to build that report for MIRA, remember?” Artemy responds, walking at a slow and steady pace whilst writing things down on his clipboard. He seems indifferent to the never changing terrain.

Elaine sighs. “Alright…” She murmurs, begrudgingly deciding to just put up with the observation hike for Artemy’s sake.

Meanwhile, everyone except Dimitri, Kazimir, Leeann and Hyder are arguing over tasks, the Outpost in general and where Elaine and Artemy are. The witnesses are getting sick and tired of this arguing. “Enough, imbeciles!” Leeann calls out, but to no avail. She sighs and glances at the other three. “I’ve got no hope here.” She expresses, concerned.

“Me neither.” Kazimir, Dimitri and Hyder respond in agreement, Dimitri shuffling to the doorway. “I’m outta here.” Dimitri responds as he leaves the room.

Hyder watches as Dimitri leaves, looking at the other two. “Well this turned into a shitshow real fast.” He comments, pausing for a moment before facepalming. He just shakes his head and proceeds to lean against a wall with his hands/arms crossed. He glances at the arguing Crewmates, before glancing at a wall, thinking. He sighs before leaving the room.

Kazimir just stares at the scene blankly with a mildly annoyed expression. “If I have to step in to stop this again, I’m going to snap, I swear.” He grumbles, half-pinching his visor in irritation.

Leeann pats Kazimir on the back with concern. “Hey uh… Let’s… Not… I’ll handle it…” She utters. “Perhaps you should just go do whatever’s left of your tasks…” She continues, suggesting Kazimir leave before he becomes a potential threat. Though, she finds it odd that Kazimir’s been more short-tempered lately, as do the others who haven’t been involved in the arguments.

Kazimir nods. “Noted… See you later…” He responds, walking out the door and into admin to go through lower decontamination.

“Guys, that’s enough!” Leeann exclaims, her voice cutting through the argument and this time, successfully shutting everyone up. “Seriously! Just shut up and do the tasks that are on your sheet, it’s not that hard!” She adds, visibly annoyed. Everyone scoffs, looks at their task lists and separates to go do said tasks. Leeann sighs and leaves. “… What’s up with you lately, Kazimir…?” She mutters to herself, worried about both Kazimir and Dimitri. She decides to go take a quick stroll away from the Outpost to clear her head.

Meanwhile, Elaine and Artemy approach the Outpost, returning from their observation hike, they notice Leeann leaving and look at each other, confused. Though as they stand idly watching the Outpost for a while, they notice two new figures lingering about. Artemy tilts his visor, whilst Elaine just stares at the figures and promptly goes down to greet them.

Chapter Text

The two figures look towards Elaine’s direction as she approaches, one of them, Elil, waving. “Oh-! Elil? Ailbe? I thought you two were stayin’ at the Skeld?” Elaine questions, tilting her visor in curiosity.

“Nah, we changed our minds… We may or may not have snuck onto the dropship…” Ailbe responds.

In the background, Kazimir is watching the scene from the safety of a vent, glaring at Elil and Ailbe in suspicion. “That’s not Elil or Ailbe…” He mutters to himself, diving back into the vent and skittering away to somewhere else as to avoid getting spotted.

The movement is noticed by Elil, who gives a quick unnoticeable glance at the vents but decides to not point it out, believing the movement to be of parasites lingering about the Outpost. His gaze is quickly diverted back to Elaine, who is giving an introduction of the Outpost to him and Ailbe, but he wasn’t entirely paying attention to most of Elaine’s yammering.

Artemy isn’t entirely too trusting of the new people, meandering off to go find someone to talk to about his concerns. After a while, he finds Hyder conversing with Dimitri in Communications. “Hey… Guys…? Can I talk to you two…?” He asks the pair, his voice hushed, and demeanour concerned.

“Yeah, what’s up?” Hyder responds, tilting his visor as he looks over at Artemy.

Artemy sighs, collecting himself before speaking. “Elil and Ailbe are here when they aren’t supposed to… I have a feeling they might be Impostors… And not the passive kind…” He states, scratching his head.

Hyder narrows his visor in worry. “Oh dear… We need to be on high alert if that is the case…” He suggests, crossing his hands/arms. “I wouldn’t be surprised if Elaine’s chatting with them unknowingly…” He adds, returning to a normal stance.

Dimitri nods, narrowing his visor in concern.

“She is… And I doubt she’d believe me if I expressed my concerns to her…” Artemy replies. He looks around, raising a brow in confusion and pausing for a moment before speaking up once again. “Where’s Kazimir?” He questions, tilting his visor. “He’s usually the more intuitive one... Maybe I could ask him…” He proposes, looking at Hyder and Dimitri with a hint of determination in his expression.

Hyder ponders for a moment. “I… Don’t know.” He responds, his concern now becoming evident. “I haven’t seen him since the second argument that happened whilst you and Elaine were away…” He continues whilst providing a brief recount of events.

… “Oh…” Artemy hums in concern.

The trio hear footsteps approaching, tensing up. “I’m here… Sorry I went walkabout.” Kazimir states as he walks into the building, which, seeing him, everyone relaxes.

Artemy breathes a sigh of relief as he sees it’s Kazimir instead of Elil or Ailbe. “There you are Kazi… Listen, I don’t know if you’ve heard or seen already, but Elil and Ailbe are here when they aren’t supposed to, and I don’t think-” Artemy expresses, though getting cut off by Kazimir at the end .

“They aren’t who they claim to be at all…” Kazimir confirms with a cold tone, his visor narrowing.

Everyone else pauses for a moment, confused on how Kazimir’s so adamant with his declaration. “Could you… Explain how you know…?” Artemy asks, tilting his visor in concerned confusion.

Kazimir sighs. “Elil and Ailbe said they’d stay the Skeld, right? They don’t change their decisions at all, which means the Elil and Ailbe we’re seeing here on Polus… Aren’t actually Elil and Ailbe.” He explains, making various gestures to further emphasize his point… However, what Kazimir scratches at the surface is not actually how he knows so precisely.

“Makes sense…” Hyder responds, going outside and peeking around the corner of the building to see that the rest of the Crew have gathered up around Elaine, Elil and Ailbe. He goes back inside. “Hm… The rest of the crew have gathered around… How are we going to go about this?” He questions.

Artemy shrugs. “Dunno.” He answers, pausing for a moment. “Ah, fuck it, let’s just go play golf.” He blurts out.

Kazimir, Hyder and Dimitri just stare at Artemy. “Name one golf course that we can access at this current point in time.” Kazimir dares, narrowing and tilting his visor slightly. He seems dumbfounded at the fact Artemy forgot Polus doesn’t have golf courses.

Artemy pauses for a moment, thinking. “Uhm… Good point…” He answers, seeming quite disheartened by the reality of the situation.

Kazimir tilts his visor side to side briefly whilst humming in thought. “Anyway… Do you want me to warn the rest of the crew about our… Guests?” He questions, turning to face the doorway with his visor going blank.

Artemy shakes his head. “Best not whilst the two are there.” He replies.

“Right…” Kazimir grumbles, sighing as his visor returns to its normal state before he turns around to face the other three again. “So we’ve gotta play the long game of waiting until those two Impostors fuck off to do whatever?” He questions. Artemy nods in response, bringing about further disappointment to Kazimir.

Kazimir takes a deep breath, sighing and facepalming. “I have a feeling we’re gonna be waiting for quite a while…” He mutters, annoyed.

“Perhaps… But we’re going to need to stick it out for the sake of warning the others… Whether they believe us or not…” Hyder expresses, looking over at Kazimir with a concerned expression.

Artemy nods, humming in thought before going over to the doorway. “We’ll need to stick together in case those two find out that we’re aware, we don’t need them trying to kill us.” He suggests, everyone else nodding in agreement as they leave the Communications building. Everyone else in the Crew had scattered by the time the group had finished their discussion.

The group, unexpectedly bonded together by similar ideals and attitudes, stay in Security, Kazimir and Dimitri watching everyone on the live camera feed.

“Hey, Hyder, you think Dimitri might actually be An Impostor…?” Artemy mutters to Hyder.

Hyder sighs, looking over at Artemy, trying to ignore the fact that Kazimir is glancing over at them on the odd occasion. “Mmm… I wouldn’t be surprised… I’m kind of suspecting Kazimir as well but I don’t want to point fingers…” He responds, putting a hand below his visor in thought.

Artemy pauses for a moment, pondering. “Well we can’t just… Throw them in the lava or out the airlock and leave them to die… We need them… Impostor or not…” He states.

Kazimir looks at Artemy and Hyder with a slightly surprised expression, as if he’s about to tear up but quickly hides his emotions and continues watching the cameras.

Whilst Elaine wanders, she pauses and looks around. “Where the hell did Artemy run off to?” She asks herself, having only just realised that Artemy isn’t with her. “Maybe he’s in Admin…” She mutters, wandering off to the Office. After entering the Office and checking every room, Elaine sighs, disappointed that her search yielded no results. “Oh well… I’ll just… Make lunch, I guess…” She decides, wandering off to the Kitchen to go make lunch for the Crew.

Elil and Ailbe are hanging around, mostly watching the Crew do their thing. “Hm… I would’ve thought there’d be more people here…” Ailbe remarks, looking over at Elil with confusion on their face.

“There are three we haven’t seen… Kazimir, Dimitri and Hyder… We did see Artemy earlier, but he seems to have run off…” Elil comments, looking around the Outpost and then looking at the nearby security camera. “… I think they might be in Security watching us…” Elil expresses, staring at the camera for a moment before looking back at Ailbe.

Ailbe narrows their visor. “Right… Let’s go.” They state, grabbing Elil and dragging him away to somewhere without cameras.

Back in Security, Kazimir had watched the interaction between Elil and Ailbe, narrowing his visor and growling quietly. Dimitri looks over at him in concern, however, Artemy and Hyder hadn’t heard him. Kazimir notices Dimitri looking at him. “I’m fine…” He mutters to Dimitri. “It’s just… Those two really aren’t helping their case in not getting found out sooner or later.” He continues, his expression softening.

Dimitri nods, sighing. “Well… We’ve gotta stick it out, I guess.” He responds, repositioning himself on his seat for comfort.

Kazimir continues scrolling through the camera feed, seeing if he can spot Elil and Ailbe. “We have to go warn everyone whilst those two are occupied in… Whatever.” He proposes.

“You can do that... We’re just  staying here and watching.” Artemy responds, Hyder and Dimitri nodding in agreement.

Kazimir pauses for a moment, before nodding and going off to warn the Crew about Elil and Ailbe. He finds Elmer and Leeann first, waving to them.

Elmer spots Kazimir first and waves back to him, turning to face him. “Heya Kazi! What’s up?” Elmer questions, tilting his visor.

Kazimir narrows his visor and lowers his head, sighing. “Look, we need to be careful around Elil and Ailbe… Something’s… Up with them…” He warns, crossing his hands/arms and glancing back up at Elmer and Leeann.

Elmer giggles. “I’m sure they’re good! I doubt there’s anything to worry about!” He responds. Leeann just gives Elmer a concerned glance.

For a moment, there is silence. “Right… Ok, you do you… Just… Take care…” Kazimir states blankly, nodding and walking off.

An Emergency Meeting is suddenly called by Elaine, causing everyone to begrudgingly drop what they’re doing and make their way to the Office. Everyone slowly pours into the Meeting Room, most of them tired of meetings being called. They all just sit down, not expecting anything new or different. “Apologies for calling a meeting, I just needed to get y’all in here for food somehow.” Elaine speaks up.

Everyone else just facepalms and shakes their heads. Artemy then stares at Elaine for a moment before breaking the silence. “Elaine- I- Why are you like this?” He questions, narrowing his visor in confusion and concern.

Elaine stares up at the ceiling for a few seconds. “Hm… My problem is difficult to pronounce and hard to treat, you should know this.” She responds, her gaze being diverted back to Artemy.

“Whatever, let’s just have lunch.” Artemy states, shaking his head and grabbing some food. The rest of the Crew follow suit.

The rest of the Crew are conversing between each other in between bites of whatever the individuals are eating, whilst Kazimir and Dimitri are sitting beside each other silently for a moment, though Dimitri decides to initiate a conversation. “Erm… So, what’s the plan now?” He questions.

Kazimir narrows his visor. “Well… We can’t really do anything from this point onwards without seeming suspicious…” He responds, headdesking. “Even then, I don’t know if there’s anything else that we can do in the background.” He continues, lifting his head off the table.

Dimitri just stares at Kazimir in concern, raising a hand but quickly lowering it as he decides against bringing up any concerns just to avoid further conflict.

Kazimir sighs. “Well… I suppose we could leave, but I’m hungry.” He states, then deciding to snag a steak and eat it.

… “When you’re done there uh, can we talk in private…?” Dimitri requests quietly, seeming slightly ashamed of something, which catches Kazimir’s attention.

Kazimir raises an eyebrow in both curiosity and concern. “I suppose we could, yes…” He replies in reluctant acceptance.

Dimitri nods, deciding to grab a snack himself whilst Kazimir’s getting through his food. Dimitri quickly eats up his food and sits quietly, waiting.

Kazimir gets up, signalling for Dimitri to follow as he leaves the Office, which catches everyone else’s attention. Leeann, being the sneaky Crewmate she is, decides to follow.

Kazimir and Dimitri slip into O2, with Leeann poking her head into the doorway.

Leeann looks at the duo with a devious expression. “Are you two finally confessing your love to each other and you just don’t want us to see?” She questions, making both Kazimir and Dimitri flustered.

They both glare at Leeann in embarrassed annoyance. “Shut up Leeann!” They call out, Kazimir gesturing for Leeann to shoo. She giggles in malicious compliance and smugly moseys her way back to the Office to rejoin the rest of the Crew.

Dimitri gives an embarrassed hiss, before diverting his gaze to Kazimir. “N- Nevermind that…” He mutters, sighing. His expression goes from mildly annoyed to ashamed in a heartbeat. “I… Well, I guess you could tell from the hiss…” He states quietly with a slightly upset tone, with Kazimir promptly pulling him into a hug, making him blush again. “I-” He blurts out but gets cut off by Kazimir before he can say anything.

“It’s alright, Dimitri… I haven’t entirely been honest either…” Kazimir states solemnly.

Dimitri glances at Kazimir. “You… Mean you’re the-…?” He asks, cutting himself off before mentioning what he was going to say.

Kazimir nods in response. “I am afraid so… I’m sorry…” He confirms, apologising for lying to Dimitri. The silence that follows is overwhelming, with Dimitri tightening his grip on Kazimir, though not to the point where it’d harm him. Kazimir simply pulls Dimitri closer to comfort him, sitting both himself and Dimitri down on the grass around the tree.

Dimitri starts tearing up, mostly out of regret. “You’re… Not going to hurt any of us anymore, right…? You promise…?” He requests.

Kazimir sighs. “I promise…” He replies softly in acceptance, closing his visor and resting his head on Dimitri’s, Dimitri calming down and the pair falling asleep shortly after.

Hyder peeks into the room, initially confused, but as his gaze focuses on the pair, his expression changes from curiosity to regretful, furrowing his eyebrows in mild concern. “I’ll leave you two be…” He mutters, walking off to Security. “I guess there’s not much point in me trying to prod them for answers… They won’t give me any…” He continues quietly, trying to think of anything he can do to find out what’s actually going on.

“Well of course Elil and Ailbe won’t admit to anything… I don’t know about Dimitri or Kazimir, but I doubt they would either… But that’s for me to find out later…” Hyder mutters, considering likely possibilities as he strides into the room, finding Artemy is already there, being the main observer.

As Elil and Ailbe are seen cavorting around the Outpost through the cameras. Hyder comes up beside Artemy and just stares at the screen for a few seconds, confused. “Why are they just prancing around like idiots…?” Hyder questions, with Artemy shrugging in response. Hyder pauses for a moment, before sighing and going back to watching the camera feed, and for some reason, over next to the West Office entrance, Elaine is seen on camera t-posing over Yvette. “What- Why is Elai-” Hyder tries to ask, but he ends up getting quickly cut off by Artemy.

“That’s just Elaine for ya, you should be used to this shit by now.” Artemy responds, giving a quiet chuckle, which, Hyder isn’t too amused by. “Besides, I suppose one would do anything due to sheer, absolute boredom on this… Oversized purple polar rock.” He continues, giving a comedic shrug in the middle of his sentence.

Hyder stares at Artemy blankly for a moment, blinking his visor a few times as he’s mentally processing what Artemy just told him. “That was… Oddly specific but also accurate.” He finally comments to break the awkward silence. He glances back at the cameras, scrolling through the live feed just to see what’s up around the Outpost. Of course, him and Artemy could be making better use of their time, but they don’t feel like moving locations right now.

Artemy sighs. “I don’t know what’s up with this place, anyway…” He comments, noting that the malevolent tension that was originally filling the air continues to linger, seemingly never-ending in his eyes.

Even a few hours later when everyone else is almost settled down and are off doing their tasks, Artemy can’t shake the feeling, trying to watch the cameras peacefully whilst Hyder had faceplanted onto the desk in the act of passing out. Artemy glances over at Hyder, then diverts his gaze back to the screen, yawning.

Meanwhile in O2, Dimitri and Kazimir are waking up, Dimitri rubbing his visor and staring at Kazimir for a second before getting flustered and taking a small leap away from him. “Kazimir oh God I fell asleep on you I’m so sorry-” He blurts out quickly.

Kazimir comes up to Dimitri and pulls him into a one-hand/arm hug, a light blush evident on his face. “It’s fine, you obviously needed it… Hell, I think I needed the sleep considering we just fell asleep beside the tree.” He states light-heartedly in an attempt to get Dimitri to ease up, which seems to work, given Dimitri relaxes slightly.

“Heh… I guess so… I ain’t living this down at all, am I?” Dimtri asks, an awkward smile plastered on his face.

Kazimir looks at Dimitri smugly. “Absolutely not.” He responds, pulling Dimitri in closer and caressing his cheek, to which Dimitri gives a quiet squeak of surprise in response. “I ought to let ya go, however… You’ve still got tasks you need to do, right…?” Kazimir questions, tilting his visor.

Dimitri nods. “Yeah…” He says in agreement, Kazimir letting him go. He makes his way to the doorway, looking at Kazimir with a warm smile this time. “I’ll see you later?” He questions, with Kazimir nodding in response. Dimitri hides his Impostor mouth before cavorting away to the Laboratory.

Kazimir waves Dimitri goodbye before sighing. “Well… That was… Unexpected… But I’m not complaining…” He mutters to himself, before perking up. “Oh shit, I’ve still got something to do!” He remarks, dashing out of O2.

Meanwhile, Elil and Ailbe have split up, on one hand, Ailbe is wandering around on their own, and on the other, Elil is having a casual conversation with Elmer. As for the discussion, it’s mostly revolving around interests and tasks. “So what tasks have you got, Elmer?” Elil asks, his gaze fixated on Elmer with his expression displaying genuine curiosity as the pair wander around the Outpost.

Elmer checks his task list, pointing out a specific task. “Oh, I’ve gotta go sort the samples we’ve got… Since I didn’t do that yesterday.” He responds, leading the way over to the Office to get to Lower Decontamination, of course, the two would have to go through Admin first.

“Hmmm… And where would Kazimir be… I need to have a bit of a word with him…” Ailbe mutters to themself as they stride slowly, looking around for Kazimir. “I’ll be damned if I don’t find him anywhere…” They state, facepalming and pausing for a moment before simply deciding to make their way to Storage.

As for Kazimir, his mission yielded no promising results, but he expected it. “Hmph… Well they can’t say I didn’t warn them…” He mumbles, walking off back to O2 to ponder. “… I wasn’t expecting this… I went and killed off my Crewmate counterpart, replaced him, expecting to kill both location divides of this crew by now… Yet here I am, trying to mitigate the attack of two fellow Impostors… Before they even strike…” He mutters to himself, pacing back and forth. “How am I even still here with them, undercover?” He continues, trying to understand exactly how he got into this situation.

Kazimir shakes his head. “Hell, I’m developing feelings for an Infected Impostor… Ain’t that fun…” He remarks to himself, rubbing his temples for a moment before the sound of footsteps approaching almost immediately diverts his attention, despite the footsteps being close, yet too distant for whoever is coming to be able to hear his existential crisis. Kazimir looks over towards the doorway to see who is approaching.

Ailbe enters the room, taking a quick glance at Kazimir. “Aye, I need to talk to you...” Ailbe states, looking at Kazimir with curiosity.

“And what would you need, exactly...?” Kazimir queries with suspicion.

Ailbe sighs. “Listen, buddy, I know you know, so let’s just keep this between us...” They begin. A long pause follows, filling the air with an eerie silence before Ailbe breaks it. “I feel like I've met you before... Do I know you...?” They question.

Kazimir stares at Ailbe for a moment, narrowing his visor in thought. “...Hold on… Weren’t you an old pal of mine...?” Kazimir queries, staring at Ailbe for a moment. “… Cymberline, was it?” He guesses, unable to hide the smug expression creeping onto his face.

Ailbe ponders for a moment. “I guess we’re meeting a second time... Hazarmaveth...” They recall.

Kazimir’s smug expression shifts to a playful smirk as his guess proves accurate.

Chapter Text

Back in the Laboratory, Leeann and Dimitri are panicking over a small, snake-like creature with glowing red eyes trying to latch itself onto Leeann. Dimitri grabs it before it can leap onto her and throws it to the wall with enough force to knock it out. “And stay down, parasite!” Dimitri hisses, glaring at the unconscious creature that is now limp on the floor.

“Wh- What the fuck was that?!” Leeann questions in fear, trembling.

Dimitri gives an exasperated sigh before glancing over at Leeann. “You don’t know…?” He asks, raising a brow in confusion. Leeann nods in response. Dimitri sighs again. “That thing… Is a parasite… Dangerous creatures capable of turning us Crewmates into Impostors…” He explains, eyeing the parasite at least 5 times a minute.

Leeann just stares at the parasite. “That thing… That small thing… Is capable of turning us into aliens?!” She says, requesting confirmation.

Dimitri nods regretfully. “Yep… Unfortunately… I don’t know how they do it and I’m not sure I wanna find out.” He adds on, though he is familiar with how sabotage devices would pose the same situation due to being infected by one, he’d rather not see, experience, or even hear of parasites infecting a victim, he thinks it would be hell to go through.

Leeann pauses for a moment. “I don’t wanna do this anymore!” She cries out, suddenly hugging Dimitri and sobbing dramatically.

“Oh, you damn drama queen…” Dimitri mutters to himself, looking at the wall in a way that makes him seem like he’s staring off into space with crossed hands/arms and an unamused expression. He really does not want to deal with this right now. “Leeann, please get off me.” He requests.

Leeann unfortunately doesn’t hear him over her justifiable crying, considering she’s the only actual Crewmate in this equation between her and Dimitri, though she doesn’t believe Dimitri could be An Impostor at all.

Dimitri ponders for a second before trying to talk to Leeann again. “Maybe we should lea-” Dimitri states, turning around and pausing his speech as he finds a concerned Zephyr standing at the doorway leading outside. Leeann had since let go of Dimitri and was now on the floor continuing her bawling.

Zephyr just blinks. “Uhm… What happened here…?” They question.

Dimitri scratches his head for a moment. “Well… A parasite had found itself in the lab and tried to attack Leeann… I had to basically punt it at the wall to stop it from harming her… And now she’s scared shitless and is bawling her eyes out.” He answers.

“Fair… Uhm… I’m convinced EVERYONE here is going to need to see Sam by the end of this.” Zephyr comments nervously.

Dimitri nods. “Wouldn’t be surprising… Given the amount of shit that’s going on… Hell, I’d be surprised if anyone doesn’t get major trauma from this shit.” He adds.

After a moment of silence, Zephyr just shrugs. “Well uh, I’ll leave you to it.” They state, leaving the building.

With the hiss of the Upper Decontamination doors, Elil and Elmer step into the room, Elmer having finished his task. Elil is looking at the scene confused and Elmer just staring at Leeann in disappointment. “What’s up with Leeann?” Elmer queries.

Dimitri glances over at the still unconscious parasite, gesturing to it. “That thing, self-explanatory.” He replies.

Both Elil and Elmer get startled, but Elil’s reaction was more immediate. “What the hell- What’s a parasite doing here?!” He asks, to which Dimitri shrugs in response.

“Beats me, but it tried to attack Leeann and now she’s uh… There.” Dimitri remarks. “Don’t ask me, I don’t know.” He adds shortly after.

Elil just stares at the parasite. “What the fuck- Yeah no thank you, I’m outta here.” He declares, promptly exiting the building, which leaves Elmer and Dimitri to figure out how to get Leeann off the ground and out of the building.

Putting some gloves on, Dimitri decides to deal with the parasite whilst it’s still unconscious. “I’ll get this thing contained, you get Leeann outta here.” He states, approaching the parasite and picking it up. He grabs an airtight container, puts the parasite inside and goes into Upper Decontamination.

A quick sigh is given by Elmer before he goes over to Leeann, helping her off the ground and escorting her out and away from the Laboratory.

After putting the parasite in the Specimen Room, Dimitri sighs and makes his way to Lower Decontamination. “Glad to know that we have a fucking parasite threat here…” He mutters to himself. “I need to call a meeting…” He decides as he steps into the decontamination chamber. After he gets decontaminated, he steps into Admin and makes his way into the Meeting Room, lifting the cover that’s over the emergency button and slamming his fist onto the button, calling an Emergency Meeting.

Everyone except Elmer and Leeann rush into the room to find Dimitri sitting at the table with his hands clasped below his visor. “Dimitri? What’s up?” Elaine questions.

“Is everyone here?” Dimitri asks in response. The rest of the look around to check.

Hyder sighs. “Leeann and Elmer aren’t…” He remarks.

Lowering his head, Dimitri closes his visor. “It’s fine… They’re aware of the situation anyway…” He confirms, placing his hands onto the table and standing up. “Listen up, Crew, we’ve got a problem, a parasitic problem.” He announces. Everyone except Elil gasps in shock, Elil just looks to the side solemnly, still acknowledging the information, as he was there as a witness.

With a shake of her head, Elaine looks at Dimitri in surprise. “What?! Parasites?! Here?!” She exclaims in confusion.

Nodding and beginning to pace back and forth, Dimitri sighs. “Indeed… Which means we’re in danger if we don’t find, capture, and contain them before they can strike us… However, we’re going to need to take precautions, as I’m certain we all know by now that one wrong step… Could get one, more, or even all of us infected, if there aren’t Impostors among us already.” He explains, mostly keeping his gaze on the rest of the Crew during his pacing.

“And how exactly are we going to do that?” Artemy queries.

Dimitri closes his visor in thought, before opening his visor again. “We’d have to cover up as much of our space suits as possible, hell, I’m sure we brought hazmat suits to go over them, didn’t we?” He suggests.

A nod from Elaine tells Dimitri all he needs to know, but Elaine speaks up. “We did, hell Sean made sure they were the best quality ones that we had, just in case.” She says.

Standing idly in thought for a second, Dimitri hums in approval. “Great… As long as those slippery, snake-like shits don’t get onto our actual space suits, we should be fine…” He comments in slight annoyance.

Short, quiet snickering is shared between Ailbe and Kazimir, being left unnoticed by anyone else as the majority of the Crew are more focused on what Dimitri has to say about the current situation, and what he has in store for dealing with the threat posed by the parasites as of current.

“For clarification, the plan I’m proposing against those parasites is that we get into those hazmat suits, find, and capture any parasites that we find… To ensure our own safety…” Dimitri confirms, pausing in the centre of the space between the walls, the table and the window, hands behind his back as he turns to face the crew.

Artemy nods. “That would be a reasonable course of action, indeed.” He hums in approval.

Given the circumstances, the Crew would need to act fast, and Dimitri knows it. “Then we’re set, let’s go.” He declares, dismissing the meeting.

Everyone else scrambles to the laboratory, though Elil stays behind. Shaking his head, Elil stares at the Crew, mostly focusing on Ailbe as they take their leave as well. “I thought we were on the same team here, you bastard…” He mutters, sighing before deciding to slowly make his way out of the Office to trail behind the Crew.

After the Crew puts on their hazmat suits, the hunt for the parasites begins… Everyone splits off into pairs or trios with extra gloves and containers to put the parasites in, except Elil, who just stands by and watches. Of course, there’s already people screaming over parasites trying, and failing, to infect them.

“I am so thankful these little pests can’t get through the hazmat- unless there’s a tear, then uh, we’d be kinda screwed.” Hyder states, sighing as the parasite he yoinked off Elaine thrashes about in its container.

Elaine is trembling due to the encounter, staring at the parasite in concern. “Get. That gods’ forsaken thing. Away from me.” She demands, both scared and annoyed due to the parasite trying to attack her. She steps away from Hyder and looks at him and Artemy, giving an exasperated sigh. “Goodness gracious, what is with all this?!” She questions.

Shrugging in response and sighing, Artemy grabs the container so that Hyder doesn’t have to deal with the constant banging on the inner walls of the container thanks to the parasite. “This thing does not look like a normal parasite…” He comments, noting the parasite’s unique appearance. His gaze is fixed on the parasite, his visor narrowing. “I feel this one may be more dangerous than the normal parasites… The normal ones are python-like with red eyes, this one’s more viper-like… With deep blue eyes…” He adds with concern in his tone.

With a slow blink, Elaine just stares at the parasite. “I do not want that creature on me, no thank you sir.” She expresses.

A sudden roar, followed by the sound of a gunshot, rings through the air. At the site, Dimitri is shaking, his handgun in his hands with Leeann, who had come into contact with and got infected a parasite that managed to tear her hazmat suit, laying limp a metre in front of him. She had tried to attack him, and he’d shot her dead in the visor in self-defence.

Dimitri is breathing heavily, opening his visor, spotting Leeann, and just staring in shock. "Leeann…? Leeann this isn't funny… Please…! I didn't mean to!" He exclaims in a panic, dropping down beside the now dead Leeann and shaking her, but to no avail. He scrambles backwards, keeping a tight, stressed grip on his handgun. "… No… I- I killed her… I actually fucking killed her… What is wrong with me?!" He laments, becoming afraid of himself and what he may be able to do as An Impostor.

“Oh, God no… What will the others say?! I don’t want to die!” Dimitri questions, looking up and getting startled by Hyder, Artemy and Elaine entering the scene. “… Guys I can explain-!” He blurts out, staring at the trio in fear, due to being caught off-guard, all evidence of him being An Impostor is on full display.

Deciding to try to calm him down, Hyder calmly approaches Dimitri. “No need… That roar provided plenty of explanation.” He clarifies.

Hesitant at first, Dimitri looks at Hyder with a semi-pleading expression. “You mean you’re… Not going to throw me into the lava…?” He questions, correcting his position so he’s standing rather than half-crouching and then taking a careful step towards Hyder.

With a playful scoff from Hyder, he, Artemy, and Elaine shake their heads. “Mhm… We know you’re not the one behind the periodic attacks back at the Skeld.” Artemy states. “Besides, those were months ago, we don’t really give a shit even if we did know who attack… Maybe aside from being mildly annoyed.” He continues, chuckling.

Nodding, Elaine speaks up. “Literally Vincent is gonna get humbled so damn fast when he finds out that we don’t give two shits about Impostors unless they attack us.” She hums light-heartedly.

Dimitri hugs the trio, happy tears streaming down his face. “T-thank you guys… This… Means a lot to me…” He expresses, giving a smile. The trio hug him in return, all four eventually getting into a giggle fit over the whole predicament.

“Heh… I think we’ve all had enough of catching parasites today.” Hyder says, with the other three nodding in agreement.

Sighing, Artemy stares at the parasite who had long since run out of energy and fell asleep in the container. “Yeah, I’m getting this slippery bastard in the Specimen Room first.” He grumbles, walking off to the Laboratory with the container in hand.

Watching Artemy leave and then glancing back over at Hyder and Dimitri, Elaine hums in thought for a second. “We should get to bed… Lord knows we need the rest.” She suggests.

A nod of agreement is given by both Hyder and Dimitri. “Yeah, I’m getting tired myself…” Dimitri comments, taking his hazmat suit off whilst wandering off to the dorms.

With a glance at Elaine, Hyder dips his head slightly before turning around following suit, Elaine also makes her way to the dorms after Hyder as well, yawning on her way there.

Meanwhile, Artemy, Elmer and Kazimir had met up in the Specimen Room, putting the parasites they had caught in a hopefully secure spot. “What was the ruckus about, do either of you two know…?” Elmer asks, looking at both Artemy and Kazimir in curiosity. He shuffles after putting the last parasite into the remaining cage to face the both of them.

Artemy sighs. “Leeann had found herself with a tear in her suit from a parasite, and that same parasite managed to get in and infect her… Dimitri, who almost got attacked by her post-infection, shot her in the visor which was surprisingly enough to kill her… Poor boy’s shaken up about it, though.” He explains, crossing his hands/arms.

“Oh dear…” Kazimir and Elmer respond, though Kazimir secretly finds it amusing, especially since Dimitri didn’t intend to kill Leeann.

Dipping his head briefly, Artemy brings hands back down to his sides. “If this day hasn’t been a clusterfuck, I don’t know what will be.” He comments, making his way towards Lower decontamination. “We should get some sleep, I don’t know about you two, but I’m mentally checked out.” He expresses.

Humbly following Artemy, Kazimir nods. “Indeed…” He replies. Elmer is right behind him, and the trio go into Lower Decontamination, standing by as they wait for the spray to stop and for the door to Admin to open.

The conversation is carried on between Artemy and Elmer as they take off their hazmat suits and leave, though Kazimir stays behind. “Hmph… Perhaps the hazmat suits aren’t that bad after all… Considering they save my ass from the hellfire that is disinfectant… Artemy and Elmer would’ve found out if I had come into that damn room wounded… Or got wounded by the spray in front of them… Grhhh…” He mutters to himself, quietly growling at the end as he also takes off and puts away his hazmat suit, making his way to the dorms. Everyone else is already there and asleep, so Kazimir has to be quiet as he enters the room he’s sharing with Dimitri. He flops into bed and falls asleep shortly after.

Chapter Text

Quiet clattering can be heard at around 3am, Kazimir is, of course, awake, tired, and displeased. Dimitri also got woken up, looking around.

“Ehhh, Kazi? Are you also hearing that or is it just me?” Dimitri questions, looking at Kazimir in confusion.

Kazimir nods. “I’m hearing it as well, don’t worry.” He responds, getting up, grabbing his knife, and standing near the door in case someone tries to ambush them through said door.

Knock knock knock…

With a quiet hiss from Kazimir, the scales on what’s meant to be his space suit raise slightly and become more visible as he stands in a defensive stance. “Who goes here?” He demands, ready to stab whoever comes into the doorway, but Dimitri goes over to him and puts a hand on his supposed ‘oxygen tank’ and shakes his head, Kazimir calms down slightly, his scales flattening and becoming near-invisible again.

Cautiously opening the door, Ailbe pokes their head in, clearing their throat. “Hey uh, Kazimir, Dimitri? You two got any idea on where Elil is or what the clattering is about?” They question. Kazimir and Dimitri shake their heads in response. “Bugger… Mind if I stay in here with you guys in the meantime?” They ask.

Looking at each other, then back at Ailbe, Dimitri sighs. “I suppose so…” He responds, Kazimir nodding.

Ailbe steps inside the room, quietly closing the door. “Look, Imma be honest here, I don’t entirely like the bitch that is currently disguised as Elil, but Róisín made me team up with him so… I’m here now, I guess…” They lament, annoyed. “I just want to stay on our territories and chill as Cymberline, but nope, I just gotta do this.” They continue.

“Ah… Makes sense, so you were basically forced into this…?” Dimitri asks.

Giving a nod in response, Ailbe sighs. “Yep… Unfortunately…” They reply.

With a short snicker that turns into brief, quiet giggling, Kazimir looks over at Ailbe in amusement with a smug expression. “Surprised you didn’t come along with me!” He remarks light-heartedly.

Both Dimitri and Ailbe glance over at Kazimir. “Bad plan.” They both chime simultaneously.

Dimitri snickers. “Jinx.” He retorts.

“Fuck!” Ailbe hisses in response.

Sighing, Kazimir shakes his head. “Either way… We’ve got to deal with this situation that’s now on the hands of all of us. Now, Ailbe, or Cymber, I know it’s surprising that I, of all people, am helping this Crew instead of my usual activity, but considering they’re more than willing to accept us, I see a glimmer of hope that we may be able to make peace in the future… Near or far, I don’t know…” He explains, walking over to the window and looking out of it before turning back to face Dimitri and Ailbe.

Quietly shuffling and sitting down on one of the chairs in the room, Ailbe glances at Kazimir for a second before nodding. “Perhaps…” They hum in agreement.

A low hum of slight disagreement emanates from Dimitri. “I wouldn’t conclude such a possibility that fast… Hell… While the Crew might accept us for who or what we are, MIRA themselves aren’t very easy to get along with…” He expresses as he gets up and walks over to Kazimir with a slow stride. “Well… The Toppat Clan might have different views on us Impostors… But I don’t know…”  He suggests.

With a brief head tilt either side, Kazimir nods in agreement. “I’ll have to ask Freya, this poor dude’s sister… She’s over with those fellas.” He comments, ‘this poor dude’ referring to the Crewmate he had replaced a year prior to this discussion.

Dimitri nods. “Yeah…” He agrees, pausing for a moment. “I doubt you regret killing him... But I digress.” He remarks out of nowhere.

Glancing over at Dimitri, Kazimir pauses for a moment, vocalising a slightly quiet hum in response.

... “Right... I’ll shut up about that.” Dimitri comments.

Smugly looking over at Kazimir and Dimitri, Ailbe seems to have something on their mind. “You two act like a couple.” They blurt out teasingly, sparking embarrassed squabbles between the pair. Ailbe giggles. “Awhh, did I accidentally make you two embarrassed?” They question.

Emitting a low growl, Kazimir glares at Ailbe. “Cymberline, shut the fuck up.” He hisses.

With a chuckle, Ailbe gets up and strides over to Kazimir just for the sole purpose of ruffling up his hair, getting hissed at by Kazimir in the process. “Just saying!” They cherp teasingly, casually walking back to their chair and sitting back down.

After clearing his face of the blush, which is dark due to the black colour of his blood, Kazimir sighs whilst facepalming. “Stars bloody- Damnit...” He grumbles, looking out the window.

The trio are startled by a sudden bang outside the door. “What in the name of God-?” Dimitri questions, going over to the door and cautiously opening it. The rest of the Crew had also emerged to find out what’s going on.

“It’s three in the morning, damnit... Are we not allowed to sleep in peace?” Artemy questions.

Ailbe shakes their head. “Apparently not.” They answer with concern. They know Elil is up to something, but what exactly is yet to be determined. “I’d have it a guess that it’s Elil doing something, he wasn’t in our room when I got woken up.” They explain. “Either way, we’re going to need to find him before he does anything else that might possibly be to the detriment of the Crew...” They declare.

Looking around, Jia notes that Leeann isn’t anywhere to be seen. “Hey guys...? Where’s Leeann...?” They question.

Those who knew of Leeann’s fate all simultaneously looked to the ground with sorrow. “Gone...” Dimitri mutters regretfully.

Silence fills the air for a moment whilst the rest of the Crew stare at Dimitri in confusion and anguish. “What...?” Jia questions, trying not to tear up but failing either way. “How did- how did this happen...? Is she really-?” They question, her voice breaking up under stress.

With a nod from the few that are aware, those unknowing of the situation all tear up.

“Sorrows... Sorrows, prayers...” Kazimir mutters, with a mild hint of sarcasm.

The mutter is heard by Dimitri and Ailbe, who subtly glance over at Kazimir. Dimitri seems mildly concerned but not surprised, whilst Ailbe feels indifferent about Kazimir’s reaction, even if they are slightly touched by Leeann’s death themself.

Clearing his throat to attract the Crew’s attention, Artemy speaks up. “Look, we can discuss this later, but right now, we have a situation to deal with.” He declares adamantly, shuffling past a few people and making his way outside to where the commotion was taking place. Everyone seems worried about him going out alone, but to each their own.

Kazimir steps forward. “We must split up and look for Elil, everyone find someone to team up with and scatter!” He orders as he rushes out the door after Artemy. Everyone nods and teams up, knowing that this is likely for the best.

Warily wandering around the Outpost, Elaine had paired up with Hyder. “I hope Artemy’s ok... How are we going to tell the others how Leeann died? I don’t-” She expresses, getting cut off by Hyder.

“Look, we’ll find a way, and if Artemy gets hurt...” Hyder glances somewhere, spotting a heavily wounded Artemy. “Artemy?!” He calls out, rushing down to Artemy’s side. “Artemy please!” Hyder pleads.

With a cough, Artemy weakly looks up at Hyder. “Kazimir was right... It was Elil...” He manages to inform, clutching the deep slash wound on his stomach, to which blood is pouring out with no intention of stopping. The blood had already started pooling up on the ground underneath, and Artemy falls unconscious due to the blood loss.

Concerned, Hyder shakes Artemy. “Artemy?! Artemy! God damnit, we already lost Leeann, we can’t lose you too, Elaine, do we have anything?!” He blurts out in a panic, looking at Elaine with a pleading expression.

Elaine is on the verge of tears seeing Artemy’s state. “I- I’m sorry Hyder... We don’t have any blood packs, we’ve got bandages, but they can only do so much...” She responds, her gaze darting between Hyder, who’s visibly distressed, and Artemy, who’s edging closer to death. “The only thing we can do is put him out of his misery... But... I don’t know if we can do that ethically...” She expresses, looking over at Hyder. “Y’know what, you can decide, I’ll go warn everyone else.” She declares, running off to find the rest of the Crew.

Shaking his head, Hyder sighs. “Shit!” He blurts out, crossing his hands/arms. “I’m sorry, Artemy...” He mutters, getting up and running off after Elaine.

Meanwhile, Elil had found Kazimir, assuming him to be easy prey. Elil quickly realises his mistake when Kazimir dodges the knife he throws. He growls, unsheathing his claws and charging at Kazimir.

Given the knowledge that he may put himself at a disadvantage from the perspective of staying disguised, Kazimir takes to attempting to evade the attack, whilst allowing himself to get slashed slightly. Wincing as he stumbles back, Kazimir grabs a metal pipe from the ground beside him and swings it at Elil, clipping the Impostor upside the head with a decent amount of force for Crewmate standards, whilst making it seem like he’s striking with all his might.

With a growl, Elil equips his knife and tries to stab Kazimir, only landing the stab in what would be considered Kazimir’s shoulder.

“G-ack!” Kazimir blurts out, being tossed aside slightly as Elil removes the knife from the stab wound. Kazimir manages to knock the knife, coated in his blood, out of Elil’s hand. Elil is making the mistake of not paying attention to the colour of Kazimir’s blood, thankfully.

The fight goes on for a while before Elil manages to slice Kazimir in the chest, before stabbing him and throwing him into Weapons. Elil shuts the Weapons door before walking away to hunt someone else down.

This whole altercation is witnessed by Ailbe and Dimitri, who look at each other in shock. Ailbe looks more than concerned, especially for Kazimir. “You go deal with Elil, I’ll check on Kazi.” They hiss in desperation as they run off to Weapons in a mild panic.

Dimitri heeds the order and cocks his gun whilst power walking off to Elil.

“Lord Hazar!” Ailbe exclaims as they enter Weapons, quickly shutting the door behind them. “Good grief! Are you alright?” They question as they rush over to Kazimir, who is in the process of getting up, albeit weakly.

Hissing in pain, half-crouched whilst clutching his chest, Kazimir looks up at Ailbe. “A little under the weather... That little shit, I swear to the Stars...” He growls, straightening his posture up a bit more despite the pain. “I had to hold back, otherwise we’d have a whole other problem on our hands aside from that ‘Elil’ being an impulsive idiot.” He adds, with a slight hiss in his voice.

With a concerned expression, Ailbe glances over at a parasite, the same viper-like appearance with deep blue eyes that Elaine, Artemy, and Hyder had caught last night. “Uh, Hazar?” They ask. Kazimir tilts his visor with a confused expression. Ailbe points over at the parasite lingering behind him.

Confused, Kazimir turns to face the parasite, which immediately takes the opportunity to leap onto Kazimir, immersing itself into his body, effectively fusing with him. Kazimir stumbles back with a growl, falling backward. Ailbe catches him, glancing at him with concern. “Grhh, what the hell was that?” Kazimir questions, hissing as a headache settles in. “Strewth, my head hurts...” He comments, putting one of his hands up to his head, though he had subconsciously unsheathed his claws as a reflex response.

Carefully setting Kazimir down on the ground, who shuffles to a crouching position, Ailbe sighs, keeping Kazimir upright. “Please... Try to keep it together, sir...” They request, looking up at Kazimir in concern as they’d also crouched down to support him, physically speaking. “That might’ve done some good for you, though, your wounds have healed up...” They remark with a curious trill in their voice.

“Eugh, I’m trying...” Kazimir responds, though when Ailbe pointed out that his wounds regenerated, he glances at himself. “Oh... So they did...” He cherps, sheathing/hiding his claws in the process and then getting up. Shifting his colour at the sites of his newly formed scars to hide them, Kazimir then gets up and glances over at the door, walking up to it. “Well then, let us make haste, I don’t think Dimitri will be able to deal with Elil on his own, Elil’s a natural-born Impostor as opposed to Dimitri, who’s only infected.” He declares, looking back at Ailbe whilst opening the door.

Ailbe gets up. “Yes sir!” They announce semi-quietly, and follows Kazimir as he leaves Weapons, the duo making their way towards where Elil and Dimitri are.

Trying to dodge Elil’s attacks to the best of his ability, though he unfortunately got hit a few times, Dimitri’s sort of panicking about the whole situation, popping off rounds at Elil that he never thought he’d fire at anybody. “Holy SHIT, this Impostor is persistent, can somebody help me?!” Dimitri calls out, his yelling attracts the attention of the remaining Crewmates, as well as the ghosts of Leeann, Vincent, and Artemy, which only Dimitri can see.

Just when everyone thought Dimitri was done for, Elil gets decapitated just by a single sword swing. As Elil’s divided parts fall to the ground, Kazimir is revealed, standing behind where Elil once was and holding the sword in a slightly menacing fashion. “That’s for everything.” Kazimir hisses as he plunges his sword through Elil’s visor, much to everyone else’s shock. “And before anyone asks, no, I would rather not answer that question right now.” He adds on before anyone else has the chance to speak.

Standing solemnly, donned with several injuries that one could only wish to bear, Hyder looks at the rest of the Crew, clearly exhausted. “... Right... Well...” Hyder starts, sighing. “Fellow Crewmates and Impostors alike, it is with deep sorrow that I note for the log... Artemy, is also no more...” He declares, shaken as he walks forward with Artemy’s goggles and coat. Elaine lingers beside him.

Everyone gasps, most of them start tearing up, even Kazimir perks up in upset surprise. “Wh- Who did this?!” Ailbe questions in slight anger.

“It was Elil...” Elaine responds, looking to the side regretfully.

Glancing over at Kazimir, who looks like he’s about to snap, Dimitri goes up to him and hugs him to calm him down, nuzzling into his dark grey blazer. This action surprises Kazimir, and he, in turn, blushes as a result. The crew see this and look at the pair with a smug expression, anyone will do anything to divert their attention away from the emotional hardship of tragedy.

With a glare at the Crew, Kazimir narrows his visor. “Shut up guys-." He hisses in embarrassment.

Casually floating over Dimitri, Leeann glances at him. “Just kiss him already.” She states in a semi-teasing fashion. Dimitri just ignores her to the best of his ability.

“I fucking told you guys about Elil and Ailbe.” Kazimir hisses, facepalming. “Though, I would like to propose that Ailbe can stay, on the condition that they do not hurt anyone here.” He offers, looking over at Ailbe, who is looking quite nervous and regretful.

Giving sheepish glances off to the sides, some of the Crewmates scratching their heads. “Sorry Kazimir...” They respond.

Elaine gives a thumbs up following a nervous nod. “And uh, yeah, sure, Ailbe can stay!” She responds. After a moment of awkward silence between everyone, and Elaine conducting a worried glance around the Outpost, she looks at the others. “Where’s Vincent?” She asks with genuine concern, her visor narrowing in confusion and mild panic.

A short pause of silence follows. “... Oh shit.” Everyone else responds.

Chapter Text

“This- this is not good.” Elaine states in concern, crossing her hands/arms.

Quiet murmurs are vocalised from everyone, discussing what could’ve possibly happened to Vincent.

All of the Crew are fearing the worst, and with a glance over at Vincent, who is floating off in the distance looking a bit lost, Dimitri realises the worst has, in fact, happened. He sighs and wanders over to Vincent, just staring at him for a moment and analysing the ‘wounds’ left on his phantasmal body. “... Did Elil get you?” He questions.

Awkwardly nodding, Vincent crosses his hands/arms. “Yes... Yes he did...” He responds.

The Crew seem confused, until Ailbe speaks up. “Us Natural-Born Impostors have learnt that the Infected can see ghosts… I’m surprised they haven’t driven Dimitri up the wall yet.” They explain, before noting how Dimitri seems to be keeping his composure. They sigh, putting their hands in their pockets and looking at Kazimir.

Kazimir gives a solemn nod. “If I’m going to be honest, he hasn’t really mentioned anything about it, I don’t think there are many ghosts lingering around at all…” He suggests.

Shrugging, Ailbe hums in thought. “I would’ve thought the ghosts would target the Infected, especially if one got converted by a-.” They express, getting cut off by Dimitri.

“Kazimir’s right, there aren’t many lingering around... Ironic, really.” Dimitri confirms, looking back at the Crew. He turns around and starts approaching the Crew again. “Well, if anyone’s wondering... I got infected by this thing.” He explains, showing a sabobutton in his right hand for a moment before putting it away.

An awkward pause follows. “That’s... Really ironic, then.” Ailbe comments. “What I was trying to say is that the ghosts, in terms of haunting people, tend to favour those with sabobuttons.” They add.

With a curious head tilt, Elaine looks at Dimitri. “So... What else can that thing do?” She asks, putting a hand up to her chest.

Dimitri sighs. “Aside from sabotages and infecting Crewmates...? Of the functions I prefer to use, it can be like a digital ‘cloud’, but for physical items, it can also be used similarly to a phone... But it can also manipulate how vote results appear…” He explains, his demeanour changing to a regretful one as he mentions how it can edit voting results.

Pausing after hearing that, Elaine looks at Dimitri with slight fear in her expression. “It can also what...?” She asks.

“Uh... Yeah...” Dimitri responds.

Cautiously stepping away from Dimitri, Elaine trembles. “I, that- That’d mean... You probably changed some of the results back on the Skeld?!” She questions.

With a nervous chuckle, Dimitri glances at Kazimir and then back to Elaine. “Sorry...?” He awkwardly apologises.

Elaine’s fear turns into slight anger. “Do you understand how dangerous that could be?! You have let Kazimir run loose this whole time, without any of us knowing! And on top of that, we killed innocent Crew members!” She exclaims, taking a big step forward back to Dimitri.

Taking a step back, Dimitri sighs. “I didn’t know he was the killer!” He responds.

“Yes, yes, I have killed a few back on the Skeld, but trust me, I’m done with that, in terms of both us and our fellows back at the Skeld.” Kazimir speaks up, walking towards the two.

Silently glaring at Kazimir, Elaine narrows her visor. “If it wasn’t for the fact your last kill was like- half a year ago, I’d be tossing you into the lava here and now.” She grumbles, crossing her hands/arms.

With a chuckle, Kazimir glances over at Elaine. “Oh, spare me, not like the lava would do...” He cuts himself off as he looks over at Ailbe, who’s shaking their head as if to say ‘don’t say it’. Kazimir pauses for a moment before sighing. “Eh, whatever.” He quietly growls, dismissing the statement.

Elaine just looks at Kazimir in confusion. “Alright...” She states, just turning around and walking off.

Staring at Elaine as she leaves, Dimitri looks at everyone else. “Is it just me, or does it feel like something’s going to happen to her?” He questions.

A period of silence follows, before Kazimir starts walking towards where Elaine went.

“Where are you going, Kaz?” Hyder questions, tilting his head.

Upon hearing Hyder, Kazimir stops and glances back at Hyder with a blank visor. “Going to make sure she doesn't end up doing anything stupid.” He responds, turning back to where Elaine went and continuing on with his trekking, which soon turns into him sprinting.

Not too long after Kazimir bolts after Elaine, following the sound of a crash, panicked screaming by Elaine can be heard by the others, and Kazimir is also rather audible, squabbling what would seem to be various surprised phrases in native Impostor tongue. Of course, roaring ensues as Elaine falls victim to the very parasite that was trying to attack her yesterday.

The Crew stare in Specimen Room’s direction in horror, before looking at each other. “Oh... Dear... God...” Ailbe mutters in fear.

Hyder looks at Ailbe for a moment, before glancing at the rest of the Crew. “That- I don’t like this anymore, guys...” He expresses, trembling as Zephyr walks up and puts their hand on his oxygen tank.

“Let’s be honest, Hyder, none of us liked any of this from the start...” Zephyr comments, a concerned look on their face.

With a doubtful glare at the Specimen Room, Dimitri sighs. “I don’t know about you guys, but I’m getting the fuck out of here.” He declares, marching off back to his room.

Sighing, Jia blinks once, before looking at Elmer. “We’re boutta get our asses infected, aren’t we?” They question with an unamused demeanour.

A nervous trill is vocalised by Ailbe before they speak up. “Ehhh, uh, yeah, more than likely.” They answer as they divert their gaze to Jia, who sighs in response.

As the Crew run out of things to discuss, they back away from the Specimen Room as they hear the predatory chirping and squawking of the parasites from within the Specimen room, and what seems to be a panicked hiss from Kazimir. Ailbe makes a break for it, which the Crew had expected, but they decide to stick together.

“If we’re going down, we’re all going down together!” Hyder announces, coughing afterwards thanks to his wounds, though he had treated them to a good enough standard for survival whilst Elaine was confronting Dimitri. Hyder’s staring at the scene with determination. “Bring it!” He calls out despite the pain, seeming to be challenging the parasites.

Yvette glances over at Hyder, shaking her head. “Hyder, you’re terribly injured, just let the rest of us handle it!” She desperately suggests, trying to dissuade Hyder from joining in on the fight, but to no avail.

With his adamant demeanour, Hyder glances over at Yvette. “No... I refuse to back down...” He replies, stepping forward to the front of the group.

Soon enough, the sky starts becoming tainted with an eerie red glow as the parasites escape containment. It all happens so quickly that Kazimir is unable to keep up with everything going on, the parasites initially confuse him for a regular Impostor, knocking him down onto the ground. “Ow! Stars, that hurt...” Kazimir hisses as the parasites manage to bypass the Decontamination chambers to get to the rest of the Crew.

Prior to the parasites knocking Kazimir to the ground, Elaine had been knocked unconscious by him. “Strewth.” He mutters to himself. He gets up and runs out of Specimen, shapeshifting into a parasitic mass to get through the grill over the lava pit, clinging to the underside like a lizard as he scrambles to the closest point of ground around the lava pit. After managing to find some solid ground to stand on, Kazimir shapeshifts back into his Crewmate disguise. “Hmph... Gotta chase down those parasites now...” He states as he runs over towards where everyone else is, though, regardless, he could already hear the fight ensue as the parasites swiftly close in around their unfortunate, yet resistant targets.

The crew grab anything nearby that they can use to fend off the parasites, the battle reigning on for a while, as they find themselves more capable of holding the parasites back than they thought. This continues on for a little while, but eventually, as fate would have it, the parasites overwhelm them and infect the brave Crew, turning all of them into Impostors, which ultimately leads to Polus becoming devoid of living Crewmates.

Kazimir arrives not too long after this goes down... Unfortunately, not early enough. “No- I’m... Too late...” He mutters to himself as the Crew attempt to recover themselves.

“Grhh, shit...” Hyder mutters, holding his head and looking at everyone else. His injuries, unfortunately thanks to simply being a Crewmate prior to infection, remain, though he’s able to bear them better, even if they still hurt to hell and back.

Quickly running out of the doorway to see this, Elaine, who had recently awoken, gasps as she sees the events that unfolded after the parasites escaped containment. “Holy- is everyone ok?!” She questions in a panicked voice, sprinting over to the recovering Crew and glancing at everyone individually in rapid succession.

At this point, Kazimir had made his way to Elaine with a concerned expression, the feeling, ironically, being genuine. His Impostor mouth is showing, amplifying his worried expression. Ailbe and Dimitri are also watching from a safe distance.

With a soft grumble of pain as he gets up, Hyder glances over at Elaine, trying to make sense of the new way he’s observing the environment. “I... Think we’re fine...?” He responds, though the uncertainty he has about the matter is evident in his voice. “What about you...?” He asks softly in return, uneasy thanks to the predicament that everyone’s facing.

Awkwardly scratching her head, Elaine sighs. “Ehhhh... Not feeling so great... But I think I’ll manage...” She responds.

Sighing and strafing towards Ailbe and Dimitri, Kazimir vocalises a slightly irritated groan. “Now we’ve got a bunch of Infected to wrangle...” He mutters, his complaint directed at Ailbe, who shakes their head and facepalms in response.

“Well... Now what?” Zephyr questions, newly formed wings folding up behind them as they glance at Hyder and Kazimir.

Kazimir turns around to face the rest of the Crew, sighing. “... It seems to be apparent that there are going to be some... Changes... Moving forward from this point. With everyone in this Crew now being Impostors, tasks may be easier, however, there will be complications, between us, MIRA and potentially those back at the Skeld.” He declares.

Everyone looks at Kazimir, listening intently to what he has to say. Stepping forward towards the Crew, with Dimitri and Ailbe following him, Kazimir glances at everyone else. “We must ensure, for all of you, that your newfound identities are concealed, and one step to that is keeping your anger – and parasites, level... Though by the looks of it, everyone, except Elaine, may not find it to be a problem.” He continues. He didn’t expect to be giving this lecture, but it’s necessary.

With a quiet creep, slinking up beside Kazimir, Ailbe glances over at him. “With all due respect, sir, how capable do you think you are of doing this? I know this is new for you... I’m just worried.” They express with uncertainty, narrowing their visor in concern.

In response, Kazimir glances at Ailbe nods, putting his hands behind his back. “No need for the doubt, Ailbe, I’m sure I can handle it.” He chirps with a smile, before diverting his gaze back to the Crew. “Perhaps I could use this opportunity to learn a bit more myself...” He mutters to himself.

Nodding, Elaine crosses her hands/arms. “As it would be for all of us.” She suggests.

“We need to understand that specific type of parasite that infected you, Elaine... I feel as if that one may be more dangerous than any other that even I know of.” Kazimir states, narrowing his visor in thought.

Elaine looks at Kazimir in concern, bringing her hands down to the side again. “Yeah... Those viper-looking ones definitely aren’t... Normal...” She responds in agreement. With a short sigh, she glances back at the crew for a moment, before diverting her gaze to Kazimir once again. “So uh... Probably a stupid question but, is there... Any specific, uh, ‘code’ to this or...?” She queries, tilting her head.

With a short, low hum, Kazimir shakes his head. “Nothing official... Just common knowledge among us Impostors... You’ll learn and get used to it soon enough.” He answers. He seems to have a fair bit of patience.

The Crew look at each other, confused, before just shrugging and deciding to take Kazimir’s word for it.

Striding back towards Dimitri, Kazimir sighs. “Though... I’m not without my fair share of secrets...” He starts. The crew glance back over at him, tilting their heads. “Not much point in keeping it concealed... I’m a Shapeshifter.” Kazimir reveals, a lot of the Crew perking up in surprise.

“Wait- you guys actually exist?!” Elmer blurts out, shocked at this revelation.

Jia glances over at Elmer with a mildly confused expression, shrugging and tilting their head again. “Makes sense though, since the higher-ups dance around the topic or-”

Cutting Jia off, Kazimir nods. “-Claim our existence is some sort of folklore?” He questions, his gaze focused on Jia as if he’s staring straight into their soul. “Because most of us keep to ourselves, they have no reason to believe our existence, and I’d rather it stays that way.” He answers with a stern tone.

Soft mutters spread between the Crew, some of them being justifiably annoyed, and some of them just shocked.

Elaine and Hyder seem to be the most annoyed among the Crew about the whole ordeal, though Hyder, simultaneously seems to be admiring Kazimir’s near-pinpoint capability to remain undercover amidst his annoyance, though he’s more than likely seeing the irony of the situation, on top of the slowly subsiding pain he’s experiencing increasing his irritability.

However, Elaine doesn’t share the sentiment of admiration, just simply being annoyed instead as she knows all of this could’ve been avoided if Kazimir didn’t slip away with those kills back on the Skeld undetected for the better part of a little over six months. Now she understands Vincent’s concern, though it’s unfortunately too late to tell him that she should’ve taken his advice now, and she regrets not listening to him, even if Dimitri didn’t mean to allow Kazimir to get away with the murders.

With a sigh, Hyder glances over at Elaine, dismissing his annoyance. “Look, he might be at fault for what happened on the Skeld, but now we need him more than ever.” He begins, then looking at Kazimir. “On the same note, I don’t know if any of us will be able to fully forgive you for killing our mates, if at all.” He remarks with a slightly annoyed tone, though he’s trying not to put too much judgement on it.

There’s always the possibility that Kazimir could be justified, given that the ones he did kill also happened to be slightly cruel in terms of treatment towards any non-Crewmate entity, aggressive or not. Those four were the most loyal to MIRA out of the Skeld Crew, for perhaps the wrong reasons that the company tries to hide. The Polus Crew all know something’s up, however.

“Understandable...” Kazimir responds as he turns to face Hyder, previously only keeping his gaze on him due to speech. “I don’t expect forgiveness, either, that’s up to you guys.” He states bluntly.

Everyone pauses for a moment, before Dimitri speaks. “I... Think we all need to go to bed...” He suggests.

Ailbe and Kazimir just stare at him. “Have you seen your sleep patterns?” They both question simultaneously.

Raising his hand in an attempt to protest, Dimitri eventually bites back his words and rigidly drops said hand, sighing in disappointment. “... Fair point.” He mutters, disheartened.

With a nod, Ailbe crosses their hands/arms, Elaine doing the same. “Exactly.” Ailbe hisses in a semi-teasing fashion.

After Ailbe’s response, Kazimir just shakes his head and facepalms. “I think we all need to just sit down and take a break for a moment.” He expresses with a lack of amusement.

Chapter Text

All that’s happened begs the probably obvious question of ‘where did the parasites run off to?’ Well, they simply slinked back into their hiding spots around the place, returning to their natural habitats. After getting over the whole debacle, the Crew wander back into the meeting room, all sitting down in their respective seats. Of course, given the circumstances, everyone’s hungry, stressed and a bit exhausted as well.

“Well... Now what?” Hyder asks, conflicted.

Humming in thought, Elaine looks at the others, and then at Hyder. “Artemy’s dead, Vincent’s dead, Leeann’s dead... Ailbe Impostor over there joined... That leaves us at... Nine members, of this Crew.” She notes in concern. “So that means we’re going to need to rearrange who’s doing what to accommodate.” She declares, glancing at everyone in the room, seemingly thinking of how to go about re-assigning tasks.

Ailbe, after waiting for Elaine to finish talking, clears their throat. “Just call me Cymberline.” They correct politely.

Everyone except Kazimir and Dimitri pause. “You’re saying you guys have other names?” Elaine questions. Kazimir and Cymberline nod in response. Elaine seems a bit dizzy, especially with all the information she and the Crew are receiving today. Anyone currently present at the Polus Outpost would say it’s been quite eventful, and that’s in a negative light.

With a sigh, Dimitri glances over at Kazimir and Cymberline, shaking his head. “Please stop breaking our perception on things.” He requests a little sharply.

“I can’t promise anything, and neither can Cymber, besides, you lot need to know the other side of the story... Sooner or later, now is not the time to explain it.” Kazimir replies, casually getting up and striding over to one of the doorways, pausing at said doorway. “Don’t worry, I ain’t running away on y’all.” He comments as he leans against the wall.

Glancing at Kazimir, Zephyr sighs. “What are we going to tell everyone back on the Skeld? They must be getting a bit worried, given we haven’t contacted them at all in the past three days...” They express with concern.

Kazimir grumbles quietly for a second, looking up at Zephyr, he sighs before responding. “For now, when we contact them, either by call or message, we just inform them about the deaths and that Elil Impostor, nothing more, nothing less. We have no idea how they’re going to react if they find out about the parasites or infection, and I personally would rather not take my chances.” He explains, keeping a serious tone, and his expression shows both his concern and determination to keep everything afloat despite the events.

A worried hiss escapes Dimitri’s mouth before he speaks up. “What about Leea-.” He attempts to ask.

Cutting Dimitri off, Kazimir shakes his head. “We’ll blame Elil, I know it’s not a favourable option, but a. We can’t take chances, and b. Y’all are gonna have to get used to the idea of lying, because for the foreseeable future, it’ll be crucial for our survival, always has been.” He replies, crossing his hands/arms as he glances at the rest of the Crew.

“But what if the Skeld Crew get infected too?” Jia asks.

This question prompts Kazimir to pause for a moment, narrowing his visor in thought. “Hm... Then that’d be a different situation... I don’t know how that’s going to go.” He states in response, glancing at the Crew. He had been running over various possible scenarios of what could’ve gone down in his mind since the Polus boogaloo started, but this particular ‘what if’ that Jia has presented somehow missed his thought train completely.

With a concerned expression, Elaine puts her hands together in the same fashion as you would for praying and brings them up underneath her visor whilst inhaling, before tilting her hands forward 90º, pointing her fingers at Kazimir. “Boi-.” She states whilst staring at him.

Kazimir raises his hand with a slightly surprised expression, seemingly pointing up towards the ceiling. “Hold up now- In my defence, that particular situation isn’t very common, usually it’s only a couple of individuals in every five Crews that get infected, if multiple people cop an infection of any sort.” He remarks with a serious tone.

Blankly staring at Kazimir for a moment, Elaine sighs. “Touché...” She begrudgingly mutters in response.

Striding over back to the table and sitting down again, Kazimir rests his hands on said table, lowering his head slightly. “Look, with the knowledge that MIRA could pop up here at any moment, we must continue on as normal, that means we, except Hyder due to his injuries, resume our tasks around the Outpost after we grab something to eat...” He declares as he checks the watch-looking device on the base of his hand, considering the space beans don’t really have proper wrists. He then looks back up at the Crew, narrowing his visor once again. “Considering it’s 1:27pm... Either way, we do the tasks afterwards, whether we like it or not. We need to avoid suspicion, especially this early on.” He points out.

With an amused glance at the Crew, Cymberline seems to approve of Kazimir’s approach to the situation so far.

Even Dimitri can’t help but give a slight smirk in response to Kazimir’s declaration. Is it admiration, or is something else slowly setting in? Who knows...

“Yeah I’m gonna grab something to eat.” Elaine quietly announces, getting up and going into the kitchen to snag a whole steak for herself. The Crew should consider themselves lucky that Artemy had the bright idea of packing a fair bit of meat. “Hm, actually y’know what, I’ll just make food for all of us.” She declares, grabbing a whole bunch of food to cook for the whole Crew.

Speaking of Artemy, he’s just floating above Elaine alongside Vincent and Leeann.

Elaine turns around and gets spooked by the three ghosts. “AH! What the fuck?!” She screeches in panic.

The rest of the crew glance over at the kitchen, all gasping in shock except for Kazimir, Dimitri and Cymberline. Dimitri’s already used to the presence of the ghosts, and as for Kazimir and Cymberline, well, they can’t see the ghosts due to being natural-born Impostors, taking to looking at each other in confusion and shrugging.

With a sigh, Dimitri glances over at Kazimir and Cymberline. “Ghosts.” He confirms.

“Makes sense.” Kazimir responds as he looks over at Dimitri, crossing his hands/arms and diverting his attention back to the slightly panicking Crew.

The unfortunate fellas seem to be both flabbergasted and scared by the ghosts’ existence, given they all thought ghosts didn’t exist, much like their views on the Shapeshifters before learning about Kazimir.

Dimitri shrugs. “Eh, they’ll get used to it sooner or later.” He comments in an unamused tone.

Glancing over at Dimitri, Kazimir tilts his head slightly. “I suppose... Either that or they’ll go insane.” He responds, giving a slight sinister chuckle afterwards that only Dimitri and Cymberline seem to pick up on.

With a slightly amused expression, Cymberline, who already had their attention focused on the interaction between Kazimir and Dimitri, speaks up. “You’ve barely changed at all in the past 90 years.” They remark whilst crossing their hands/arms.

“Don’t remind me how much time has passed, it makes me feel old.” Kazimir grumbles in reply.

Cymberline narrows their visor, attempting to bite back words but failing. “You are old, though.” They retort casually.

Silence fills the air for a moment, before Kazimir jokingly raises his sword, glaring at Cymberline with a blank visor in a fashion that almost makes it seem believable. “Would you like to repeat that?” He asks threateningly, though given the context, everyone can’t help but seem amused by the situation, even Kazimir himself.

Giggling, Cymberline musters up a long enough pause between their laughter to respond. “No sir.” They barely choke up in amongst their chortles.

“Good idea.” Kazimir hisses in a teasing fashion, sheathing his sword in the process.

The Crew pauses for a moment, before bursting into laughter, the irony of everything that’s occurred falling into place in both the worst and best way possible – at least to the Crew, anyway.

Seems as though the giggle fit won’t end, until Elaine decides to butt in. “Ok- ok I think that’s enough laughter for now.” She urges, trying to stop herself from laughing.

Everyone does eventually stop laughing, trying to calm themselves down. “Man... This is gonna be a wild ride from now on, I can tell.” Hyder comments, sighing as he shuffles in his seat to a more comfortable position. All of the Crew is probably going to have to figure out the order of things after they eat.

Speaking of which, Elaine resumes making lunch, so the Crew just sit around and wait for their food.

After a while, Elaine finishes cooking up the meal. “Alright, it’s ready! Finally...” She responds, coming out with the food and laying it out onto the table. “Dig in, I’m sure everyone’s hungry, me especially I bet!” She continues on, sitting down in her seat, immediately taking to grabbing some food and eating it, with everyone else following suit. The Crew seem so content right now despite the amount of drama that’s gone on the past few days. Everything should be fine now, right?

“Y’know maybe all this isn’t so bad after all, I mean... As long as we just keep acting as ourselves, we shouldn’t have a problem.” Zephyr points out, raising newly formed wings that exist thanks to the particular parasite that infected them. “... And about the wings uh I’ll just keep them still and say they’re cosplay! Heh.” They add on in case anyone was about to question it.

Dimitri yawns and leans on Kazimir, dozing off much to the latter’s surprise, and to the smug amusement of the rest of the Crew.

Shaking his head, Kazimir rests a hand on the table whilst pulling Dimitri closer. “We do not speak of this.” He hisses.

With a chuckle, Cymberline glances at Kazimir and Dimitri with a smirk. “Gay.” They tease, placing their hands onto the table in a devious manner before scoffing playfully. “Unfortunately, sir, I personally cannot make any promises, you should know this by now.” They continue, tilting their head slightly whilst retaining a smug expression.

A moment of silence fills the room as Kazimir glares at Cymberline, before sighing. “Oh go fuck yourself.” He retorts, narrowing his visor and flipping off Cymberline. Reasonable response, really.

“I... Think we should go do our tasks...” Jia suggests with a nervous chuckle. “Before this ends up turning into another Impostor vs. Impostor physical altercation...” They add, trying to discourage Kazimir and Cymberline.

Rapidly shaking their head, Cymberline’s amusement shifts to slight fear at the thought of fighting Kazimir. “I- Absolutely not, if I tried to fight Kazimir he’d deck me in less than a second, I can guarantee that right now.” They correct in a minor panic, getting up. “But I agree, task time!” They announce before trying to run off, only to get grabbed by their ‘oxygen tank’ and forcibly seated back in their chair by Kazimir.

Emitting a low, draconic growl, Kazimir glares at Cymberline. “You can sit... And wait... We haven’t sorted out who’s doing what yet.” He hisses assertively, expression diverting to Elaine as if to ask her to sort things out.

With a sigh, Elaine grabs out her laptop and starts setting tasks for people. “Alright, everyone, check your phones in a minute, I’m setting the tasks... I swear if we have another argument over this I’m dragging everyone back to the Skeld, and Martin can deal with the whole task thing.” She announces whilst typing away.

“Alright.” The crew respond, only for their visors to widen at the mention of returning to the Skeld. “Don’t!” They all exclaim at once immediately after Elaine finishes that sentence, Kazimir, Cymberline and Dimitri’s tones coming across a bit more aggressively than the others, all knowing the possible threat they may pose to the part of the Crew back at the Skeld, who all, as far as the Polus Crew are aware, are currently still Crewmates.

Elaine only seems to realise that her suggestion was a bad idea after everyone else unanimously and passionately objects to said suggestion. “Right... I forgot...” She mutters and goes back to typing.

Shaking his head gently whilst keeping it slightly lowered, Kazimir glances at Elaine. “You need to be more aware of the situation, Elaine. sure, distractions are nice, but ensuring the safety of us and those we hold as close friends is one of our top priorities.” He explains with a more solemn tone, crossing his hands/arms whilst raising his head. “Regardless of whatever predicament any of us might land in, we must stay focused and cautious, one little slip-up could easily mean the end of us. Those Crewmates aren’t entirely merciful in how they decide to take us out.” He comments, standing up.

A subtle nod of agreement from Cymberline follows. “They’d rather see us suffer for what they started. All of this could’ve been avoided if-” They add on, getting cut off by Kazimir gesturing for them to shush before they spill any information that the Crew are better off not knowing for the moment. Cymberline blinks and frowns, before putting their head on the table.

Right on cue, a printer can be heard printing something in the background. “Uhm, Cymberline doesn’t have a phone, so I’ve done their task list on a printable document so... Yeah.” Elaine speaks up, confirming why the printer is doing printer things.

“Makes sense.” Cymberline responds, albeit being slightly muffled.

Nodding, Elaine glances at the rest of the Crew. “Yep. And on that note for everyone else, yes that does mean you have task lists now, let’s get to it.” She announces, the Crew get up and do their tasks, minus Hyder, who heads straight to Medbay, with Elaine handing the paper copy over to Cymberline prior to them leaving so that they can also participate in the tasks.

Dimitri gleefully grabs Kazimir and drags him out of the room over to where his first task is in O2, much to the latter’s confusion and mild annoyance. “About time something normal happened around here, I was getting fed up with all the shit that’s been going down as of late.” Dimitri comments in an annoyed tone as he strides along to the aforementioned room.

With an exaggerated sigh accompanied by a facepalm, Kazimir sort of pushes Dimitri’s hand away from his, making Dimitri let go of him. He glances down at Dimitri with an unamused expression as he recovers himself from being dragged, now following along behind Dimitri. “I wouldn’t suggest saying that, you might jinx all of us.” He informs with a somewhat stern tone, putting his hands behind his back as he walks whilst looking over towards where he and Dimitri are going.

The pair eventually enter O2, Dimitri going over to the tree and adjusting the sliders on the panel to make sure the tree continues to live as it should. “What task do you have first, Kazimir?” He asks, turning to face Kazimir.

Looking at his task list for a moment, Kazimir narrows his visor. “I need to open the waterways...” He responds with a slight hiss of irritation.

“Aight.” Dimitri says with a nod, noting Kazimir’s somewhat negative attitude towards the task, though he’s leaving it at the safer assumption that Kazimir would much rather avoid tasks if possible.

Quietly growling as he turns around and walks over to the boiler room, Kazimir glances back at Dimitri with a mild glare of disapproval, not directed at Dimitri, just the product of him not wanting to do any water-related tasks in particular. “Let’s just... Get this over and done with...” He mutters loud enough for Dimitri to hear as he strides into the room carefully.

Chapter Text

Lingering around the outside area near Communications, Elaine had taken to fixing the weather nodes. “Why must we be cursed to live like this...?” She mutters to herself, sighing in defeat over what had happened as of late. “We’ve come so close... Yet we got pushed back so far... And I don’t even know if I can hold myself if MIRA comes around, might leave it to Kazimir... As much as I hate him for what he did to my colleagues... And the real Kazi... Maybe it was for the better, but still, that damn Shapeshifter really should’ve kept to himself.” She continues, starting to pace around between the Office and Weapons, before deciding to wander away.

“I can hear you from here, Elaine!” Kazimir hollers from the Boiler Room, before vocalising a loud parasitic screech of pain in response to the waterway valve accidentally breaking open and splashing him with water, unfortunately he didn’t extend his four usually hidden wings fast enough to stop the water from absolutely soaking him.

The sudden response startles Elaine, she just glances over at where the Boiler Room is, before shaking her head, muttering “nope.”, and taking her leave away from the area.

Dimitri ends up having to shove Kazimir away from the jet of water and seal the valve before any more water can spill.

With a low growl, Kazimir leans against a wall, raising his body temperature to evaporate the water off his body, which might take a while considering he’s absolutely drenched. “Fuck, that hurts!” He hisses, half-writhing in pain with his wings wrapped around him since he’s somewhat allergic to water for some reason.

Wearily approaching Kazimir, Dimitri gently pokes him. “Are you alright...?” He asks, concerned.

Grumbling in response, Kazimir, as soon as he’s dried up and cooled down a bit, wraps his wings around Dimitri and drags him over, picking him up and hugging him, though Dimitri does vocalise a surprised squeak as a reaction to getting pulled over to Kazimir, picked up and hugged.

“Kaz-?” Dimitri questions, only to get held tighter.

Kazimir pauses for a moment before responding. “Mine.” He states bluntly whilst carrying Dimitri out of the room.

Accidentally spotting and deciding to watch the whole situation, Cymberline only has one thought about those two in mind, and you could probably guess precisely what Cymberline is thinking.

With a quiet hum of both confusion and slight disappointment, Dimitri looks up at Kazimir, though he can’t hold ‘eye’ contact for even five seconds before getting embarrassed and glancing away. “Is this what I get for accidentally dozing off on you earlier?” He asks with a somewhat quiet murmur.

Nodding in response, Kazimir retracts his wings back into his body, effectively hiding them. “Precisely.” He responds in a semi-teasing manner.

Dimitri grumbles in response, burying his face in his hands. “Lorde...” He mutters, wondering how the hell he ended up in this situation. Probably doesn’t help that despite usually being quiet and somewhat antisocial, Dimitri also seems to have a decent score in charisma.

Meanwhile with Elaine, she’s teamed up with Zephyr, Jia, and Elmer to do their tasks. “So, uh... How are you guys feeling about the whole thing?” She asks, glancing at the trio.

“Eh... Not gonna lie I don’t really know...” Jia responds, shrugging.

Slightly tilting his head, Elmer sighs. “Well... I’d be lying if I didn’t say I don’t really mind it... At least I hope whatever Artemy’s been on about is over.” He states in reply.

Appearing behind Elmer, Artemy hovers with his hands/arms crossed. “I don’t have that bad feeling anymore so I’m suspecting what’s been setting my intuition off has passed – even if I carked it in the process.” He comments, floating over beside Elmer, who slinks away from him in response.

The other three get startled by Artemy’s appearance, Elaine also crossing her hands/arms in annoyance. “Artemy- stop doing that!” She demands.

Taking a moment to consider and make his decision, Artemy shrugs. “Hmm... No... No I don’t think I will.” He responds with a smug tone.

With a sigh, Elaine facepalms and grumbles. “Why are you like this...” She questions, annoyed.

“I could ask the same thing for you.” Artemy retorts, crossing his hands/arms. “Anyway, Imma go explore the planet, peace out.” He states, casually doing the peace hand sign whilst floating up and away from the Polus Outpost.

Elaine sighs again, shaking her head and glancing off to the side, approaching the edge of the cliff that the Outpost is situated on and sitting down. “I honestly wish I wasn’t here... I just want to be at home playing video games and blasting my music at 3am in peace... But no, I just had to sign up for this job, aye? And now I’m trapped here... All of us are... We have no way out...” She laments as she stares off into the horizon, the other three coming up and sitting down beside her. She looks down, tearing up. “I make friends here, just to lose the ones closest to me to Impostors... Even if they are here in spirit, it’s... Not the same. And now we’re all Impostors, I don’t know what to think about anything anymore.” She adds on.

Solemnly nodding, Zephyr props a leg up, placing their hand on their knee. “Maybe in another universe none of this happened, maybe the real Kazimir would be here, everyone would still be alive, we wouldn’t be dealing with this infection bullshit... The Shapeshifter managed to kill four of our Crew prior to the Polus saga, but most of us hated those four, let’s be honest here.” They comment softly, lowering their wings so they lay half on the ground.

After a moment of thought, Elaine nods. “I guess... Can’t be angry with him on that now that I think about it... But still...” She comments in agreement, seeming to lighten up slightly.

Shrugging, Elmer glances at Jia for a moment before diverting his gaze to the other two. “You’ve gotta give him credit though, he’s picked his targets carefully, not a lot of Impostors do that.” He points out in admiration.

With a disappointed sigh, Jia shakes their head. “Even if we weren’t dealing with the Shapeshifter I’m sure we’d have gotten infected eventually, maybe even sooner, if the Elil Impostor and Cymberline didn’t kill us first.” They point out. “And honestly, we could’ve had worse problems, including but not limited to the what if SS Kazimir decided to kill all of us upfront.” They add with a mildly concerned expression.

Humming in thought, Elaine looks off into the distance for a moment before turning her attention back to Jia. “Maybe we should be grateful he didn’t and is now choosing to help us through this rather than leaving us in the dark. I’m sure Artemy wouldn’t like the idea of us holding a grudge for the foreseeable future.” She comments, shifting her legs up from dangling over the edge of the cliff and crossing them whilst shuffling back slightly.

A ringtone can be heard from Communications, and since Kazimir’s the one closest to the building, he slides over to the doorway, putting Dimitri down before darting over and answering the call. “Hello, Kazimir speaking?” He says awkwardly, given no-one was expecting the Skeld Crew to call.

“Ah, hello there, Kazimir! How’s things going down on Polus?” The voice on the other side greets somewhat cheerfully.

Kazimir sighs. “Uhhh... Not... So great, unfortunately, Martin... We got attacked by An Impostor. It killed Artemy, Vincent, and Leeann... And heavily injured Hyder... We managed to eject it, but casualties/fatalities were still suffered.” He explains, pausing for a moment. “On another note, said Impostor had a partner that proved to be friendly, so when we return... Expect one extra Crew Member.” He states.

Pausing for a moment, Martin turns his camera on, seeming a bit disheartened. “That’s... Oh God... That’s horrible! So there goes our best Engineer/pilot, our communicator, and a medic...” He comments, trying to keep his composure. “At- at least we got something nice out of it...” He continues, scratching his head.

With a hum of agreement, Kazimir nods, though Martin can’t see it. “Yeah... We’re all probably going to need to have a group therapy session with Sam when we get back... At this point everything sorta calls for it, doesn’t it?” He responds solemnly.

“Yeah... Deaths aside, just keep going with the main mission, we can hold a commemorative ceremony to honour the fallen when you guys get back...” Martin orders, though said order is gentler in nature than one would expect. “On another note... We’re expecting to receive a large quantity of parasites to store at the Outpost for research, so keep a lookout for a dropship. Leo and Santana should be the ones delivering said parasites soon enough... Let’s just hope the damn things are contained properly, I’d hate for any of us to get infected here.” He continues, explaining the plan from this point onwards.

Kazimir narrows his visor in concern. “Alright... And as for when MIRA will turn up here? Have you heard anything about that?” He asks with a mild sense of uncertainty that Martin doesn’t seem to pick up on.

Shrugging, Martin has a look of uncertainty on his face. “That... They won’t tell us... But the Crew transporting the parasites here recently contacted us midway through their journey to tell us that they’re staying with us, having been granted MIRA’s permission. So they’ree officially joining our Crew back up here in this old spaceship.” He answers, giving a sort of light-hearted chuckle. “Enough of my yapping, you and the Crew take care, man, I’ve got stuff to do.” Martin bids his goodbye.

With a nod, Kazimir hums contently before responding. “Alright, see ya Martin.” He states, followed by Martin ending the call. Kazimir sighs, turning to face Dimitri. “For the love of the Stars... How many times am I going to see this recipe for disaster this week?” He questions, facepalming. “At least the whole keeping the mass infection undercover part wasn’t hard.” He comments, looking at Dimitri.

“Not entirely sure there, buddy...” Dimitri responds with a shrug. “And I’m gonna be honest, with you, I doubt any part involving disguise or façades would be hard, especially for you.” He remarks, tilting his head.

Kazimir just blinks whilst keeping his gaze on Dimitri. “Touché...” He mutters in reply, diverting his gaze off to the side.

Scoffing playfully, Dimitri starts to walk off. “Exactly, none of us, except for maybe Cymberline, know how powerful you actually are... And knowing you by now, I doubt you’d entirely wish to reveal that.” He says whilst turning back to face Kazimir.

Slightly tilting his head downward, Kazimir sighs. “Mhm...” He replies semi-begrudgingly.

The pair go silent for a moment, before Dimitri just casually grabs and drags Kazimir over to him using his sabobutton. “Anyway! Let’s continue! I’ll deal with that waterway, and you can... Refuel the dropship, I guess!” Dimitri states slightly cheerfully whilst walking out the door. “Seeing as you don’t entirely have the best experiences with water, ahah...” He adds on sheepishly.

Shaking his head in response, Kazimir seems to be a bit too lazy to walk, so he just lets himself get dragged. “Yeah nope.” He responds.

“Thought so.” Dimitri retorts semi-playfully, stopping at the waterway on the outside wall of the Office. “Well, I’ll do this, you go refuel the dropship.” He offers whilst starting to turn the valve to open the waterway. “Everything should be fine now... I think.” He comments quietly.

Kazimir nods. “Eeyup, seems to be... I’ll catch ya later.” He says, before walking off to Storage.

Meanwhile, Cymberline comes across Elil’s corpse, pausing to stare at it. “Heh, whoops, didn’t see you there, ‘buddy’.” They state sarcastically whilst kicking said corpse. “Fucken’ idiot.” They retort to it, before picking the two halves up and dragging them over to the lava pit, tossing them in. “I should probably dispose of the other corpses... Probably keep some of their accessories in the name of memory... Hyder already has Artemy’s stuff though...” They ponder, glancing off towards Elaine, Zephyr, Elmer, and Jia, who are still conversing at the cliff’s edge. “For what little time I’ve known everyone... I’m really growing fond of this little Crew... Heh.” They continue muttering to themself as they walk off to find Vincent’s corpse, given Leeann’s and Artemy’s were already dealt with.

Over in Medbay, Yvette’s staying by Hyder’s side despite technically needing to do her tasks. “What’s... Your view on everything that has happened so far...? I know my sister complains a lot about various occurrences, not just this one. But you seem more... Reserved... About your opinions...?” She asks, sitting by the bed that Hyder’s laying in.

Grumbling, Hyder turns to face Yvette. “Ehhh... Could’ve been worse but also could’ve been better... I don’t really care at this point.” He responds, turning his attention to the ceiling, staring up at it blankly.

With a sigh, Yvette nods. “Fair...” They comment, leaning back in her chair. “On one hand, I understand where Elaine is coming from, on another hand, it’s too late for such a reaction...” They add on whilst shrugging.

“It’s not really an optimal situation by any means... But we’re still on better feet than anyone else that may have been or are currently in this situation... Especially with two natural-born Impostors willingly on our side... Helping us...” Hyder comments with a more neutral demeanour, his lack of grudge-holding clearly showing in his responses.

Yvette hums in agreement, glancing over at the Medbay entrance before glancing back at Hyder. “Yeah.” She says contently, shifting her position on the chair so she can swing her legs back and forth.

Glancing back at Yvette, Hyder nods. “Well... I suppose there’s no use mopin’... Though I can’t entirely do anything given I have to stay here and rest up and heal or something, thanks to that maroon idiot of An Impostor.” He complains, laying his head back on his pillow with a rather unamused expression. “...Whatever, at least I’m alive...” He states, crossing his hands/arms.

A minute of silence follows, before Yvette nods. “Mhm, there’s that, at least.” They comment with a soft tone, sighing whilst crossing their legs.

 “I wanna get up and do my tasks damnit.” Hyder complains, sitting up, propping his pillow up against the head of the bed and leaning back onto it. “But no, apparently no I can’t.” He hisses in annoyance.

Sighing, Yvette facepalms and shakes her head. “Hyder, trying to fight those parasites while injured wasn’t helping you any.” She retorts with a tone equivalent to a disappointed mother. “You need to take a break and recover from all that.” They add on whilst crossing their hands/arms.

Hyder leans back fully, tilting his head over the side of the bed whilst groaning. “But I don’t want to!” He exclaims.

Quietly poking her head into the room, Elaine raises a brow as Elmer, Jia and Zephyr also peek into the room, all four Impostors involved seemingly stacked on top of each other Looney Tunes style. “The hell’s Hyder yappin’ about this time?” Elaine asks, seemingly used to Hyder’s refusal to let himself rest, though all of the Crew would be used to members refusing to rest by now.

With a hiss, Yvette looks at Elaine with an unamused expression. “He doesn’t want to be stuck here recovering from that attack as he should be, hey Hyder?” She responds whilst slowly turning her head to glare at Hyder.

Growling in response, Hyder ends up showing his Impostor mouth, his visor going blank. “Oh fuck off!” He snaps, slamming his hands down on the side of the bed whilst unsheathing his claws. “Just because you guys believe I should rest-.”

“It’s not a matter of anyone’s opinion here, we know you should rest, it’s a fact.” Kazimir hisses as he enters the room, which cuts Hyder off from finishing his sentence. “Regardless of whether you think you’re capable of, you really should be taking more interest in your health, especially after the events that have recently transpired.” He states with a stern tone, narrowing his visor, with its colour shifting slightly to show a slight tint of red.

The others glance at Kazimir, concerned about the sudden change. “Uh, Kaz?” Elaine questions, gesturing to Kazimir’s visor.

Kazimir glances over at Elaine, his expression about as seemingly unbothered as one could get it. “I’m aware, trust me.” He responds, then turning his attention back to Hyder, who had taken to partially hiding under his blanket due to Kazimir’s intervention in general. Kazimir just shakes his head, facepalms and sighs, the sigh turning into a short, mild growl of disappointment. “I don’t get paid enough to deal with this shit.” He hisses, shifting to the side of the room so that the other four beans that are still lingering in the doorway can enter the room. “But whatever...” He mutters, his visor shifting back to its usual colour as he leans against the wall, glaring at Hyder with an expression more akin to lack of amusement as opposed to annoyance.

Shrugging, Yvette looks back at Hyder. “Kazimir’s right, you need to focus on your health, not your job.” She states, uncrossing her legs and sitting up. “Even if a lot of us, especially with our fellas back at the Skeld, are notorious for not doing that.” She adds on, her words followed by a sigh.

Quietly hissing, Hyder glares at Yvette and Kazimir, before glancing away. “Fine.” He accepts begrudgingly.

“Good, good... We’ve already had enough fatalities in this mess.” Kazimir comments in response to Hyder finally sucking up and deciding to listen to pretty much everyone else in the room, as everyone minus Hyder has the same view on the matter.

With a short chitter, Elaine decides to speak up. “Uh, I’m just gonna take my group and... Leave.” She declares, grabbing Elmer and Jia and walking out of the building, Zephyr following after her.

Hyder sighs, before tossing over under his blanket and going to sleep.

In response to this, Yvette sighs, gets up and starts walking towards the door. They stop in the doorway, turning back to face Kazimir. “Are you... Going to come with, or stay in there?” They ask, tilting their head.

Sighing, Kazimir pushes himself off the wall. “May as well... Got nothing better to do, I might just go find Dimitri.” He answers, walking towards the doorway.

“Okay, you can go find your boyfri-.” Yvette tries to say but she ends up getting cut off.

Kazimir hisses in embarrassment. “Shut up.” He grumbles in response, cutting past Yvette and leaving. Though she ends up following behind him. “He’s not my boyfriend!” He adds on as he exits the building.

A snicker from Yvette follows. “Yet.” She states with a playful tone.

Giving a short growl in response, Kazimir gently whacks Yvette in the face. “Again, for the love of the Stars, shut up!” He complains. Apparently, he’s not happy with the Crew actively shipping him and Dimitri.

Chapter Text

Meanwhile with Cymberline, they’re just cavorting around the place semi-aimlessly whilst trying to complete their tasks. They’re not entirely sure how to do them, but they’re managing. “Hmm... I’m slightly concerned about how Róisín is going to react to seeing that I’ve basically left her for the Crew the Elil Impostor and I were supposed to kill...” They mutter to themself, walking about the Outpost trying to find one of the weather nodes. “Meh, who cares, Hazar’s here, that’s all that matters, she won’t be able to do shit... Much to her surprise...” They remark, finally finding the weather node they’re supposed to fix and walking up to it. “... How do I do this-?” They question to themself, inspecting the weather node whilst tilting their head in confusion.

Approaching Cymberline after noticing them struggling with their tasks, Yvette vocalises a trill of confusion. “You need help there?” She asks, walking up to them whilst keeping a friendly gaze on them.

Awkwardly humming in thought for couple of seconds, Cymberline ends up nodding. “Uh, yeah, I have absolutely no idea how I’m supposed to do... ‘Fix weather node’...?” They respond, glancing at Yvette and sheepishly scratching their head. “Sorry, I’m not entirely all that used to genuinely doing tasks, so I don’t actually know how to do them... Hah.”

“Alright, I’ll show you how it’s done.” Yvette states, crouching down beside the weather node and showing Cymberline how to fix it.

Cymberline watches Yvette in interest, having a curious expression on their face akin to a child seeing and learning about something for the first time, which isn’t too far off considering this is their first time actually doing tasks.

Back in the Office, Dimitri, having come back from checking to make sure the dropship got re-fuelled, which, upon seeing that it did, he checks the task off his task list. He then looks up at Vincent, who’s floating idly above him, just watching. “Hm? What’s on yer mind this time, Vincent?” He questions, tilting his head and putting his phone in his pocket.

With a sigh, Vincent looks to the side. “Us and Kazimir aren’t the only ones that have a bad feeling about the whole thing with the Skeld... Right?” He asks, looking back at Dimitri with a concerned expression. “I mean... What happened with the parasites here is no joke, there’s a high chance it’ll happen on the Skeld too, given the circumstances.” He adds.

Leeann’s just floating beside Vincent, quietly watching the conversation between the two with a somewhat unreadable expression. Hard to tell if she’s curious, concerned, or blank.

“Mmm... I feel like everything’s my fault...” Dimitri mutters, looking down. “I mean- I got infected and by my ignorance, confusion, and foolish mistakes due to all that, I accidentally let some of our Crew die, got those Nat-Born Impostors sicced here... I killed Leeann for fucksake! And all that led to everyone here aside from those of us that were already Impostors getting infected too.” He hisses, gesturing to Leeann when he mentions killing her, even if it was by accident.

Taken aback by the mild outburst, Leeann tries to pat Dimitri, but quickly gets shoved away. “Dimitri- it was an accident, you didn’t mean it, you were just- acting in self-defence-!” She states, trying to calm Dimitri down.

Shaking his head, Vincent floats down right in front of Dimitri. “Dude, don’t treat yourself so harshly, sure, you screwed up, but- everything’s going to be okay... Please... We certainly don’t need you driving yourself to insanity or possible aggression over this...” He suggests, crossing his hands/arms in concern.

“Vincent, your accusations yesterday morning weren’t helping any, and I’ve been here trying to teach myself how to, at the very least, not get caught as An Impostor for the past year and a half, because I had no-one around to help me for most of that time! God help us if I even get the urge to kill someone, I’m trying to be as normal as possible!” Dimitri retorts, slamming his hand into the wall, which makes Vincent and Leeann abruptly back away slightly. “But I can’t have that because I’m not a Crewmate anymore, and nothing will be ‘normal’ again!” He exclaims, on the verge of tears.

Vincent narrows his visor. “Dimitri, please...” He mutters.

With a hiss, Dimitri turns away, his gaze softening slightly as he sighs. “Don’t ‘Dimitri, please’ me... And to answer your previous question... Honestly...? At this rate, everyone else might just feel the same if we drag them to a meeting and inform them of what’s going on...” Dimitri responds. After thinking for a moment, he glances over at the meeting room. “Speaking of which...” He says, before walking over to the meeting table. He hesitates for a moment, before lifting the cover off the meeting button, and pressing the button, initiating an Emergency Meeting.

The Crew, minus Hyder, rush over and peek into the room upon hearing the alarm, Kazimir looking unamused like he already knows what this is about, which he does.

Humming in curiosity, Kazimir speaks up. “So what precisely is this about? This is the second time you’ve called a meeting for something that probably does require our attention... As opposed to the like, two- three odd times that Elaine’s called a meeting just to drag us to lunch.” He asks, then remarking the number of meetings that have been called, seeming to note where Dimitri’s priorities lie as opposed to Elaine’s.

Dimitri sighs before responding. “You’re the one that picked up the call earlier, Kaz, you already know.” He retorts, which prompts a quiet hiss from Kazimir in return.

“We had a call? From who?” Elaine asks with a mildly irritated expression due to Kazimir’s remark, though her visor narrows in concern as she speaks upon learning of the surprise call, having somehow missed the ringtone earlier. “I hope we’re not under threat from MIRA...” She adds on quietly. “That’d be... Really bad...” She then mutters to herself.

Glancing over at Elaine, Kazimir and Dimitri nod. “Don’t worry Elaine, we’re fine, I made sure of it. It was just Martin so that’s sort of a bonus there.” Kazimir states with a comical shrug. “He told us that we should probably expect a... Delivery, courtesy of Leo and Santana soon... And said delivery is a bunch of parasites from... MiraHQ, I’m assuming...” He explains. “And by now I’m pretty sure we all know how that’s going to end up. I don’t know how the staff at the headquarters managed to keep those things contained, but I digress.” He adds on with shrug and mildly unamused expression.

Everyone, minus Dimitri and Kazimir, shakes their heads, some even facepalming and grumbling in response. “Wh- Stars no, we don’t need another intergalactic disaster this week.” Cymberline comments with a hiss, looking up at Kazimir. “We already had the shit that went on here on Polus, what more do the gods want from us?!” They complain, getting quite irritated at the course of events, both post and yet to be.

With a sigh, Kazimir nods. “Precisely, but it’s going to happen, regardless.” He states with a mild hint of annoyance. “Unfortunately, there’s nothing we can do to stop it, fate cannot be easily changed.” He adds on, crossing his hands/arms.

Elaine grumbles. “I swear Ursus and the rest of the MIRA authorities do not have their heads screwed on correctly, not that we’re any different for trying to contain the slippery shits ourselves like- two days ago. Ugh.” She expresses, proceeding to slam her head onto the table.

Chuckling, Zephyr speaks up. “Yeah no, pretty sure we figured that part out already.” They remark with a mildly amused expression and tone. “I mean, who in their right mind would hold parasites knowing just how dangerous and hard to contain they are? Unless there’s some underlying reason why they’re transferring them here?” They query, tilting their head.

“They never had their heads screwed on straight, not even the ones in charge of MIRA before Ursus and his gaggle of idiots.” Kazimir chimes in, narrowing his visor whilst sporting an irritated expression. “And what do you mean ‘underlying reason’, Zephyr?” He continues, confused.

With a shrug, Zephyr droops their wings slightly. “I don’t know, anything, I guess.” They say.

Subtly tilting their head, Jia emits a hum of concern. “And... The ones in charge before Ursus, Beatrice, and Jordan...? What do you mean by that, Kazimir...?” They ask with a mild hint of scepticism.

Pausing for a moment before lowering his head, Kazimir’s visor goes blank. “Jia, do you really want the answer to that? Do you want to hear our side of the story from the very beginning of this madness?” He questions with a dark tone, glancing up at Jia as a sort of prompt for them to reconsider, pausing for a moment whilst resting his hands on the table. “Because if you really want to hear the story, from my side in particular, I’ll tell you.” He adds on.

Jia keeps their gaze on Kazimir, concerned. “Do you mean that as in the whole... Thing... About why you guys started attacking MIRA...?” They answer, their concern ever-growing as Kazimir remains silent for a good ten seconds.

With yet another sigh, Kazimir nods. “Exactly...” He responds.

“Uhm... Alright, from your perspective, how did that all start, anyway?” Jia queries with a quiet tone with a mild hint of curiosity, tilting their head more obviously to the other side.

Thinking for a moment on how to word the whole thing, Kazimir sighs yet again, before telling his side of the story. “Well, it was originally just a dispute over territory a little less than a century ago, as MIRA had trespassed onto parts of the galaxy that us Impostors had claimed as our own... Land, I guess.” He begins.

Gently nodding, Jia hums in interest. “What did MIRA do...?” They ask.

A short pause from Kazimir follows, he crosses his arms before continuing. “They stole our resources, kidnapped some parasites, as well as a couple of us Impostors and killed almost everyone else at the outpost we’d set up... When I learnt about what went down from one of the survivors... To say I was pissed off would be an understatement, I was absolutely enraged... And, well, given MIRA’s attitude towards us, I decided ‘enough is enough’ and ordered an attack on MIRA's ships...” He states, getting a bit annoyed again whilst explaining all of this.

The Crew chatter among themselves about the newly revealed information, before Elaine shushes everyone. “I’m guessing they didn’t-.” She tries to question, but ends up getting cut off.

“-Take that too kindly? No... I would've understood if the attacks were unprecedented, looking at the Scarlet Clan here since they’re all just a bunch of no-brained ‘attack everything that moves unless they’re in the Clan’ creatures... But I've seen how the Crewmates act... The vast majority of them? They play the victim card. MIRA refused to take responsibility for the damages they had done, putting us as the aggressors at the outpost. What was supposed to be a one-off retaliation turned into an intergalactic war that still rages to this day... Huge losses on both sides that continue to rise... Seven million deaths on both sides and counting... All could’ve been avoided...” Kazimir replies, his gaze diverting off to the side as he speaks.

Understandably, the Crew all look quite shocked and a little pissed off at MIRA. “Oh... Well, uh, shit, I’m sorry to hear about all that...” Elaine mutters in response, concerned.

Sighing, Kazimir glances back at the Crew. “As unfortunate as the whole situation is... It’s not y’all’s fault... And maybe it was foolish of me to attack your Crew blindly without providing a chance...” He states, narrowing his visor in mild regret.

Dimitri sighs, putting a hand on Kazimir’s supposed ‘oxygen tank’. “From what you’re saying... You never really had any reason to think any different at the time, and I don’t blame you, really... Honestly you made things a lot easier, for both us and the Skeld Crew, to accept Impostors with open arms... Given the bastards loyal to MIRA are dead.” He assures, looking up at Kazimir, who seems a bit... Sad.

With a hum of concern, Elaine looks to the side. “Yeah, and I kinda get it now, but... How are we going to tell Hyder? What about the rest of our Crew back at the Skeld?” She asks, seeming a bit nervous. “What would they think?” She continues, narrowing her visor, worried.

“We’ll have to tell Hyder, as for the Skeld Crew, we’ll lay low until the subject is brought up, however that may be.” Kazimir responds, having immediately snapped back to his more serious demeanour when Elaine started speaking, getting up and walking towards the doorway. “But the question is who... Is going to tell Hyder?” He questions, glancing back at the Crew, quickly taking a moment to vote skip on his phone given the meeting wasn’t dismissed.

Seeing Kazimir vote skip, The Crew look at each other and also all proceed to skip.

No-one was ejected.

0 Crewmates remaining...

Everyone stares at the vote result screen, all confused as to why it was registering Crewmates being the ones supposed to be ejected. “Isn’t it supposed to say Impostors...?” Cymberline asks, squinting.

Kazimir lowers his head. “Considering there’s more Impostors than Crewmates now, the system would’ve registered that and changed accordingly... But if it’s MIRA equipment, wouldn’t it send an alert to MiraHQ? Unless it got hijacked to disable the alert function...” He speculates, glancing at Dimitri.

With a blank stare at Kazimir whilst holding his sabobutton, Dimitri cracks a small smirk. “Ehe.” He giggles innocently.

A hum of thought emanates from Kazimir as his gaze flicks between Dimitri and the sabobutton for a moment. “Well then... Seems I continue to make the mistake of underestimating you, Dimitri.” He comments with a chuckle, going up to Dimitri and ruffling his hair. “You smart little shit.” He adds on affectionately.

Giggling, Dimitri playfully snaps at Kazimir. “Oh shush.” He responds.

Slowly taking in a deep breath, bringing her hands pressed together up under her vesior, Elaine stares at the two. “Will you two just kiss already?” She asks, pointing her hands at the both of them. She, in turn, proceeds to get hissed at by both Kazimir and Dimitri in response, which makes her smile sheepishly.

Dimitri slowly turns his head and glares at Elaine, grabbing his handgun and cocking it. “I will end you.” He threatens with a mildly irritated smile, narrowing his visor.

The threat was enough to make Elaine perk up and raise her hands. “Hey, hey, let’s- let’s not shoot each other, dude-.” She utters in slight fear.

With a concerned trill, Kazimir grabs Dimitri’s hand, the one holding the gun, and lowers it. “Woah there buddy, chill.” He states with a nervous chuckle. “We ain’t shooting fellow Crew members.” He continues, before realising he’s holding Dimitri’s hand and blushing. “... Shut up Elaine.” He hisses, glancing off to the side whilst covering his face, letting go of Dimitri. “We- we don’t... Speak of this...” He mutters in embarrassment, moving away from Dimitri slightly.

“Well you two can’t deny it!” Elaine states with a giggle.

Glaring at Elaine, Kazimir sharply takes in a breath even though he doesn’t need to. “Girl, SHUT YO BITCHASS-.” He hisses whilst narrowing his visor and unsheathing his claws, swiping his left hand backwards through the air.

Mildly taken aback, Elaine seems to be mildly insulted. “This is why you’re from fuckin’ Melbourne.” She responds.

Kazimir growls, approaching Elaine. “I’ll show you who’s from Melbourne, you’re the one from Tamworth.” He retorts, narrowing his visor. Dimitri ends up having to drag him away and Yvette ends up having to drag Elaine away before things get out of hand. “This bitchass purple dude is from Hobart thank you very much.” Kazimir states, referring to the Crewmate he replaced whilst gesturing to himself.

Shaking their heads, Yvette and Dimitri glance at Kazimir and Elaine. “Let’s- let’s not get into this discussion, please.” Yvette pleads politely.

“Fine.” Kazimir and Elaine grumble simultaneously, turning their heads away from each other.

With a collective sigh from Dimitri and Yvette, Yvette nods. “Thank you, we don’t need additional violence given the shit we’ve gone through in... The past four days.” She expresses quietly, though everyone can still hear her.

Elaine scoffs. “Whatever.” She hisses, proceeding to leave the room.

Everyone just looks at each other and shrugs, even Kazimir, who seems less than amused but he’s definitely not as angry now, probably since Dimitri’s right beside him. Who would’ve guessed.

Chapter Text

The silence in the room raises the tension in the air, which, at this point, feels so thick that you could cut through it with a knife, like butter. The Crew just look at each other with confused expressions, all sharing the same knowledge that any remaining hope of returning to a normal life has now been lost. Some of the members sigh, others shake their heads in solemn disappointment, and a few just facepalm in under-spoken frustration.

Taking in a deep breath, and exhaling a calm, steady sigh, Cymberline glances at everyone else stoically, their visor narrowing as they survey each of the Crew members’ expressions. “We’re in for one hell of a time, aren’t we?” They ask, diverting their gaze to Kazimir.

“It would appear so...” Kazimir responds, placing a hand on his hip as he glances off to the side. “With the circumstances as they are, I have my doubts about the ease of keeping things relatively stable around here, among pre-existing stresses, including me... The parasites, and the losses we’ve suffered, it’ll be a miracle if rational thought is retained, but only time will tell.” He expresses whilst turning to face the doorway.

Slowly approaching Kazimir, Yvette hums in concern. “Sorry about Elaine... As you may have seen various times before now, she does... Tend to take stuff too far...” They state, scratching their head sheepishly.

With a grumble, Kazimir glances back over at Yvette, lowering his head. “I can see that, no need for apologies on her behalf...” He replies, sighing. “Even if she wasn’t like that normally, the parasite may have had an influence... But I’m not saying I’m innocent if that’s the idea you’re getting, because clearly, I’m not. I’m just saying what could be happening.” He comments, crossing his hands/arms whilst sighing and shaking his head.

Nodding, Yvette crosses her hands/arms as well, turning her gaze to the doorway before refocusing on Kazimir. “Understandable... I’m sure we’ll figure something out eventually, but eh, who knows.” They say with a mildly disappointed expression. “Though, it still... Seems slightly out of character for her, wouldn’t you think?” They remark.

A short, low growl emanates from Kazimir in response as he walks off towards the doorway. “Mmm... Regardless, someone needs to go find and check up on her, however, I’m not going to be the one doing it, I’m tired, and am going to go take a nap.” He declares, proceeding to leave the room and subsequently, the building, to head to the sleeping quarters.

Blinking, Dimitri pauses for a moment before running out after Kazimir. “Hey- I wanna join, wait for me!” He calls out, picking up his speed.

The rest of the crew just stare out the doorway for a moment, before looking at each other and shrugging. “Well uh... This is gonna be fun... Not.” Zephyr comments sarcastically, rolling his visor as if he was rolling his eyes.

“Easy for you to say, Zeph, I don’t think we know half of what just transpired, among that, the whole system thing and everything else... We’re probably pretty screwed in terms of mental health, but I don’t know, how about you guys?” Elmer comments quietly yet with a slightly snarky tone, before enquiring on the status of everyone’s emotional state due to, well, everything.

Jia sighs. “I don’t think we’re going so well, I mean, if we’re gonna get off this stupid purple planet before Leo and Santana get here, if they manage to get here without complications before departure or during flight, who’s flying the dropship since Artemy’s gone? I’m probably the only medic that’s available since Elaine’s mental state is fucked, Leeann’s dead, and due to Vincent also carking it thanks to that Gods’ forsaken Elil Impostor, Kazimir’s the only other one who’s remotely capable of communications now because the rest of us hate taking calls, so we’re gonna have to sort something out if we want to do anything besides survive.” They state, rambling on about the Crew’s problems.

Facepalming, Yvette shakes her head. “We know, Jia, we know... Good God, we’ll sort it out when the time nears, but for now, we have other problems to sort out. We know Kazimir’s a capable enough pilot if shit really goes south and we have to evacuate the planet, and we’re probably going to have to deal with calls either way, especially if Kazimir is unavailable like he is now.” She hisses in response.

With a sigh, Cymberline glances between everyone. “Look, guys, I know everything’s stressful and sort of a mess, but we can’t continue fighting about it, that’s what got half of this unnecessary shit started in the first place, blimey.” They comment.

“Yeah, no need to remind us, Cymberline.” Everyone else responds in unison.

Softly nodding, Cymberline crosses their hands/arms. “Thought so, but just checking.” They mutter to themself under their breath, shaking their head a second later. “By the way, before anyone asks, yes I know about everything that went down here, I’ve been watching the whole time.” They clarify, before getting up and leaving.

Yvette pauses, sighing. “Well uh... That just happened...” They state, pausing, before turning to look at the rest of the Crew. “Do what you want, I’m checking on Hyder.” She declares, turning around and taking her leave out of the back of the Office building.

The Crew all collectively sigh and leave to do their own thing, everyone feels a little uneasy, to say the least.

Meanwhile in Medbay, Hyder’s waking up, rubbing his visor with one hand and using the other to prop himself up against the head of the bed. He grumbles, shaking his head before looking around. “Goddamn... I guess everyone went off to do their own thing...” He mutters to himself, before hearing footsteps and turning his head to see Yvette as they walk into the room. “Hey Yvette...” He greets.

“Hey Hyder! You feeling any better?” Yvette asks as she approaches the bed, sitting down in the chair beside it. “Oh yeah, by the way, uhm... Whilst you were asleep, Kazimir ended up telling us the real reason why all of this crap between the Impostors and MIRA happened...” They add on with a slightly sheepish tone of voice.

Glancing over at Yvette, Hyder tilts his head. “Yeah, I’m feeling slightly better, still in a bit of pain but... I can bear it, I suppose.” He responds, before listening to what Yvette states after her question, narrowing his visor in concern. “You mean there actually is a reason other than what MIRA is telling us? That we were right about something being off about the company?” He asks in confusion.

Yvette nods in response. “Yes, that’s exactly what I mean.” They reply.

With a hum of thought, Hyder glances at the wall at the other side of the room, pondering. He then sighs, diverting his attention back to Yvette. “So, since it seems that is the case, why exactly did all this start?” He queries.

Shaking her head, Yvette narrows her visor. “You’ll have to find and ask Kazimir for the details later, I’m not suited for paraphrasing or giving any brief descriptions, you should know this.” She states, crossing her hands/arms. “But I’ll tell you one thing, it was indeed MIRA’s fault.” She adds on.

Slowly lowering his head and closing his visor, Hyder remains still in thought for a moment, before opening his visor and looking at Yvette again. “Knew it... MIRA just can’t go without fucking anything up, can they?” He expresses with an annoyed tone, Yvette shaking her head again in response. “Damnit...” Hyder hisses, crossing his hands/arms. “We can’t do anything, it’s like- over 100, hell even 200 guards and other personnel against 23 of us including the Skeld Crew if they support us- we’re gonna get smoked if we try to stage a rebellion!” He comments.

“Hyder... Look at me... Some of us are Impostors, two being Nat-born Shapeshifters... I’m sure we’ll at least hold our own for a while. Hell, if Kazimir is in charge of almost all of the Impostors, I say almost because we’re just talking about the ones that aren’t in the Scarlet Clan, that says a lot about his power... Not to mention Dimitri seems to be quite skilled with his abilities and the functions of the sabobutton he wields, even in Kazimir’s eyes.” Yvette assures. “I’m sure we’ll get through it somehow, but, like Kazimir said to the rest of us, we need to lay low regardless, so until we’re in a stable enough state for Kazimir to initiate a full-scale battle, we won’t do anything, even if, personally, I’d like to participate in some MIRA ass-whooping. The “not doing anything currently” is a given... If the Skeld Crew were to get infected by the parasites that MIRA is carting over there as a sort of ‘stop’ before sending them to us, then we’ll have a better chance of survival.” She continues, placing her hand on Hyder’s, which makes Hyder blush lightly.

Sighing, Hyder glances off to the side again, seeming mildly troubled. “I still worry about the whole idea, y’know? I mean, what if we get overwhelmed? How are we going to deal with that?” He asks, pausing for a moment before looking at Yvette in confusion. “... Scarlet Clan?” He questions.

Yvette sighs, lowering her head. “From what Kazimir describes them as, basically a whole bunch of bloodthirsty maniacs that’ll attack anything and everything that aren’t their own members.” She explains, raising her head. “If MIRA ain’t enough shit for us to deal with, the Scarlet Clan clearly is.” They add on with an annoyed tone of voice.

“But how in the name of all that’s holy are we going to even talk to the Skeld Crew about MIRA’s crap?” Elaine asks as she leans against the doorway, visor narrowed. “I mean, come on! We don’t wanna reveal ourselves as-” She complains, getting cut off by Yvette raising her hand.

Lowering her hand with yet another sigh and a facepalm with their other hand, Yvette grumbles before diverting her attention to Elaine. “Don’t know, we’ll figure that out when the time comes... Instead of the whole “what if we get mistaken as Impostors” thing that Jia brought up on our first day here at the Outpost, now it’s “what if we accidentally reveal ourselves as Impostors?” ... It tackles one problem, but raises another. Depending on what Kazimir’s plans are after this, we may have to... Amp up the aggression a little...” They respond, their visor going blank at the last part of her sentence, quietly chuckling light-heartedly to herself.

With a concerned nod to each other, Hyder and Elaine look at Yvette with worried expressions. “Are- you okay big sis?” Elaine asks, fidgeting with her gloves. “Are we sure the parasites aren’t, y’know, having a subtle effect on our behaviour?” She continues, visor narrowing further.

Momentarily contemplating Elaine’s words, Yvette shrugs before responding. “I don’t know... Maybe... But at the same time, MIRA’s been getting worse, and we thought that it wasn’t possible... I find myself agreeing with Kazimir here, regardless of whether how he chooses to handle the situation is morally correct or not.” She comments, crossing her hands/arms.

“Let’s not- get into planning anything too brash just yet- I mean- we’re barely even stable on our own, we can’t deal with any of MIRA’s forces in our current state, even if we managed to get out of the whole situation relatively ok whilst still- being ourselves...” Elaine argues with a worried expression, not being entirely fond of Yvette’s lack of concern towards the Crew’s wellbeing.

Yvette narrows her visor, grumbling and shaking her head. “Fine, fine, guess I’m getting too ahead of myself here...” They respond, glancing off to the side with a slightly annoyed expression. They free their arms up so they can rest their head on their hand.

With a sigh, Hyder crosses his hands/arms. “You’re not helping our case here, y’know, and I’m surprised that Elaine and I are being the rational ones here, I mean, come on, are you seriously considering letting yourself slip to the aggressive mindset? Not that I blame you, but seriously, please keep a level head.” He expresses, his visor narrowing in concern as he shuffles to a position where his legs are dangling off the bed. “I care about you, Yvette, we all do... And I don’t think even Kazimir would be too happy at the moment with your current sentiment, where-ever he may be.” He adds on, his expression softening slightly.

Hissing quietly, Yvette glances at Hyder, narrowing her visor. “I hate to admit this, but yes, you do have a point there, doubt Kazimir would be pleased with plotting any advances in the aggression side of things.” She states begrudgingly.

“Yeah no shit Sherlock.” Hyder and Elaine respond in unison, their expressions displaying a clear lack of amusement.

Yvette just looks at Hyder and Elaine with a ‘bruh’ expression, shaking her head and sighing. “Seriously? Did you two have to say it like that?” They ask in an annoyed tone of voice. “I mean come on, surely there would’ve been a better way to state that response.” They add on, their visor narrowing further.

Staring at Yvette, Elaine just shakes her head in disappointment. “Seriously, Yvette, can you think of a better way to say it in a way that’d get it through your head or what? I don’t even know what I am, all I know is that I’m definitely no regular Infected Impostor, and you can imagine how that’s going for me.” She complains, facepalming and sighing.

Briefly lowering his head, Hyder sighs and pauses for a moment, before speaking up. “Regardless, we can’t just sit here and simmer in anger over the events that have occurred. This is no time for us to be bickering, I mean, didn’t Cymberline point that out earlier? Either way, we need to stabilise our own asses before even considering the possibility of a goddamn rebellion, it currently isn’t possible... And that’s looking at it from a realistic perspective, knowing Kazimir, surprisingly both our late comrade and the Shapeshifter, aren’t the type to just blindly rush into something and expect a positive outcome, the actions of both of them are drawn out, calculated, prior to execution. Perhaps that’s why the Shapeshifter chose him in the first place, their natures aren’t entirely that different... Aside from temperament.” He remarks, knowing he’s just tossing theories around, but at least it’s something.

With a hum of thought, Elaine narrows her visor in a contemplative expression, whilst Yvette just tilts her head in interest. “Now that you mention it, yeah... But even then Kazimir, Shapeshifter or not, could just do said planning at the drop of a hat, even if it isn’t his preferred style, he’s like- our Crew’s epitome of “improvise, adapt, overcome”. If circumstances change, he’s somehow always got a backup plan for it, even if it wasn’t foreseen by any means.” Elaine points out, moving to sit down in a rolling office-type chair and pushing herself over to Yvette and Hyder.

“The main thing now is making sure we don’t let our... Impostor-y attributes... Show in the face of confrontation from the Skeld Crew or even MIRA themselves. Who knows what the company has in store for us? Both as a Crew, Impostors... And Crewmates alike.” Hyder states, raising his head.

Yvette nods. “I s’pose... If they have anything planned, I highly doubt that it’s for the betterment of either species, nor trying to instigate negotiations and peace talks to sort this situation out and end this stupid conflict.” They express, closing their visor and leaning back in their chair. “But such is life.” They comment, then opening their visor to look at Elaine and Hyder.

Shifting her position in her seat, Elaine glances over back to the door, before refocusing her gaze on Yvette and Hyder. “Regardless, the point still stands... And... If the Skeld Crew finds out about all this and remains on our side, then I suppose that’d be enough closure for us in the face of... Everything.” She says with a more hopeful tone, though, with a sigh, she glances downward slightly. “But that’s just a case of maybe...” She adds on with a more solemn expression.

Chapter Text

Whilst Elaine, Yvette and Hyder are off in Medbay nattering about how they’re going to deal with MIRA and further interactions with the Skeld Crew, Jia, Elmer, Zephyr and Cymberline are off doing tasks, Zephyr helping Cymberline with theirs in case they don’t understand a task or two.

“So uh... How are you faring after everything, Cymberline?” Zephyr asks as he cleans up some of the leftover mess left by the construction workers.

Sighing, Cymberline turns to look at Zephyr. “At this point, I’m not too sure on what to feel, per say... I mean... I don’t know whether I should be upset, angry, mildly amused, or what...” They respond, scratching their head. “It’s not easing my nerves anyway, and I can definitely tell that this madness is far from over. If the Skeld has the whole parasite thing going on, then there’s nothing except for proper containment stopping them, but knowing MIRA, their transport containers aren’t going to be entirely secure... And most certainly will not keep those parasites inside.” They comment in a dark tone, lowering their head.

Zephyr nods. “Yeah... Fair enough, I suppose... It’s like we’re waiting for an inciting incident.” He points out.

With a quiet hum of thought, Cymberline strides over to Zephyr, glancing up at the sky briefly before diverting their gaze back to Zephyr. “Mhm, and we’re powerless to stop it... We cannot return to the Skeld because we risk putting the Crew in danger, and they won’t be as well-equipped as we are to deal with the impending infection...” They remark, shaking their head.

“Understandable.” Zephyr states, turning to face Cymberline as they approach.

Donning a solemn expression on their face, Cymberline looks back up towards the sky, the distant sun beginning to set. “I just hope they can still alert us if something happens, we shouldn’t just... Leave them in the dark.” They say, staring off into the horizon. They pause for a moment, before turning their full attention to Zephyr once again. “Y’know... Little Miss Rotten Heart- Róisín, whatever you wanna call her, wasn’t always like the way she was now... She used to be the sweetest little thing... But one day... 1984 AD in the Earth calendar, she just... Went rogue. I don’t know what happened but for some reason she just really started hating Hazzy- or Kazi, out of nowhere. Rumour spread that some other alien race must’ve fed lies to her to turn her against Lord Hazarmaveth, and well... Here we are now, divided between the Azeroth and the Scarlet Clan.” They explain. “And now, well... She’s not just a regular moron, she’s the product of the greatest minds working together with the express purpose of whittling her down into the dumbest moron that’s ever lived.” They express with an unamused expression.

Zephyr blinks. “Was that a-” He attempts to say but gets cut off mid-sentence.

“Yes, yes it was.” Cymberline responds, pausing for a moment. “Anyway, be glad you and the rest of the crew are directly in Lord Hazarmaveth’s care instead of in the Scarlet Clan’s hands.” They add on with a slight hint of warning in their voice. “Who knows what would’ve happened to you all should you have fallen under Róisín’s rule.” They say with a somewhat solemn tone. “I unfortunately don’t think she’s going to be coming out of that rabbit hole she went down... Not anytime soon, anyway...” They mention, going to the edge of the cliff the Outpost is on and sitting down, patting the spot next to them.

With a brief pause, Zephyr takes a moment to register what Cymberline’s gesturing, before nodding, walking over next to Cymberline and sitting down. “Honestly, with what’s been going down lately, it’s nice having some peace and quiet for once, aside from-” Zephyr cuts himself off, shooing a parasite away from him and Cymberline. “Go away.” He hisses to the parasite. “... That.” He remarks.

Cymberline giggles. “Well, that’s certainly a way to go about it.” They say.

“I hate those damn parasites.” Zephyr comments in response.

Tilting their head, Cymberline shrugs. “Well, at least your body’s better thanks to them- and hey, you don’t have to worry about old age anymore!” They chirp.

With a glare at Cymberline, Zephyr just blinks before responding. “That doesn’t have the same reassuring effect that you think it has, Cymber.” He states.

“It was worth a shot.” Cymberline grumbles.

Zephyr sighs. “You really need to work on your reassurance skills.” He suggests, before getting up and walking off.

Watching as Zephyr walks off, Cymberline takes a breath and sighs. “I’ll try...” They mutter, glancing back at the horizon and dangling their legs off the edge of the cliff, idly pondering.

In the interim, Elmer and Jia are assisting each other with getting Storage set up and organised. “How should we uh... Sort everything, Jia?” Elmer asks, carrying a box of sheets and other fabric items.

“We’re sorting this shit by category, fuck it.” Jia responds, tilting their head whilst putting the food items in their respective category, proceeding to quickly generate some labels with a label printer and sticking it on their places on the shelves, sorting the categories by alphabetical order. “Ah, that’s much better.” Jia comments as they look at the labelled shelves.

Elmer glances up at the labels, putting the box he was carrying in its respective place on the shelf. “Yeah, that’s definitely going to make finding and placing things a lot easier.” He responds.

Nodding, Jia crosses his arms. “Exactly. Now let’s get unpacking.” He states.

With a hum of thought, Elmer picks up some more lighter boxes and places them in their respective places. “Picking this stuff up is- easier than when we loaded it into the Dropship back at the Skeld.” He remarks.

“Guess we have the parasites to thank for that, heh.” Jia responds, lifting the heavier items up onto the lower shelves and sorting them into neater rows. “... We oughta leave the fuel in an easily accessible spot, though.” They point out, glancing at the canisters of dropship fuel.

Giving a nod of agreement, Elmer crosses his hands/arms. “Yeah, that would most certainly be helpful.” He replies, chuckling.

Jia gives a quick glance over everything to make sure it’s all in order, before turning to face Elmer. “Aside from all that... I think everything here is looking fantastic.” They state proudly, placing their hands knuckle-first on their hips. “Let’s just hope no aggressive Impostors fuck it up.” He adds on.

“Look, I’m pretty sure attacks won’t get that far in future since- well, I’m pretty sure it’ll be fairly obvious we’re Impostors in the eyes of other Impostors at this point.” Elmer comments, his visor narrowing.

Sighing, Jia tilts their head to the side for a split second, shrugging. “Yeah, probably, but some Impostors are dumb as fuck, we should know this by now.” He retorts, shaking his head with a smirk.

Giving a deadpan stare at Jia, Elmer blinks once or twice before responding. “Touché.” He says.

“Right, what else is on the list...” Jia mutters, taking out their phone and checking the task list. “We’ve already sorted the samples and everything else here in Storage... Uh... Last I checked the drill was a bit broken so I’ll fix that later, but otherwise there’s, well, scanning our boarding passes and other minor tasks that can be done later.” He points out, gesturing to his task list. “We already did most of the clean-up anyway.” They remark.

Elmer nods. “True.” He replies.

Meanwhile, Kazimir’s lying awake in bed with Dimitri curled up beside him, unable to shake the feeling that something else was going to go down soon that required his undivided attention. “Damnit... I’m not the only one feeling like something else is genuinely off aside from the damn mass infection here in this Outpost, am I, Dimitri?” He asks.

Dimitri grumbles before responding. “Mm... No. No you’re not...” He responds with a tired voice, half-nuzzling Kazimir as he speaks.

Glancing over to the side, Kazimir takes a moment to think, before closing his visor. “We’ll need to stay alert.” He states sternly, opening his visor.

Chapter Text

Well, it wouldn’t be a day on Polus if something else didn’t decide to royally fuck up... Because it’s Polus, it’s been made apparent that there is no true tranquillity on Polus, only Madness, the whole place seems cursed. Unfortunately for you, the chaos is not right now, give it a dozen paragraphs/lines or so, as much as it would’ve been funny to start this chapter with chaos.

With a low grumble, Kazimir rolls onto his back and sits up, prompting a quiet whine of complaint from Dimitri, who had settled too much in the cuddling between him and Kazimir, in response. “We can resume the quiet- whatever this is, later, Dimitri...” Kazimir comments, glancing down at Dimitri. “We have more important matters to focus on.” He adds on, narrowing his visor.

“Fine...” Dimitri mutters in response, rolling away from Kazimir and getting up. “What the hell could be the problem this time?” He asks, glancing back at Kazimir.

Kazimir shrugs. “We can’t be too sure, currently...” He answers, grabbing his blazer and putting it on over his shirt. “Not like there’s any reasonable way to actually tell exactly what’s gonna happen, considering, well, it’s Polus, I’m pretty sure that baseline’s been established way too early... And I’m not the one with future vision here, that’d be Elethea, but she’s... In another dimension, has been for several decades or maybe even centuries now, I can’t remember at this point.” He comments. “Isorropía ain’t very keen on letting her out anytime soon.”

“Do you ever wear anything other than formal attire? I haven’t even seen Crew Kazi in casual clothes once either.” Dimitri questions, tilting his visor with a raised eyebrow. Something’s on his mind, given his slightly thoughtful expression, but he’s not gonna make it his concern right now.

Shaking his head, Kazimir chuckles. “No. No I don’t.” He responds with a smug grin. “Gotta look our best all day, every day, am I right?” He adds on.

With a sigh of disappointment, Dimitri facepalms. “That’s just making it casual attire when it comes to you, what about actual formal occasions?”

“... I’ll figure that out. Find a way to make myself extra dapper.” Kazimir simply replies, followed by a short cat-like purr.

Dimitri just stares at Kazimir with a blank expression, then grumbles. “Seriously-? Y’know what, nevermind, I don’t think I wanna know.” He comments, simply fitting his goggles back on before glancing at Kazimir. “Sometimes I don’t know how I put up with you, but I do.” He adds on, putting one hand on his hip and adjusting his goggles with the other.

Being the not-so-little shit Kazimir is, he chuckles again. “You know you love me~” He coos.

“Shut up.” Dimitri responds.

Getting up, Kazimir adjusts his attire. “Anyway, that aside, we’ve got an impending issue to deal with, and we need to deal with it quickly as soon as it happens, otherwise, if it is what I think it is, we’ll have a crisis on our hands.” He states, walking over to the bedroom door. “We cannot fuck this up.” He declares in a stern tone, narrowing his visor as he opens the door.

Dimitri blinks, before following Kazimir. “Yeah- right- ok.” He blurts out, his expression shifting to a neutral one.

Without further comment, Kazimir strides out of the room, heading towards the main part of the Polus Outpost, the heavy steps of his boots on the ground echoing through the sleeping quarter’s halls. He briefly reveals his Impostor mouth to exhale a puff of smoke, before promptly hiding his mouth again. “Goddamnit, if one thing’s going to kill me at this point, it’s going to be stress.” Kazimir comments.

{Elethea... Isorropía... Why do those names sound... Familiar? Gah, probably just a coincidence... Or déjà vu, or something..} Dimitri ponders, wincing as he gets a random pain in the centre of his chest. He narrows his visor for a moment before shaking his head and glancing back up to where he’s going. “We can’t get a day of peace on Polus, can we?” He asks, trying to keep up with Kazimir’s fast walking, glancing over at Kazimir with a worried expression.

Sighing, Kazimir shakes his head. “No. Of course we won’t, at this point, the day we get a normal 24 hours on Polus is the day Hell freezes over.” He answers, turning his gaze to Dimitri as the duo make their way through the corridors. “And what’s the bet that the newest spell of trouble is going to be on the Skeld? We’ve run out of immediate chaos fuel here on Polus... For the moment. And we couldn’t care less about what goes down on MiraHQ, those bastards can burn in the darkest cores of the underworlds for all I personally care.” He comments with a hiss, his visor narrowing further briefly in irritation before he calms himself down and returns to his usual resting bitch face, returning his gaze to the approaching door leading to the rest of the Outpost.

With a pensive expression, Dimitri falls silent for a few seconds. He lowers his head, closing his visor for a moment before opening it. “I wouldn’t be too surprised, honestly, with the whole parasite situation and all.” He states. Scoffing, he continues. “Yeah, with the bullshit that MIRA’s pulling lately, I don’t blame you for not giving even half of a shit about what happens to them. Hell, given everything, I’d be pissed too if I was in your position- like, seriously, an unprovoked attack on an outpost? Who wouldn’t be pissed off?” He adds on, crossing his hands/arms. His expression had subconsciously shifted to one of annoyance, more so than would be usual for him.

Kazimir briefly glances at Dimitri, noting his annoyed expression, before he turns back and shrugs, stopping at the door and opening it. “Heh... Honestly, I never thought I’d see an Infected Impostor so... Understanding. Especially in the emotional department.” He subtly points out, sensing a deeper implication behind Dimitri’s annoyance than even Dimitri himself is aware of. He takes a step outside, returning his gaze to Dimitri. “Don’t take my words too seriously there, by the way, it’s just a nice change to see for once.” He adds on with a smile, before turning back around and leaving.

Left confused and further worried by Kazimir’s words, and slowly dropping his arms/hands to his sides, Dimitri pauses, standing still and narrowing his visor slightly in concern for a moment, before shaking the confusion from his mind and swiftly following behind Kazimir. {Something’s not right here...} Dimitri mentally comments, putting a hand under his visor in a thinking gesture.

“Hmph... We may wanna stick close to Comms in case we get any emergency calls, I’m sure-.” Kazimir tries to say, but gets cut off.

“You two are up and about earlier than expected.” Cymberline, who had shifted to a more original almost satyr-like cardinal red-clad form in the time between their conversation with Zephyr and now, comments with a smug grin as they casually strut up to Kazimir and Dimitri after their pondering session, accidentally interrupting Kazimir mid-sentence.

Glaring at Cymberline, Kazimir shakes his head. “Whatever you’re thinking, do not go there. I couldn’t get to sleep thanks to that damn intuition of mine, and you know it.” He responds, waving a clawed hand dismissively. “And at this point I’m sure we all can have a guess at what it’s going off at this time.” He further states, placing his hands on his hips. “Anyway, what I was trying to say, before Cymberline butted in, was I’m pretty sure the Skeld will likely contact us as soon as they can for help, or at the very least to inform us of what happened if an incident occurs.” He points out as he turns his attention to Dimitri, half-addressing Cymberline now that they’re here.

With a tilt of their head, Cymberline raises an eyebrow. “Wait what are we doing now-?” They ask.

“Primarily drawing up hypotheticals from likelihoods, and figuring out how we are going to handle the potential situation in the event of a parasite incident on the Skeld.” Kazimir answers, turning his head to look at Cymberline. “Even if the parasites aren’t involved, which I highly doubt they wouldn’t be, we all know the Skeld is a hotspot for trouble all over the damn stage, especially with the cargo they currently have.” He remarks, crossing his hands/arms.

Dimitri nods in confirmation. “Those parasites are aggressive, and no Impostor likes the Skeld or its Crew, especially us in both divisions, staying intact for some reason. We can only pray that we, in the case of an incident, get to them before the other Impostors do.” He states. “We’ve been on that ship for what- 10 years, I’m pretty sure? Our boarding happened about a year after the destruction of SK_03.”

Giving a hum of thought, Cymberline pauses for a moment before speaking up. “I see... Yeah, honestly, fair enough. Don’t need shit getting worse than it needs to be, am I right?” They comment.

“Exactly.” Kazimir responds.

Subtly tilting their head, Cymberline nods. “I mean I suppose I could understand, at this point we’re probably all worried about those idiots, but eh, if they manage to get through to us while they still can if something goes down, then I’m sure we’ll be more than capable of helping out, especially you, eh?” They remark, crossing their hands/arms.

There’s a momentary pause, as the trio glance at each other, and Kazimir shrugs, before a call reaches Communications, coming from... You guessed it, the Skeld. Kazimir immediately rushes to answer the call.

“Kazimir- is- is that you? Are you there?!” Martin asks, panicked.

Expression shifting to worry, Kazimir swallows a lump in his throat before responding. “Woah, hey-! is everything alright over there?!” He answers, concerned.

Cymberline and Dimitri glance at each other with worried expressions, seemingly having a silent exchange, before glancing back at Kazimir and the currently blank computer screens in front of the purple Impostor.

With a cough from the other end, Martin speaks up. “No- no, everything’s in fucking chaos, the parasites, they got out and- and infected everyone, almost.” He pauses, taking a short breath. “Shit’s falling into disrepair here and Melvin, one of the new guys, has locked himself in one of the dorm rooms with the whole thing- and himself, coated in disinfectant... We also found yet another sabobutton on the ship- actually two...” He responds. “Dear God, where do these things keep coming from...?” He mutters quickly, before continuing “...And Ailbe got infected with one, because of course they did, they’re the most likely to pick up anything remotely interesting out of the adults on this ship... Cécilia ended up getting the other one... The silly child...” He states, his panic becoming increasingly obvious. “Please, you all have to come up here and help, if you can! At this point I don’t care if there’s anything you’re not telling me, just- we need all the Impostor-friendly support we can get!” He adds on.

Kazimir takes a deep breath, before sighing. “Shit... Alright, we’ll be there ASAP.” He responds. “Any additional information we’re going to need for this before we depart?” He asks, pinching where the bridge of his nose would be as he awaits Martin’s answer.

“I- Uh... Lemme think, my mind’s kinda hazy right now due to all the chaos but uh...” Martin answers, taking a moment to think. “Luk’Yan got injured trying to fight the parasites off, the sabobutton got Ailbe landed in Medbay since the parasites also attempted to attack them during the infection fiasco, which is why Luk’Yan got injured, he was helping them... Uhhh... Anil, Sam, Elil and Wiebke are trying to get the situation under control but their efforts uh... They’re proving somewhat in vain.” He informs, sighing. “I don’t know how much longer we can hold everything together, figuratively speaking... Please, just- just get the Polus Crew back up here before something explodes or worse.” He pleads, with the stress of the situation evident in his voice.

Pausing to gather his thoughts, Kazimir closes his visor for a moment, before opening it again, his expression stern but determined. “Alright, alright, I’ll pass on the message and get everyone back up to the Skeld as soon as possible, we can’t waste any time.” He says, turning to face Cymberline and Dimitri.

With a hum of desperate approval, Martin speaks up again. “Thank you, Kazimir, much appreciated, please hurry!” He says, before ending the call.

“For the love of the Stars... I fucking called it... You can’t say we didn’t see this coming.” Kazimir states, activating the Outpost’s intercom. “Attention, Crew, we have an emergency at the Skeld that requires our immediate attention, please meet at the dropship as soon as possible.” He announces. “I repeat, emergency at the Skeld.” He adds on, before turning off the intercom.

Dimitri groans and facepalms. “Goddamnit... Can’t have shit on MIRA property, am I right?” He retorts whilst shrugging.

Shaking their heads, Kazimir and Cymberline end up responding simultaneously. “Yeah nope.” They both answer.

“Regardless, let’s get back to the situation at hand, we’ve got business to attend to.” Kazimir remarks in a more serious tone, swiftly leaving the building and meeting the rest of the Crew at the dropship.

Being physically supported by Yvette, Hyder speaks up. “What’s going on at the Skeld, Kazi? Why do we all need to be here?” He asks, narrowing his visor in concern.

With a solemn hum, Kazimir turns to face Hyder. “The parasites breached containment, whole crew except for Melvin got infected, Ailbe and a new member, a kid by the name of Cécilia, fell victim to...” Kazimir pauses, sighing. “...another sabobutton.” He replies, adjusting his blazer and shirt collar, his response eliciting a gasp from the Crew. “I don’t know how many Impostors keep leaving their sabobuttons around, I’m gonna bet it’s more than likely inexperienced Scarlet Clan Impostors, who knows where they keep getting those things.” He comments, shaking his head. “But that’s not our focus currently.” He adds on.

Elaine vocalises a worried trill, taking a few steps towards Kazimir. “So... You mean there’s only one Crewmate left on the Skeld currently...?” She asks for clarification, getting a nod from Kazimir in response.

“Precisely.” Kazimir states, walking over to the dropship ramp and standing in the centre at the top of the ramp, before turning back to face the Crew. “The Skeld Crew needs everyone more than ever so far in this increasingly precarious situation... We’ve seen how quickly parasites can make everything go south and bring everything we thought we’d built solid crashing down to the ground. We must make haste if we want to keep the Crew safe, from themselves, and external forces.” He declares, before making his way to the cockpit. He stops just shy of the door, glancing back at the Crew. “I fear we may not be able to return, not very easily. The parasites are still here, so we may be able to use those as leverage for ‘evacuation’ from Polus... But we need to be quick, pack up all personal items and bring joint essentials.” He orders, stepping off the ramp and heading to the sleeping quarters. “Cymberline, Dimitri, I’ll grab y’all’s stuff, you two handle the latter.” He states.

The Crew nod and follow along behind him, aside from Cymberline and Dimitri, who immediately make a beeline for Storage to pack the necessary equipment up for loading onto the dropship.

Everyone else heads to their respective dorms to pack up their things, which didn’t take very long considering no-one had really found the time or energy to unpack properly due to all the recent chaos.

They all emerge approximately 5-6 minutes later with their things, Kazimir not too far behind with his and Dimitri’s suitcases, and Cymberline’s small bag of stuff. Cymberline and Dimitri were already waiting at the dropship with everything else already loaded inside. “So is this go time now...?” Cymberline asks, glancing over at Kazimir.

Kazimir sighs and approaches Cymberline and Dimitri, his expression one of apprehension. He passes the duo’s respective luggage to them, nodding. “I believe our departure is paramount, yes... But first...” Kazimir trails off, before vocalising a loud screech, which seems to draw the parasites out of hiding and into the Outpost, the creatures having recognised the sound and acted accordingly.

The sky went to that unnerving blood red colour again, and of course, all of this had concerned practically everyone else, except for Cymberline, who was used to Kazimir’s parasite-related shenanigans, having known him for technically their whole life, after they recovered from the pain in their covered ears. “Don’t worry about the parasites, this is all part of the plan. But I do apologise for the loud screech.” Kazimir assured everyone, entering the dropship, opening the cockpit door and stepping inside.

The Crew, who were standing around on the Polus ground behind Kazimir, glance at each other nervously, then collectively either shrug, nod or sigh, and stride into the dropship themselves, stashing their items in under their seats or in secure cabinets lining the side. Cymberline, being the last one to enter, closes the dropship door behind them. The Crew sit down in their seats and buckling up in their restraint harnesses.

Entering the cockpit alongside Kazimir, Dimitri glances at him with a worried expression. “Is everything good to go...? Nothing off in the dropship?” Dimitri asks as he sits down in the seat beside Kazimir, both of them also putting their restraint harnesses on.

“Should be... It looks like everything’s good so far, but you can never be too sure.” Kazimir responds, starting up the engines. “Good thing I just refuelled this thing not too long ago...” He comments as he adjusts a few things before take-off. He paused for a moment, then glancing at Dimitri and giving him a warm smile. “We’ll get through this, don’t worry.” He says in a reassuring tone.

Dimitri gives a faint nod. “If you say so...” He replies.

With a huff, Kazimir narrows his visor, charting the dropship’s course to the Skeld, before focusing his attention to what’s outside the windshield, grabbing the yoke, shifting the engine control quadrant to an optimal take-off setting, before pulling the yoke back as the dropship begins to move, quickly propelling it into the air and adjusting the ship’s operation as it ascends up and into the sky, to ensure the journey is smooth.

“We better not get into a whole ass mid-flight fight or some shit on the way there.” Dimitri jokes with a grin, his Impostor mouth visible.

Chuckling, Kazimir shakes his head. “Nah, that’s not gonna happen anytime soon, especially under my watch.” He states. “Though... If, against all odds, it did... Rest assured, I have my ways of handling it, you don’t need to worry one bit, honey.” He adds on with a smug expression.

“Don’t... Call me that.” Dimitri mutters in response, averting his gaze to the ground.

Subtly tilting his head, Kazimir grins briefly, but his demeanour switches to a more serious one as he redirects his attention to where the dropship is going. It’s going to be a... Journey, that’s for sure. “Anyway... What’s the ETA... 23 minutes... Ohh fuck.” He remarks in annoyance, his expression shifting to match the emotion of his voice.

Dimitri narrows his visor in concern. “That’s a few minutes too long.” He says, glancing at the course chart before redirecting his attention to Kazimir.

Sighing, Kazimir leans back in his seat. “Stars give me strength... And patience.” He comments a few decibels too loud.

“You already have enough strength as it is, Lord Hazarmaveth!” Cymberline calls out from the main part of the dropship behind the cockpit, eliciting laughter from the rest of the Crew.

With a glare back towards the door separating the main part of the dropship from the cockpit, Kazimir hisses. “Yes, yes, thank you, Cymberline. I didn’t need that daily dose of sarcasm!” He responded, narrowing his visor. “Though you never disappoint with that.” He mutters, which makes Dimitri snicker ever-so-quietly. Kazimir simply grumbles in response.

Dimitri scoffs in amusement. “Do they do that on a regular basis or somethin’, Kaz?” He asks, trying to prevent himself from going into a giggle fit.

“Unfortunately, yes. Yes they do.” Kazimir answers, facepalming.

“Damn...” Dimitri mutters. “I feel sorry for ya, man.”

Leaning back in his chair, Kazimir sighs, glancing over at Dimitri. “Eh, no hard feelings, though, it’s honestly nice having someone with a backbone around here instead of people being too afraid or otherwise to give me some sass.” He remarks.

With a shrug, Dimitri crosses his hands/arms. “I mean no offense, Kaz, you’re not entirely the most inviting-looking guy anyone could ever meet.” He states in response, giving Kazimir a smug grin. “Wouldn’t hurt to just loosen up a bit.”

Kazimir pauses for a moment, glancing at Dimitri. “... Touché, but no, I’d rather not, I’d much prefer history not repeating itself again..” He grumbles.

Back with the rest of the Crew in the main area of the Dropship, the members are conversing among themselves, the apprehension and tension obvious in their every move and expression. “It only seemed like yesterday we were innocently preparing to depart to the Outpost, unaware of the horrors to come...” Zephyr noted, their hands clasped together with fingers interlocked, and leg bouncing nervously. “And now we’re back on the dropship, going to the Skeld again, after An Impostor attack on Polus, and pretty much two parasite-caused whole-Crew infections back-to-back, all in the course of only three days...” They added on. “How would things have gone differently if we’d just listened to Sam’s warnings initially and put a plan for this sort of shit in place?” He asked.

Narrowing their visor, Jia sighs. “I don’t know... Maybe we would’ve been able to handle some of these things better...” They state.

“As much as we’d like to say ‘we had no warning’, we did, in fact, have plenty of warning. So let’s save our egos a bit and just admit we screwed up. We all did. From corporate, to ourselves individually.” Yvette adds on, sighing and crossing her legs.

Zephyr glances towards Yvette, nodding. “Yeah... You’re right... But it’s still annoying and somewhat upsetting to note.” They comment.

With a disappointed expression, Elaine propped her left leg up on her chair. “Hopefully it’ll get better- right?” She asks. “... Actually, why am I even asking that? My stupidity’s why we got into half of this shit in the first place.”

“Elaine this is why you got infected first.” Yvette responds.

Elaine glares at Yvette. “HEY!” She blurted out in annoyance.

22-23 odd minutes later...

Kazimir glances up at the approaching Skeld, sighing. “We’re nearing the bay, prepare for landing!” He called out to the rest of the Crew, reducing the throttle on the dropship as the Skeld’s dropship bay gate opens up, all other doors within the Skeld around the bay being shut to retain the ship’s artificial atmosphere, the systems having created space-like conditions within the bay, aside from the artificial gravity, so that the opening of the gates didn’t launch the other dropships and items within out into the void.

Standing at the back wall of the Dropship Bay was an injured and exhausted-looking Martin. He clutched his side, glancing up at the approaching dropship.

Carefully flying into the bay whilst reducing the engine output to the smaller parking/hovering thrusters as the landing gears were engaged, and docking the dropship in an open slot, Kazimir sighed, before shutting the dropship’s systems off entirely, causing the tension in the landing gears to loosen and the dropship to lower in response.

“Come on, Dimitri.” Kazimir said, unbuckling his restraint harness and emerging from the cockpit, with Dimitri following suit. The Crew were already up and out of their seats, nervously chattering among themselves as they wait for Kazimir, who opens the door to greet Martin.

The dropship door opens with a hiss, Martin standing on the other side with his gaze focusing on Kazimir as soon as he comes into view. “That was- not as long as I was expecting...” Martin commented. The gates of the Dropship Bay slowly moved to close, sealing with a hiss and allowing the Dropship Bay to be opened to the rest of the Skeld again.

Kazimir sighs, glancing over at Martin. The chaos within the interior of the Skeld could be heard very clearly by Kazimir from his current position, especially now that the internal doors to the rest of the ship were open, but he had to check in with Martin first. “I had the dropship up to full speed when it was leaving the Polus atmosphere, I’d sure hope it didn’t take any longer.” Kazimir remarked.

“Ok yeah, fair enough.” Martin replied.

Lowering his head for a moment, Kazimir crossed his hands/arms, before raising his head back up. “Regardless- I’m assuming the situation hasn’t gotten any better since that call back on Polus?” He questioned, his intense gaze focused on Martin, which made the blue-clad captain nervous.

With a concerned expression, Martin shook his head. “Yeah no- some of the members have gotten a bit, uh, feral. Namely on the defence side.” He answered. “The medics have tried tranq darts.. They haven’t worked.” He added on, scratching his head nervously. “We’re running out of more uh... Conventional options...”

Kazimir hums in thought. “I see...” He says, narrowing his visor. “If that’s the case, then we’re going to have to resort to knocking the little buggers out the violent way... As much as I’m certain neither of us would like to see harm to the Crew.” He responds. “Likewise, we’re going to have to knock out some systems and switch out the protocols, considering MIRA’s only updated on each station’s Crew/Imp ratio on a meeting-by-meeting basis... We can’t entirely allow the mainframe to be alerted of this... Mishap.” He adds on, loosening his hands from his cross-armed stance purely to slam a fist into the other hand’s palm.

Glancing off to the side, Martin nods. “Yeah, yeah, I.. Understand...” He comments.

“Polus Crew.” Kazimir calls out to the Crew still loitering in the dropship, who all immediately pause their discussions and stand to attention upon being addressed. Kazimir surveys them for a moment, his gaze lingering on every member for a moment as he mentally analyses the situation from what information he has. “Elaine, Elmer, you two will aid the other medics in treating the injured. Yvette, you are to remain with Hyder and escort him to his quarters. Cymberline, Dimitri, you two will aid me in bringing the renegade members and parasites under control. Jia, Zephyr, you two scout the ship for damages and repair them as much as physically possible.” He orders. “Am I clear, everyone?”

“Yes, sir!” The Polus Crew responded in unison, Cymberline giving a salute, before everyone, except for Cymberline and Dimitri, scattered across the ship to carry out their respective orders.

Dimitri glanced at Martin, then at Kazimir. “So what’s the game plan for dealing with those parasites and the other Infected?” He asked, his gaze primarily focused on Kazimir.

With a thoughtful narrowing of his visor, Kazimir glances at Martin. “Hmm... Well, by the sound of things, we’re either gonna have to take a good ol’ bat to the head for the Infected, or...” Kazimir stated, trailing off, as if he didn’t want to mention another method he was thinking of.

“We could use some resources from our kind’s homeworld, but the stuff from Celnuelaria’s narcotic plants is very potent, it’d only take a minute milligram of it to knock all of ‘em out for a few hours... And it’d easily kill a Crewmate.” Cymberline suggests in place of Kazimir’s unsaid second option.

Kazimir and Martin glance over at Cymberline, Martin putting a hand under his visor with a hum. “I suppose we could try...” He responded.

“Luckily I have just the thing from good ol’ Raziel.” Kazimir pipes up once again, grabbing a few darts filled with appropriate doses of the aforementioned Celnuelarian narcotic out from his sabobutton’s inventory.

Staring at Kazimir, Cymberline blinks for a few moments. “Do you just have everything in that sabobutton or what?” They ask.

Deviously chuckling, Kazimir crosses his arms and turns to face Cymberline. “Well I’ve got to store all my weapons and other insane shit somehow, am I right? Quite the handy little device, even if its existence bends people’s understanding of quantum physics.” He comments.

“Do I even wanna know...?” Martin asked, his eyebrows furrowing over his visor.

Cymberline shakes their head. “No. No you don’t.” They answer.

With a sigh, Kazimir glances over at the door leading to the elevator and escalator. “Well, if we can get the firearms to load these into... Let’s mobilise and bring the feral spawns under control.” He announces, dividing the darts evenly between himself, Cymberline, Dimitri and Martin, and making his way over to the escalator whilst equipping a pistol.

The other three in question glance at each other and nod, Cymberline and Dimitri equipping their own weapons and Dimitri passing an extra gun to Martin. “How good are you at aiming, Cap’?” Dimitri queries, glancing at Martin.

Humming in thought, Martin narrowed his visor briefly. “Semi-decent, I can land a hit in at least half the time, but nothing crazy.” He responded.

“Good enough.” Cymberline pipes up, soon following behind Kazimir.

After a brief pause, Martin and Dimitri follow behind Cymberline and Kazimir, Martin being quite tense and a bit stressed out, but he’s doing relatively well physically- and mentally, despite the circumstances. Dimitri on the other hand, seems to be very focused, but subtly looking like he’s mulling something over mentally.

Glancing over at Dimitri, Martin noticed the black-suited Impostor’s apprehension. “You alright, Dimitri?” He asked, looking concerned. “You look like you’re conflicted on somethin’.” He added on, attempting to put a hand on Dimitri’s ‘oxygen tank’.

Dimitri flinched, causing Martin to immediately draw his hand back, and remained silent for a moment, before speaking up. “About as ok as the situation will allow, I’m just... Trying to rationalise the latest events. Don’t worry about me, Captain.” He answered, glancing over at Martin with an almost pitying gaze. “It’s best we keep our focus on the situation at hand, anyway. Can’t be falterin’ in the face of chaos when we’ve got adversaries running around like crazy.” He commented, sighing. “Strange times, ey...?”

With the narrowing of his visor, Martin sighs, glancing back forward. He definitely doesn’t seem like he’s very convinced by Dimitri’s attempts to dismiss his emotional state, especially seeing that flinch, but he’ll roll with it as long as it doesn’t become a problem. “Yeah...” He quietly replied.

Visor trained on the surroundings, Kazimir has his pistol raised as he descends the escalator, focused and ready to shoot at the first sight of trouble from any of the Crew. His expression remains stern,

Cymberline, Dimitri, and Martin fan out behind him, less than a minute later Cymberline almost gets jumped by one of the uncontrolled Crew members, Feidlimid, who dons a banana-coloured space suit, shooting him in the ‘neck’ and knocking him out. “Stars- that was a close one.” They commented, glancing at the other three.

The other three, particularly Martin, look concerned, as they glanced over at Feidlimid’s now-unconscious form. “Jeez...” Martin muttered.

“Well then... That’s Feidlimid down.” Kazimir stated, a mild hint of pity etched on his face. “Stars-damnit, can’t have shit with any of this stuff, can we?” He asked, glancing at the others, who all shook their heads. “... Let’s just keep going.” He says, walking off to find anyone else who needs knocking out.

The group proceed to split into pairs and continue scouting the ship for any other signs of the rogue infected, though unfortunately Cymberline, being a new face, ends up finding about three of them as they seem to jump out to attack the ‘intruder' on ‘their territory'. Both Cymberline, and Martin who’d decided to join them, make quick work of knocking out said infected with the narcotic darts, leaving Santana, the green wolf-like defence bean, Peninnah, the peach strategist bean, Eleonora, the baby pink and mint ombré pilot bean, and Leo, the cyan pilot bean, unconscious on the ground.

“We’re gonna have to drag ‘em back over to Feidlimid, I dunno how they’ll react when they wake up.” Martin decides, glancing over at Cymberline.

Giving a thoughtful hum, Cymberline walks up to the unconscious Impostors, grabbing and restraining them with tendrils extending from their ‘oxygen tank', before promptly carrying them off to where Feidlimid was last previously with a leisurely stride, as if they didn’t just get jumped by several infected Impostors.

Martin just stares at Cymberline as they carry them all out of the room and back over towards the Cafeteria. He shrugs, before muttering to himself “Well that’s a way to do it, I guess...” as he walked off behind Cymberline.

Meanwhile, Melvin, the fortegreen guard bean had emerged, as the disinfectant dried up, and he joined Kazimir and Dimitri in the fight against Iovita, the orange nightguard bean, Vivyan, the ochre armourer bean, Yeshua, the raspberry to blueberry ombré scout bean, Vasiliy, the baby blue-coloured maintenance bean, and Rowan, the brown guard bean, whilst Elil, the maroon guard bean, Wiebke, the white advisor bean, Sam, the periwinkle therapist bean, and Anil, the vermillion intelligence officer, are running around trying to usher Azul, the royal blue child bean, Hanan, the wine-coloured communications bean, Sotiris, the graphite black child bean, and Cécilia, the lavender pearl-coloured child bean into the Medbay as a safe zone.

“Damnit, these bastards are more slippery than what I’m used to.” Kazimir hissed, keeping close to Melvin and Dimitri. The chaotic round was enough for Kazimir to be showing his wings and tail as he fought, using his wings to knock the runaways back. “Melvin I don’t think your Crewmate biology is going to cut it for this shenanigans.” He commented, glancing at the fortegreen Crewmate in question.

Looking over at Kazimir, Melvin narrowed his visor. “I- ... Yeah, I guess you have a point, but... I don’t really want to cop a parasite to the face.” He responded, adjusting his grip on his rifle. He glanced over the purple Shapeshifter’s draconic traits, raising an eyebrow as he focused his gaze on the unusual extra miniature dragon head at the tip of the tail and the seeming reservoir of a strange, glowing scarlet red substance serving as the ‘throat’ of said dragon head.

Kazimir gave a hum of thought, whilst Dimitri continued to attempt to deal with the infected. “I do have an idea, but it may be a bit painful for you...” Kazimir suggested, his tail giving a flick as if he knows that Melvin would easily catch on to what he’s implying.

A beat of silence passed as Melvin thought about the offer. “But wouldn’t that just... Turn me into a puppet or something...?” He asked, concerned.

“Not if you’d allow it...” Kazimir answered, letting his tail sway idly near Melvin. “Your choice, guard...” He added on.

With a nervous expression, Melvin glanced between Kazimir and his tail for a moment, remaining silent for another few second as he weighed his options, sighing as he raised his hand to level with his shoulder before putting his hand back down and nodding. “Okay... I’ll take it...” He responded, his expression becoming a mix of pensive and determined.

Nodding, Kazimir’s wings folded up behind him, his expression remaining stern. He sighs. “You might want to brace yourself for the incoming pain that this will most likely bring.” He advised, though Melvin had barely any time to react before Kazimir promptly bit/stung Melvin in the side with the tail, using the fangs within the little dragon head’s mouth to administer the glowing compound Melvin had been cautiously eyeing earlier.

It was over as soon as it started, Melvin, who’d dropped his rifle in surprise, was let go within a little over a second, to which he stumbled back, clutching the site of the bite. The open wound healed quickly, leaving the rapidly spreading pain, and the subsequent alteration, as the only evidence that such a thing had happened. “Christ-.” Melvin hissed, glancing up at Kazimir. “You weren’t fuckin’ kidding- ACK.” Melvin added on, but cut himself off as he suddenly crouched down, claws n’ mouth forming, all that conversion stuff... But unlike in the case of a standard infection, Melvin gets a more normal-looking dragon tail with spikes across it and his head, and average-sized back-facing horns. He stays in his crouched position for a moment, dazed and trying to process what had just happened, before he grumbles, putting a hand to his head. “Shit...” He muttered.

“FUCKING DAMNIT- GET OFF ME!” Dimitri suddenly hollers from further forward, throwing Vivyan off him onto the floor and immobilising her with a narcotic dart to the visor.

Kazimir, who was watching Melvin to make sure he was ok, and Melvin himself, snapped back to reality upon hearing Dimitri, just to witness him essentially bodyslamming Vivyan and dealing the second headshot this week. “... Dimitri, I love you, but seriously, we’re trying to knock them out, not kill them.” Kazimir commented.

Pausing for a moment, Dimitri glanced over at Kazimir, seeming annoyed. “Sorry...” He responded, before screeching and rolling to the side as Rowan attempts to leap at him, causing the brown infected Impostor to fall onto the floor, groaning.

With a sigh, Kazimir promptly shoots Rowan in the side with a dart to knock him out.

Vasiliy seemed like they were going to attack, but decided against it, instead just standing and watching with a tilt of their head.

Melvin gets up, shaking his head and glancing over at Rowan. “Uhhhh- well that just happened- OH SH-” He suddenly cut himself off as he jumps back, knocking out an ambushing Iovita with his new tail by accident and Yeshua, who’d attempted to ambush the trio alongside Iovita, with another dart. “That was close.. Is that everyone down...?” He asked, his tail twitching idly behind him.

“I believe so...” Kazimir responded, putting his gun away and picking up both Rowan and Iovita. “You guys mind takin’ the raspberry, Vivyan, and... The blue one? I don’t feel like using my tendrils or anything.” He requests, promptly shifting his wings and tail back into his body.

Putting their guns away, Dimitri and Melvin picked up Vivyan and Yeshua respectively, with Dimitri slinging Vivyan over his shoulder and grabbing Vasiliy, who hissed and attempted to resist, with the same hand, as Dimitri seemed pretty confident in his ability to keep Vivyan on him, she’s not very big, especially not compared to him, Melvin ended up carrying Yeshua in a semi-bridal style carry. He watched as Kazimir shifted back to his full disguise form, raising an eyebrow in curiosity. “Hm... Do you think I’ll be able to do that?” He asked, glancing at Kazimir and tilting his head as the trio walked side-by-side down to the Cafeteria, with the four unconscious bodies in their grasp and Dimitri dragging an annoyed and unstable Vasiliy along behind him.

A hum of doubt came from Kazimir before he narrowed his visor. “Yeah nah, the others have tried in the past, and failed.” He answered, glancing over at Dimitri and Melvin. “It would be nice, but unfortunately no.” He added on.

“Awh. Damn.” Melvin says in a half-pout. “It was worth askin’.” He mentions.

Dimitri sighed, glancing forward. “Jeez...” He comments, equipping his sabobutton with his free hand and doing a quick hijack of the Skeld’s systems to disable the outbound alert broadcast systems before the next meeting so that MIRA didn’t catch wind of anything going down, as unfortunately MIRA did not consider the possibility of Impostors being smart enough to take down those systems, so they didn’t leave any backdoors to their external station systems. Idiots.

Slowly turning his head to look at Dimitri, Kazimir raises his eyebrows. He didn’t quite catch exactly what Dimitri did considering he was focused on Melvin, but he could have a guess given the situation. “... You sneaky little shit, you hijacked the mainframe to disable those alert systems again, didn’t ya?” He states.

Grinning, Dimitri glanced away. “Guilty~” He chirped in a sing-song voice. “Of course I did!”

“Of course.” Kazimir remarked, sighing. “What else am I expecting from ya at this point?” He questioned.

With an amused hum, Dimitri shrugs. “I dunno, what are you expecting from me? It’s not like we need the potential complications, but to each their own!” He states in response, putting his sabobutton away and continuing to strut forward.

The trio, well, technically group of four if you count Vasiliy, eventually come across Cymberline and Martin in the Cafeteria, who was also in the process of dealing with the infected that they had encountered, all glancing at each other.

Kazimir tilted his head as the 5 stared at each other. “So uhhhh... What happened on your side?” He asked Cymberline and Martin, blinking a few times.

A short pause followed the question. “Well... Cymberline got jumped.” Martin replied simply, furrowing his eyebrows. “And that’s about it- what the hell happened to Melvin?” He suddenly pointed out, remarking Melvin’s... New traits.

Melvin simply pointed to Kazimir. “He thought it’d be a good idea.” He responded.

“You’re the one who let me do it, but I digress.” Kazimir piped up, crossing his hands/arms as he looked at Melvin, earning an unamused glare from the fortegreen Impostor. “Regardless... We’re going to have to let everyone settle down from the chaos before we can discuss what’s to happen going forward, but, the gist of it is going to be primarily making sure everyone knows how to keep their parasites... And themselves... Under control.” Kazimir adds on, closing his visor briefly before opening it.

With a thoughtful ‘uh’, Martin speaks up. “How are we going to explain the Crew’s absence from Polus to the authorities when they come knocking?” He queries, raising an eyebrow.

Humming in thought, Kazimir diverted his gaze to Martin. “Well the parasites are still down there... We will say there was an incident and that we had to evacuate, and leave it at that.” He responded. “We should file an incident report, now that I think about it... I’ll get Elaine to do that when she’s available, but we need to take precautions to ensure they don’t find out what’s going on behind the scenes of all this.”

The clearing of Dimitri’s throat brought everyone’s attention to him. “Aaaannnd about the parasites here...?” He remarks, his expression being one of half-annoyed curiosity. “How are we going to deal with them?” He asked.

“There were only like- 26, well, 27, actually, in transport... 3 would’ve been left loose because, like I said in that call earlier, Ailbe and Cécilia got infected by sabobuttons first, and Melvin I guess got infected by Kazimir... And there was one other... Which seemed more like an actual intelligent being than just a- worm, I guess... It had scarlet red eyes, I dunno where it went or where it came from.” Martin answered.

Kazimir tilted his head. “Scarlet red eyes...?” He queried for clarification, to which Martin nodded. “What were the pupils like?” Kazimir continued, almost sounding like he was in... Disbelief?

“Like... Slit white..? I think?” Martin described.

Quietly standing still for a moment to process what he’d just been told, Kazimir’s expression softened slightly. “Stars.. It... Couldn’t be...” He murmured, his gaze diverting off to the side.

He seemed to be lost in thought before he heard the pitter-patter of light steps, followed by a smaller blueberry-coloured bean peeking out from the doorway to Admin. The female-looking teenage bean had fluffy, curly shoulder-length hair with a pair of horns not too different from the ones Kazimir’s Crewmate counterpart had, and another set towards the back that seemed more like twisting mid-growth demon horns. Her innocent-appearing visor sparkled under the light with a look of curiosity but also recognition. “... Pops...?” The bean spoke in almost- awe, tilting her head.

In visible confusion, Kazimir stared at the teenage bean for a moment, before narrowing his visor. “Since when did I have a grandchild-? Who are your parents, kid...?” He questioned, trying to determine if his Impostor-sensing ability was still accurate and this kid actually was the spawn of his daughter, who he thought he’d lost, his visor barely holding a shine as if he was trying to stop himself from letting his guard down completely.

“Uhhh... Dad is...” The blueberry bean paused for a moment. “Crew Kazi... Yah... And momma is Monika- or as she says her original name is, Adrastea...” She remarked. “She calls me Desdemona, but dad told me to go by Zira around MIRA’s stuff when I was younger..” She added on, introducing herself. “Momma always told me about you though...”

Martin and Dimitri blinked, glancing at each other, then back at Kazimir and ‘Zira’. “Sorry, did we miss a chapter?!” They both asked simultaneously.

“Lord Hazarmaveth...? What’s goi-?” Cymberline tried to ask, but was quickly shushed by Kazimir.

Seeming to be holding back tears, Kazimir slowly sat down. “Oh dear- Adrastea... My daughter- you mother’s still alive...? And I- shit, I shoulda checked who I was targeting, damnit, why didn’t she say anything-?! I would’ve gone after anyone but Kazimir if I’d known he was so important to her!” He lamented, holding his hand towards the centre of his chest. The whole interaction only further confused Martin, Dimitri, Melvin, and to some extent, Cymberline.

With a concerned expression, Zira strutted up to Kazimir, gingerly hugging him, much to his surprise. “I think momma was worried about how you’d react if she did tell you in the first place...” She responded, backing away slightly. “Maybe thought you’d reject him and/or give her a whole ass lecture or somethin’...”

“Stars, no! I would’ve questioned her choices, sure, but I’d have supported both of ‘em all the same!” Kazimir piped up, seeming... Actually remorseful for once. He didn’t like that, but he couldn’t help it in this moment.

Zira nodded. “Hell, Dad even suggested we move to the Airship to avoid getting caught up in MIRA’s anti-Impostor affairs! But heh... As you can see, I got a bit too adventurous and uh, yeh. Kinda snuck into the crate before it got transported here...?” She admitted, nervously scratching the back of her head.

Martin grumbled, facepalming and shaking his head. “No wonder there was an initially uncounted extra...”

And just like that, Kazimir was back to his usual commander-esque demeanour, standing up. “Good Lorde, kid, do you realise how dangerous that is?! What do you think would’ve happened if the company found out you were there before the cargo got sent out here? You’re lucky you didn’t get spotted before you got here!” He exclaimed, his visor having regained its usual ‘glowing’ effect and therefore not being affected by the external light anymore.

“... Sorry..” Zira responded.

Sighing, Kazimir shook his head. “Jeez, Zira... You might come from a lineage of risk-takers but you’re too young to be pullin’ the sorta dangerous shit the rest of us do.” He commented, disappointed. “But that’s besides the current point. You know what happened to the three loose ones?” He asked Zira, crossing his hands/arms.

With a hum, Zira tilted her head. “Kinda decided to, well, uh, absorb ‘em..” She answered, before narrowing her visor. “Honestly, I find it awfully convenient that there happened to be the same amount of parasites in transport as there were members of the Crew at the time!” She then noted in a contemplative tone, putting a hand on her hip with a look of suspicion.

The adults glanced at each other and nodded. “Not surprised... But yes, that does seem awfully convenient, especially coming from MIRA...” Kazimir commented with a hint of disdain.

Martin seemed annoyed. “But if this was part of their plan, for whatever the hell they’ve got going on, did they not count on the fact that we would’ve reached out to available divisions for help?” He pointed out, his eyebrows furrowing. “What are their intentions, if any of us ever learn of that?” He questioned.

A dark hint of... Something, crossed Kazimir’s expression as he glanced at Martin. “This is exactly why the Azeroth limited active hostilities. We had a feeling MIRA was up to something. We have Xochitl, Nishant, and Tiberius over at the HQ right now, we’re primarily trying to gather intel right now... But sometimes we just have to dispose of... Potential complications. Until we have sufficient information, we must keep it on the downlow. All non-allied forces, as of current, assume me to be deceased... And I’d rather it stayed that way until the time is right.” He explained, closing his visor briefly, before opening it again. “I will admit, usually I would’ve made quick work of a Crew... But you lot... I could feel something was different, which is why when I had been attacking, I was... Honestly hesitant, and Cymberline knows how uncharacteristic of me that is.” He informs, looking over at Cymberline, who gave a nod, before he refocused his gaze on Martin. “And it seems my intuition was right.”

“I... Yeah, alright, fair...” Martin commented.

Kazimir nods. “They weren’t counting on our two Crew divisions trusting each other to reach out, and nor would they even consider the possibility of us natural-borns to actually step up to your aid... Whatever they were planning, clearly it had something to do with tearing the Crew apart via means of making everyone doubt each other, or become otherwise aggressive... Though we’re all here now and we were able to get the situation under control...” He added on, sighing. “But back to the situation at hand, we should probably get all those infected tied down so they can’t attack us again in case they’re still unable to control themselves when they wake up.” He suggested, summoning a mass of his own unique parasites to ensnare the unconscious infected and still conscious Vasiliy, who hissed but didn’t struggle.

Staring at the parasites, Martin and Melvin seemed concerned. “Uh- they’re not going to cause any harm to us, right...?” Martin asked.

“No, they won’t, I’ll make sure of that.” Kazimir responded, the scarlet red eyes of the parasites mainly trained on Kazimir. “We’ll initiate a meeting when everyone calms down and comes to their senses, and we’ll figure out what we’re doing from there...” He declares.

Chapter Text

A few hours passed, the relative calm and quiet feeling almost uncanny, at least in comparison to the chaos that’s been ensuing the past week. The scent of burnt wiring, blood, disinfectant, and metal faintly lingered in the Skeld’s artificial atmosphere, which didn’t help much to calm the nerves of those still awake. Slowly and steadily, the Crew members that’d gotten knocked out by either Kazimir, Dimitri, Martin, Cymberline, or Melvin, started waking up, some grumbling in confusion and a hint of disorientation. Vasiliy just sat in the mass of parasites he was trapped in, looking tired, and somewhat annoyed, but relatively calm... Well, about as calm as a recently infected Crewmate can get under normal circumstances.

The ship, as mentioned, was unusually quiet, save for the cautious chatter of the Crew in the Cafeteria. Of course, the main question for all of the ones knocked out, due to the initial infection making them spiral out of control, would be: ‘what happened?’... Unfortunately there is no easy way to explain it, and as much as everyone would rather it not be the case, there was no sugar-coating all that had transpired within the past 12 hours. Or four to five days depending on division, but who’s counting, or keeping track in general anymore? Not the Polus Crew, that’s for sure.

The rest of the crew, including those that’d received injuries during either part of the collective incidents with the parasites, though had them treated, had emerged from Medbay, and were chatting amongst themselves, standing side-by-side. Everyone was still on edge after the situation, but they didn’t entirely want to split up just yet, out of fear of losing control again. Of course, Azul, Meine, Cécilia and Sotiris had gotten curious about Zira’s presence, since she’s a new face, the children in question off in one corner of the cafeteria getting to know her, and afterwards, playing together, because that’s just what children do at this point, trying to lighten the mood if nothing else. They’d decided to play a game of ‘duck, duck, goose', a classic. Their voices, laughter, quiet squeaks, and pitter-patter of their running footsteps filled the Cafeteria, providing a small source of comfort, hope, and positivity for the adults in the room. It wasn’t exactly sufficient, but at this point, they would much rather take subpar over nothing, a decent chunk of them having still not mentally grasped the situation, but that was to be expected given the absurdity.

Kazimir, Martin, Melvin, Dimitri, Cymberline, Sean, who is the Skeld’s lime-coloured head scientist and medic, and Luk’Yan, who was the eldest among the previously Crewmate population of the ship, and most experienced, as the primarily cerulean-coloured Halfling-turned-full Impostor of the transport crew, whose palatinate blue limb gradients and bright cyan stripes and markings gave off the familiar, almost ethereal look of Cherenkov radiation, were all standing together in another side of the room, discussing the next course of action after the Polus Crew had assisted in getting the situation to more manageable levels. “Well... It would appear that the situation here is, for the most part, under control... But we still must plan for what the future may bring. I assume you may have some ideas already, Luk’Yan?” Martin spoke up, his voice holding a solemn, yet relieved tone, his hands tucked in his pockets, and a weary expression on his face.

The next to speak, as he was directly addressed, was Luk'Yan, his voice gravelly yet quiet. “I’ll... Let the Shapeshifter handle the situation as he sees fit.” He replied, glancing over at Kazimir. “But I am impressed by the... Speed and efficiency in which your crew was able to get this sorted...” He pointed out, and paused for a brief moment, before continuing. “Kazimir, was it?” He asked, turning to face the purple Shapeshifter with a somewhat concerned ‘eyebrow’ raise on his expression.

Kazimir nodded. “Yes, that’s me, and I should thank Cymberline and Dimitri for the assistance in dealing with the similar incident our side of crew had prior, really..” He remarked with a slight smile, the faint hint of a shine visible in his visor. “Such mass-infection events like these, especially in such a close timeframe, are practically unheard of, even I, as old as I am, wasn’t entirely sure how to handle it...” He admitted, scratching the back of his head. He gave a slight huff, crossing his hands/arms. “It’s concerning, if I’m going to be honest... Even if we do prevail.” He promptly commented.

With a raised eyebrow, Cymberline spoke up, not used to seeing such ‘vulnerability’, per say, from their usually fearsome emperor. “I don’t mean to be rude, my lord, but- are you-?” They didn’t get to finish that sentence...

...As only realising his slight slip in composure after Cymberline started pointing it out, Kazimir had cut them off with a short quiet growl and a dismissive wave of his hand, his response being paired with an immediate shift back to his usual stern demeanour. “No. We don’t talk about that.” He replied, wincing and narrowing his visor, though his slightly annoyed tone wavered slightly under the emotional load that he was keeping under wraps as per usual. He always swore that it was for his empire’s sake that he upheld his composure. He wouldn’t let his race be pushed to the brink of extinction again, even if that brought detrimental impact to his well-being, and physical health... Even the Ancients aren’t without their weaknesses, after all, despite the impression people tend to go with, being they’re practically untouchable...

“... Alright. If ya say so, boss...” Cymberline said quietly. They seemed genuinely worried about Kazimir’s mental state, rightfully so, and so did the other five involved in the discussion.

Sighing, Martin shook his head, before grabbing his tablet out and tapping on a few things gingerly. He was checking on documents he’d drafted for the monthly report back to the High Council, and of course, he was very busy the past few days in making sure that the operations between the Skeld and Polus were running smoothly, which, as one can tell from the recent events, they didn’t. He was going to have to do damage control for all this later.

On that note, seems the Stars had a bit of a ‘fuck you’ moment the last couple of days, or it was just destiny, which only Fatefounder was to blame for that, and Kazimir knew it, if no-one else. But regardless, the poor 5-6 year running Crew are... Not the luckiest of people, let’s just say that much.

There was an awkward silence between the group of seven, minus the tapping of Martin’s fingers on his tablet, which was quiet. The main sounds within the ship were the other conversations going around, the children, and nearby mechanisms.

Eventually, Kazimir shifted his stance and started walking over to the meeting button, situated on the centre blue table of the Cafeteria, he lifted the cover off and pressed it, initiating an Emergency Meeting. The initiation of the meeting brought everyone’s attention over to Kazimir, as they gathered around the table with either exhausted, curious and/or concerned expressions. The Crew silently discussed among each other, some wondering what was going on, others speculating about what the plan was moving forward. Either way, there was really no telling what Kazimir’s plans were, given his nature.

Clearing his throat, Kazimir grabbed some documents out of his sabobutton’s inventory, the paper being made of some unusual material. He tapped the papers to a neater stack on the table, before speaking. “Yes, yes, I know that the Azeroth should be past using paper, but I personally prefer it for ease of access and, well, quick flipping.” He commented, before flicking through a few pages. “But that’s not the reason we’re here.” He adds on, reading through some passages to make sure the documents he has are the correct ones, narrowing his visor for a moment as he scrutinizes the pages, before nodding to himself.

There was a few seconds of silence as the Crew waited for Kazimir to speak again. The gaze in his visor softened slightly, before he continued. “Right. As you all know, this situation is a one-of-a-kind scenario... Two mass infections within a week, which is concerning, but, what I’m pretty sure we’re gathering from this is that we cannot rely on MIRA for support at this current point.” He began, his gaze scanning the Crew as he gave pause to let them process his statement, some of the members nodding, others nervously fidgeting in their seats.

Kazimir, after seeing that everyone seemed to be on-board so far, proceeded. “Due to the circumstances seeing all of us as now being Impostors, it seems someone with experience needs to step up to provide guidance through this... Change, putting it lightly. I’m not usually the sort to do this, but... I’m here, so I may as well, with a much-trusted member...” Kazimir gestures to Cymberline, who perked up and glanced away awkwardly for a moment before turning their gaze back to the Crew with a warm smile. “... And another Infected who clearly knows what he’s doing...” Kazimir then gestured to Dimitri, who nervously scratched his head. “Though no doubt would we want to avoid the Scarlet Clan taking advantage of this situation.” Kazimir promptly announced, narrowing his visor once again.

Whilst Cymberline stood proud, yet perhaps somewhat awkward, not used to having so much attention being placed upon them, most of the Crew ended up glancing at each other and nodding, Martin just sitting there in silence.

Even Dimitri, usually the ever keen one to get involved, seemed a little apprehensive to the situation, the subtle tapping of his foot on the cold Cafeteria floor betraying his nerves. He glanced about for a moment, before looking back at Kazimir. “I- I mean I wouldn’t put that much faith in myself, personally, but thank you.” He responded, crossing his arms/hands. He shifted on his feet, before walking over to Kazimir, his concern clear. “However... With all due respect, Kazimir, what would the Scarlet Clan do if they found out about this situation?” He asked, ‘eyebrows’ furrowing.

“As far as I am aware...” Kazimir paused for a moment, considering his words. The tension was palpable, the topic clearly one that Kazimir did not want to discuss, but would regardless, if it meant the Crew got the answers that would provide them insight on what to expect from the vast cosmos beyond their Earthen strongholds. “Look, it could be a multitude of things, but the most likely situation would be that Róisín takes you lot in as major forces to add to her ever-expanding empire...” He trailed off, his visor narrowing further as he considers what he wants to say next, taking a glance over to Cymberline before refocusing his attention back to the Crew. “And Cymberline can tell you – Being under her reign is not a pleasant experience.” He states with a dark tone as he puts the documents down and places his hands on the table, clenching said hands into fists- which accidentally gets his claws digging into the table, oops. He sighs, straightening up to a full standing position and putting his hands behind his back, the look in his- er, visor, being one of barely hidden remorse.

Cymberline nodded softly, breathing out a resigned sigh as they turned to fully face the rest of the Crew. “He’s right. She’s probably one of the worst dictators the galaxy has seen since the last war about an eon or two ago... The War of Orders...” They added on wearily, closing their visor in a more solemn gesture. Their memories with her were not pleasant ones in the slightest, and they didn’t even have a choice in the scenario since they weren’t exactly one of the most assertive people, just passively going along. “I wasn’t around for that one, but... Yeah, from the stories I’ve been told, things got... Pretty intense.”

With a slight shift in position, Kazimir gently placed a hand on Cymberline’s ‘oxygen tank’, his expression softening slightly to a mild look of pity, and care. To most, it may not seem like much, but to his people, it was a sign of assurance, given most of the time Kazimir had barely anything but either a stern glare or his classic ‘resting bitch face’. “I’ll make sure no-one in this crew, or even wider communities if I can help it, fall victim to her, or anyone like her, ever, nor again.” He declared, of course with his seemingly eternal determination, though there was a hint of concern in his voice despite his unwavering diligence.

The Crew muttered amongst each other, all concerned about the current state of affairs as they stood, especially in regard to the Scarlet Clan. Hopefully they’d stay out of the rogue group’s sights. They’d only heard snippets about the Scarlet Clan through discussions back on HQ, but even then, those charlatans seemed like bad news. Not that many would admit it.

Dimitri vocalised a soft hum of thought, keeping his gaze mostly on Kazimir, though his own expression didn’t say much. He glanced away, crossing his hands/arms with a mild hint of tension in both his body and demeanour. “So essentially, the main focus here now is getting ourselves in order and trying to make sure MIRA is left unaware of the incident?” He asked softly, looking back at Kazimir with a raised eyebrow. He seems concerned, especially for the Crew’s safety.

Nodding, Kazimir collected the papers off the table, putting them back into his sabobutton’s inventory. “At least not the officials we can’t trust. We’ll disclose only the information they can prove, or that’ll appease them.” He responded with a mild hint of annoyance in his voice. He started pacing around the table and gathered crew, carefully observing the members, mentally analysing the situation, before narrowing his visor, pausing in his steps, and speaking up again. “We know who we most definitely can’t trust, but we don’t know who we can trust, which makes this whole thing more difficult for us.” He promptly mentioned, a hint of worry crossing his face.

In the slight moment of silence, Luk’Yan suddenly piped up. “I have a suggestion, if I may?” He requested, his voice unwavering in calmness, like the gentle flow of a creek.

“Go ahead, Luk’Yan.” Kazimir approved with a single, respectful nod.

Luk’Yan took a deep breath, before letting out a quick exhale. “Perhaps those of us that are currently unfamiliar with the new state of our bodies should start by getting to know our abilities, then go from there.” He stated, taking a moment to consider his next words before continuing his speech. “I assume the Polus Crew are already... Ahead of schedule on that, so perhaps you all, and Captain Martin, could figure out a main plan, and perhaps a few backup plans, whilst the rest of us figure our personal shenanigans out.” He added on, placing his hands together, with interlocked fingers, on the table. He seemed to have something else on his mind, but he decided he might address that privately with Kazimir at a later time.

As expected, the Crew immediately went into a discussion about the proposed course of action, some of the more cautious Crew members looking slightly uncomfortable, due to the potential of losing control (again, for some). Others had mixed feelings on the matter, choosing not to contribute, and the more optimistic Crew members agreeing with the potential of figuring out how the hell being An Impostor works.

Martin tilted his head, narrowing his visor as he considered the offer. “It wouldn’t hurt...” He said quietly, before looking at the rest of the Crew. “All those in favour?” He asked the members.

Around 15 of the 31 adult Crew members, including all those from the Polus Crew, raised their hands.

“All those against?” Martin promptly called out.

Only nine of the 16 that hadn’t voted raised their hands, leaving seven that didn’t vote at all, those seven were either unsure or were happy to roll along with either option.

Martin sighed. “Hm... Seems the majority among those that voted are happy to go ahead.” He verbally notes. “We’ll go with Luk’Yan’s suggestion, see how we go.” He announced. “Though I’m sure the uh Polus Crew can handle it if things end up awry, right?” He questions for clarification, to which the members in question nod in response.

The Crew, after skipping to dismiss the meeting, of course, promptly decide to split up between, well, the Polus Crew and Martin, and those, minus Martin, who were on the Skeld Crew as of the incident, which Cymberline decides to tag along with to provide guidance.

“Alright, so, we’re all about as settled into this shit as we’re gonna get, so...” Martin begins, taking a brief moment of silence to consider his next words. “... Whilst everyone else is off with Luk’Yan and Cymberline, we’ve gotta figure out what we’re explaining to MIRA first off, right?” He questions, glancing over at Kazimir as the group paused, the rest of the Polus Crew turning to look at Martin and Kazimir.

With a tilt of his head, Kazimir crosses his hands behind his back. “Well, I assume we already know what we’re saying. We just need to stay calm, and stick to the narrative whenever they ask further questions.” He responds. “As long as we give them the answers they want, they’ll bugger off.”

Vocalising a somewhat concerned hum, Martin reluctantly nods... As much as he hated to admit it, Kazimir had a point, though he usually did, even before Hazarmaveth came along and basically committed identity theft. “Yeah, fair enough... Question is: When the hell are they going to come a-ringin’? I don’t exactly fancy being jumped by a surprise call.” He comments with a mildly annoyed edge in his voice, crossing his hands/arms as he glances off to the side.

“Well, for one... Buggered if I know. Second, you surprise-called us back on Polus, you don’t exactly get to talk, Martin.” Kazimir remarked with a less than amused tone, raising an ‘eyebrow’ as he shifted his weight to one foot.

Dimitri, having been remaining close to Kazimir for probably obvious reasons by now, decided to pipe up. “Yeah. Universe has a funny way of messin’ with ya like that.” He added, also shifting his weight to one foot with the added bonus of putting a hand on his hip. Extra sass points, I guess? Anyway- “Though I can’t exactly talk about karma considering APPARENTLY the voices-” Ahem. “-Ghosts followed us here-!” He mentions, gesturing to the ghosts floating around, including the ones of the Crewmates that Kazimir killed before the whole Polus Saga. Oops.

Which resulted in a brief ‘bruh’ sorta deadpan expression from Kazimir considering he still can’t see the bastards. Skill issue to be honest, but that’s beside the point. “Can we please just- not, with the spirits trapped on this mortal coil right now.”

Shooting a glare at both Kazimir and Dimitri, though his gaze was primarily directed at the former, Martin shakes his head. “In my defence I wasn’t exactly told that our dear old Polus team were going through a biology-rewriting crisis at the time, Hazarmaveth.” He snarked in response, glancing over at Dimitri afterwards. “Not helping, asshole.” He quickly mentioned, earning an ‘eyeroll’, or space bean equivalent of one, from the black Impostor in question.

“Yes, yes, and I chose not to inform you for a reason, Martin.” Kazimir stated with a more serious tone, narrowing his visor slightly. “Said reason you likely would be able to figure out.” He added, strutting along to the Communications room, not even bothering to look back and check that everyone else was following him.

With a resigned shake of his head and a pinch of the centre of his visor, Martin crossed his arms and followed behind Kazimir, the other Crew members following suit.

A moment of awkward silence passed between everyone else before Elaine glanced at Martin. “So are we just gonna stand back and let Kaz do the talking or...?” She asks, raising an ‘eyebrow’ as she glances between Martin and Kazimir.

Kazimir responded before Martin could even open his mouth. “Martin’s been the main reporting party for... Well, the vast majority of the times MIRA’s called. It’d be best if he handled the communications for this.” Kazimir advised, turning to face Martin. Even his gaze in the darkness of the Communications room was enough to make the poor captain shiver, there was.. A certain gleam in his visor, one that betrayed remnants of Kazimir’s... No, Hazarmaveth’s more... War-crime filled past. “I will, however, remain in the room, should you require silent support, or assistance.” He added on, placing his hands behind his back.

The Polus Crew glanced at each other, Elaine, raising her index finger, looks like she’s about to speak up again in protest, but stops herself as Dimitri, glaring at her with a deadpan expression, subtly waves his hand, in a flat, horizontal position by his neck whilst shaking his head, essentially telling her to shut the hell up before she says anything stupid – again. Because honestly, at this point, chances are that whatever she was going to say was going to end up backfiring horribly on both divisions of the Crew for the hundredth time, Stars have mercy on their souls.

Another pause ensued, before Martin let out a resigned sigh. “I’ll talk.” He stated with an unamused tone, before making his way to the computer, sitting down at the table and tapping his fingers against it, staring at the screen for a hot minute before glancing back at Kazimir, who was carefully watching him. “Y’know I wonder how much the Heads of Department are just over yonder-” As he gestures in a random direction. “-from reality, screwing everyone involved in MIRA’s affairs, as allies, personnel, or enemies, over. I’d like communication from the executives for once.” He comments, furrowing his ‘eyebrows’. “But that’s just wishful thinking at this point and we all know it.”

Kazimir tilted his head. “Beats me... As much as I wish I knew what was going on behind the scenes, I only know as much as I have seen, and what my subordinates have reported to me over the years.” He replied, gesturing for the rest of the Polus Crew to hide behind the doorway or go pretend to be busy.

The Crew just moved to Shields, technically being out of sight from the webcam in Communications but still being in earshot of whatever conversation might occur between Martin and MIRA. They stood around awkwardly, remaining quiet for a moment longer before Hyder spoke up. “Random question, but what’s the bet that if word of this whole disaster gets out, it’s either going to be memed like all hell, turned into a freakishly accurate HBO series, or both?” He asked the others.

“I can almost guarantee that our parasitic predicaments are going to be leaked sooner or later, in one way or another... Documentaries or film series are another question entirely. It would be funny to see the outcome of it all, though.” Zephyr pointed out, leaning against one of the railings within the room.

Crossing her arms, Yvette glanced between Zephyr and Hyder. “It- really wouldn’t, but I digress. Let’s be honest, if there’s media of it, there’s going to be memes.” She remarked.

It was.. Barely a minute after Yvette spoke when the familiar call chime rang out from the Communications room. Of course, Martin immediately answered, already being right at the computer.

Unfortunately, despite his immediate answer to the call, the poor captain couldn’t even get a word in, before a masculine voice rang out from the speakers, cutting him off. “Martin... Good to hear you’re still... Competent enough to respond... We heard there was a bit of an incident over on Polus..” The voice responded with ‘concern’, pretty much immediately getting to the point, and boy was Martin dreading this, he hated the Heads of Department with every inch of his being. “Would I be correct?" The voice prodded.

Kazimir remained out of the webcam’s sights, watching the conversation between Martin and the voice quietly.

Martin sighed, resisting the urge to just glare at the computer screen. “Yes, that is correct... Unfortunately, Xenon, the parasites escaped after we got them there... And joined with more that were already on the planet. And there was An Impostor that’d managed to slip in on top of that.” He explained.

“Hm... How troubling... I trust that everyone managed to evacuate safely?” The voice, none other than MIRA’s Head of Research and Exploration, Xenon Hamaski, questioned. “After all, I’d hate for our best Crew to get picked off by the things...”

With a hum of contemplation, Martin shook his head. “Not everyone... Leeann, Artemy, and Vincent fell to the beasts... But we ejected the Impostor, the survivors are safe and human, they managed to avoid the parasites.” He answered, half-lying through his teeth, but Xenon was foolish enough to take that as a sufficient response. “We’ve had a few equipment failures, but those have been repaired, operations otherwise have been running smoothly.” He added on. “No Impostors on-board currently.”

Nodding, Xenon gave Martin a solemn look. “That’s unfortunate... We hope you honour the fallen well...” He mused. He listened as Martin mentioned the otherwise ‘stable’ state of the Crew, and lack of Impostors, and gave the captain the Crewmate equivalent of a smile. “Excellent... We have a new task and charter for you that we’ll assign in two days, though be warned, you may have to work with another Crew for this.” He declared, clasping his hands together on his desk. “The details...? We’ll provide those to you and the Crew closer to the time.” He stated.

Gee, thanks, Xenon... Martin hummed again. “Alright. We will make sure we put in only our best efforts, Xenon.” He responded.

Seeming happy with Martin’s answer, Xenon nodded again. “As always...” He commented, before straightening his posture. “I will let you be on your way, take care, Martin.” He chirped, before ending the call.

Martin breathed a sigh of relief, slumping against the back of the chair. “Holy hell... That was less dramatic than I thought it’d be...” He muttered, letting out another vocal huff as he wiped figurative sweat off his ‘brow’, before chuckling. “God, how are we still pulling through with the shit we’ve had to deal with these past 10 years...” He asked incredulously.

Even Kazimir seemed mildly impressed by how... Smooth that was. “Well, seems like MIRA’s off our asses for the moment.” He stated. “To answer your question, however... As far as I’m concerned, determination and spite. I’m convinced that’s what half of your Crew is running on at this point.” He added on, smirking as he crossed his hands/arms.

“... Yeah that sounds about right. We don’t exactly go down without a fight..” Martin quietly admitted, glancing off to the side.

There was a... Semi-comfortable silence between the two, before Kazimir spoke. “I will inform my associates of the recent developments, avoid any future attacks from my side of this... But for now, it’s best we return to our normal routine as much as physically possible. Can’t have suspicions being raised by erratic or anomalous activity.” He mentioned, before strutting off to go make the call in question.

Martin was left to sit there for a moment, narrowing his visor in thought. Yeah... Never know when MIRA’s observing closer than they seemed to be, no-one could trust the damn Heads of Department to not stick their nose into literally everything, even if it was potentially only a minor inconvenience to the overall mission or integrity of the company. The Heads of Department are a risk to the company’s integrity, but no-one was willing to admit that to their faces right now. “Out of everything I thought would happen to this crew... Gaining assistance from Hazarmaveth himself was not among the things on my ‘insane Skeld events’ bingo card... Bloody hell.” He murmured, turning back around to the computer desk, activating the Skeld’s intercom, tapping the microphone once or twice, before speaking. “Attention, Crew. As our immediate crisis has, as far as we’re concerned, passed.. As much as this well affect us for the rest of our lives, it is optimal we return to our normal routines. For everyone’s sake.” He paused for a moment. “We will be holding a minute’s silence in the Cafeteria tomorrow at noon to honour those of us who have perished among the madness.” He announced, his voice echoing across the Skeld’s halls from the speakers. He promptly switched off the intercom as the Crew members mobilised to their usual positions and roles, or went to do whatever the hell else if they didn’t feel like doing tasks.

Cymberline was off chatting to Ailbe as the latter started the process of refuelling the engines. “So... Uh, sorry for impersonating you back on Polus.. Didn’t exactly have a choice there.” Cymberline apologised, scratching the back of their head awkwardly.

Glancing over at Cymberline, Ailbe gave them a friendly smile. “Nothing personal, buddy! Besides, I find it kind of funny, I mean, I’m not exactly the most conspicuous person to disguise as when I keep poppin’ up outta the vents at random intervals... Accidentally scaring my colleagues, heh.” They responded, letting out another chuckle as they picked up the fuel canister and gestured for Cymberline to follow along as they made their way to the upper engine. “It’s a wonder I didn’t get mistaken as An Impostor more often due to all that.” They added on, cheerful despite their subpar physical state. They weren’t going to let that stop them from doing what they needed to do.

“It’s not exactly every day I get room to breathe on the whole.. Impostor stage.” Cymberline admitted. “But hey, at least I don’t have to deal with Róisín screeching at people every half-minute, Stars, that gets exhausting to listen to after a while.” They commented, placing their hands behind their back.

With an amused scoff, Ailbe shook their head. “Yeah, that sounds about right for the kind of attitude my old captain had before I came onto the Skeld alongside the rest of our current Crew.” They remarked as if that was just an average day on the job, shrugging. “But eh! That’s in the past, I don’t have much to worry about with Martin! Though someone really ought to remind him to warn the newbies about me... If we even get any other additions after this.”

A hum could be heard from Cymberline, as they tilted their head. “Eh, you never know.” They chirped, with a more hopeful tone. “Might not be the best idea to invite Crewmates on until after we’ve all settled.” They expressed with a slight note of concern in their voice.

There was about 5 seconds after Ailbe got to and started refuelling the upper engine before a slight crash occurred in the Medbay, Jia had accidentally dropped one of the beakers after a slight trip. “Jia, I needed that!” Sean called out in response to the breakage.

“Sorry, Sean! Gravity hasn’t been my greatest ally for the past few hours...” Jia said in a tone of voice that would likely be something you’d hear from a kicked puppy, if a puppy could speak English.

“Cut him some slack, ya old geezer...” Charlie mentioned to Sean, the exasperation clear in their voice. “It’s been a long day, and we’re all kinda stuffed- we can’t exactly function on little genuine bodily energy unlike you, Sean.” They promptly added.

Both Ailbe and Cymberline snickered upon hearing the brief mishap. “Well, that didn’t take him long at all...” Ailbe piped up, glancing at Cymberline with an amused smirk before turning back to their task. “Not even 5 hours later and he’s already going on about how he ‘needed that’.” They commented, doing the space bean equivalent of an eyeroll.

Cymberline chuckled. “He says that a lot, eh?” They asked, raising an ‘eyebrow’.

Nodding, Ailbe let out a hum. “Oh yeah... You haven’t heard nothin’ yet.” They answered.

Meanwhile, Kazimir was in his quarters, sitting on his bed as he stared at the holographic projection from his sabobutton, communicating with one of his close associates from the Azeroth.

“So- let me get this straight, my Liege... A whole bunch of parasites... Infected the Polus Crew, then the Skeld Crew... And you so happened to be there for all of it?” A slightly distorted, masculine voice asked. From what was currently on the hologram, it belonged to a semi-eldritch, orange creature that looked vaguely somewhere between a ram and a barn owl, with many vermillion-coloured eyes across its head and body, its feathers gleaming a metallic, coppery sheen under the dim lights of an alien facility.

With a hum of confirmation, Kazimir sighs. “Correct, Shamir... Which means, whilst this current Crew is on-board, the Skeld is off-limits to attacks. No I will not be taking objections, next question.” He responds.

The creature, identified as Shamir, simply nodded. “I see... Would you like me to go inform the others?” He asked, tilting his head, feathers ruffling slightly.

“That would be preferable, please. Just make sure it gets to the rest of the Azeroth.” Kazimir answered, glancing around for a second, before refocusing his attention on Shamir.

Trustworthy as he is to Kazimir and his ranks, Shamir lets out a hoot of agreement, before speaking. “Will do. We’ll update you accordingly.” He confirms with a more cheerful tone, before disconnecting from the call.

Kazimir, taking down the sabobutton’s holographic interface, placed it onto his bedside table, before falling backward down into his bed. He stares up at the ceiling for a moment, in silence. He mulls over the events that’ve transpired, from when he first invaded the Crew, to now... Doing the complete opposite of what he’d planned. It was almost comedically ironic, in a way, but such is life. He wasn’t about to let anyone drive these poor souls to insanity, if he could help it, he’d rather they retain a sense of morality in this mess between the two warring species.

He listens to the sounds of the Crew shuffling around, doing their usual activities, it almost felt normal for once since it all started, and at this point, he wasn’t exactly keen to have it any other way. The cooperation, laughter in the halls... How much trust the Crew had in each other, unity solidified by tragedy, even when he and Martin both had a feeling MIRA intended for it to be the complete opposite.

Perhaps it was a moment of reprieve from the madness that was the usual conflict, living proof that Crewmates and Impostors can co-exist peacefully... If they’d just put their differences aside. No different from internal conflict within the Crewmate populations based on whatever factors. Kazimir almost found himself... At peace? No, that wasn’t right... Was it? It was a surreal concept given what he’d put himself through for the sake of his people.

But not everyone could find a semblance of calm in the winding down from the chaos...

...As on the other hand...

Dimitri was sitting at, well, more accurately, laying his head on his desk in his own room, a troubled expression on his face. There was a dull ache in his very bones, a burning sensation in his chest that just seemed inexplicable. It only lasted for a few minutes, but it was enough to bring concern to him, he’s pestered Sean about it before, but none of the medics have been able to find anything... The pain feels almost familiar... He’s always felt a sense of wrongness within himself, but it’s gotten more intense since he was infected, having progressed into a nagging feeling that something should be there, but isn’t, seeming just out of reach. It irked him to no end, he’s tried everything he could think of, but nothing seems to make it go away. “Something’s missing from the story...” He muttered to himself. “What am I missing?”

Chapter Text

Whilst the Crew continues to work on getting the Skeld to more optimal conditions from its previously semi-stable fixes that, let’s be honest, were only temporary measures so the whole system doesn’t immediately screw itself over, Melvin’s off conversing with Luk’Yan in the latter’s room, all the way at the end of the hallway within the upper dormitory hall of the Skeld. The shuffles and conversations of the other transport Crew members as they unpack their things and settle into their rooms can be heard, very vividly by the enhanced senses of the newly converted Impostors. Not that anyone bothers to comment on it, but everyone’s definitely fallen quieter to avoid disturbing each other, perhaps only by experiencing it does one understand how delicate something could be, sensory input or otherwise.

“So... From what I’ve heard so far... You’re uh, vaguely familiar with the purple guy, eh?” Melvin queries in genuine curiosity, tilting his head. His tail flicked idly on the odd occasion as he spoke, otherwise gently swaying side to side without much mind paid to it for the most part.

Nodding in confirmation, Luk’Yan leaned up against the wall, crossing his hands/arms. He took a moment to gather his words, before speaking. “My father knew him.. Well, as his true self, not Kazimir. Whole mess with my old man’s life, double-infection, nuclear disaster... Scarlet Clan tried to force him to their hand, but basically the Azeroth said ‘no’ and helped him fight ‘em off...” He explained, keeping his tone mostly neutral, though there was some slight waivers of emotion, particularly in regards to the whole Scarlet Clan situation. “He met Hazarmaveth not long after that... But yeah, he’s pretty alright from what my father says, even if he has his fair share of anger issues.”

Melvin let out a short hum. “Fair enough...” He commented.

With a slight step to the side, stopping by his window, Luk’Yan glanced out at the cosmos beyond, before turning his gaze back to Melvin “Look, all things considered, still a better outcome, to both that and this, than what could’ve happened. Let’s just make the most of it while we have the time to wind down from... Everything.” He remarked, leaning against the wall with his hands behind his back. “Though I’m pretty sure as our side of the Crew knows, I was already at least partially parasite anyway, thanks to my father.” He notes, tilting his head slightly.

Nervously scratching his head, Melvin sighs. “Fair enough... But how am I going to explain this...” He gestures to his horns and tail in slight annoyance on top of his nerves. “To my folks? Or friends back at MiraHQ?” He asked, furrowing his ‘eyebrows’, his stance shifting to more on the defensive.

“Assuming all goes well... We won’t have to deal with that anytime soon.” Luk’Yan stated, shrugging. “The least we can do is trim the horns down, I don’t know about the tail..” He suggested, trying to remain unbothered, though uncertainty was evident in his tone.

Melvin just stares at Luk’Yan with a wide-eyed, slightly horrified expression at the first statement. “Don’t say that- you know how that’s going to end up!” He exclaimed, furrowing his eyebrows. He sighs, crossing his hands/arms and glancing off to the side. “It’s not just the physical attributes, Luk'Yan... Well, not really. Sure, they’re the main part of it... But if anyone that isn’t our Crew sees them, those people are probably going to think I’m just another one of Hazarmaveth's minions...” He lamented, looking dejected with his tail drooped, the spiked tip twitching. “But at the same time... Maybe it was for the best considering the state our Crew’s in. My body and mind have been... Stable, so far. Keeping an eye on things though...” He mused.

Tapping the wall behind him in thought, Luk’Yan had a contemplative expression on his face. “In regards to... Hazarmaveth’s whole para-venom, there’s certain components in that compound he can add or remove at will for control capacity or lack thereof.. Maybe it’s like an Assassin’s Teapot sort of thing.” He speculates, glancing at Melvin. “It’s just a guess, who knows how that actually works. Those Ancients have some weird as hell physiology, even by Impostor standards.”

But such is the question of what precisely is the matter of the parasites, the infections, and how they work. 52 years and it still isn’t understood, an enigma of biology that scientists struggle to grasp, though MIRA had never bothered to fully research it instead of just throwing Impostors out at every toss and turn without considering their stories, motives, how they could potentially help instead of hinder... If the company and the aliens just put their differences aside to realise there may be a bigger threat looming. Perhaps some things never will be completely explained, left to the depths of the universe, secrets only the deities know, never to be brought to mortal light.

However, that isn’t our main focus here.

A few more hours, and over in Martin’s quarters, where he had returned shortly after everyone else settled back into routine, he was sitting at his desk filling out some documents on his laptop. Just as he was getting lost in his work, knocking was heard at the door. Firm, yet not too harsh, three evenly spaced knocks. Even if it wasn’t the original, Martin knew who it was, at this point, of the ones that were on the original part, Kazimir’s was the most definitive and memorable, namely due to consistency. “Come in, Kazimir.” He called out, swivelling his chair around to face the door.

Opening the door, Kazimir took a few steps in, before closing it. “I do apologize for bothering you again, and I know we’ve mostly settled, however, we might need all the hands we can get in assistance. Zuriel just informed me that the Scarlet Clan’s activities are picking up, and they’re turning their attention to Earth.” He informs, his visor set in a definitively bothered, yet determined expression, as he walks up to Martin’s side, keeping his gaze on the captain, as tempted as he was to have a stickybeak at whatever Martin was working on.

Slightly furrowing one of his eyebrows, Martin hums in concern, glancing down at the ground. “That’s... Oh God.” He mutters, taking in a deep breath, before glancing back up at Kazimir. “Sorry, I heard that right, didn’t I? Earth itself?” He queried for clarification.

Kazimir’s visor narrowed, as he nodded. “Yes, your home planet.” He confirmed with a less than pleased tone, he definitely wasn’t entirely happy about the recent developments. He turned his attention to his sabobutton, checking his recent messages on the holographic display, before slipping the device back into his pocket. “Like I said a few hours earlier, Tiberius, Nishant and Xochitl are currently occupied at MiraHQ, we can head over and assist them... But we’ll have to keep a low profile about it, frame it as a supply run, if I remember correctly, we haven’t had one for a few days.” He suggested, his expression softening ever so slightly.

Martin keeps his gaze on Kazimir for a moment, thoughtful. “I’ll pester Aron to let him know we’re coming. You’ve got a better grasp on who’s stable and who’s not, can you gather a team to come assist? Preferably with at least one medic, one of our regular supply runners, and one person who can act as support if things end up getting out of hand. You can determine the rest.” He requested, closing his laptop and getting up, grabbing his phone and scrolling through his contacts to find Aron.

With a nod, Kazimir watched as Martin got out of his chair and got his phone. “Understood, I’ll go assemble said team.” He stated, his tone neutral. “We’ll need to be ready for anything.” He advised, exiting the room and making his way back over to Communications, his heavy footsteps echoing through the hall for a few steps before fading into the background.

Finding Aron’s contact, Martin promptly gave him a call, however that works by high-speed signals bouncing off satellites and probes between the two locations left n’ right until they get to Earth in ample enough time to have a decent call without much delay, which the Crewmate promptly picked up. “Martin? I thought you’d be calling from official channels, is something wrong?” Aron expressed over the phone, confusion and concern evident in his voice.

Huffing in a mix of worry and agitation, Martin narrowed his visor slightly. “Well, it’s sort of a ‘3.6, not great, not terrible’ situation over here, I’ll explain later, uh... We need to make a bit of an ‘emergency supply run’ to MiraHQ, but I don’t exactly want the Heads of Department knowing about it for... Reasons that... Yeah, like I said, I’ll talk to you about when we get there, preferably in private.” He answered with a slightly worried tone of voice, slowly pacing around his room as he keeps his phone close to where his ear would be underneath the space suit. “I’m not sure who else is going to be with us, that’s up to Kazimir, but I know myself and Kazmir will be among my team, but.. Would you be so kind as to... Divert the Heads’ attention elsewhere whilst we haul our sorry butts here?”

“Ohhhhhh, hehehehe.. Leave it to me, I’ll clear the terminal, conjure up some charters for them to go over, and meet you there, how’s that sound?” Aron offered, seeming to understand Martin’s request as code for ‘we’re about to do some shit that the Heads of Department won’t approve of’. Which isn’t all that inaccurate, in foresight.

Slightly smirking, Martin nodded. “Appreciate it.” He responded, before Aron hung up.

On cue, the Skeld’s intercom system crackled to life. “Attention, Skeld Crew. Could the following please report to the Dropship Bay for a mission briefing: Dimitri; Cymberline; Sean; Elil; Anil; Hyder; and Martin. I repeat; Dimitri, Cymberline, Sean, Elil, Anil, Hyder, and Martin to the Dropship Bay for a mission briefing.” Kazimir’s voice boomed through the Skeld’s halls.

Martin glanced up towards the speakers. “Sometimes I feel like I’ve signed my own death warrant...” He muttered to himself, before leaving his room and making his way up to the Dropship Bay.

He arrived to see Kazimir patiently waiting with his hands behind his back, Dimitri, with his arms crossed and one leg extended slightly out, and Cymberline, with their weight primarily on the adjacent leg and a hand on their hip, standing either side of him. The other members that were called up were having some discussion on what Kazimir could possibly want from them, but Martin already knew.

Glancing over at Martin, Kazimir nods. “Ah, good, everyone’s here now.” He mentioned quietly, taking a moment to mentally collect what he’s about to say, before looking back at everyone else. “Alright, discussion time’s over, I require everyone’s undivided attention, thank you!” He called out. The conversations ceasing as everyone turned their heads to Kazimir. Once he was satisfied that he’d captured everyone’s focus, he spoke up again. “As one of my associates have informed me of some concerning developments on the Impostor side of the stage, namely the Scarlet Clan turning their interest of attack to Earth, likely MiraHQ itself, while we are technically still at war with MIRA, several of our allies, de jure or de facto, are going to end up caught in the crossfire, and as much as I’m not fond of MIRA, I would rather avoid further unnecessary casualties from this whole mess, because most of us know, if anything, that the Scarlet Clan are likely to screw everything over further than they already have.” He recounted, bringing one of his hands out from behind his back to make a few appropriate gestures to emphasize his point. He takes a few steps forward, his gaze upon the group practically burning into their souls, even if it wasn’t intentional. “We’re going to head over and assist, under the cover of a supply run. Remember, this is MiraHQ we’re dealing with, we cannot, under any circumstances, reveal ourselves as Impostors, do I make myself clear?”

The group glanced at each other, before looking back at Kazimir and vocalising various words of confirmation.

“Good. Martin, what’s the verdict from that call with Aron?” Kazimir queried, tilting his head slightly.

With a slight straightening of his posture, Martin spoke up. “The terminal should be clear, Aron said he’ll make sure of it, and occupy the Heads of Department with some impromptu charters so that they aren’t paying enough attention to the rest of MiraHQ’s business to realise we’re coming.” He explained, pausing for a moment as his phone buzzes in his pocket. He pulls it out, checking the notification. “He just messaged me advising that it’ll be wise to bring the Skeld closer back to Earth so we don’t spend as much time or fuel getting back, I’ll go call Leo to get on that real quick.” He added, finding Leo’s contact and calling him.

Gesturing to one of the dropships, Elil glances at Kazimir. “I’ll go make sure the dropship’s ready.” He states, trotting off to check over the dropship in question.

Leo’s voice immediately comes through as soon as he picks up the phone. “Yo Martin, what’cha need?” He asks, already back to his usual excitable and slightly annoying self. Lord help us all.

Turning his attention primarily to the call, Martin narrowed his visor slightly. “Hey Leo, I’m a bit too occupied to come down there and talk to you personally, but can you steer the ship back to Earth? Preferably on full engine blast, we’ve got a bit of a situation developing at home.” He requests.

“Sure thing, ‘Cap! I’ll hop right to it!” Leo chirped, and afterwards ended the call.

With a poke of his head out of the dropship, Elil waves. “Dropship’s good to go!” He calls out, receiving a thumbs up from Kazimir in response.

Martin turned back to look at Kazimir. “Are we going to need some supplies for the way there or are we good?” He asked, tilting his head slightly. He adjusted his coat, fixing some of the positioning, and fixing his tie. “Besides, we wouldn’t want to be caught up in the middle of space with nothing to keep us alive until help arrives.” He mentions. No-one exactly cares to react to the shift in the artificial atmosphere as Leo turns the Skeld around and starts flying it back towards Earth. Fun times.

Silently contemplating the situation, Kazimir keeps his gaze on Martin. “We won’t perish that easily, and I will not allow us to run on empty, even if I have to reveal my true form to ensure it.” He replies, crossing his arms. “Though I’ve known Impostors to turn each other into emergency food on several occasions. Especially us Shapeshifters considering we can, well, regenerate. Not without a cost for most of us, though.” He remarked, holding a thoughtful expression for a moment before shrugging. “So I assume we’re ready to mobilise?” He asks the rest of the group.

His question was answered by an immediate “Yes, sir!” from everyone.

Nodding, Kazimir turns to the dropship that Elil’s currently lingering in. “Then let’s go.” He responds, making his way to the ship, with everyone else following behind him.

“I have a feeling we’re going to be down there for a while...” Sean muses, glancing over at Hyder.

Sighing, Hyder just stared ahead at the dropship for a moment, before turning his gaze to Sean. “Tell me about it.” He responded. “At least we aren’t going to be royally fucked over at the slightest inconvenience by Crewmate standards at this current point in time, though that’s subject to change, as is everything and everyone.” He added on.

Sean shot an unamused half-glare half-deadpan expression at Hyder, before returning to his usual tired expression. “Wishful thinking.” He grumbled, adjusting his coat. “Probably should’ve grabbed a cleaner coat for this.” He half-heartedly lamented.

With a glance over at the pair, Anil sighed. “Regardless, we should be ready for anything. With a more active enemy inbound to our home world’s stage, things could get ugly real fast.” He mentioned, his ‘eyebrows’ furrowing in concern. He pauses for a moment, lost in thought before subtly shaking his head, snapping himself back to reality. “We need to keep our focus, knowing Impostors outside of our Crew.. Not exactly the most predictable creatures in the cosmos..”

Mulling over the occurrences as of late, his thoughts, and just about everything else, with a brief pause by the dropship, Kazimir then glances back at the group, particularly Anil. “Correct. We must remain vigilant, both in our behaviour, the situation, and our environment.” He commented, his gaze sweeping over the group once more, doing a mental headcount. “Everyone’s here, good...” He murmured under his non-existent breath, narrowing his visor slightly. “And Sean, for the love of the Stars and all things divine, get a new coat before we go.” He ordered.

Not seeming too happy about being called out for his blunder, Sean, after letting out a sigh with his shoulders slumping in the process, begrudgingly nodded, quickly ducking into his lab to get a new coat (and change of clothes in general, but that’s less important).

Kazimir shook his head with an amused sigh, feigning disappointment though he couldn’t help but let a slight smirk cross his face. “Jeez... Never changes.” He remarked.

“What, you were expecting something different from him?” Martin jokingly snarked, crossing his arms and shifting his weight to one leg.

Glancing over at Martin, Kazimir raised an ‘eyebrow’, though still retained his amusement. He was quite fond of some light-hearted banter whenever the opportunity arose. “Absolutely not.” He replied.

About a minute later, Sean re-emerged but a blue shirt, navy pants, and black boots under a clean lab coat, as opposed to his usual light teal/turquoise shirt and brown pants and boots, he seems to have like a million sets of those. “Alright, I’m back, let’s just... Get this show on the road.” He stated, clearly tired, though that wasn’t going to stop him from doing anything, never did. If he manages to function like a normal person on barely any sleep, Stars know how he’s still alive from that, the Crew sort of fears what he might be able to do if he got a healthy amount of sleep, consecutively, for once.

With a glance at Sean and a nod, Kazimir turns his attention to everyone else and gestured to the dropship. “The sooner we take off and get there, the better.” He declared, stepping inside, with the rest of the group following suit.

Martin steps inside the cockpit with Kazimir following close behind, Martin sitting in the pilot seat and Kazimir sitting in the co-pilot seat. “I sort of worry about how long it might take to get there, I mean... Polus isn’t that far from Earth, sure, but... We’re still a whole solar system or two away... The dropships are smaller and faster, if we put ‘em on maximum overdrive... The Skeld won’t be that far behind us, we know how.. Mildly unpredictable Leo’s piloting can be.” He expressed, glancing over at Kazimir in concern. “Are we even going to get there before the bastard Xenon calls back with whatever the hell he wants from us?” He pondered. “Maybe Aron can handle that, but I’d have to try to get a hold of him again beforehand. It’s a race against the clock, and the Heads of Department, at this point.”

Gently reaching across and placing his hand on Martin’s shoulder, Kazimir, admittedly with a softer expression than he’d like, looked Martin in the visor. “We’ll figure it out, Captain. And we’ll get there, don’t worry.” He assured.

“Yeah.. I guess we will.” Martin responds, starting the dropship up. “Welp.. Here goes nothing.” He mutters, the Skeld’s systems going through the automatic take off preparation protocols as he fires the engines up, the Dropship Bay sealing itself shut completely. Martin, using the bottom thrusters to lift the dropship off the floor, shifting the engines to full blast as soon as the gates open and the atmospheric containment barrier goes down, the dropship launching out of the Skeld at something something whatever speed to Earth to get there in 1 day. This was going to be a long flight, wasn’t it?

Of course it was...

As the stars, planets, meteors, and other bits and pieces of the cosmos went by in the dropship’s travel, some whizzing, some slowly drifting, the hours ticked by, the group remain in their places, either lost in hobbies that they can do whilst on a spaceship, or chatting, the ship filled with the sounds of the engines, quiet conversations, button taps, etc. Martin did end up shutting the engines off after a while – not like one was going to lose velocity by natural means in the cold vacuum of space anyway when there’s no air resistance factor anyway.

There wasn’t much to do except those two activities, or sleeping, granted one wasn’t either pilot or co-pilot. Martin certainly wasn’t intent on letting his focus on the journey slip for even a second, and neither was Kazimir, who was watching intently.

It seemed like millennia of just cruising through primarily empty space, until the familiar, slightly wonky blue ball, Earth, finally came into view. Martin re-activated the thrusters to further steer the dropship to Earth, towards where MiraHQ’s approximate location would be at the time of day upon landing – which so happened to be just before the very beginning of dawn... Home sweet home, except the notion seemed bittersweet right now considering what was potentially to come.

Another few hours, and the dropship was re-entering Earth’s atmosphere, Martin taking all of the necessary precautions to ensure the re-entry was as smooth as physically possible. He adjusts some functions, shifting the dropship to atmospheric travel mode on more aircraft-level. The dropship flew towards the towering building nestled safely within some tall mountain ranges, surrounded by many other tall structures and practically a whole city where-ever one could safely shove a building in the geology – MIRA’s main headquarters.

Waiting in the primary terminal as Martin guided the dropship to land, was none other than Aron Zapatero, a male reseda green-suited Crewmate, the resource manager of MIRA’s High Council, with shoulder-length, wavy blonde hair fashioned in a soft mullet. He wore a branded navy blazer, black collared shirt with a red tie, dark navy dress pants, and black combat boots. He stood patiently with his arms behind his back, having already cleared out the rest of the personnel aside from the essential workers from the area.

The dropship touches down upon the floor of the terminal, the engines powering down. It took another second for the door to open after the group had some unintelligible chatter inside the ship, promptly stepping out onto the terminal. Cymberline, likely expectantly, looked... Quite in awe at the terminal alone, which was reasonable given they hadn’t seen much aside from the Skeld, and the Scarlet Clan’s comparatively primitive technology for at least the past half-century. It’s easy for certain things to fade into a mere shimmer of the past that you can’t remember when your mind goes into blackout mode to protect itself, I’m sure a certain black-suited someone has plenty of that going on for him...

After a moment of quietly standing around, the silence is shattered by Aron clearing his throat to get everyone’s attention, then he speaks up. “So, this is the party we’re dealin’ with?” He queries to Martin with a half amused, half concerned tone of voice. The group looks... Different, in some way, but he just can’t put his finger on what exactly is off about the seemingly familiar employees, minus Cymberline, that’s a new face. He dared not prod, however.

“Eeyup.” Martin responded with a slightly tired inflection, running a hand through his hair. “Can we.. Talk about the whole thing in your office, maybe?” He requested, his ‘eyebrows’ furrowing slightly with obvious worry, as much as Martin hated to admit that yes, he was feeling quite worried about the whole situation.

Aron thought for a moment, tilting his head slightly, before straightening their head and stance, and nodding. “Sure. I hope I can trust... Kazimir, with keeping the rest of the bunch under control...?” He mused, pausing for a half second before continuing. “Especially that thing.” He added jokingly, gesturing directly at Sean with his thumb.

Unsurprisingly, Sean didn’t seem too happy about the notion of being referred to as a ‘thing’, even in jest. “Hey-!” His protests were cut short by Kazimir shooting a glare at him.

The momentary fiasco earned a look of disappointment from Martin, who shook his head, and sighed. “Can you lot please behave for like... Five minutes, please?” He requested, clearly just about done with, well, everyone’s bullshit. Though he was quickly ushered to Aron’s office by Aron himself, who gave a nervous chuckle.

“I’m sure they’ll sort themselves out..” Aron quietly commented to Martin, before the pair find themselves in the elevator, and the doors close behind them.

The rest of the group looked at each other, then at the closed elevator doors. It was quickly becoming a bit of sensory hell for half of them considering the... Activity of MiraHQ, but at least Dimitri seemed to have the common sense of packing a few extra sets of noise-dampening headphones, and casually snuck them onto everyone else’s heads, except his own, Kazimir’s, and Cymberline’s, considering the three were used to this sort of stuff by now. While Dimitri presumably hasn’t been An Impostor as long as Kazimir and Cymberline have even lived, he still adapted to the senses. Eventually.

Some quick words of ‘thank you’ were quickly muttered to Dimitri from the others, before Anil sighed. “Would.. Sticking together be the best course of action currently?” He asked, looking primarily at Kazimir.

A few of the other Impostors nodded as Kazimir did, agreeing with the general concept. Kazimir glanced at Anil before answering. “Mhm... I’ll go search for the..” He trailed off as he sensed something unusual in the air, his visor narrowing slightly. Taking a moment to mentally confirm what he was detecting, before letting out a slow sigh. “The others are here..” He murmured to himself, walking forward slightly, before stopping. “...Err.. As I was saying, I shall find the three we originally came here for.. But be on your guard, my fellow Ancients appear to be here, and some of them can be.. Slightly reactive.” He mentioned. “Should’ve suspected something with the shift in balance the year prior.. Damnit, Elethea.” He further muttered under his non-existent breath, continuing on through the building.

The others, minus Dimitri and Cymberline, exchanged nervous glances, clearly unsettled by the mention of all of the currently active Ancient Impostors being in the same building. On the contrary, Cymberline seemed almost.. Excited, by the whole concept.

Dimitri, however, seemed to be staring blankly into space for a slight moment, before snapping himself out of his thoughts. Seems so familiar... But everyone’s heard of the Ancients, how could they not? It’s just a coincidence. That’s what he keeps telling himself, anyway. He walked along with the rest of the group, though his movements seemed strained due to the dull aches that kept racking his body periodically, and his thoughts kept drifting elsewhere.

Everything seemed fine, though Cymberline took notice of Dimitri’s.. Zoning out. “Yoo-hoo! Earth to Dimitri~!” They called out with a sing-song voice, waving their hand in front of Dimitri’s face.

“Heh- wha-? Oh. Yeah bud?” Dimitri responded, having been essentially jolted back to reality by Cymberline’s little stunt.

Huffing, Cymberline placed their hands on their hips by the knuckles. “You’ve been off with the fairies a lot, lately.” They pointed out, half light-heartedly, half concerned. “What’s up with you?” They asked, raising an ‘eyebrow’.

It took a moment for Dimitri to respond. “I don’t know, Cym. I’m getting some serious déjà vu from half of this.” He answered, his voice soft, quiet, almost as if he was ashamed of admitting that something might be wrong with his brain. “I’m probably just being paranoid.. Y’know, normal Infected things, right?” He added, though he was questioning the validity of that assumption... But it was the most reasonable. As if the most reasonable explanation was the most accurate anymore, given how much everyone had been breaking everyone else’s perception of everything lately.

They didn’t need any more surprises, but unfortunately, fate has different plans. You’ll learn what that means.

With a brief look of contemplation, Cymberline promptly shrugged, not sure whether the gesture would show they weren’t judging him or not. “Eh, probably. I wouldn’t worry about it too much, just focus on the mission and you’ll be fine as soon as we get back to the Skeld.” They responded, feigning nonchalance. Though they were trying to reassure themself with that statement more than anyone else.

The interaction earned a concerned glance back from Kazimir, though he didn’t speak up, instead looking back to where he was going without a word. Something was wrong.

From a distant corner, a figure, mostly concealed in dark clothes, though with notable notes of oval, crescent, and star-like designs on the clip of their cloak, their gloves, and around their face, observed the group, their visor fixated on them, Dimitri in particular, with a blank stare. {That boy’s energy feels familiar... But too faint...} They thought, their ‘eyebrows’ furrowing over their ‘visor’. Though they quickly ducked back into the shadows before anyone noticed them.

Meanwhile, up in Aron’s office, him and Martin are sitting at his desk. “Okay, so... No getting mad on my end, what’s the deal with you lot?” He asks, clasping his hands together and resting them on his desk, concern visible on his face.

Martin grumbled, rubbing his ‘temples’. “Look... It’s complicated, and I know Kazi told me not to disclose certain parts of this, but... Polus got overrun by parasites... Crew infected, Heads of Department sent parasites up to us over at the Skeld, then we got infected, uh... Turns out Kazimir got replaced by Hazarmaveth himself a year prior to all of this, now we recently found out that the damn Scarlet Clan are turning their attention to Earth, soo... We’re down here to secure our allies and get ‘em out of the crossfire. And maybe help fight the idiots off.” He explained, dreading Aron’s reaction.

The Aron in question was staring at Martin blankly, then let out a sigh. “Okay, okay... So... Let me get this straight, mass infections, potential extra-terrestrial attack on our planet- wait, damn, Hazarmaveth’s alive? And how the hell are we supposed to explain to the eldritch monstrosity that our big boy Ursus is dating his brother??” He responds, clearly seeming more than awkward at that last part. “Oh dear God.” He mutters, laying his head on the desk with a sigh that is more like a restrained expression of ‘I want to scream into a pillow right now’.

Blinking a few times, Martin tilts his head with a look of visible confusion and surprise, his Impostor mouth showing. “Wait, wait, waaaaiiiittt. Back up, back up...” He says, shaking his head and straightening his posture. “I’m sorry.. WHAT-?”

With a slight groan, Aron lifted his head from his desk, sighing and running a hand down his face, trying to calm his nerves slightly. “I wish I was joking. But no, somehow, our resident Director managed to pull the Virulent. It’s the great Council mystery.” He remarked, shaking his head incredulously. “Anyway, back to the main point, the Scarlet Clan has plans to attack us?” He questions for confirmation, staring at Martin with any sort of hope that the blue Skeld captain was lying. But of course, there were no lies to be told this time.

“Mhm... We don’t have any details as of current, but, we do know that they are preparing.” Martin mentioned, unsettled by the idea and not having enough information for sufficient planning. “So... Best get all hands on deck and be prepared for anything.” He advised, tilting his head slightly.

Aron took a deep breath, pinching the centre of his visor. “Oh lord.. I should probably inform Ursus...” He mused, flopping his hand back onto the table.

“Inform me of what?” Ursus, the indigo-suited cat kemonomimi and Owner/Director of MIRA, interjected, standing in the doorway, leaning against the doorframe. He was wearing similar attire to Aron, though instead having a same-coloured morning coat, light blue dress shirt with a black tie, black suit pants, light ice blue gloves, black round-frame glasses, and silver short tassel earrings on his feline ears, perked up from his short, curly and fluffy brown to indigo ombre hair. He clearly heard the summary of recent occurrences, though likely wanted to hear either an explanation, a repeat, or some confirmation.

Both Martin and Aron paused for a moment, glancing at each other awkwardly, then at Ursus. “How long have you been there?” Aron asked, his left ‘cheek’ rising over his visor as the respective eyebrow furrowed. Martin just shook his head.

There was a moment of Ursus just staring at them before he spoke up. “Long enough to get the gist of our newfound situation, apparently.” He answered with a more unamused expression, crossing his hands/arms and glancing between Martin and Aron. He pushed himself off the doorframe, walking up to Martin and Aron. “If we are, indeed expecting an attack from the Scarlet Clan, then we must plan our defences and mobilise our forces. We cannot afford to put our personnel at further risk, not when we have the Ancients already here, all but Íseldur'Kier.” He declared, placing his hands on Aron’s desk, his gaze boring into Aron’s visor. “Notify Beatrice, Mariah, Mariola, Bailey, Charlize, and William, tell them all to prepare for and coordinate a response to a direct attack.” He ordered.

With a nod, Aron got up. “Yes sir! Uh- we gotta keep the precise details plus the Skeld Crew’s involvement and new affiliations away from the Heads of Department though-!” He responds, immediately rushing out the door.

Martin glanced over at Ursus, his head tilting slightly. “I thought Íseldur'Kier perished four decades ago...” He mused, left unaware of the precise intricacies of the Ancients’ existences, their origins, or the full extent of their power and influence.

Ursus sighed, though shook his head. He watched Aron’s retreating figure for a minute, then turned his gaze to Martin, his gaze softening slightly for a brief moment, though quickly returned to a steelier, determined glare, though no hatred was directed at Martin – none of this was the Skeld captain’s fault. “Those Ancients do not simply ‘perish’ so easily, contrary to what those people may try to tell you.” He stated, crossing his hands/arms. “He will return one day, one way or another, and I fear that day may be sooner rather than later.” He added with a note of concern in his voice. He didn’t want to be dealing with all 10 Ancients at once, not in the heart of MIRA’s operations, but pray to his gods as he may, he knows he cannot delay or halt the inevitable. He paused for a moment, before his expression shifted to a friendlier one. “Good to see you alive and well again... Even in these unfortunate circumstances.” He greeted, though he clearly wasn’t here for a simple chat currently. “Though speaking of Hazarmaveth, do you know where he is?” He asked, his ears perked up slightly, tail flicking.

“Not sure, he’s disguised as Kazimir, but based on when I saw him last, he’s got Dimitri, Sean, Elil, Hyder, Anil, and Cymberline tagging along, he’s looking for a few people. He shouldn’t be too hard to find.” Martin answered with slightly furrowed eyebrows in uncertainty, watching Ursus as the latter made his way to the doorway. “Just- maybe don’t poke the bear too much.” He suggested.

Narrowing his visor slightly, Ursus glanced back at Martin. “I’m all too aware that provoking the Lord is more likely than not a death sentence by now. And believe me, I know what I’m doing.” He states, before walking off to find Kazimir.

As much as he didn’t want Ursus to get obliterated, Martin forced himself to stand by and let Ursus go. “Good luck, boss... You’re gonna need it.” He muttered, pausing for a moment before Ursus walks out of view, before heading back to the elevator.

The indigo Crewmate is followed by Virulent, aka Kayvan, who shapeshifts from a parasitic mass into his usual form - another purple bean with mid-length, slightly curly, primarily wavy, dark brown to near-black ombre hair with a dark midnight purple underside, wearing a white trench coat, pants, grey boots, and dark purple gloves, next to Ursus. “Lookin’ for my brother, are ya, kitty~?” Kayvan teased, pinching Ursus’ cheek, much to the latter’s annoyance.

Ursus gently directed Kayvan’s hand away from him. “Yes, yes.. We’ve got stuff to do, ya clown. As much as I would like to entertain your antics.” He responded, though unable to help the slight fondness creeping into his tone. “Though if you would like to accompany me.. Mayhap he’ll feel less inclined to kill me initially.” He offered, extending his hand to Kayvan.

“Aww... You flatter me, Urs’.” Kayvan cooed, taking Ursus’s hand into his own with that overexaggerated smile. “By any means, let’s get goin’!” He chirped, as him and Ursus continued on their way.

One must understand that navigating MiraHQ, especially as large as it is.. Is a bit difficult. It’s comparable to attempting to navigate the labyrinth that is Grand Central in Toowoomba, Australia, as someone who doesn’t often go to Grand Central, but on a tenfold scale in width, and a lot more in height. Considering half of the tower is above cloud level, no wonder they need oxygen systems up there to keep up with the thinning ambient atmosphere in the higher altitudes.

Down with Kazimir and Co., who’d found themselves in the Cafeteria, they run into the expected impostors:

Nishant, a male semi-aquatic drake Impostor, as Uthyl Kohl. He appears as a navy-suited bean with red horns, and short, very fluffy black to dark navy ombré hair, sort of giving ‘bed head’ vibes, wearing a dark red puffer jacket with a fur-lined hood, a light red turtleneck shirt, light blue jeans, black boots, and a sky blue hat;

Tiberius, a male ghost leviathan-esque Impostor, as Desi Chapman. He appears as a sage-suited bean with prop leaf-like ‘ram horns’, and short straight dirty blonde hair, fashioned in a soft wolf/mullet cut, wearing a black sweater underneath a lab coat, black fingerless gloves, ripped navy blue jeans, and white knee-high lace-up boots;

And Xochitl, a genderfluid plant-like ferret Impostor, as Issy Marston. They appear as a magenta-suited bean with a sprout coming from their head, and mid-length, slightly wavy medium brown hair fashioned in a wolf cut, wearing a black collared shirt, beige blazer, slightly darker beige dress pants, and black high heel boots.

We don’t question how the ‘hair over spacesuit’ logic works, let’s just blame it on the nanomachines within the suits themselves. We’ve got that going for us.

But the group found some additional Impostors:

Erasmus, a demigirl succubus/goat satyr Shapeshifter Impostor, as Esmond Barclay. They appear as a red-suited bean with gradient granite black limbs on their suit, and dark brown, ‘shoulder’-length curly hair, wearing a dark red, loose sweater which if they were more humanoid would expose their shoulders, grey tight shorts, fishnet stockings, and black over-ankle lace-up boots;

And Aurelian, a male elk satyr/feathered dragon Shapeshifter Impostor, as Rafferty Kalvinok. He appears as a black-suited bean, with black to a barossa red-purple colour ombré, curly, fluffy, high volume and high density hair, long on his right side, reaching to his lower back, and shorter on the other side, being a little above ‘shoulder’-length. He’s wearing a black cropped, high-collar jacket, black turtleneck dress, a black denim skirt over a galaxy-themed one piece, and thigh-high galaxy-themed stockings with a thick black band at the top, attached to said one piece via suspenders.

Somewhat questionable choices of clothing there for both of them, but just don’t look too closely under the more normal-looking layers, and you’ll be fine.

And along the two additional Impostors, sticking near Rafferty, mayhap a bit too close to him, was Asel Krüger, the Human Resources manager of MIRA, a female crater brown-suited Crewmate, with long, slightly wavy dark brown hair that flares out at the ends, wearing a black MIRA-branded short trench coat, a light blue collared shirt, black suit pants, navy over-ankle round-toed chunky high heel boots with black soles, and blue and black cat-eye frame glasses.

“I see you three have picked up some... Extras, along the way.” Kazimir commented to Uthyl, Desi, and Issy, his visor looking over Esmond, Rafferty, and Asel. He glances between Esmond and Cymberline, randomly picking the former up and putting them down next to the latter. “Yeah you’re definitely siblings...” He mutters, eliciting a simultaneously muttered ‘how could he tell?’ from both of them, before Kazimir turned back to Uthyl. “What’s the status of the... Affairs so far?” He questioned, quietly.

Glancing back at Kazimir, Uthyl sighed. “Same ol’ boring routine, boss. Aside from the whole parasite thing a few days earlier, but whatever, I guess.” He answered with a less than amused tone, shrugging.

With a sigh, Kazimir glanced to the side, then back to Uthyl. “Y’know what...” He paused, sighing. “We’ll resume our activity later. For now, we have a bunch of Infected, and the Scarlet Clan, to wrangle, and not enough spoons to deal with MIRA's fuckery. Though we must remain here, just in case." He ordered, waving his hand.

Asel just blinked and glanced at Rafferty. “I’m just gonna pretend I didn’t hear that.” She muttered, shifting her weight to one leg whilst crossing her hands/arms.

A moment of pause, then with a slight nod, Rafferty glanced back at Asel. “Good call.” He responded calmly, before casually ruffling Asel’s hair.

“Wh- hey, stop that!” Asel protested, trying, and failing, to force Rafferty’s hand off her head. Considering Rafferty is much stronger than herself, no-one’s exactly surprised by this outcome.

Thoroughly confused by the situation in general, Cymberline and Esmond turned their gazes to each other. “So uh... Is this whole deal with uh... This whole lot normal, or...?” Esmond asked, tilting their head quizzically. They really were not used to more personally friendly antics such as these, rather than the interactions from their usual occupation.

Shrugging, Cymberline crossed their hands/arms. “Dunno, Era. I've been chillin' with these guys...” As they gesture to Kazimir and the group they came with. “...since the uhhh... 19th, I think? Terran dates confuse me. They're pretty cool, though!” They replied with a more joyful voice.

Esmond blinked, then just shrugged. “Okie!” They chirped.

“We can’t be yapping for too long.” Kazimir interjected, turning his gaze over to Cymberline and Esmond. He placed a hand on his hip, before speaking up again. “Not enough time. The Scarlet Clan may be predictable on some levels, but not completely. We cannot afford to underestimate the threat they pose.”

It wouldn’t be Cymberline if their pose didn’t shift in response, slumping, to reflect their disappointment. They quickly corrected their stance, nodding. “Yes, sir.” They muttered.

Their muttering was responded to with a sigh and nod from Kazimir.

Ursus and Kayvan found the group after walking through several floors of the headquarters, damn this massive tower system, soon followed by Aron and the other members of MIRA’s High Council:

Jordan Tian, the Financial Officer of MIRA, a male crimson red Crewmate, with short, fluffy black hair, his bangs having a red stripe down the right side. He wears a blue turtleneck shirt, a black MIRA-branded jacket with a fur-lined hood, black jeans, and black combat boots. Additionally, he tends to wear a quartz crystal necklace, and black face mask.

Beatrice Chavarría, the Second in Command of MIRA, a female grape-coloured, part-parasite Crewmate, with long, wavy, strawberry blonde hair partially tied into a Dutch headband braid, with a jacaranda-styled fascinator on the left side. She wears a black dress shirt with a white, layered jabot with a black gem pin right between the divides of her collar, a navy MIRA-branded suit jacket, a short, black skirt with a slit in the side worn over sky blue tights, and dark grey thigh-high boots. Additionally, she tends to wear black-framed sunglasses, and a blue mini hat fascinator on her right side with a dark navy bow and two white, layered, frill-like ribbons. She seems to have some faint black stripes on her face and hands;

Lycurgus Hildebrand, the Marketing Manager of MIRA, a male gold-coloured Crewmate, with crater brown stripes, and short, wavy black mid-part hair. He wears a blue MIRA-branded dress shirt, black fur-lined coat, navy cargo pants, and black dress shoes. Additionally, he tends to wear a greyscale bead necklace with a black star charm;

And Mariah Ó Branáin, the Public Relations Manager of MIRA, a female mimi pink Crewmate, with straight white bob cut hair having pink sides, highlights, and undersides. She wears a black dress shirt, a white MIRA-branded suit vest, a black skort, and white knee-high chunky high heel boots. Additionally, she tends to wear two black hair pins on her left bangs, towards her side hair.

The other four that hadn’t already been introduced earlier stopped by Asel and looked at each other in confusion, being fairly out of the loop of the situation as it is. Aron stood with the rest, but provided no other input.

But Ursus wasn’t exactly keen on initiating a full, official meeting. Not with the urgency and severity of this situation. It had to be handled as soon as possible, preferably before the Scarlet Clan gets the chance to strike. “Kazimir.” Ursus called out whilst stopping a mere metre away from Kazimir, prompting the Impostor in question to turn around. Ursus half-crossed his hands/arms, stubbornly refusing to let go of Kayvan’s hand.

Though Kazimir had a slight look of confusion on his face on the sight of, well, Kayvan and Ursus. “Yes...?” He responds, slightly incredulous. Does Ursus know? That’s probably a dumb question, Virulent isn’t exactly subtle, on purpose. Hazarmaveth could never understand his brother’s antics, or Virulent’s disregard for the standards required to remain hidden within the societies in which The Impostors infiltrate, but to each their own. There was also the fact that, by some bizarre coincidence, Hazarmaveth and Virulent, as, well, twin brothers, so happened to replace twin brothers, if that was some brief mind-twister to even an Ancient, though Hazarmaveth quickly recovered from that.

“Uhh...” Ursus hums quietly. “Y’know what, we’ll just talk here.” He says with a hint of uncertainty in his voice, gesturing for any bystanders unrelated to the immediate situation to clear out, the sentiment of which is echoed by Asel and a few of the guards. Once the excess personnel were out of sight and out of earshot, Ursus glanced back at Kazimir. “To start off with, Martin and Aron tell me the Scarlet Clan is planning to attack Earth, is that right?” He asked. His tone lacked the hostility Kazimir was expecting, rather one of concern and... Reverence? That can’t be right.

Nodding, Kazimir placed his hands behind his back. “I am afraid so, Ursus. I was really hoping they wouldn’t, but unfortunately, they seem to have other opinions.” He answered, his eyebrows furrowing slightly. Wishful thinking that the Scarlet Clan would stand down, especially after the last failed encounter, but apparently Róisín never learns. Damn the Stars for siccing this madness upon him, his empire, and the Earthlings.

There was a moment of pause, before Ursus just sighed, glancing off to the side. “Frag... Just when we thought we were getting somewhere in more... Peaceful ages.” He lamented, running a hand through his hair, his ears pinned back once again. He seemed to have something other than the whole attack fiasco on his mind.

And Kazimir noticed. He took a moment to mentally survey the man in front of him, how uncertain he seemed, a subtle hint in his expression and body language betraying more than just the obvious concerns. “I feel there’s more to your concerns than just the idiots out there.” He commented, gesturing in the general direction of wherever the Scarlet Clan’s last known activity location was.

It took Ursus a moment to collect his thoughts, sighing and letting go of Kayvan for a moment. “Look, I believe we ought to have some discussion surrounding... The Heads of Department, and... Your folks.” He states, trying to read Kazimir’s expression. “We... Have been finding some unorthodox activity from them as of late, and I’d rather have some insight from an... Outside perspective... Not directly affiliated with us.” He added on. Basically indirectly hinting that he knows Kazimir is Hazarmaveth, thanks to Martin, of course, but doing what he does best – testing the waters.

From one less clueless boss to another, Kazimir seemed to pick up on what Ursus was trying to avoid directly stating. He was less than pleased at Martin for that, considering he’s the only one who was far enough away to potentially spill something, but that wasn’t his main concern, and the High Council didn’t actually seem to be freaking or even batting half an eye. “They’ve been conducting... Some less than ethical operations, not only surrounding the parasites, but whole Crews. For a start, it seems like they’ve deliberately been trying to drive the Skeld Crew away from Earth so they can sic some parasites onto us, get us infected and turning against each other or something. Then there’s the matter of the parasites themselves, not sure what’s going on there, likely researching and experimenting on the things... Potentially to use it for their own exploitation? I don’t know.” He stated, concerned but also annoyed. “They deliberately failed to inform the Outpost Omega crew of the existence of the parasites on Polus.” He mentioned, his tone turning to purely annoyed at this point.

“Well... We haven't been aware of the full extent of the Heads of Department's wrongdoings, but we were starting to suspect something when a parasite randomly approached me from part of their 'Polus Research Package', whatever that means at this point.” Ursus said, crossing his hands/arms. He glances at everyone else for a moment, before turning back to Kazimir. “We’ll have to closely monitor their future plans in secret. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want this to blow over and screw both the company... And the Azeroth, over... Even if we aren’t the friendliest with... You lot...” He added, his visor having a bit more sad-looking shine than usual.

Kazimir’s expression softened slightly, his eyebrows furrowing again. There was an ache in where his heart would be, and with it a slight reprieve to the constant physical torment he’s endured for eons. Is this what guilt felt like? He’s been forcing it down for so long “Ursus... You don’t... Have to worry about us...” He insisted, his usually completely straight posture seeming to relax, even slightly.

Taking a shaky breath, Ursus sighed, pinching the middle of his visor as his tail drops. “I... Look I- I don’t want further unnecessary harm being done by them, it’s just not fair.” He expressed as he waved the hand he used in no particular direction, trying to keep his voice stable, to no avail. “No-one deserves this, not what my parents have done, or what this company’s done under their rule.. Our current High Council- we don’t care about Impostors so long as they don’t attack, but my parents...” He paused to take a deep breath, running a hand down his face. “Believe me, Haz, I don’t blame you for starting this damn war, but us HC members don’t want this to keep going, and I’m sure you don’t either... I just... Don’t know how to approach it without my... Older personnel in particular throwing a hissy fit over trying to put a halt on this blatant xenophobia.”

That caught everyone who wasn’t the High Council, especially Kazimir and Dimitri, off-guard, both glancing at each other with an audible “Huh?!”, on top of a range of other expressions of disbelief from the present Impostors. Including Martin, who had managed to sneak past the guards to eavesdrop on the conversation

You could swear Kazimir’s brain practically short-circuited there, as he just stared at Ursus, wide-visored, for a hot second before shaking his head and snapping out of his baffled stupor. “Wha- Uh...” He trailed off, glancing down, suddenly feeling like a massive idiot. “I... Apologise for my wrongful assumptions, Ursus. I didn’t realise the situation in MIRA was so... Complicated. Though that’s my fault for not checking...” He said with a clear note of shame in his voice.

Another pause, Ursus racking his goofy little mind for something to ease the tension. He scratches the back of his head. Sighing. He had nothing.

Kazimir turned to Kayvan, half glaring at him. “As for you... I would highly suggest continuing to lay low regardless of location. You're lucky we're not as screwed over in the anti-Impostor department as we thought we were.” He reprimanded.

Rolling his visor, Kayvan gave an indignant huff. “Oh live a little, brother. Who else is gonna cause a bit of chaos if not me, hmm~?” He teased in response.

“Sounds like a job for little ol’ me!” An unfortunately hauntingly familiar voice chimed in, drawing in various forms of expression for the concept of ‘oh no’ from everyone, especially Kazimir, Kayvan, and Dimitri.

Out of the shadows appeared an ebony brown Impostor with gradient rose gold limbs, having curly, long, black to pink ombre hair tied up into a ponytail. She’s wearing a cropped long-sleeve black hoodie, waist-high black shorts, fishnet stockings and black star-themed boots/sandals under dark pink leg warmers with rose gold star patterns. This, unfortunately to many, was Elethea, going by Alea Wibowo, she’s pretty much the Ancient Impostor equivalent of chaos incarnate.

Kazimir growled. “Elethea... How did you get out of Purgatory?!” He demanded.

With a hum, Alea gave Kazimir a cheeky smirk. “Took some convincin’ to Iso, but I eventually coerced them into releasing me.” She answered, slinking over to everyone else’s side.

She wasn’t exactly getting away without what was practically a death glare from Kazimir and Dimitri. “Y’know what, I give up trying to reason with you, let’s just go.” Kazimir grumbled, walking off towards Communications. Dimitri, Martin, and Ursus all decided to follow him, not exactly wanting much to do with Alea at this current point in time.

The various other Crew members, including others from around the HQ that were previously barred from entry by the guards, were hanging about in the Cafeteria, having conversations, catching up.. Considering for quite a few of them it'd been about 10 years since they last physically saw each other since the Skeld Crew's departure. Ursus, Kazimir, Dimitri, and Martin stood around fairly awkwardly near Comms. Two of the three were unsure on what to say to one another, one was just there, wanting to start talking just to fill the silence, and the other just remained quiet. On the contrary, maybe some quiet time to process what the hell's impending is a better option. Though unfortunately the time was cut short as a call comes in... From one of the other Polus Outposts. Oh boy.

"Oh- uh, who's.. Getting that?" Ursus asked, furrowing his 'eyebrows'. Though that was a bit of a stupid and rhetorical question at this point, as not even a second later he just gently scoffs and waves his hand. "Actually, forget that, I will." He stated, strutting into Communications, sitting down and answering the call. "Hello, MiraHQ, this is Ursus speaking." He greeted with his usual friendly tone.

Kazimir and Martin lingered in the doorway, glancing at each other like a silent expression of 'this is not gonna go down well, is it?', then back at Ursus and the computer screen.

“Oh, hello, Ursus. This is Cyanide from the Polus-Chaos crew. I’m calling just to make sure our crew checks-in with you guys early, because things haven’t been going… great, to say the least.” Cyanide said, as he shifts his weight in his chair to get more comfortable.

Tapping his chin for a moment, Ursus sighs, choosing some of his words carefully before he spoke again. "Say... What's been going down in... Outpost 'Chaos'...?" He asked in response, concern lacing his tone. He seemed to pause for a moment, before glancing off to the side. "Why'd Xenon call that one that..? Nevermind." He mused, shaking his head in almost disappointment, turning his gaze to the computer, once again... Though he shot a quick glance at the pair right out the door, noting how Kazimir's visor had narrowed, almost like he knew something. He decided not to press further, focusing his full attention back on the call.

Cyanide drops his head a little and sighs. “…We’ve unfortunately lost a few. Ren and Rinner have both been found dead over the past three days, and it appears we’re dealing with multiple imposters out of the remaining twelve. We’ve figured out a system to keep everyone safe, though, so I believe we have it under control for now.” He informs, though the solemn tone seems a teeny bit forced.

Without an incriminating basis on what could be going through Cyanide’s mind, or anything at Outpost Chaos besides what Cyanide’s telling him, Ursus was going to give that the benefit of the doubt. For the moment, at least. Everyone had more pressing matters at hand, after all.

A twitch of his ear, a slight tilt of his head, and Ursus gave a slight huff, troubled by the loss of more Crewmates. "A few too many..." He noted quietly, dejectedly. "That whole planet seems cursed, Outpost Omega suffered some complications themselves not long ago. I was actually considering calling Zeta back, but they haven't reported any unusual activity, complications, or emergencies, so I'll check in with them first..." He remarked with a note of both worry and something not quite identifiable in his voice, his hands clasping together on the desk in front of him. He gave the Crewmate equivalent of a smile, though it didn't quite reach his visor. He was trying to mask his grievances. "Why don't you guys just come back to HQ, spare yourselves further trouble, hm?" He offered, both out of genuinely wanting to keep his personnel safe from known threats as much as possible, but also testing the waters slightly.

Cyanide goes quiet for a few seconds. “As much as we’d like to, we don’t want to carry back two imposters to HQ, even if one is friendly.” He replied.

"We'll deal with them accordingly when you get here... Don't worry about them going ham on the joint, we've got worse things to deal with..." Ursus mentioned, still keeping that perhaps little too friendly tone of voice, not that one could tell between usual friendly and the big-boss equivalent of 'I just wanna talk'. He cast a subtle glance at Kazimir, who shrugged and tilted his head, before Ursus looked back at the computer. "We're going to need all hands on deck if possible." He states. It's lovely how Ursus doesn't directly state whether he's with or against Impostors. "Or at least chat with your captain about that...?" He asked.

Cyanide freezes at the mention of his captain. “…You see… w-we kind of have two captains right now, because of the eight crewmates that got sent to us from The Lockship needing their own captain, so they have a captain and we have a captain but we’re now one crew so- it’s a mess, it really is.” Cyanide looks behind him and out the door of Communications. “Speaking of which, both leaders should be asleep right now, so…”

"Hmm... I see... Why are you calling so late then, 'Cyanide'?" Ursus asked, his tone becoming just that hint more intense. Definitely more like the 'I just wanna talk' tone at this point. "I'll be expecting you lot in the next two to three days, if not sooner, if you would be so kind as to let your crew know." He stated, leaving no room for argument.

Kazimir and Martin glanced at each other. Kazimir knew as well as Martin that when Ursus makes a 'suggestion', it's usually not, in fact, a suggestion.

“Why are you so intent on having us at MIRA HQ- is something going on over there we should know about?” Cyanide demanded, furrowing his eyebrow. “Besides, don’t you have like- fifty people from the Skeld crew to deal with right now?”

Considering his words, Ursus narrows his visor. "The Skeldies, as far as Martin and his chain of command in the Crew are concerned, are currently stable and more than capable of handling themselves..." He responds, not really sure what inflection to maintain at this point, as he was feeling a mix of emotions, but above all, he was growing suspicious of Cyanide. "But if you really want an answer..." He trailed off...

...As a certain other voice entered the fray. "The Scarlet Clan's set their sights on Earth. I'm sure you'd rather your origin of supplies remained intact, would you not?" Kazimir butted in, mostly under Ursus' subtle cue. "You heard the boss... He wants you back."

Ursus crossed his hands/arms, leaning back in his chair. "Now." He ordered.

Cyanide’s visor gradually widens over the course of the next few seconds. “…Fine. I’ll warn everyone that you wanted us to return to MIRA HQ at the next opportunity and to pack up their things.” He said, relatively calmly, though Ursus could only presume he was at the very least having a bit of an internal freak out moment.

For the most part, Ursus kept his glare on the webcam, his right hand shifting to the computer mouse. "Good... I'll be waiting... And I'll be counting the days." He declared.

The last thing Cyanide saw before Ursus ended the call was Kazimir, though slightly off-colour from his usual vibrant purple, strutting into frame, leaning down slightly and resting his hand on Ursus's shoulder in a less-than-friendly manner, purely to grin at the camera, or in this case, Cyanide, visor shifting to the signature, glowing deep crimson with that damn white slit pupil in the centre, before the screen goes black. Though Kazimir has no intention to harm Ursus - he'd rather not piss off his brother.

"Aight, you can quit being freaky now, you eldritch abomination." Ursus grumbled with his ears pinned back, slapping Kazimir's hand away from his shoulder. "Your brother's already enough of a headache to deal with, I don't need both of you double-teaming me." He commented, half-jokingly.

Kazimir simply just retracted his hand, 'rolling' his visor in the same manner that one would roll their eyes jokingly, whilst returning said visor to its normal appearance and hiding his Impostor mouth. “Alright, alright.” He stated, then chuckled. “That was pretty funny though.” He remarked, to which Ursus ‘rolled’ his own visor in a more unamused manner.

Shaking his head, Ursus promptly flipped Kazimir off. “Oh go fuck yourself.”