Chapter 9: Exposed
Coal's eyelids fluttered open at one point. After a few minutes of blinking, they landed on Nadre and Admiral Lime.
"Oh yeah, the venom." He said with a slur, slumping down against his Medbay pillow again. "The—The… what did she give me again?"
"Antivenin. Something she seems to have whipped up herself." Nadre whispered, getting another small cup of water. Coal eagerly accepted it, but his hand was shaking badly enough that Nadre was afraid all the water was going to splash out.
"Which one is it?" he asked, his eyebrow furrowing. Nadre held her hands over his, steadying them.
"The middle one." Nadre said. Coal nodded and let Nadre pour some more of the water down his throat, before swallowing. It pained Nadre to see Coal's face contorting to have to swallow the water, but Coal didn't seem to mind.
"Ugh, I feel like my head's been hit with a brzcksvw… a buwgrzyc. A—" Coal said, suddenly seeming to forget how to speak.
"A brick?" Nadre asked, sitting down again and holding Coal's hand. Coal nodded.
"Yeah, that thing. They're pretty heavy." He explained, before trailing off into random fits of giggling. Lime had to excuse himself for a moment to suppress his laughter, as the weight of the situation definitely did not call for it.
"Coal, how much can you remember?" She asked, and Coal looked at her.
"Oh, it was…frooby." He said, deliriously. "… and dark."
She nodded. Frooby. She kinda wished she had a camera right now.
"What else?" she asked, holding his hand. Coal frowned, and his face looked as though he was trying to remember something extremely hard.
"Where's… where's that little thing you have? The yellow one. Suu—Soo—Soonshine?"
Alyra giggled at that moment and reached out, touching Coal's arm. Coal looked down at her.
"Wow, she's…" he began, before forgetting what he was about to say. About a full minute later, he resumed his sentence. "…she's pretty small."
Coal fell back against his pillow, and his eyes closed. A moment later, they shot back open, and he propped himself up on his elbow.
"Hey, you guys should probably run." He said, as casually as if he had been talking about a hobby or something. "I think there's an Imposter on board."
Nadre chuckled a little, and laid Coal back down. "Yeah, I know."
Coal's eyes widened. "You do?"
Nadre nodded. Coal narrowed his gaze at her.
"Did they lick your face too?" he asked, reaching out. Nadre shook her head.
"No, I'm good, thanks though." She said, laying him back down against his pillow. "You were not so lucky, as I recall."
"Aw, poor me," Coal sighed, closing his eyes. "I'll have to give my best wishes to myself. I wouldn't wanna be in my shoes."
Four seconds later he was asleep. Alyra giggled again, and clapped her hands as if she had enjoyed the entertainment brought before her. Nadre smiled as well.
"I think you know more than you let on sometimes, cutie." She giggled, standing up. Admiral Lime turned to her, to check that she was okay. She nodded, and the two of them traded places with Admirals Green and Violet, who would guard him while he recuperated.
"How is he?" Lime said, though the twinkle in his eyes told Nadre he hadn't missed all of what Coal had said.
"He's very frooby, don't you know?" Nadre said, fighting to keep a straight face. "And he thinks we should run."
"Why, did he say?" Lime asked, the grin lifting the corners of his mouth uncontrollably.
"Oh, he thinks there's an Imposter on board." She replyed, cracking up.
"Oh." Lime said, beginning to bust up as well. "Nice day for it."
At this, Nadre could take it no longer, and began howling with laughter. Lime began cracking up too, and doubled over from laughing so hard. It was a few minutes before either of them could sputter to a stop.
"But in all seriousness, we need to take some action." Lime said, wiping a tear away. "The Imposter could strike again at any moment, and we're only lucky so far that "they" seem to have forgotten about us crew."
Nadre sputtered to a stop as well. "You're right. They've been so focused on me that they have neglected the current mission of killing all Crewmates. Which brings me to my next impossible decision."
Nadre stood tall, and suddenly her face was dead serious.
"I've decided to tell you her name." Nadre said, hoping to whatever she could that she was making the right decision. It sure felt like it, anyway. "Her name is Avulgar. She's the one who killed Russet, and attacked Coal. She's the team leader of the three of us, and very, very unpleasant."
Lime nodded. "Who is she posing as?"
Suddenly, Nadre's momentum plummeted. The words couldn't make their way out of her mouth, as every instinct taught to her in all her training began screaming against her will.
"She's… She's posing as…" Nadre said, making a superhuman effort to just say the word carrot. Or orange. Either would work.
Lime saw her frustration growing. He raised an eyebrow. "Is it Carrot?"
Nadre nodded. "Yes!" came blasting out of her mouth. Lime nodded.
"I thought so. Neither Cobalt nor Cherry could be it, because they guarded Admiral Green's son quite faithfully, and are too devoted to each other for either of them to be an Imposter. Carrot was the only logical conclusion but…" Lime said, before trailing off.
"But?" Nadre asked, pressing. Something about his demeanor felt extremely sheepish.
"But… I wasn't sure if you were lying about a third Imposter." He admitted. "If you were just trying to get us to vote out an innocent Crewmate… well…"
"I couldn't live with myself, and I'm guessing neither could any of you." Nadre finished for him. "But I swear Carrot is an Imposter. Named Avulgar. Who has a threat on my life right now, and Alyra's, and—"
"Alyra?" Lime asked, eyebrow raised. "There's four of you now?"
Nadre shook her head. "No, Alyra is Sunshine here. Alyra is her real name, but I had to name her Sunshine so you Crewmates wouldn't get susp—"
"Red's coming!" Lime hissed, and slapped a hand over Nadre's mouth. Quickly, they ducked into decontamination as Red walked into locker room, grabbed something out of his locker, and turn to leave.
The hiss of the decontamination's sprayers caught his attention, and he glanced towards the glass in the door, scanning inside carefully. Red was no joke to mess around with, Nadre realized once again.
Lime slowly backed into the thick cloud of sanitizing vapor, out of sight. Red turned again, having evidently not seen them. Lime let out a breath.
"Try not to talk about being an Imp around Red, if you haven't noticed." Lime whispered. "He… wouldn't understand."
Nadre nodded. "Yeah, picked up on that. Anyway, Alyra is her real name."
Lime nodded. "Alyra, Avulgar, Aelorvan… You Imposters have a thing for 'A'?"
Nadre shook her head. "No, those are just a few names. Mine is Nadre, actually. I go by Snow, because—"
Lime interrupted. "We as a species aren't the most creative with names." Seeing Nadre's minimal surprise at guessing her so easily, he chuckled. "Don't be so surprised, we do it on purpose. Easier methods of identification."
Nadre shrugged. "I guess I can respect that. Especially since I'm gonna be a part of Crewmanity now."
Lime nodded. "But… if what you said about the first Imposter/Crewmate confrontations, then you can't just go around shapeshifting into anything, whenever you want, you realize."
"Yeah, I know." Nadre said, as Lime finished his tasks in Reactor. Nadre's eyes suddenly glanced at the vent, and was glad she did. It was shivering in a manner that could only mean one thing.
Avulgar.
"Hey, can you take Alyra and go far, far away from here?" Nadre said, her eyes focused heavily on the metal grate. "There's about to be some complications."
Lime followed her gaze, seeing it rest on the vent. He turned to her. "Are you sure you want to do this? We can just as easily vot—" he whispered, but was interrupted.
"This has been coming for a while. I'll see about getting back to you and Alyra in one piece, but until this fight is over, I have to protect you, Coal, Alyra, and any other Crewmate from the other Imposters."
Lime nodded, and carefully handled Alyra. He jogged out of the room, and closed the decontamination door. Nadre walked over to the vent.
"I'm here, Avulgar." She said, her voice quivering with newfound, violent emotions. The vent quivered once, twice more.
Then it was still.
"Miss me?" Nadre heard behind her, and she began to spin around, when a knife was thrust into her side. She hissed as a hot spike of pain punched its way to her brain, but she knew that a knife couldn't kill her. Avulgar's eyes gleamed with a raging hatred as she twisted the blade further into Nadre's abdominal cavity. "Here's a little payback for last ti—"
"SHUT UP, DANG YOU!" Nadre shouted, and swung her fist around in a high-speed arc of pain. With a satisfying thwacking sound, Avulgar stumbled back, cupping her hands over her bruised mouth. It didn't matter. Imposters couldn't be killed that easily. Nadre ripped the knife out of her body, and the wound closed up instantly. Avulgar lowered her hands and the blood was absorbed back into her body.
"Is that how it's going to be?" Avulgar said, threateningly quiet, as though she had not been the one to initiate this fight.
Nadre didn't reply, only snarling in response. Avulgar leapt forward, brandishing a pistol. Nadre's tongue swept the pistol out of her hand, and it went clattering uselessly to the floor. Avulgar brought her right hook up like a crack of thunder, but Nadre blocked with her forearm. The two opponents were close enough to feel the other's breath on their face as they began using martial arts against the other. Avulgar swept a leg under Nadre, but Nadre used the downward momentum to perform a backflip, kicking Avulgar under the visor with her heel. Avulgar slid back a few steps, as Nadre resumed her stance. Avulgar flipped, falling feet-first towards Nadre's head. Nadre leaped into a handstand, and thrust her legs up with all the force she could muster. Avulgar used the momentum to land a few feet away.
And so the battle went on. Moves and counter-moves. Eventually, the two opponents began to feel the other's fatigue creeping up on them.
"Fall, dang it, FALL!" Avulgar snarled, attempting to get Nadre in a headlock.
"You first!" Nadre growled back, judo-flipping Avulgar onto the floor. Nadre got on top of her and began raining down a rapid series of blows. Avulgar lashed out her hands and grabbed Nadre's fists, and pushed with all her might to keep them from coming down again.
The decontamination door slid open, and Admirals Lime and Red walked in. Avulgar looked over at them, the look in her eye suddenly turning into one of terror.
"Help! She's going to kill me!" she said, acting out the part of the victim. Nadre grinned.
"Oh, Avulgar, do you need some help?" Admiral Lime asked.
"Yes! Why do you think I asked fo—" Avulgar began, before she suddenly paled. It had processed in her brain that Lime had used her real name.
"That's right. Snow told us who you really are. She saw you vent, Imposter. I'm surprised she's managed to hold out against you this long. What, did you offer her a sporting chance?" Lime began.
Avulgar looked downright… flabbergasted.
"You… told them!?" Avulgar snarled at Nadre.
Nadre shot her a look that only lasted the blink of an eye. Deal with it.
"Of course I told him! What, did you think I was just going to keep it secret that I saw you vent?" Nadre said, her expression adopting a more frightened one. The actress had to play her part now.
Avulgar began to respond, before movement in her peripheral caught her eye. She threw Nadre off her as suddenly Admiral Lime whipped out his electrical device. The bolt of crackling electricity flew through the air, but Avulgar was no longer there. She sprang up towards the rafters, dodging the deadly charges flying towards her. She leapt down, and there was hardly a moment's pause as she lifted the vent and fell in. Red lowered his weapon.
"You did right to tell Admiral Lime, Snow." He said, sheathing it. "There's nowhere that that Imposter can go without being recognized now. Good work holding out your own, by the way."
Nadre sighed, leaning against the wall. "Oh, it was nothing, sir. But if you two wouldn't mind, I'd like to go rest now."
With that, she faked falling unconscious. She let her body go limp and fall to the floor.
"Poor kid. Wore herself out trying to hold the Imposter back." Lime said. Nadre felt two pairs of arms slide under hers, and begin carrying her towards Medbay.
"Yeah." Red agreed, but Nadre thought he still sounded… undecided. "Hey, how did you know that Imposter's real name?"
'Uh-oh.' Nadre thought.
Lime somehow instantly had a story at his disposal. "I heard it whispered in the vents, a little bit ago. I knew it had to be the Imposter, but I couldn't put a face to the name. Stuff like that."
"Uh-huh." Red said. Nadre felt the soft mattress beneath her, and the sheets pulled up over her.
She heard receding footsteps, before opening her eyes. She turned in the mattress, seeing Coal lying nearby. He was still sleeping peacefully.
She shut her eyes again for a much needed nap.
But as she drifted off to sleep, there was only one thought that kept running through her head.
What was Avulgar going to do next?