So glad to have internet back :3


Listen

Now that Hatter had mentioned it, the place did seem rather too silent.

"Maybe the guard just went to the toilet?" Kia posited, toning down her voice halfway through the sentence as she remembered they were inside now and no special effort to be heard was necessary. She padded toward the booth, giving it a thorough once over. The plastic was a clearly protective barrier, and inside was a simple desk and chair that didn't match. On the desk lay a pencil that had been used to doodle on a pad of paper, both items set down as if whomever had left them there fully intended to be back soon.

"That's not how it works," the mod scowled, glancing around for any more clues. "They never leave their posts until their shifts are over, not unless there's an emergency out somewhere."

"Ah. Then what we conclude is that there is an emergency." Kia nodded with her deduction.

"I can't see what else it might be," Hatter agreed, but the discontent look on her face told that she was still running a thousand other scenarios through her head. "Well, there's not much we can do from here, so let's head further in."

Catching on quickly, Kia bounded to the only other door in the room. It matched the one they'd already come through in both appearance and mass, and Hatter couldn't help but find it a little amusing watching the girl struggle to pull it open. When it eventually did, Kia had a bright look of pride on her face and she ushered her guardian through with a servile flair. They found themselves in a corridor that stretched from left to right, its minute curvature preventing them from seeing too far either way. Whilst not thin to speak of, the Outer Wall certainly hadn't the room to spare for comfortable walking areas, so the hall could fit only two people widthways in a fashion that anybody crossing paths would inevitably invade personal space. As such, Kia automatically fell back to walk at Hatter's right shoulder, the pair following a sign that pointed them to the control centre for this section of the Wall. Their footsteps echoed eerily, running away by themselves and making it painfully obvious that there was no one else about.

Upon reaching the control centre they were met with a discouraging sight. It was an area inset into the corridor wall, a long, squared-off archway marking out the space and - like everywhere so far - was devoid of people. The seating zone and reception desk were both empty of any life, but whereas the guard post had seemed abandoned for only a moment, here it was startlingly evident that something bad had happened. Chairs overturned in haste to leave, the drawers of the cabinets behind the desk left open and empty, their contents either looted or collected for safe-keeping. Even the sturdy polished sign announcing the location as the 'Due West Hub' had been cast to the ground, and Hatter delicately picked it up and returned it to its place above the arch, not failing to notice the surface had been warped unevenly by a pressure that could not have been the weight of even several humans combined.

"Looks like they left in a hurry," Kia commented, following Hatter's lead and righting the chair closest to her.

"It has to be recent," the mod concluded. "They knew we were coming soon, so they would have warned us if they had the chance."

"This happened today?"

"Perhaps yesterday. But no earlier than that." She used the tip of her boot to prod a sandwich that was on the ground, face turning down in disgust as the movement released the odour of ham that had been left out too long. Yesterday, then.

"I checked the area already, I swear!"

Hatter and Kia froze as an unfamiliar voice floated down the hallway, rough and irritated. The pair shared a glance and in that moment agreed that it didn't sound like someone they wanted to encounter without knowing the situation, so ducked behind the receptionist's desk. They settled on the floor with their backs flush with the bared and barren cupboard innards, trying to find ways to sit so that they didn't have to move at any point, lest they create unnecessary noise. From the tone of the stranger's voice, it didn't seem like he would pay too close attention to his surroundings.

"It doesn't hurt to double check," countered another voice. This one was softer and yet still somehow uncomforting, but thankfully it seemed that there were only two people walking their way, as no one else spoke up.

"You think I would miss someone?" There was a challenge in the first man's words, a threat that was obvious bait to get his companion to insult him directly – for her own sake, Kia dubbed the men as Low and High with respects to their voices, the application of such names relieving some of the unhelpful tension and allowing her to make more sense of what was happening. The sound of heavy footsteps was growing ever closer.

"You're not the only one on patrol," High said, keeping his tone neutral. "Any of them could miss someone. Or maybe somebody came in from outside." At this Hatter tightened her fists, wondering if he knew about them or was just speculating possibilities.

Low snorted in derision. "Nobody's a big enough idiot to come out here in this weather. Everyone we've got is everyone there is, full stop." It seemed her instincts had been correct; from what he'd just said, the mod figured they'd rounded up the people who worked in this section of the Wall and were keeping them somewhere. There was no way the entire Wall had been taken out, else Peace would have definitely noticed something was wrong, but that didn't make things okay. What were the limits of the take-over? How many people did they have? And most importantly, were they averse to harming those they'd caught?

The strangers were almost upon them now, and Hatter found herself involuntarily chanting in her mind for them to just move past. But it seemed High was more committed to his duties than his companion. "I'm just going to check out this Hub, so wait there a moment," he informed and instructed. The mod froze, running through what they could do to survive the situation. But it seemed her brain was no match for Kia's instincts, as Hatter finally noticed that the girl had slid progressively backwards into the open cupboard under the desk, slowly for as long as the strangers approached so as not to make any noise. Though behind, Hatter was more skilled than her ward and could move quickly whilst still maintaining silence and was soon sequestered in her own cupboard. The pair both tucked away neatly, they pulled the doors shut mere moments before High walked behind the desk.

Sound was muffled inside the hiding spots, and Hatter thanked everything that she wasn't claustrophobic, nor afraid of the dark. The cramped space made her breathing painfully loud and though she knew it would be barely audible in the room proper she forced herself to inhale more shallowly to minimise the possibility it might be heard. Hopefully, Kia had the sense to do the same; Hatter was immensely disquieted that she couldn't check on her, a pane of plastic being all it took to separate the two of them completely. The temperature was also rising, and she swore silently that they hadn't thought to take off their coats yet.

"There's no one there," Low stressed, his words blurred through the cabinets.

"You never know." It was difficult to tell their voices apart by tone now, but High was so much closer that it startled Hatter into jumping. Thankfully, she was able to catch herself in time to keep from elbowing the door.

"Let's just go already." High had some reply to that that Hatter couldn't quite make out, but his voice grew noticeably quieter as he moved away from the desk. The strangers continued their conversation as they went, making it possible for her to determine when they were gone a decent distance for her to safely leave the cupboard. Still cautious (just in case) she inched the door open and shuffled out, twisting and peering over the countertop to see the backs of two heads retreating down the hallway in the direction she and Kia had come from. Once they were out of sight and far enough away that their voices no longer carried to her ears, she gave Kia the all clear. They both stood, stretching out. Kia had definitely had the better time of it, what with shorter limbs, yet was still obviously freaked out about what had happened.

"Who are they?" the girl hissed, unsettled.

"I don't know. Bad guys. Bounty hunters." She lifted her hat and ran a hand through her hair before replacing it. "Damn, no one's tried to take over the Outer Wall for decades. They've got some nerve."

Kia stared at her for a while, then her eyes widened abruptly. "You… you think it's Open, don't you?" The way she said it seemed almost incredulous.

"No." She hesitated. "Maybe. There's a strong chance. Open is one of the few groups capable of pulling something like this off." It was a real possibility that she had to consider, that Open was attempting to gain control over the city's defences, but one that she really didn't want to be the truth. Open had V-8112 in their hands already, and Inducers, and who knew what other powerful weapons – being literally surrounded by them was the last thing she wanted.

"What do we do?"

"I'm going to call it in," she said. Whoever was doing this, it probably wasn't something they could take on with just two of them. "Juke."

No reply.

"Juke?" she said again. This time there was a reaction from her earring communicators, but the high pitched sound being emitted that was akin to tinnitus didn't solve anything. "Shit," she swore as she realised. "The storm! It's interfering."

Kia raised an eyebrow. "It can do that? To Juke?"

"Normally it'd just be a little bit of background noise, but we're close to the weather station… it's completely messed him up."

"So what do we do? Go back and get someone?"

"We haven't the time for that," Hatter denied. "They've got hostages here." She took a deep breath and fixed her companion with a steady gaze, wishing that she could send Kia back for help whilst she stayed behind, but she couldn't in good conscience send the girl out in the storm. "We have to do this alone."


Uh oh :3