Daichi rubbed his wrists as the handcuffs were removed. The guards didn't bother to unshackle his legs, so he had to shuffle his way into the waiting chair.

In the months before, and year since, his conviction he'd had exactly one visitor. His mother had come, before he was transferred to a high security location, to say that he'd ended up exactly where she'd always known that he would. That sentence was all it took for him to clamp the phone down, stand up, and demand to be taken back to his cell.

He knew that the rest of his family agreed with her, or at least didn't have the nerve to defy her enough to come talk to him. He'd gradually lost all of his friends as he became more immersed in Galactic, so none of them would come. And, once his last appeal failed, his lawyer moved on to other cases. It was simply a logical time to stop anticipating anything.

So, despite the snickering it caused, Daichi felt it was justifiable to jump when his name was called for visiting hours. Once he recovered, he'd quickly lined up to be shackled and led down. If nothing else, he had to sate his curiosity.

The situation didn't get any clearer when he found a red-haired woman he'd never met on the other side of the glass. Or, with another thought, perhaps it did. There were always convict-chasers out there. Over the course of his incarceration, he'd gotten letters from more than a few. Most had seemed far more interested in Cyrus than himself, but that was also to be expected. If you couldn't get a charismatic outlaw anymore than the international police could, you went for his second in command.

The woman flashed a professional smile as she unhooked the telephone on her side of the glass. She motioned for him to do the same and, after giving her a good look-over, he acquiesced.

"Hello, Saturn."

"I don't use that name anymore," Daichi said, firmly.

"I think you may change your mind," she replied. "You see, we're gathering people for-"

"I'm not planning to join up with another group, either. The last one has caused enough trouble for me." He cursed himself as he moved to hang up. Of course it was something like this.

"It seems I haven't made myself clear." Her smile widened until it bordered on irritable. "You don't actually have a choice."

He hesitated, and pushed the receiver back to his ear. "What are you-?"

"You see, Saturn , your boss has already agreed to the terms."

"My 'boss' is dead. He has been for-"

She continued on as if Daichi hadn't spoken. "One of which was that we get to use whichever of his subordinates we see fit. And we've selected you."

He didn't have a chance to react before the muzzle of a gun pressed firmly into his back.

"I'd suggest you come quietly," the woman said. "The paperwork has already been filed. There's no need to make this difficult."

There weren't any options, though his brain desperately tried to find one. Not when he was already in prison, not with his legs still shackled, and not with at least two guards paid off.

He could only stand and allow his wrists to be re-chained.

The woman likewise stood up, and seemed to say "welcome aboard" before Daichi was forcibly led to a nearby room.

He turned to look back at the guards once the door was closed. While one had yet to lower the gun, the other holstered his and pulled a small box from his pocket. A few button pushes later, a portal opened up on a previously blank wall.

The portal that Galactic had painstakingly created had been beautiful and wild. Its borders flowed and rippled like black water, and the space one could make out inside was too vast to comprehend.

This one was rigid, tubular, and obviously a very short trip. The guards seemed annoyed that Daichi wasn't more taken aback by it, but if they'd seen the things he had they would know this was almost embarrassing.

"Get in."

"Can you at least undo all this first?" he said, and held his wrists out.

"They'll do it on the other side," the guard grunted. He motioned to the portal with his gun. "Move or we're using this."

"Alright, alright."

Partially for show, Daichi took a moment to steel himself before he stepped inside.

Saturn stepped out into a conference room. There were chairs lined up for a presentation, and when he arrived nearly every available space had been filled. A few were people in jumpsuits, likewise having been taken straight out of prison. The others…

The man he was seated next to reeked of smoke and sulfur. His clothing and skin were singed and his eyes were unfocused. A woman in another row must have been his companion, since their uniforms and conditions seemed to match. Others around them were differently uniformed, differently afflicted, but all were quite similarly traumatized.

As one of the guards undid his shackles, Saturn leaned forward a bit. He looked for, and unfortunately found, some familiar faces.

His fellow commanders were sat, separated, amongst the other captives. Mars gave him a small wave, and scowled when one of the guards ordered her to sit still loudly enough to be a reminder to the whole group.

Despite the warning, the entire room turned as the last set of captives were led roughly into the room. The new pair stumbled along and were clearly disoriented. They hacked up water, and dripped it onto the floor, as if they'd been drowning only moments before. Which, based on how so many of the others looked, they probably had been.

Saturn, and he was sure everyone else who's been imprisoned, breathed a sigh of relief. He never thought he'd have been thankful for staring down a life sentence.

When the last two were forced into their chairs, a short-haired man primly took to the podium at the front of the room.

"Good evening," he began. Both his tone and uniform dared everyone not to pay attention. "I would like to officially welcome all of you to Rainbow Rocket. You all come from different teams and dimensions. But, from here on, you will be working as one towards our goals."

There was a pause almost as if he'd expected applause. When there instead was no reaction, he continued on. "You will be expected to fill roles similar to the ones which led your leaders to victory in your previous endeavors." The silence seemed to become even more tense before he added, "And, if you do not work diligently at your new tasks, you will be sent back to your previous situations. Though, I should warn you that our portals are quite finicky. It could always drop you someplace else."

One of the nearly-drowned pair hacked up more water. The man smirked as everyone else in the audience tensed.

He began a presentation about the mission, their roles, and the unending rules that they would be living under. They would continue to use their codenames, for example, and were not to speak around superiors unless spoken to. At the top of the list, though, was that they were not to attempt to contact their former commanders.

As the presentation drew to a close, the floor was opened to questions. When that proved unsuccessful, because nobody could bring themselves to speak, they were dismissed to their dorms.

Saturn found himself bunking with the man who smelled like sulfur (Tabitha, based on what he gathered from the presentation).

As soon as the door was shut and bolted behind them, Saturn gestured to the bathroom. "It's all yours."

Tabitha muttered a 'thanks' as he headed past and shut the door.

As the sound of the shower began, Saturn tested the cot. It wasn't comfortable at all. The bed was hard, and the blanket was thin. That wasn't much different from what he'd been assigned for the past several years, though. It made falling asleep as easy as it possibly could be, and he took advantage of that.

Tomorrow, he was sure, would somehow be a much longer day.