I can say that the Voyagers are different in how much they're willing to tell about themselves and how often they'll offer the opportunity to learn something personal. Some will offer frequently, others will offer rarely.
I am actually the most curious about Cyrus so far and feel this would make sense for Ethan, given that he is the first Voyager whose name he learned about from his research. I would be very much okay with all of them though. Filip would make sense as well, Eris of course too and I am liking Elizabeth a lot, so I'd like to learn more about her as well. Ah, so many to choose from and I find it very hard to narrow it down to just one Can't we just ask about them all, like in these games where you just pick dialogue options to get more backstory? I'd like that
Just to make it clear, if we'd get a vote tie here, given that I am okay with them all, I'd be willing to change my vote as well
1.5
After Ethan hastily threw some outfits into a dufflebag that his closet had hidden for what was likely ages, he returned to Filip and… more Marshal. The two remained in the same place Ethan had left them, not moving an inch. "I'm ready when you guys are."
"Funny, we were about to say the same thing." Filip turned around and started towards the door, Ethan following close behind him while keeping an eye on Marshal, who was a few steps behind him. "If you don't want to hold your things then Marshal can take them. we've got a small walk to make, then there's a truck. The truck will take us the rest of the way."
The three men walked out the door, Marshal closing it behind him. Ethan noted the two seemed to be in a formation which encouraged him to slip in between the two. "How certain are you guys that the truck won't be tracked?"
"Pretty certain. The location and the transportation are out of the way of just about everything and the th… [view original content]
Cyrus
I am actually the most curious about Cyrus so far and feel this would make sense for Ethan, given that he is the first Voyager whos… moree name he learned about from his research. I would be very much okay with all of them though. Filip would make sense as well, Eris of course too and I am liking Elizabeth a lot, so I'd like to learn more about her as well. Ah, so many to choose from and I find it very hard to narrow it down to just one Can't we just ask about them all, like in these games where you just pick dialogue options to get more backstory? I'd like that
Just to make it clear, if we'd get a vote tie here, given that I am okay with them all, I'd be willing to change my vote as well
1.5
After Ethan hastily threw some outfits into a dufflebag that his closet had hidden for what was likely ages, he returned to Filip and… more Marshal. The two remained in the same place Ethan had left them, not moving an inch. "I'm ready when you guys are."
"Funny, we were about to say the same thing." Filip turned around and started towards the door, Ethan following close behind him while keeping an eye on Marshal, who was a few steps behind him. "If you don't want to hold your things then Marshal can take them. we've got a small walk to make, then there's a truck. The truck will take us the rest of the way."
The three men walked out the door, Marshal closing it behind him. Ethan noted the two seemed to be in a formation which encouraged him to slip in between the two. "How certain are you guys that the truck won't be tracked?"
"Pretty certain. The location and the transportation are out of the way of just about everything and the th… [view original content]
So, I mentioned that I would be handling a tie in a different manner and I intend to continue doing that. Ethan will ask about Eris, Cyrus, and Lecia.
I have to say that those three are pretty good choices because two of them will just about never offer opportunities to learn about their personal life.
Days in the bunker had always been gloomy for Milo and Elizabeth, just as the days before. The two were constantly bombarded with questions from others and themselves about their parents, questions they couldn't answer.
It had been seventeen years since anyone had seen their mother, almost twenty for their father. Milo didn't have to be a genius to see that Elizabeth always seemed hurt by the absences. The pair were taken care of by Joseph and Eris since their mother left until they each turned twenty, by which they were taking care of themselves.
What Milo wanted more than anything was to find out what exactly happened to their parents, but he could never bring himself to leave his little sister alone. He feared for her safety more than his own. No matter how many times she claimed to be safe, happy, and healthy, Milo saw right through it.
Ever since their mother left, Elizabeth suddenly stopped being interested in learning, she stopped her daily activites and shut down the day after their mother left. She stopped being herself.
As they each grew older, Milo thought over the changes he had been seeing and the changes that he had already seen, each of them more painful than the last. What Milo wanted for her was different from what Joseph and Eris wanted from her. He wanted her to be happy again, they wanted her to succeed.
The two were always closer when they were younger, but as far as Milo could remember, a wedge had been driven between them once Joseph had started pressuring Elizabeth to program and Milo to scout, both of them originally refusing.
There had always been times that each sibling struggled with right or wrong, only knowing that they had each other.
The two only agreed to scouting and programming after the bunker was discovered and the security was pretty lackluster.
After taking on their separate jobs, the communication stopped, but Milo's constant worrying didn't.
The first of March wasn't anything but a normal day up until Milo turned twenty-six. That was the day he knew it was okay to leave.
He told Elizabeth his plans, knowing she would be upset, but explained it was for their well-being. She disagreed and protested as much as she could until she realized it was hopeless and gave up.
When Milo decided to leave, Joseph said that the group would send him off despite Milo, Elziabeth, and the scouts disagreeing with the plan. Lecia agreed with it, but she didn't want Morgan leaving the bunker, knowing she would try to stay out of it. No matter what anybody said, Joseph wouldn't change his mind.
They escorted Milo to a midway point and said their goodbyes. It was clear that it troubled Elizabeth and Eris to be there so Cyrus volunteered to take them back and let the others finish seeing Milo off.
Everyone who remained was admittedly distracted until Lecia started to almost hyperventilate after being sent straight into a panic. Morgan had disappeared in between the group being split up.
Milo, Filip, and Marshal agreed to look as long as they could, advising Joseph to take Lecia back and check with Cyrus.
Joseph and Lecia went back to the bunker in high hopes, expecting Morgan to have just gotten confused and to have gone with Cyrus, but they returned to find Cyrus, Eris, and Elizabeth.
Joseph explained what had happened to the three there, causing Cyrus and Elizabeth to leave and join the search while Eris and Joseph focused on trying to calm Lecia down and keep her in the same place.
Anyone who left to search came back to the bunker at a different time, none of them coming back after a single day. Filip came back after three after a distress signal came from one of the other scouts. Elizabeth instructed him on how to access the lab and suggested that he watch the monitors for a little bit.
The distress call was from Milo, but the coordinates that Filip recieved were all wrong. Cyrus was the first to check the coordinates, finding no trace of Milo or Morgan.
After checking the coordinates, Cyrus went back to looking for Morgan, eventually finding himself in the city. There were too many people in the city to sort through and determine who was who. Cyrus spent four days in the city, returning to the bunker after a collective week.
Filip had been in constant contact with Elizabeth and Marshal after Cyrus returned. At the end of the week Filip had told them to return to the bunker, saying that there wasn't much hope to start with. Marshal agreed, but Elizabeth was hesitant to agree.
Marshal returned, but Elizabeth stayed out looking for Milo and Morgan.
Days passed and there was no sign that either of them had even been in the area to begin with. The coordinates on Milo's watch hadn't changed, but they all knew he wasn't there. Elizabeth finally gave in after her second week outside the bunker.
Eventually Milo's coordinates stopped showing up on the monitors, his vitals gone as well. It led the group to fear the worst for Milo, but retain some sort of wishful thinking for Morgan.
For the next two years to come, Milo's name seemed to be considered a forbidden word, but Morgan was always on Lecia's mind and normally the target of Elizabeth's searches.
Each individual in the group knew that hope was all they had. They had limited power and just about no resources, knew nobody in the city, and knew less about the true capability of the Onyx Organization. They only had hope, just like the members before them.
Missing 1.6
Days in the bunker had always been gloomy for Milo and Elizabeth, just as the days before. The two were constantly bombarded … morewith questions from others and themselves about their parents, questions they couldn't answer.
It had been seventeen years since anyone had seen their mother, almost twenty for their father. Milo didn't have to be a genius to see that Elizabeth always seemed hurt by the absences. The pair were taken care of by Joseph and Eris since their mother left until they each turned twenty, by which they were taking care of themselves.
What Milo wanted more than anything was to find out what exactly happened to their parents, but he could never bring himself to leave his little sister alone. He feared for her safety more than his own. No matter how many times she claimed to be safe, happy, and healthy, Milo saw right through it.
Ever since their mother left, Elizabeth suddenly stopped being interested in le… [view original content]
Alright, hello once again everyone! I really wish I had good news, but it's totally not the worst news possible.
I started school today and I can honestly say that I am completely drained. To make matters slightly worse, I've got to wake up at 5:30 each morning, so I'm not looking forward to that.
Now you might be asking to yourself 'what does this have to do with the story?' Well, I'm not going to have as much time to work on it, regretfully. I'm aiming for at least one part a week, but with how my schedule will be playing out I can make no promises.
There was one quick thing I wanted to do before I head off for the night and that was ask some (completely optional) questions.
1) Who is your favorite character?
2) And your least favorite?
3) Who is a character you want to see more of?
4) What is a theme you want to see more of?
5) Where do you believe the main story is going?
6) Are there any plot points you believe I neglected that you would like to see covered?
7) Lastly, do you have any questions of your own?
That's really all I've got for now, but like I said the questions are optional, but with that I'll be taking a short leave, but a new part can surely be expected before next Monday
I wanted to make a small update and apologize ahead of time. It's unlikely that there will be a new part before tomorrow and if there is one then it will lack a choice, the reasoning for that is that I have some things going on in my personal life that kind of just tumbled down and need handling.
I apologize, but that being said, I can't say when the next part will be and I'm not going to try to cap myself with what's happening. I furthermore want to thank you guys for your patience.
"I've got more than one question, if that's okay with you."
Eris looked around the room before shrugging. "Sure. I don't think my husband or my friend are coming back for a while." She reverted her vision to Ethan. "So, who can I dish about?"
Ethan looked around the room, still only seeing Filip, Marshal, and Cyrus. He figured he could ask Filip and Marshal about themselves, but Cyrus was a different story. Ethan lowered his voice to a whisper. "What story does Cyrus have to tell?"
She smiled slightly. "You don't have to be quiet about it, it's only a matter of time before you learn about the people here and he is a difficult person to get to know, so I don't blame you for asking." Her smile faded as she cupped her hands together. "My best guess is that you found out about our group through Leah's post and asked Elizabeth about her, am I right?"
"Yeah... How did you know?"
Eris was quick to pick up on an underlying sense of fear within Ethan. "That's usually how it goes. Plus, Elizabeth would have told you everything about Cyrus already had you not brought up Leah." She shrugged. "Oh well. Cyrus has been with the Voyagers the longest of any of us at fifty-seven years, having been through two leaders before Joseph and being the security director himself at a time. He had been offered the position of leader multiple times before Joseph was voted in; part of me wishes he had taken it. He might seem really intimidating, but he's really not a bad man. He has the inerest of everyone else in the group on mind just about all the time, making him somewhat disconnected from everyday life. When the scouts aren't out, he can usually be found here in the common room." She motioned towards Marshal and Filip. "Those two normally aren't around and when they aren't, Cyrus reads a lot. If you ever need a recommendation then I would suggest going to him."
"Is that your recommendation?"
"I guess you could say that." Eris nodded, then paused for a moment. "So, anyways, Cyrus is fifty-seven, going on fifty-eight in two months. He was born into the group, the first child actually born into the group, which I find to be pretty interesting. He's got a strong passion for some pretty unique things, just like the rest of us. I'll leave it up to you to find out his passions and get a reaction, mainly because it's quite worth it. As far as we know, he has no family around anymore but that doesn't change how he cares for the group. He's pretty good friends with Filip and Marshal, which doesn't come as a surprise. I never really talk with him much since we run pretty much opposite schedules, but Joseph keeps in frequent contact with him. Lecia only likes him when he's mean to Elizabeth, which is a good fifty percent of the time. He and Elizabeth have some sort of weird relationship, I don't really know how to explain it, you'd have to ask one of them."
Ethan didn't get a chance to respond before he heard one of the men across the room laugh. He looked over to see Filip covering his mouth. Cyrus himself spoke up, seeming more cheerful than he was in the truck. "Before you get the wrong idea, I should clarify that when Eris says relationship she means friendship."
"You admit that you and her are friends?" Marshal spoke up, looking slightly amused.
"Marshal, you understand that I am occasionally your friend, right? I am also occasionally Elizabeth's friend, just less often than I am your friend because I don't talk to her as much as I talk to you."
Filip began cracking up even more. "Occasional friendships... I didn't know that was a thing before now." Ethan couldn't help but find these people a little strange.
Cyrus seemed to pull on a serious demeanor, sitting up straight in his chair, making Filip stop laughing. "Eris is right about the fact that I don't have family, I'll be completely honest with you about that. Nobody here has family, except for technically Eris and Joseph. Otherwise, the rest of us are on our own."
Ethan thought back to Leah's post, remembering a mention of a son, Elizabeth's brother. He stopped himself from asking, thinking better of it. "Then we should get along just fine."
"Was that all you wanted to ask about?" Eris withdrew herself from the conversation before speaking a word to the scouts.
"No, not really. I wanted to know about the woman who was with you earlier. Lecia, was it?"
Eris nodded. "Correct." She sighed. "Lecia's going to kill me if she finds out I tell anyone about her, so please, no matter what you hear, do not approach her with this information." Ethan agreed, allowing Eris to continue. "Lecia's story is a pretty sad one, if I'm honest. She's my closest friend in this bunker, probably in the world at this point. Lecia joined the Voyagers around ten years ago with her husband. They ended up having a baby girl before we moved to the bunker. She was always so happy to help out with whatever was needed and I found that so cool. She's a pretty average woman, if I say so. She used to be a housewife so she has no problems doing chores around here."
Ethan noticed that the scouts had moved closer to himself and Eris. He took a moment to study their expressions, noting that they all seemed sad to some degree. "She used to never have an issue with chores but now she'll procrastinate a bit before becoming upset and doing whatever needs to be done." Filip spoke up after he saw Eris begin to choke up a little bit.
"Lecia's husband was named Jonas and their little girl was Morgan." Marshal's words sent chills down Ethan's spine. "Jonas was involved in an accident a few years back, when we first moved back to the bunker. He didn't make it and Lecia shut down for a while after that. She was depressed and aggressive most days. Morgan was a little too young to understand what happened at the time, so it was made a group effort to keep it from her."
Cyrus studied Ethan for a moment before taking his piece. "The accident Jonas was involved in was an assault on the scouts. It was an oversight on my part, as well as Elizabeth's part."
Filip nodded before continuing on. "Morgan was really inquisitive for her age. She started making attempts at leaving when she was told that her father had previously been a scout." He let out a soft chuckle. "There was a joke between the scouts that she wanted to do her dad's job and stay away from the chores. She was really sweet, too, probably the nicest kid we've run into as a group."
"Two years ago Elizabeth's brother, Milo, decided to look into what happened with people we had lost recently and long ago combined. We were all escorting Milo out when some of the group turned back and went back to the bunker." Marshal didn't seem to be looking anywhere in particular, but he had a look of guilt painted on his face. "Nobody really kept track of who went back to the bunker. We only knew that Cyrus took them back." Ethan looked to Eris to see her struggling to hold back tears, looking a bit guilty herself. "Lecia was in a panic. I remember that Milo was the first one to drop everything and take off searching for Morgan."
"Filip had been approved access to the lab and he stayed there for weeks, trying to find out what happened to Morgan according to the footage, but nothing showed up. He ended up directing the scouts the weeks after he got access to the lab." Cyrus seemed void of emtoion as he spoke. "We ended up scattered and lost contact with Milo. I was in the city, Filip was in the lab, Marshal had gone at least thirty miles out west in the time he was gone, and Elizabeth went further east in her time. Nobody heard anything from Milo after a few days, nobody saw anything of Morgan either."
"A distress call took Cyrus to a nearby creek where nothing was found." Filip closed his eyes for a moment. "The rest... I don't remember."
Eris looked over Filip before taking control again. "After that, Lecia pretty much shut completely down. She blamed Elizabeth and Elizabeth waas trying to fix things with her. Joseph was the only one there, but he said one night Lecia just snapped on Elizabeth. We weren't really told the details of it, since Lecia didn't want to talk about it and Elizabeth just shut us all out after it happened. Marshal mentioned a scar Elizabeth had gotten from it but Joseph got onto him for sharing details, saying it didn't need to be brought up anymore."
"They never really recovered from that and Lecia never bounced back from those emotions. She still wants to know what happened to Morgan. We all do, but there's no way we could know." Marshal finished the topic.
Eris looked at her watch, looking ready to leave. "Is that all?"
"One last question, promise. What kind of person are you, Eris?"
The general aura of the room seemed to lighten up when Ethan asked the question. "I'd say the best kind of person." Filip spoke up. "If I'm right, we all owe Eris something big."
Eris chuckled. "You're right, Filip, you all owe me." Her voice seemed to carry a hint of sarcasm in it. "Well, my name is Eris Duke, I'm married to Joseph, you already knew this. I'm forty-two years old, no kids, like two permanent friends and four occasional friends, as Cyrus would call them. I joined the Voyagers after the government tried to take me out because of my illness, never got through that illness, and now I'm pretty much doomed to a short life because of it."
"And you somehow joke about it." Cyrus crossed his arms. "She and Joseph practically raised Milo and Elizabeth after Leah left."
"She's probably the most laid-back person around and pretty cool to hang out with. You would think that a bunker with seven people living in it wouldn't have much drama, right? You'd be totally wrong and Eris is the person to go to hear about it all." Filip chimed in once more.
Ethan noticed Marshal's silence since the topic change, but the guilty look remained fixed on his face.
"Eris is more than a gossip, though. She also does a fair amount of the chores around the bunker with Lecia." Filip seemed to enjoy speaking good of other people.
Eris shrugged. "Yeah, that's really all I do. Chores and informative speaking. That is my job around here."
Ethan looked towards the archway that connected the common room to the other rooms, noticing Joseph standing there. "Ethan, I'm sorry for any trouble Elizsabeth caused you. I know you were put under a lot of pressure with this decision and it wasn't an easy one to make. I'd like to formally welcome you to the Voyagers, but also leave you the option of going home whenever you feel. Oh, and Lecia wanted me to inform you all that breakfast is ready."
He watched Joseph walk away, the three scouts and Eris standing up almost all at once. "Welcome again, Ethan." Eris smiled before leading the scouts out of the common area.
Ethan noticed Marshal took a separate way from the rest of the group. He stood and took a look around the room, only noticing one thing out of place in the dusty room.
There was a bowl of fake grapes that sat on a nightstand, the bowl positioned nowhere near the center of the ngihtstand.
Approaching the nightstand, Ethan pushed the bowl, noticing a drawer that hadn't been pushed all the way in. When he attempted to push it in, he realized it was jammed and the bowl was placed there to keep it from being seen.
Ethan couldn't help himself. He opened to drawer, the contents including a box of small trinkets, some pencils, and a journal. The journal looked like it had been used before, likely with an explanation behind the seemingly meaningless trinkets written inside.
A sudden thought crossed Ethan's mind. The items had been left there for a reason and the owner was unknown. He quickly counteracted the thought, telling himself that taking a look inside wouldn't hurt and it would provide a clue as to who the owner of the items was.
1.7
"I've got more than one question, if that's okay with you."
Eris looked around the room before shrugging. "Sure. I don't think my … morehusband or my friend are coming back for a while." She reverted her vision to Ethan. "So, who can I dish about?"
Ethan looked around the room, still only seeing Filip, Marshal, and Cyrus. He figured he could ask Filip and Marshal about themselves, but Cyrus was a different story. Ethan lowered his voice to a whisper. "What story does Cyrus have to tell?"
She smiled slightly. "You don't have to be quiet about it, it's only a matter of time before you learn about the people here and he is a difficult person to get to know, so I don't blame you for asking." Her smile faded as she cupped her hands together. "My best guess is that you found out about our group through Leah's post and asked Elizabeth about her, am I right?"
"Yeah... How did you know?"
Eris was quick to pick up on an underlying sense… [view original content]
1.7
"I've got more than one question, if that's okay with you."
Eris looked around the room before shrugging. "Sure. I don't think my … morehusband or my friend are coming back for a while." She reverted her vision to Ethan. "So, who can I dish about?"
Ethan looked around the room, still only seeing Filip, Marshal, and Cyrus. He figured he could ask Filip and Marshal about themselves, but Cyrus was a different story. Ethan lowered his voice to a whisper. "What story does Cyrus have to tell?"
She smiled slightly. "You don't have to be quiet about it, it's only a matter of time before you learn about the people here and he is a difficult person to get to know, so I don't blame you for asking." Her smile faded as she cupped her hands together. "My best guess is that you found out about our group through Leah's post and asked Elizabeth about her, am I right?"
"Yeah... How did you know?"
Eris was quick to pick up on an underlying sense… [view original content]
I don't believe taking a look can't hurt. It can possibly hurt very much if Ethan is caught, as this might be seen as a breach of trust. However, I believe it will be worth the risk. If there's anything important to be found in them, we will learn more, which is great. If nothing important is found in them, nobody has a reason to be mad, at least that is the gamble I am playing here.
1.7
"I've got more than one question, if that's okay with you."
Eris looked around the room before shrugging. "Sure. I don't think my … morehusband or my friend are coming back for a while." She reverted her vision to Ethan. "So, who can I dish about?"
Ethan looked around the room, still only seeing Filip, Marshal, and Cyrus. He figured he could ask Filip and Marshal about themselves, but Cyrus was a different story. Ethan lowered his voice to a whisper. "What story does Cyrus have to tell?"
She smiled slightly. "You don't have to be quiet about it, it's only a matter of time before you learn about the people here and he is a difficult person to get to know, so I don't blame you for asking." Her smile faded as she cupped her hands together. "My best guess is that you found out about our group through Leah's post and asked Elizabeth about her, am I right?"
"Yeah... How did you know?"
Eris was quick to pick up on an underlying sense… [view original content]
1.7
"I've got more than one question, if that's okay with you."
Eris looked around the room before shrugging. "Sure. I don't think my … morehusband or my friend are coming back for a while." She reverted her vision to Ethan. "So, who can I dish about?"
Ethan looked around the room, still only seeing Filip, Marshal, and Cyrus. He figured he could ask Filip and Marshal about themselves, but Cyrus was a different story. Ethan lowered his voice to a whisper. "What story does Cyrus have to tell?"
She smiled slightly. "You don't have to be quiet about it, it's only a matter of time before you learn about the people here and he is a difficult person to get to know, so I don't blame you for asking." Her smile faded as she cupped her hands together. "My best guess is that you found out about our group through Leah's post and asked Elizabeth about her, am I right?"
"Yeah... How did you know?"
Eris was quick to pick up on an underlying sense… [view original content]
(!) Voting is closed! Ethan will investigate the journal.
I can't say much about this choice, but I can say that the next part will be the final Voyager POV for the chapter and include the final choice for the chapter.
Ethan glanced around the room one last time, gripping the journal tight, nobody was around. He knew a majority of the group had gone to breakfast, but he didn't know where Marshal had gone.
Taking a seat in the closest chair that was out of the view of the doorway, Ethan flipped open the journal. What immediately greeted him was a list of names, a majority of them being familiar to him. 'Cherise, Gerald, Leah, Nolan, Filip, Jonas, Milo, Morgan.' Each name sat on a different line.
He turned the page and found pictures. Nobody in the pictures looked familiar until he reached the next page. There he saw a picture of the same Filip he had met the night before. Next to that was a picture with Lecia, a man, and a little girl. Ethan presumed the two to be her husband and daughter. He noted her husband stood taller than she did, probably by around a foot. He had brown hair, just like the daughter, but brown eyes while the daughter had green. The last picture had the most recognizable people in it. There was a man with blond hair and green eyes who stood between two people, both of them shorter than him. To his left was a girl with brown hair and green eyes and to his right was a man with black hair and brown eyes. Elizabeth and Marshal. Ethan could rightfully assume the man in the middle was Milo.
Turning the page again, Ethan found writing. "Truth isn't just given, it's earned. Not by people like me, though, that's what Lecia says. But she has all right to believe that. The secrets I've kept from this group have been too many to count.'
'What I do is difficult to explain, even for me, I wish she would understand that so i don't have to spend every waking moment of my life wondering what accusation she'll throw at me next.'
'Ha, now that I think about it, I'm pretty lucky. Well, I can't defend that statement, so I take it back.'
The contents seemed to be scattered, like it was someone's thinking process. Ethan speculated for a moment that the owner of the journal could be Elizabeth, citing the lighthearted comments with underlying sadness, just as she had done when they first met.
He turned the page again and found a more organized paragraph. 'It's weird telling every secret I know to only two people. I want to tell the group, but they'd kill Filip if they knew the truth. I wish I was joking...'
'Sigh, the chip isn't linking back to the organization. my best guess now is that they unregistered 'Paul' when he couldn't be found. Well, I guess I can work with what I have now.'
'It's been a few hours since the chip was disconnected and Filip seems sick. He's definitely showing symptoms of withdrawal, but I'm not going to risk separating the chip until he gets better. Cyrus and Marshal don't agree with that idea, but it's the best I can do for Filip right now.'
'Wonderful, more assignments! They'll have to wait, I'm busy (like always.)'
On the back of that page was a layout of the bunker. The layout plan seemed much more detailed than the first time Ethan walked through. Everything was labeled clearly.
'This really isn't going to change, is it? Joseph wants me to send whatever records we have to the collector at the main base. There's a reason I didn't do it last time I was asked and that's because I can keep records myself, we don't need a third party going through our records.'
'Okay, so maybe I'm a little unfair in not trusting the collector in main, but that's just because I haven't been given a reason to trust him. he was a total jerk last time we met.'
'Not sending the records, saving time, the ultimate work plan!'
"I believe there's a note on the fourth or fifth page that says trust is not a given, something like that." A woman's voice greeted Ethan, causing a jolt of panic inside him, making him jump. "You're really pushing the trust you haven't earned yet."
The speaker put her hand out, expecting Ethan to give her the journal. He quickly closed it and gave it to her, rising from his seat he saw that the woman was Elizabeth, just as he had speculated. "I apologize."
She shrugged, turning away from Ethan. "Forget what you read and it'll be fine."
"Wait, I have a question, what chip are you talking about?" The fear that was in Ethan had been replaced by nervousness.
Elizabeth stopped and moved away from the doorway. "You are not going to talk to anybody about what you read. If word gets out then you can expect Filip to be executed and Marshal, Cyrus, and myself to be handed over to the Onyx Organization."
"Then tell me about the chip. If you tell me right now then I don't have to go to anyone else about it."
She froze, a look of defeat on her face. "Fine. The chip is one that the Onyx Organization uses to control their employees. Filip was in the wrong place at the wrong time and we were forced to take him captive. He was under my care for two weeks while I used to chip to get into the Onyx Organization's database." There was a pause, the look of defeat being replaced with one of nervousness. "When the chip disconnected, it sent some type of drug into his system that wiped his memories, so as far as he knew, he was a Voyager."
"In the writings, you said that if they found out that they would kill him. Who is they?"
"Joseph, Eris, Lecia. They weren't involved in this from the start. After the chip disconnected, we set up a ploy to make it look like Filip was just an average person, like you." She sighed. "Cyrus, Marshal, and I tried to change what he previously knew and it worked, for the most part. He doesn't remember anything about the Onyx Organization, but that's not such a bad thing. I can't tell you anything else, so please don't ask."
"Why did you leave the journal in such a lousy place?"
Elizabeth rolled her eyes and started to walk off again."The lab gets searched every so often, I can't risk it being found, but we see how that worked out."
"And where are you going now?" Ethan followed her out.
"To work. I have to change things with the program that's running the bunker to make sure that you're acknowledged as a Voyager and not an intruder."
Ethan could tell where the dining room was by the smell in the air, the opposite way of where she was going. "Are you not going to eat?"
"No, I have no reason to. I have work to do and I'm already behind since I wasn't allowed in the lab yesterday."
[Encourage Elizabeth to take a break.] [Leave her to work and go to breakfast yourself.]
It was April 2nd before Luke had finally gotten permission to scope out some places that had been reportedly been involved in suspicious activity. He had to wait for an agent to return from their own involvements, which was typically a gamble.
Despite being the head of Underworld activities, he still had to take orders from the higher-ups, one of those orders was to not go alone.
The first available agent was one who knew Luke fairly well, compared to other workers and agents alike. That was because they had been partners before Luke moved high enough in the ranks to work alone. However, her attendance made Luke feel like he was working alone, so it didn't bother him.
"Agent Jacobson." She was a woman of average height with brown hair and green eyes, her build being generally slim.
"Mr. Lowell, it's been a long time." The two met up in the fourth floor of the headquarters, which was considered Luke's base of operation. They shook hands and headed for the elevator. "What are we dealing with?"
"Inspection, suspicious activity, the usual." The two stepped on the elevator, Luke pushing the first floor button. "Where exactly have you been?"
Sara had her hands cupped in front of her, her stance overall being pretty formal. "Just about everywhere. I figured I would be lucky enough to at least pinpoint the three who are constantly reported, but now I'd be grateful for just a footprint or something."
Sara Jacobson's role was an on-the-field agent. One who was constantly based out of the city, trying to find traces of resistance groups. "Understandable. Have you ever thought maybe they already know you're there and so they're intentionally avoiding your area?"
"I always knew they were bad people, but they don't even have the decency to greet a neighbor? Despicable, just the worst."
The elevator stopped at the first floor and the doors opened, allowing the two passengers off. "Maybe it's your clothing choice. At this point, I'm sure everyone knows that only government officials wear suits all the time."
"Um, I'd like to argue that, have you seen my Saturday sweater vest? It's nothing but welcoming."
"Do you have the sweater vest with you to defend that argument?"
"No." Sara almost seemed shamed by her own answer.
"Then you should take it back." Overall, Sara and Luke had known each other for around two years, but interacted far less than that time. "I could have sworn I've told you many time to not use an argument that you can't defend. Also, to not wear sweater vests because they make your shoulders look broad."
The two exited the building, heading towards the parking lot. Luke pulled a pair of keys from his pocket. "Suits do that too, thank you very much."
"Maybe you just have broad shoulders."
Sara knew Luke's type of humor, which he didn't really show that much. It was a strange one, full of witty comments and the occasional dark joke that would throw off anyone who hadn't known him long. That was if they would actually talk to him. "You've finally found out my darkest secret, that I have broad shoulders, and for that you're on my list."
"Your list of people that you're going to attempt to think of a comeback for? I figured I was already on that one." They stopped at a car, Luke unlocked the doors and got in the driver's seat, Sara getting in the passenger's seat.
"Ow, alright. This conversation is over until you drop that attitude."
"It was over anyways, you can't come back from that one."
The two sat in silence for a majority of the drive, mainly because it was a short drive to the reported area.
They pulled up to a house, the both of them going to the front door. Luke knocked, waited, knocked, then waited some more. He eventually had to take the screen off of one of the windows and climb in.
It didn't take long for them to realize that the owner had definitely abandoned the house. It seemed cleaned, but disorganized at the same time, like someone had been trying to get out in a hurry. "The owner was an unemployed male, aged twenty-seven, named Ethan Rikard. He was one of those who searched the alleged keywords from the email."
"You should probably do a deeper scan on the area, see what you come up with." Sara stood near the open window, her formal posture remaining.
After Sara finished talking, the house seemed to go dead silent. Luke had cut off the sounds of other electronics, preparing to do a more thorough search. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, then reopened them. The immediate reading suggested that Ethan abandoned the house himself, but a few moments later the search picked up evidence of two extra people in the house.
"What's the reading?" Sara knew it was a risk to talk after Luke had started searching.
He turned to face Sara, his eyes gleaming a dark red. "Three males, one being Rikard. Rikard was all over the place, but two were just in the area near the door. There's a scuff on the wall paneling, which makes me believe that something ran against the wall."
She nodded. "Can you figure out what happened with the wall? Maybe pick up a fingerprint or something from the door?"
"The issue with that, Sara, is that people don't casually clean their door handles. Besides, it's unlikely the Voyagers are careless enough to send people who are entered in the organization database out or people who are interested in touching every object in their view."
"They have to recruit new people somehow and I doubt they're doing it by having children run about and get people."
"Fair point, but I'm not going to waste my time with the door handle. I'm more interested in the wall paneling right now." Luke entered the hallway and crouched in front of the scuff, allowing himself a better reading of what had caused it. "It's likely that there was a confrontation in this area and someone got pushed into the wall."
Sara joined Luke in the hallway, looking at the paneling herself. "Do you think it was a kidnapping?"
Luke stood up and walked down the hallway to a bedroom. "It might be set up to look that way, but no, I doubt it. Like I said, the only traces of the two extra men are in the hallway. Rikard's belongings are pretty scattered, so I think he might have left in his own free will."
"Right."
"There's nothing much we can do here except for confirm that Ethan Rikard is gone and then move on. We're going to be moving a little fast to try and catch up to them, so keep up."
"How sure can we be of it? We can definitely do things here. We should gather some clues since we know he's gone."
"If you want to look around, fine. Ten minutes starting now, go."
Anthony Richardson
Anthony has been summoned to the Onyx Organization headquarters to meet Isaac Hampton and talk about matters regarding his marriage to Naomi Dumont. He didn't really see the point of Isaac being involved in the discussion of it, but both his and Naomi's parents insisted on it, saying Isaac would deliver the two proper advice.
Isaac had told Anthony to meet him in the main lobby at 10:05 exact, no earlier and no later.
When he arrived, Isaac told him that Naomi was waiting in a conference room and that they would go to her and discuss the plans.
Arriving in the conference room, they both took a seat. Anthony sat next to Naomi and Isaac sat across from them, none of them really looking too excited to be there. "I can understand the frustration of someone who isn't even a member of your family to be planning your wedding, but I need you two to listen to me and listen well."
"Sir, with all due respect, we already have the preparations handled with extreme precision, we don't require assistance." Naomi spoke up, her voice remaining small, compared to Isaac.
Isaac shook his head. "I wish that was how it works, but you can go ahead and cancel the plans you've already made. The two of you will be receiving and honorary wedding, courtesy of the Onyx Organization, hosted tomorrow at noon."
"Excuse me, what?" Anthony could have sworn he felt his own heart sink, Naomi apparently wanted to be more vocal about her opinion on the matter. "No, sir, regardless of the Richardson's family acceptance, I cannot accept this."
"Ms. Dumont, your family accepted the plans as well. You do want to make your family happy, right?" Isaac waited for a response that didn't come. "With the stir-up that the Voyagers caused, we need a distraction for the people or things will get bad."
Naomi looked over to Anthony with pleading eyes. "Are you really going to let this happen? Other things can be done to pose a distraction, right?"
"Not immediately." Anthony sighed. "It would be a bigger move to host a wedding than anything else. It's a smart move and if they're bold enough to propose hosting it tomorrow then I can only assume that they've figured everything out and have prepared for any moves related to the Voyagers, is that a reasonable assumption, Mr. Hampton?"
Isaac rested his arms on the table in front of him, a move that neither Anthony or Naomi dare to try. "That is the case. Judging by their recent noted activity, it's unlikely they'd take a chance at the wedding, but even if they do, it's covered."
Naomi sighed, a look of defeat crossing her as she turned back to Isaac. "If both families are in agreement and it helps the Organization, then tomorrow it is."
A sly grin crossed Isaac's face as he and Anthony each stood and shook hands across the table. "You won't regret this, Ms. Dumont, I give you my word. The venue will be under constant surveillance throughout the day and you will each be escorted by ten Onyx organization security guards."
"Then let it be set for tomorrow." Naomi seemed frustrated with her words. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some personal preparations to make and further plans to cancel. Have a nice day, Mr. Hampton."
Luke Lowell
After leaving Ethan Rikard's home, Luke and Sara went to other locations where suspicious activity had been reported. A majority of the locations were just nearby people getting stirred up over nothing, but others had few clues to offer about the ongoing situation.
They called the search over at five in the afternoon, knowing they both needed to be back at the headquarters before six.
"How long are you going to be around this time?" They ended up farther away from the headquarters than they initially intended to, though what bothered Luke the most was the effort they had put in and the little results they got.
"Well, we're required to stay for at least three days after an outing in order to fully recover. I really wish I didn't have to stay at all, but I guess three days."
"Why do you say that?"
"What? That I would rather not stay?" Sara rested her head on the window, her voice sounded as drained as she looked. "It's simple, really, I have nothing to stay for. I'd be a fool to show up at the family house. Better to be on the right path than to be foolish and stray."
Luke scoffed. "At least you have the option to show up to a family home. Not all of us are given that option, so you should at least be grateful for that."
Sara didn't respond to the comment and didn't speak the rest of the ride, leading Luke to believe that she had fallen asleep.
Arriving at headquarters, Luke went to wake Sara up, only for her to leave the car before he could.
They went inside and to the elevator, heading to the fourth floor. They were greeted by silence, noticing that nobody was around.
Luke left the elevator first, Sara cautiously following him. "Weird, I half expected some of the nuts to be wandering."
"Someone must actually be doing their job tonight, which probably means that someone more important is around. Keep an eye out." After returning from a search, it was protocol to file reports on what was found and what was noted, but not found. That was their current task, but Luke couldn't help but scan while he walked. There was one conclusion from Luke's search and it was that there was indeed extra people on the floor. He stopped as they rounded a corner, turning his attention to the newest worker of the fourth floor. "Kowalska, what's going on here?"
The pale red-head left her station to approach Luke and Sara. "Hampton's here. He's taking extreme measures, so I'd stay away from him if you have the choice to." She looked to Sara, her green eyes meeting Sara's. "You're married, right?'
Sara seemed suspicious of the question, but overall concerned. "No, I'm not... what exactly is Isaac proposing?"
Alyssa crossed her arms and redirected her vision to Luke. "Yeah, stay away from him. He's setting up some sort of mass marriage ceremony to distract the people. I don't know if he knows her, but if he knows that she's unmarried then it's quite possible that he'll remove her from field duty just to add another marriage to the list."
"Another? How many does he already have set up?" Sara's suspicion was quickly replaced with shock. "What did you tell him?"
"I think like three, but he's telling these people that the organization is covering the cost of everything." Alyssa shrugged. "I haven't spoken to him myself and I don't wish to. I've just been hearing things from people going through and trying my best to keep them contained."
Luke shook his head. "Thank you, Alyssa, that'll be all." Alyssa went back to her station and Luke started to continue on his way until he realized Sara stopped following him. "Are you coming or not?"
"I'll be around in a few minutes, I have something more important to do first."
Ethan Rikard
The bunker was unusually quiet. Nobody had seen Elizabeth for a day or two and Marshal's appearances seemed to be getting shorter each time he was seen. Filip and Cyrus didn't seem to be around as much, but looked miserably exhausted each time Ethan saw them.
What struck Ethan as odd was that nobody else seemed phased by it.
The only person who was bothered was Cyrus himself when Marshal was in a hurry to leave the afternoon before.
Cyrus kept telling Marshal to stay and that it was dangerous out there, but Marshal insisted on leaving. Filip agreed with Marshal and explained the Ethan later on what had happened.
Filip told Ethan that Elizabeth had gone to the city the day before Marshal left but she was in some sort of trouble now and she had requested that Marshal go alone. Cyrus didn't like the idea of Marshal going alone, but nobody knew what kind of trouble Elizabeth had gotten into, so they all eventually assumed that it was for the better.
After Marshal left, Cyrus told Filip to go into the lab and watch the monitors since he was the only other person who had access to them, so that's what Filip did. Since then, the bunker seemed a lot less lively and more lonely than it had been when Ethan first showed up.
Note: That last little piece takes place around three or four days after the choice, so the choice has no influence on that part. That being said, the voting will remain open for some amount of time, I'm not sure how long. I am also unsure of when the next part will be out, however it will be the final part of the chapter. After that, I have some questions (probably the same ones from earlier with an additional one or two, if I'm honest.) Anyways, I'm super excited for what's to come, I will be working on the next part but like I said, I will not be capping myself. Until next time, I hope you all enjoy your time.
1.8
Ethan glanced around the room one last time, gripping the journal tight, nobody was around. He knew a majority of the group had gone … moreto breakfast, but he didn't know where Marshal had gone.
Taking a seat in the closest chair that was out of the view of the doorway, Ethan flipped open the journal. What immediately greeted him was a list of names, a majority of them being familiar to him. 'Cherise, Gerald, Leah, Nolan, Filip, Jonas, Milo, Morgan.' Each name sat on a different line.
He turned the page and found pictures. Nobody in the pictures looked familiar until he reached the next page. There he saw a picture of the same Filip he had met the night before. Next to that was a picture with Lecia, a man, and a little girl. Ethan presumed the two to be her husband and daughter. He noted her husband stood taller than she did, probably by around a foot. He had brown hair, just like the daughter, but brown eyes while the daughter had gr… [view original content]
1.8
Ethan glanced around the room one last time, gripping the journal tight, nobody was around. He knew a majority of the group had gone … moreto breakfast, but he didn't know where Marshal had gone.
Taking a seat in the closest chair that was out of the view of the doorway, Ethan flipped open the journal. What immediately greeted him was a list of names, a majority of them being familiar to him. 'Cherise, Gerald, Leah, Nolan, Filip, Jonas, Milo, Morgan.' Each name sat on a different line.
He turned the page and found pictures. Nobody in the pictures looked familiar until he reached the next page. There he saw a picture of the same Filip he had met the night before. Next to that was a picture with Lecia, a man, and a little girl. Ethan presumed the two to be her husband and daughter. He noted her husband stood taller than she did, probably by around a foot. He had brown hair, just like the daughter, but brown eyes while the daughter had gr… [view original content]
This part was great, a real joy to read for me Gotta say, the way you wrote Luke in his first part a few weeks back was really on point, but here he had a chance to really shine, and oh boy, he behaved exactly how I imagined him to in every situation I was having a grin on my face the whole part, it was just amazing really. Even though Luke prefers to work alone, seems like Sara is the perfect person to work alongside him, I feel like they good a really good chemistry together and I hope they work together a little bit longer as I found their interactions to be really nice.
And then there's Isaac, he is the exact person I imagined him to be. I'm really curious as to what he's planning... man, I can't wait for what's next
Now on a slightly different note, I wanted to ask you a quick question: Was I able to send you Chelsea's submission or perhaps you didn't recieve her? I was having severe internet issues back then and now that I think about it, there's a good chance that maybe I wasn't able to actually send her submission after all.
1.9
It was April 2nd before Luke had finally gotten permission to scope out some places that had been reportedly been involved in suspici… moreous activity. He had to wait for an agent to return from their own involvements, which was typically a gamble.
Despite being the head of Underworld activities, he still had to take orders from the higher-ups, one of those orders was to not go alone.
The first available agent was one who knew Luke fairly well, compared to other workers and agents alike. That was because they had been partners before Luke moved high enough in the ranks to work alone. However, her attendance made Luke feel like he was working alone, so it didn't bother him.
"Agent Jacobson." She was a woman of average height with brown hair and green eyes, her build being generally slim.
"Mr. Lowell, it's been a long time." The two met up in the fourth floor of the headquarters, which was considered Luke's base of operation. They… [view original content]
I'm super happy you enjoy how Luke and Isaac turned out, because it was honestly really interesting for me to change my form of writing to adapt to their characters. It's not too big of a change, but it's one that intrigues me to write for them more. I can say that Luke has so much more to tell in due time.
Also, I did not get Chelsea's submission. I actually just checked and she's not there.
This part was great, a real joy to read for me Gotta say, the way you wrote Luke in his first part a few weeks back was really on point, bu… moret here he had a chance to really shine, and oh boy, he behaved exactly how I imagined him to in every situation I was having a grin on my face the whole part, it was just amazing really. Even though Luke prefers to work alone, seems like Sara is the perfect person to work alongside him, I feel like they good a really good chemistry together and I hope they work together a little bit longer as I found their interactions to be really nice.
And then there's Isaac, he is the exact person I imagined him to be. I'm really curious as to what he's planning... man, I can't wait for what's next
Now on a slightly different note, I wanted to ask you a quick question: Was I able to send you Chelsea's submission or perhaps you didn't recieve her? I was having severe internet issues back then and now that I thin… [view original content]
I suspected that might've been the case, though I still had a faint hope that maybe I had been able to send her x.x Well, its not that big of a deal anyway, I'll just rewrite and submit her again
I'm super happy you enjoy how Luke and Isaac turned out, because it was honestly really interesting for me to change my form of writing to a… moredapt to their characters. It's not too big of a change, but it's one that intrigues me to write for them more. I can say that Luke has so much more to tell in due time.
Also, I did not get Chelsea's submission. I actually just checked and she's not there.
1.8
Ethan glanced around the room one last time, gripping the journal tight, nobody was around. He knew a majority of the group had gone … moreto breakfast, but he didn't know where Marshal had gone.
Taking a seat in the closest chair that was out of the view of the doorway, Ethan flipped open the journal. What immediately greeted him was a list of names, a majority of them being familiar to him. 'Cherise, Gerald, Leah, Nolan, Filip, Jonas, Milo, Morgan.' Each name sat on a different line.
He turned the page and found pictures. Nobody in the pictures looked familiar until he reached the next page. There he saw a picture of the same Filip he had met the night before. Next to that was a picture with Lecia, a man, and a little girl. Ethan presumed the two to be her husband and daughter. He noted her husband stood taller than she did, probably by around a foot. He had brown hair, just like the daughter, but brown eyes while the daughter had gr… [view original content]
Sara had never been fond of the workers apartments, mainly because she never felt any particular attachment to the organization to begin with. Her job was to be sent away for months at a time so there was nothing there for her. There was no time to make friends or visit family.
There was only one person she could keep being associated with, but that was because they nearly always ended up nearby each other. Steven Suggs, a fellow agent. She would never admit it out loud, but Luke was one of those 'occasional friends' her father had warned her about.
Long after dark there had been a notice of another on-the-field agent returning home. She waited around twenty minutes after the notification before she decided to go to Steven's apartment.
She half expected for nobody to be there when she knocked, but to her surprise the agent opened the door and seemed happy to see her. "You're okay..." He paused. "You are okay, right?" She nodded, but he still retained a suspicious look. "No mere man is good enough for your blessing, is that true?"
Sara scoffed slightly, crossing her arms. "As if. Are you going to keep testing me or are you going to ask me why you're here?"
He moved out of the doorway, allowing Sara into the apartment and shutting the door behind her. "Yeah, I am pretty interested as to why I'm here. You said it was urgent and you were in danger, but you're obviously not. What's the case?"
"There's some plan that Hampton's building up for tomorrow and this entire act of mine could be in danger if he even learns of one of me." She saw a look of confusion cross his face, causing her to sigh in frustration. "Marshal, I've already been warned twice today to avoid everything going on tomorrow because I am twenty-six and unmarried, but because I've only been around one day instead of three, I have no choice."
"And what exactly do you need help with? I'm really not seeing a correlation for what you need help with and why from me specifically." Marshal didn't need an answer to see that whatever was on her mind was sending her into a complete panic. "Elizabeth, sit down and breathe. It's going to be fine. I'm going to be around for the next three days, so just tell me what you need from me."
She shrugged, standing in the same place. "I shouldn't. It'll look suspicious if I'm here too long and probably set my own suspicions about tomorrow in stone."
"Then at least explain what's happening tomorrow."
"Hampton is throwing some sort of giant wedding and he's setting up people. I know it sounds stupid, but I'm afraid of running into him tomorrow because if he finds out anything about 'Sara' through Luke or me accidentally, then I'll be stuck here until I'm eventually found out ."
Marshal shook his head, then left the door and took a seat. "That's your biggest flaw, Elizabeth. You're a lot of things and most of them are good things, but you get so easily paranoid about things that have a microscopic chance of happening. I don't know what made you that way, but you need to take some time to yourself to fix it." Elizabeth directed her vision towards the floor before taking a seat herself, refusing to look at Marshal. "I know what you're put through on a day to day basis is tough enough, but then you've got the long-term projects. It's truly never-ending for you, but you can't let your job or certain people bite at you."
"You said it yourself, it's never-ending. How am I supposed to take a break if it's never-ending?"
"Stop saying yes to everything, turn down things that aren't an absolute necessity. Start standing up for yourself. You don't need to take everything that people push onto you because they can't handle their personal failures." Marshal sighed. "Elizabeth, please, stop torturing yourself like this. It's painful to watch because you won't let anyone help you."
"Because nobody needs to be involved. They're my problems."
"No, they're not! A majority of problems that turn out to be yours have nothing to do with you! You take them on because you're so used to putting pressure on yourself because of other people's recklessness. What happened to Morgan had nothing to do with you, but you've taken blame for it for two years. For two years you've constantly nagged yourself to be better when you've pushed your limits day after day. It's not right and you need to stop." He hadn't realized how much was too much until he realized he made Elizabeth, a woman he had only seen cry on an extremely rare occasion, burst into tears. "I'm sorry, Elizabeth."
Elizabeth took a few minutes to compose herself again, calming herself down so she could at least speak. "Marshal, I called for your help because I knew you would show up. Why you're always on my side, I don't know and sometimes I wish you could see that I am in the wrong most of the time. I've always wondered about you, what your intentions are, but I can never figure them out. You and Milo were so close and he probably knew everything about you, but Milo was good at keeping secrets. I never found anything incriminating about you."
"I don't think you would have considering I'm clean for the most part." Marshal paused, a small smile coming across his face. "I admire the effort at changing the topic, but I don't want to talk about myself right now. I want to make sure that you're going to be okay."
"The gesture hasn't gone unnoticed, but you don't have to care. I know somewhere deep inside you, there's a burning hatred for me, just like everyone else. You're only putting on an act because of Milo, aren't you?"
"No, I'm not putting on an act. I need you to understand that Milo and I were pretty good friends, but it's not because of him that I'm here right now. I'm here because I actually see the good in you and I don't want to sit by and watch you beat yourself up anymore. We're lucky to have you around and I fully believe that the others take that for granted so often that you're not even sure how to accept the fact that somebody genuinely cares for you. You're used to being checked up on so that your work progress would continue, but you're not used to being checked up on because someone actually wants to know how you're doing. You're not used to affection in any way."
"You seem to be confident in your knowledge of it, so tell me, why do you think that is?"
It didn't take long for Marshal to pick up on Elizabeth's upcoming defensive tone, meaning he should likely wrap up the conversation before he upset her beyond repair. "I'm not going to lie to you. Milo mentioned plenty of times how you cut yourself away from everybody else after your mom left. You never let Eris get too close to you because you were ashamed of what your mother did when she left you and Milo. You didn't want to be a constant reminder, so you figured you'd be better off dead. That mentality never changed up until recently, did it? Elizabeth, I'm not stupid. I know most of what Final Product Four is programmed to do and what it's capable of and I know that ending your life with it wouldn't be too hard for you. I also know that this was your plan until Ethan showed up. Am I wrong?"
Elizabeth seemed to go pale as she sunk into her seat, finally making eye contact with Marshal. "No, you're not. You're right about most of it."
"Listen, I know you're tired and you don't want to talk about this anymore, but I don't feel safe with sending you off on your own. If you'd like to stay here, you can take the room and I'll sleep out here or if you'd prefer, I'll take you home myself. Whatever the choice, I don't want you to be alone right now."
She seemed to scan the apartment living room, before slowly rising from her chair. "I don't really want to be alone so I guess I'll stay."
Marshal found it strange how her agreeing to stay made him feel relieved. He didn't want to admit it, but Elizabeth's fears were likely justified and it would only take one slip up for them to discover who 'Sara' really was. "Alright then. You can do just about whatever you want, I don't really care, just please stay inside the apartment. If you want to leave or you want to talk then feel free to wake me up. If it'll make you feel better, I'll go to whatever Hampton's hosting tomorrow with you."
Elizabeth smiled, for once it seemed genuine and kind. "I'd enjoy that. Thank you for coming to help me, Marshal, it means a lot to me."
"Thank you for giving me the opportunity."
Note: So, I know I said 1.10 would be the finale, but I've grown fond of this piece but also come to the conclusion that it doesn't reasonably fit into the events of the finale. The finale will be the next part, 1.11, don't know when it will be out, but until then.
Oh wow, this part just really blew my mind! I gotta admit that I wasn't expecting Elizabeth, who was also my favorite Voyager btw, to be Sara. Man, pretty much the only person Luke seem to consider a friend is actually the freaking "enemy"! Oh boy, if/when he finds out about this things sure are going to get messy... I can't wait!
1.10
Sara had never been fond of the workers apartments, mainly because she never felt any particular attachment to the organization to b… moreegin with. Her job was to be sent away for months at a time so there was nothing there for her. There was no time to make friends or visit family.
There was only one person she could keep being associated with, but that was because they nearly always ended up nearby each other. Steven Suggs, a fellow agent. She would never admit it out loud, but Luke was one of those 'occasional friends' her father had warned her about.
Long after dark there had been a notice of another on-the-field agent returning home. She waited around twenty minutes after the notification before she decided to go to Steven's apartment.
She half expected for nobody to be there when she knocked, but to her surprise the agent opened the door and seemed happy to see her. "You're okay..." He paused. "You are okay, right?" She nodd… [view original content]
Oh wow, this part just really blew my mind! I gotta admit that I wasn't expecting Elizabeth, who was also my favorite Voyager btw, to be Sar… morea. Man, pretty much the only person Luke seem to consider a friend is actually the freaking "enemy"! Oh boy, if/when he finds out about this things sure are going to get messy... I can't wait!
1.10
Sara had never been fond of the workers apartments, mainly because she never felt any particular attachment to the organization to b… moreegin with. Her job was to be sent away for months at a time so there was nothing there for her. There was no time to make friends or visit family.
There was only one person she could keep being associated with, but that was because they nearly always ended up nearby each other. Steven Suggs, a fellow agent. She would never admit it out loud, but Luke was one of those 'occasional friends' her father had warned her about.
Long after dark there had been a notice of another on-the-field agent returning home. She waited around twenty minutes after the notification before she decided to go to Steven's apartment.
She half expected for nobody to be there when she knocked, but to her surprise the agent opened the door and seemed happy to see her. "You're okay..." He paused. "You are okay, right?" She nodd… [view original content]
Oh, this was really a close one. I mean, this could have backfired spectacularly. We kinda took the risk of course, but it's really been a luck that Elizabeth reacted relatively calmly. I don't want to imagine what could have happened if she wouldn't have been chill about it.
1.8
Ethan glanced around the room one last time, gripping the journal tight, nobody was around. He knew a majority of the group had gone … moreto breakfast, but he didn't know where Marshal had gone.
Taking a seat in the closest chair that was out of the view of the doorway, Ethan flipped open the journal. What immediately greeted him was a list of names, a majority of them being familiar to him. 'Cherise, Gerald, Leah, Nolan, Filip, Jonas, Milo, Morgan.' Each name sat on a different line.
He turned the page and found pictures. Nobody in the pictures looked familiar until he reached the next page. There he saw a picture of the same Filip he had met the night before. Next to that was a picture with Lecia, a man, and a little girl. Ethan presumed the two to be her husband and daughter. He noted her husband stood taller than she did, probably by around a foot. He had brown hair, just like the daughter, but brown eyes while the daughter had gr… [view original content]
A twist? A twist! And what a twist it is! I was halfway through writing a comment for the part above when deciding to read this one first and that just took me completely without warning. Elizabeth has definitely firmly secured a position as my favourite character right now, that reveal that she's pretty much having a double identity, that was awesome. Certainly, that twist alone was already my favourite moment in the story so far and I can't wait for the finale, because if any part can manage to improve on that, it'll be the finale itself
1.10
Sara had never been fond of the workers apartments, mainly because she never felt any particular attachment to the organization to b… moreegin with. Her job was to be sent away for months at a time so there was nothing there for her. There was no time to make friends or visit family.
There was only one person she could keep being associated with, but that was because they nearly always ended up nearby each other. Steven Suggs, a fellow agent. She would never admit it out loud, but Luke was one of those 'occasional friends' her father had warned her about.
Long after dark there had been a notice of another on-the-field agent returning home. She waited around twenty minutes after the notification before she decided to go to Steven's apartment.
She half expected for nobody to be there when she knocked, but to her surprise the agent opened the door and seemed happy to see her. "You're okay..." He paused. "You are okay, right?" She nodd… [view original content]
(!) Voting is closed! Ethan will leave Elizabeth to her work.
I have to say, you guys are not going to regret this choice. This was possibly the best thing you could do for everyone involved, which believe it or not is more than just Elizabeth and Ethan.
The finale will definitely be big, so it will take some time. However, the choices for the chapter are finished and the alternates are actually already written down. I'll leave it up to you guys, I can go ahead and reveal the alternates and leave mention of the finale out or I can post them after the chapter ends.
A twist? A twist! And what a twist it is! I was halfway through writing a comment for the part above when deciding to read this one first an… mored that just took me completely without warning. Elizabeth has definitely firmly secured a position as my favourite character right now, that reveal that she's pretty much having a double identity, that was awesome. Certainly, that twist alone was already my favourite moment in the story so far and I can't wait for the finale, because if any part can manage to improve on that, it'll be the finale itself
(!) Voting is closed! Ethan will leave Elizabeth to her work.
I have to say, you guys are not going to regret this choice. This was possi… morebly the best thing you could do for everyone involved, which believe it or not is more than just Elizabeth and Ethan.
The finale will definitely be big, so it will take some time. However, the choices for the chapter are finished and the alternates are actually already written down. I'll leave it up to you guys, I can go ahead and reveal the alternates and leave mention of the finale out or I can post them after the chapter ends.
It's a shame. Most people in the city are hypocrites, trapped in their fictional reality. What they want to believe is that nothing is wrong with who they are or what they do. I'm sure there's someone here who hasn't been sober for years, but the Organization is hiding it. Maybe someone who's guilty of infidelity. They'd probably cover that up too. With past experiences, I want to know why I spent sleepless nights hiding from them. They don't know some 'street rat' like me is among them, they probably would never know either. Better yet, I want to know why I'm still spending sleepless nights worrying about them. Nobody knows a thing and even if they did, I'm not alone.
Elizabeth rolled over to face the alarm clock on the nightstand next to the bed. 1:53. She came to the apartment around ten and stopped talking to Marshal at eleven. "I can build barriers between people, break into government records, and hide among agents, but I can't sleep at night? The easiest thing in the world and I can't do it." Elizabeth whispered to herself, finishing with a sigh.
She wondered if Marshal was still awake or if he would wake up if she tried. 'Nothing stopping me from trying.' Elizabeth climbed out of the bed, trying to maneuver her way to the door through the dark. After finding the door, she left the room to find a majority of the apartment had gone dark. She followed the only noise she could hear, which was dripping water, until she found herself stumbling into a shut door in the dark.
After she shambled away from the door, trying to keep her balance, the door opened and Marshal stood on the other side. "Why are you awake?" He flipped a switch next to the doorway on Elizabeth's side, lighting up the living room. "Better question, why are you walking around in the dark?"
Elizabeth waited until she was certain she had no chance of slipping before she answered. "I couldn't sleep and so I came out to talk to you but I thought you were asleep since the lights were off. I was going to turn off the water because I didn't want it to wake you up."
"I'm impressed that you could hear the water from the room. Is that what was keeping you awake?"
"I couldn't hear it until I opened the door, so no, it wasn't." Elizabeth crossed her arms. "Since you seem to be grilling me for my lack of sleep, I've got a question for you. Why aren't you asleep?"
Marshal chuckled before shaking his head. "I'm not grilling you, Elizabeth, I'm just checking up on you. To answer your question, I'm going to share a little secret with you, but you're probably going to get mad at me for it." He waited until Elizabeth looked like she couldn't wait anymore. "I am not sleeping because... I also can't sleep."
"Very funny, get me worked up for nothing." Despite trying to look upset about it, Elizabeth couldn't bring herself to do so, eventually giving in and cracking a smile. "Well, since we're in the same boat, what are you doing?"
"I was reading a book, but now I'm having some concerns."
Elizabeth's smile quickly fading, being replaced with an equally concerned look. "And what are those concerns?"
"That you're a vampire and you don't even know it. Think about it, it makes a lot of sense. You're up in the dead hours of the night and you don't walk into places uninvited." He motioned towards the kitchen door. "Seriously, it's been wide open this whole time and you haven't even moved."
"Because I haven't been invited in. I might be a human leech, but I have manners and patience."
Marshal took a moment to study Elizabeth, seeing that despite what had happened a few hours earlier, she looked to finally be genuinely happy for once. "Then let me be the first and only to invite you into my humble kitchen."
She entered the room, taking a seat at the table to the right of the door, Marshal going to the actual kitchen area on the left. How could he stay happy after all he's seen?
Marshal lost everything before he joined the Voyagers. He watched it all happen and he still managed to smile every single day and attempt to make other people happy as well. It gave Elizabeth hope that the current situation of the Voyagers would somehow get better and there would be no need to live in fear anymore.
"Marshal, do you remember when you first joined the group?"
Even without looking at her, Elizabeth knew he was listening inently. She didn't know what he was doing, but she knew it needed at least half of his attention. "I remember a lot, you're going to have to specify what about it. For instance, I remember anytime Milo would get questioned for where he was going, he would ask if nowhere was a good answer and whenever an adult said no, you would say 'well, we're always going somewhere so I think that's a good answer.' and somehow it would work."
She hadn't even thought of the better times from when they were younger herself, but being reminded of them made her begin to understand why Marshal always seemed so hopeful. "I meant do you remember what happened to your family that got you stuck with us?"
"Of course I do. It was an unfortunate situation, but it helped change me to who I am now. I also remember never telling anyone the full story because I was too weak and afraid to talk about it." Elizabeth heard him sigh, noticing his overall attitude had changed with just one question. "For fifteen years I've kept it to myself and wondered if I could have changed anything or done something better to prevent it, but I've only recently come to the conclusion that it had nothing to do with me and I'm lucky just to be alive."
"You know, you never told me what happened. If it's okay with you, I'd like to know."
"I never told anybody, but I thought you were some sort of super genius who knew all of the happenings in the world, what happened to that Elizabeth?"
"That's not really me, it never was. I know what the Organization records tell of what happened, but I also know that the records can't be trusted."
Marshal stopped what he was doing, putting whatever it was in the cabinet before he went to the table and sat across from Elizabeth. She could tell by the look on his face that just remembering whatever happened was a pain for him. "When my parents met, my dad was a first level Onyx Organization employee, handling paperwork and stuff like that. They married and had me before my dad became a fourth level employee, you know what happens there. My mom was against everything he told her about work and told him over and over that he needed to step out of the fourth level works but he wouldn't do it. Every night from when I was younger, I remember my dad coming home late and my mom getting upset about it because he was never around to spend time with me or her and she threatened to leave him day after day because she was so fed up with it... I don't blame her, though, she spent twenty years putting up with it and never had anyone but herself for six of those years. My mom looked into the Voyagers after she had finally had enough and my dad was faced with the order to 'handle us appropriately'. I remember leaving the house with my mom while my dad was at work and instead of going to school, she took us out of the city. We met Cyrus at the end of the planned expansion zone that they were doing and I just remember this loud noise, then Cyrus grabbing me and running. I don't know what happened to my mom, I don't know if my dad it, and I don't think I want to after so long."
"Marshal..." Elizabeth knew Marshal to be unphasable, sometimes almost as annoyingly optimistic as Filip was, but this was the worst she had seen him. "You don't have to talk about it anymore."
Marshal put his shaking hands on the table, hoping the surface would stop them from shaking. "Cyrus might have saved my life at the cost of another. Sometimes I really wonder what would have happened if we hadn't left that day. What is we stayed home or I went to school? Would she be alive? Would I be dead?"
Elizabeth reached over the table and put her hands over his, knowing that words wouldn't get to him at this point. "You were only fourteen, Marshal, there was nothing you could have done. I know that's not what you wanted to hear, but keep listening. Your mom wanted to get you out of there. No matter what you think, I'm sure you were always her first priority and she made the choice she did for you. I know it sounds like I'm blaming you, but I'm not, I'm giving you a reason to not blame yourself and that's because she interacted with the Voyagers for you. You're doing justice for her just by being here so please, stop blaming yourself."
He sighed and cracked a smile, looking to Elizabeth. "I know and I accept all that's happened. You don't need to worry about me, but thank you." She moved her hands to rest directly in front of her. "I have a favor to ask of you."
"And what would that be?"
"No matter what happens tomorrow, you'll stay by my side the entire time. I don't want to think about what trouble you could get into if we get split up." He could tell by the look on her face that she was confused by the sudden request. "What I mean is that anybody would kill to have you, just based on your looks alone and I'm sure Isaac would pick on you because he knows that. I'm afraid once they find out all you really have to offer then we'll never have a chance at getting you back."
"Now you're starting to sound like some skeptic, get your head out of the gutters." Elizabeth got out of her chair, flashing a quick smile. "But I'll stick with you. If you stop saying we and admit that it's totally only you who doesn't want to lose me."
Marshal scoffed, getting out of his chair as well. "You think my head is in the gutters? You hear what you're saying, right?"
"My job is to have a clear head and I have never once become dazed."
"Alright, I'll believe you there, but only because you still have a job." Marshal could tell Elizabeth was ready to go to bed and he couldn't exactly say he didn't want to as well. "I've got one last thing to say to you, so I'll make it fast. I know your main concern was Hampton approaching you. That's why I don't want you to leave my side, however, if he does give you the option to say no to it, I'm leaving that choice up to you and I'll agree with whatever you say."
Lyla Richardson
Lyla was among the few people who worked late night hours at the Onyx Organization headquarters.
She only did it because she was tasked an impromptu job just before she would usually be getting ready to leave that night. The task was an odd one, but not something she hadn't done before.
Lyla had been told to take blood from a few people on the fourth floor and figure out as many sequences as she could and that was because ever since Leah Neil returned to the city and Milo Neil had been found, there'd been a theory that the daughter who hadn't returned was involved with the Voyagers.
The theory had many scientists on high alert because, like many children of influential people, the daughter's traits were assigned to her by Layla herself, long before Leah considered leaving the city. Lyla was familiar with the process, her own son having had his traits assigned to him before his birth as well.
However, Anthony's physical traits were also chosen specifically, whereas Leah didn't agree with doing that to her daughter, so Lyla didn't have the specifics of what she looked like.
Two tubes of recently drawn blood sat on the counter, both had been collected by lab assistants while Lyla put together what she knew about the daughter already, starting with the traits. Lyla remembered Leah's request for a child who wasn't afraid to stand up for herself and others, but knew when to keep quiet. She wanted any talents that she may have to develop naturally, so even if she was involved with the Voyagers, there was no idea as to what role she played.
Looking over Leah's records, Lyla found the request and the results of the daughter's first check-up on her traits at four weeks old. She marked down what she felt important on a separate sheet of paper. 'Elizabeth Valerie Neil, born October 16, 2182, current age twenty-six, blood type B+.'
Lyla pulled out an older file with the initials D.N. on them, scanning the first paper she saw, she went back to her separate sheet of paper. 'David blood type AB+, Leah ??, likely B.'
Lyla looked over her current notes, a quick realization occurring to her. "It's so simple that it's almost brilliant. VE, could stand for Valerie, Elizabeth or Voyagers Elizabeth." She paused, looking over the paper again. "But that has nothing to do with her traits, quite the opposite perhaps."
She scratched out the previous note, but the thought stayed in her mind as she worked with the blood she had been given.
Luke Lowell
Luke had organized a meeting with Sara and Steven, both of whom had offered to help with escorting some of the high-profile people to the venue before the event started. They met outside the worker's apartment building a few minutes before originally planned, but immediately got to work.
It seemed to go relatively easy, considering everyone knew that they were to be expected to be ready before Luke and the agents came to get them.
Arriving at the venue and letting the people they had picked up go, Luke and the agents stood around the entrance, unsure of what to do at the current moment.
Sara was approached by woman with black hair that seemed to go down her back with a few grey streaks in it. She introduced herself as Meredith Dumont, which Sara could have guessed herself based on her accent and knowing a little bit about the members of the Dumont family. "You're one of the security escorts, am I mistaken?"
"No, ma'am, you're not mistaken. How can I help you?" Sara put on a kind smile, knowing that a place in the bad graces of any Dumont family member is not where she wanted to be.
"Wonderful. My daughter, Naomi, is supposed to be wed today but she was running late and my younger son, Elias, stayed with her until she was ready. I would greatly appreciate it if someone went to go get them." Meredith seemed to have the same formal posture that a lot of higher-up family members did with her hand crossed politely in front of her.
Luke listened in on the conversation, ready to intervene when Sara slipped up and said something that would probably get her in trouble with Meredith. Meredith gave Sara the address and returned to her formal posture, waiting for Sara's response.
Instead, Sara watched her tone and words with the most precision she had used in a long time. "I can get that done for you, I'll leave right away."
Sara left without another word and excused herself for the presence of Luke and Steven, going to speak with another woman who had blonde hair and was dressed in a purple skirt that was matched with a white blouse.
After the two women left, Luke and Steven went around the venue, introducing themselves as the security for the day. While the idea was his own, Luke didn't exactly like it, mainly because he already knew most the people there.
Steven seemed as disinterested in it as Luke himself was, but they both knew it was their duty to do the job and they had no other choice. Things seemed to be going fine until they began meeting members of the organization. Luke had been made aware that Alyssa would have to bring a high-risk 'patient' that it was her job to keep track of. Her job was to not leave this patient's side or allow him to leave hers. The reasoning for that was because the normal chips that would be used to wipe memories didn't work on him, indicating that he was a captive of the Voyagers at some time. "Alyssa, introduce yourself to Steven and tell him a bit about your dog, I think he'll find it interesting considering his job."
Alyssa didn't seem too amused by Luke's comment but shook Steven's hand anyways. "My name is Alyssa Kowalska, I'm the fourth floor internal executive." She looked around her, pointing out a man with brown hair. "That is Milo Neil, a former Voyager that I've been tasked of watching every minute of the day."
Luke picked up a reading on Steven, a sudden sense of astonishment, with underlying emotions of horror and sadness. "Why do you have to watch him like that?"
"He remembers everything about his time with the Voyagers, however, he won't reveal anything and we certainly believe he's capable of finding a way out of his keeping area, so he's required an armed guard to watch over him." Steven knew Alyssa was just doing her job, however, he picked up on a small glimpse of remorse for what she did.
Sara Jacobson
Sara went to the address Meredith had given her and retrieved Naomi and Elias, just as she had been asked to. Naomi took the front seat, Elias climbing to the back without argument. Elias seemed more excited than Naomi herself did, but Sara could only guess that it was because he was allowed out of school for the the wedding and the day after it.
"Ms. Dumont, you look stunning, if I may say." Sara knew that remaining radio silent and making things awkward between the two of them wasn't the best thing she could do, and perhaps it was close to the worst.
Naomi offered a small smile, giving Sara a chance to see the resemblance between Naomi and Meredith. "Thank you, Agent Jacobson. You seem to be in high spirits today, is there any specific reason?"
"Not really, it's just a good day so far." Sara took a glance at Elias through the rearview mirror before returning her vision to the road. "I'm sure you two hear this all the time, but look very similar to each other."
"I do hope you're not calling my qualities masculine." Naomi chuckled from the passenger seat, knowing what Sara had meant.
"Well, I was more so going for physical resemblances, such as the hair and the eyes, but no, your qualities are not masculine." Sara went silent for a minute. "That's not to say you don't look dapper yourself, Elias."
Naomi began laughing, much to Elias's embarrassment. "Elias doesn't often use such formal words, so you'd be better off saying he looks good and leaving it at that."
The two siblings began talk to each other, allowing Sara to keep to herself while she drove, only occasionally being spoken to. Her main goal was to make Naomi a bit happier before they reached the venue, which she believed she did.
When they reached the venue, Elias had gone to meet with his parents and other siblings while Naomi as escorted to a different location by Isaac Hampton himself.
Steven met up with Sara, but Luke had gone to where he was stationed, signaling that the event was beginning soon. She noticed that he looked a little frightened, perhaps nervous, but she knew better than to ask why when they were surrounded by government agents.
The weddings began and at least five couples went before Naomi and Anthony. Anthony had been keeping a low profile the entire day, which the agents could only speculate the reasoning to.
Naomi seemed more nervous than she was on the way to the venue, but she stood in front of the arches with a brave face. She wore a long white dress with her curly brown hair draped around her appropriately.
Anthony didn't seem nervous at all. he seemed quite confident in himself as he delivered his vows to Naomi and to the Onyx Organization, causing his parents, who sat front row at a table next to Naomi's family, to gleam with pride. There was a younger woman seated at the table who had brown hair put in a ponytail. She looked uncomfortable with her own attire, but nonetheless happy for her brother.
Meredith and her husband, Louis, both seemed extremely proud of their daughter as she put on a strong smile, knowing she was currently the face of the Dumont family name. There was a woman with her black hair put up in a bun. She wore a light green dress that brought out her eyes, paired with red lipstick. 'A bold fashion move,' Sara thought. 'but she pulls it off'. To her right was Elias and to his right was another man. The man was likely Naomi's older brother. He has black hair that looked to be slicked back with gel, a black suit that was similar to Louis's suit, and a silver watch. While Louis and the older son wore black suits, Elias wore a brown one. Meredith wore a black dress that best complemented her black hair.
Sara continued looking over the people in attendance, seeing plenty of people she already knew from just strolling through the worker's apartments. She spotted the woman she had met the day before, Alyssa Kowalska, easily identified by her curly red hair. She seemed to be sitting a distance away from most other people except for a man that was next to her. The man had brown hair that seemed to stick up.
Finally, Isaac stood close to the arch, keeping an eye on the people and the ceremony from there. He stuck out because of his blond hair, which Sara knew many people didn't have. He also stood out due to his protective nature of the ceremony.
As Sara went to look away from Isaac, he looked at her from across the room, their eyes meeting for a few seconds before Sara jerked her head towards Steven in an act of fear and submission causing Steven to look at her, a little confused as she panicked a bit, but knowing better than to have casual conversations at a wedding, he stayed quiet.
It was finally Naomi's turn to deliver her vow, which was interesting for most people because they knew she wasn't really a social person, despite having the title of a socialite. Perhaps that was because they all knew Anthony and how he held true to his job of representative of the Onyx Organization.
In Naomi's vow, she spoke of her original hesitant stance towards marriage, which just a look could tell that it disappointed her parents. However, she went on to admit that she did have feelings for Anthony and that regardless if their wedding was arranged or by choice, she would continue to love him and stand by his side. She finished off her vow by swearing to make Anthony, her family, the Richardson family, and the Onyx Organization proud.
They sealed their wedding with a kiss and went to socializing with their respective families. Anthony's family seemed happy to have Naomi join them. Lyla and Amanda, Anthony's mother and younger sister, seemed to really enjoy talking to her. Anthony's father, Bradly, had gone to speaking with Louis, taking well to getting to know each other. Anthony spoke with Naomi's brothers and sister while Meredith took to looking over the two tables and keeping things under moderation.
Luke had also gone to speak with Anthony's family, seeming to know Amanda. Sara felt a sense of relief as the event drew closer to a closing until she realized that she and Steven had both lost track of Isaac. That was until he approached the two from behind, a wide grin on his face.
"Mr. Hampton, how can we help you?" Steven was just as nervous as Sara, but not as willing to show it.
Isaac stopped walking when he was just a few inches away from them, his grin not going away. When he spoke, his voice was quiet, but able to be heard over the roar in the venue. "I have a proposition for the two of you. Don't speak for a minute or two and listen." Isaac cut Steven off as he went to speak. "I've been told that you two are pretty good friends and I noticed how intently you were both watching over the ceremonies. I want to reward you both with a wedding of your own."
"Sir, with all due respect, we're not-" Steven stopped, reminding himself that he had told her that she would have the say in it earlier that day.
Isaac waited for Steven to continue, realizing he wouldn't. "I know it's a big choice, but I believe it'll be good for the both of you and the city itself. It'll be good publicity because we've never had two agents marry in public."
"Mr. Hampton, I don't think it'll be good for publicity. We're not really well known around here because of how often we're gone." Sara finally spoke up, her voice very shaky.
"Nonsense. I understand that you're friends with plenty of people around here and Mr. Suggs had gone around with Mr. Lowell and greeted the guests, so you two are fairly known." He walked past the two back into the venue doors. "I'll let you two think about it, you know where to find me."
Isaac left Sara and Steven, but not on a good note. Steven looked to Sara to see her shaking with anxiety. "It's still your choice to make. I think he gave you the option to say no."
[Agree to the idea and risk changes with the Voyagers and Milo.] [Disagree to the idea and risk questioning and being on the Organization radar for a bit.]
Next time:
“They're going to try to cast your part if you leave this room. I know you don't want to, but you have to protest, there's no other solution and no other place you belong.”
Filip looked on from across the street, preparing to take action against one of the attackers.
“I'm only going to warn you once, if you take the shot then you're going to get caught. Do you know why? Because you're outnumbered by three.”
Ethan now stood face to face with Joseph, who looked just about ready to handle Ethan himself until someone pushed Joseph back, putting herself between the two.
“What do I think? I think you're too careless and caught up in your own little world to lead properly and that's what's going to cause the fall of the group.”
Cyrus and Elizabeth stood in the lab, looking over the statistics from previous years that had been recorded. The only place the line seemed to be going was down. “We're not in this for the long run and we're lucky to have held on this long. The Organization knows too much about the people involved with the group so they know who to expect. They don't know about you and that's all we have going for us.”
Cyrus sighed, getting ready to address his two companions. “You two can't go far into the city this early, but watch your surroundings and take no chances. If you guys get into trouble that you can't fight off then leave, okay? Don't wait for me.”
“Who am I? I'm the one person you don't want to upset. Let me tell you what you're going to do, just so we're clear. You're going to let these two go, forget what and who you saw, and resign from your post because you went into an area that wasn't yours without proper permission. You have five hours to get this done and if you don't then I'll tell the higher-ups about you myself, then you can face a more severe punishment than the one you'd get with resignation. The choice is yours.”
Cyrus knew one thing of Eris’s true person that was bound to reveal itself eventually and that was a silent fury building inside her with a line that grew thinner each time someone slipped even once.
“Immoral, dangerous, disrespectful, oblivious, call me what you want to but I'm going to need to see your basis for these allegations.”
I quickly wanted to apologize for the way the next time segment is set up, there's really not much better I could have done, but there sure was worse I could have done.
On another note, I've also got questions and alternate choices ready. The final choice of the chapter won't be included in this chapter's alternate choices because it'll more so be influencing chapter two, three, and possibly four.
Prologue 2
"We'll stand our ground.": This choice mainly changed how the scouts view Elizabeth and her moral code. It wouldn't have changed Jonas' fate or Lecia's view on Elizabeth.
Chapter One
1.1: [Final decision: Agree with Eris, letting it go]: Had this been chosen, the meeting set up by Joseph wouldn't have happened and Elizabeth's return wouldn't have been expected. It would have changed Elizabeth's stance over the whole chapter, giving her a more direct way of acting but also remaining hostile towards Lecia and Cyrus. In terms of character building, this choice would have been a major fall back for Elizabeth's character.
1.2: [Continue the search for work.]: This choice would have gotten Ethan inducted into the Onyx Organization. Either way he would have learned about the Voyagers. In this choice, he would eventually be faced with a meeting with Elizabeth and the scouts at the end of the chapter, causing the four Voyagers to be caught by the Onyx Organization.
1.3: [Order Elizabeth to Leave]: Elizabeth would have left the bunker immediately. Her fate wouldn't be known until the end of the chapter where it's revealed that the Onyx Organization was using her for information on the Voyagers. Despite being under the control of the Onyx Organization, the Voyagers are still hearing from her in the form of Final Product Four who reveals the fate of some lost Voyagers.
1.5: Joseph: Eris would have told about Joseph and eventually Cyrus would have joined in, giving his opinion on Joseph's leadership, encouraging Marshal and Filip to do the same.
1.5: Elizabeth: Eris would have been hesitant to tell about Elizabeth, but she would have opened up and told Ethan a bit about Elizabeth, including the details of her relationship with most members of the groups and she would have told Ethan more about Milo. She would also admit that she had regrets of how she handled raising Elizabeth and Milo.
1.5: Filip: Eris wouldn't have much to say about Filip, but Cyrus and Marshal would join the conversation and tell of what they knew about Filip. Filip himself wouldn't intervene, hinting at what Ethan finds out in the journal.
1.5: Marshal: Eris would admit that she doesn't know much about Marshal, causing Cyrus and Filip to start jokes about Marshal's life as an agent. Marshal himself will eventually join in on the joke and Eris will confess that it's not often that the scouts are there and things go well enough for all of them to sit and talk with each other.
1.7: [Put the journal back.]: By putting the journal back, Ethan wouldn't have learned about Filip's condition and he wouldn't have been given the chance to talk Elizabeth out of working.
1.8: [Encourage Elizabeth to take a break.]: Ethan would tell Elizabeth to take a break and after Ethan asking a few times, she would agree and gain the idea that nothing needed to be done and put everything off and become a major procrastinator. Had this choice been chosen, Elizabeth wouldn't have gone into the city, 'Sara' wouldn't have been introduced until much later, and she wouldn't have had the conversation with Marshal. Finally, this choice would have brought on Elizabeth's and Cyrus's deaths in a future chapter.
And finally, the questions.
1) Who is your favorite character?
2) And your least favorite?
3) Who is a character you want to see more of?
4) What is a theme you want to see more of?
5) Where do you believe the main story is going for the Voyagers?
6) Where do you believe the main story for the Onyx Organization is going?
7) Are there any plot points you believe I neglected that you would like to see covered?
8) Is there any speculation you’d like to provide on the next time segment?
9) Lastly, do you have any questions of your own?
Alright, so chapter one is finally finished, I'd like to thank you all for sticking with me while I've been working out some things in my own life while continuing to work on this. I'm also very happy to announce that chapter two is already in the works, but I don't intend to work much on it this weekend.
[Agree to the idea and risk changes with the Voyager's and Milo.]
I think this choice would be better for Elizabeth and Marshal, in the long run. Both are already undercover Voyager agents, within Onyx. Being an undercover married couple will only help them in their undercover agent work. It gives them an excuse to see each other all the time without drawing any unwanted suspicion. This will allow them too exchange info that they have learned and help them protect each other easier. Plus, they wouldn't want to put any unwanted attention on themselves by refusing Isaac. It's not like he is asking Elizabeth to marry a real organization agent. Which he might ask her to do if she refuses to marry the agent that is also undercover with her.
Chapter One Finale - 1.11
It's a shame. Most people in the city are hypocrites, trapped in their fictional reality. What they want to bel… moreieve is that nothing is wrong with who they are or what they do. I'm sure there's someone here who hasn't been sober for years, but the Organization is hiding it. Maybe someone who's guilty of infidelity. They'd probably cover that up too. With past experiences, I want to know why I spent sleepless nights hiding from them. They don't know some 'street rat' like me is among them, they probably would never know either. Better yet, I want to know why I'm still spending sleepless nights worrying about them. Nobody knows a thing and even if they did, I'm not alone.
Elizabeth rolled over to face the alarm clock on the nightstand next to the bed. 1:53. She came to the apartment around ten and stopped talking to Marshal at eleven. "I can build barriers between people, break into government records, and hide am… [view original content]
1) Who is your favorite character?
I imagine this one is a given and I know I'm being really biased here, but I'll have to go with Luke If I had to name someone other than Luke, then it would be "Sara".
2) And your least favorite?
I don't really have a least favorite to be honest.
3) Who is a character you want to see more of?
A lil' bit more of Luke wouldn't hurt anyone, right? All jokes aside, Alyssa is definitely someone I'd like to see more of, especially because of the business with the chip and all.
4) What is a theme you want to see more of?
Since I'm someone who likes the bad guys, I'd like to see more about the Organization, especially because they seem pretty powerful.
5) Where do you believe the main story is going for the Voyagers?
They sure talk about freedom, but is that what they truly want? I have a feeling that there's more to this Final Product Four than Elizabeth is letting on.
6) Where do you believe the main story for the Onyx Organization is going?
Well, they certainly want control, at least that's the vibe I'm getting from them with all those control chips. But they're really elusive tbh, I can't tell what's their main goal here.
8) Is there any speculation you’d like to provide on the next time segment?
Well, from what I saw there is going to be a lot of action and I can't wait! I'm really hoping for a big Voyagers x Organization confrontation in the near future...fingers crossed.
Hopefully this will actually be posted, as I'm having some issues with commenting on the forums, I believe this is probably the third time I've tried posting this. Welp, here's hoping
I quickly wanted to apologize for the way the next time segment is set up, there's really not much better I could have done, but there sure … morewas worse I could have done.
On another note, I've also got questions and alternate choices ready. The final choice of the chapter won't be included in this chapter's alternate choices because it'll more so be influencing chapter two, three, and possibly four.
Prologue 2
"We'll stand our ground.": This choice mainly changed how the scouts view Elizabeth and her moral code. It wouldn't have changed Jonas' fate or Lecia's view on Elizabeth.
Chapter One
1.1: [Final decision: Agree with Eris, letting it go]: Had this been chosen, the meeting set up by Joseph wouldn't have happened and Elizabeth's return wouldn't have been expected. It would have changed Elizabeth's stance over the whole chapter, giving her a more direct way of acting but also remaining hostile towards Lecia and Cyrus. In terms … [view original content]
A lil' bit more of Luke wouldn't hurt anyone, right? All jokes aside, Alyssa is definitely someone I'd like to see more of, especially because of the business with the chip and all.
You're definitely right, a little bit more of Luke wouldn't hurt the readers. The characters, I wouldn't be so certain. Good news is, Alyssa actually has a majority of the planned Onyx Organization POVs in the upcoming chapter.
Hopefully this will actually be posted, as I'm having some issues with commenting on the forums, I believe this is probably the third time I've tried posting this. Welp, here's hoping
Congratulations, it posted! Third time's the charm.
1) Who is your favorite character?
I imagine this one is a given and I know I'm being really biased here, but I'll have to go with Luke If… more I had to name someone other than Luke, then it would be "Sara".
2) And your least favorite?
I don't really have a least favorite to be honest.
3) Who is a character you want to see more of?
A lil' bit more of Luke wouldn't hurt anyone, right? All jokes aside, Alyssa is definitely someone I'd like to see more of, especially because of the business with the chip and all.
4) What is a theme you want to see more of?
Since I'm someone who likes the bad guys, I'd like to see more about the Organization, especially because they seem pretty powerful.
5) Where do you believe the main story is going for the Voyagers?
They sure talk about freedom, but is that what they truly want? I have a feeling that there's more to this Final Product Four than Elizabeth is letting on.
6) Where do you believe t… [view original content]
After fifty-seven years, the Voyagers as a group had reached the happiest Cyrus had seen them.
Sickness and tragedy had crossed each of them multiple times and never left a few of them, but they each had the strength to smile and laugh like nothing was wrong. It was an admirable quality that Cyrus himself had taught Elizabeth and she had also taught that quality to others.
The effort that each person had put into the group was an effort stronger than life, with most people working themselves to exhaustion. It had been the same in the past when the Voyagers were made up of a complete different set of people.
Thinking that there was a time where that was such a thing always managed to get a chuckle out of Cyrus. The people that made up the group now were the people Cyrus considered family, more so than previous group members had.
After Milo’s disappearance, Cyrus taught Elizabeth how to fend for herself, knowing that she was allowed to be weak willed by Milo.
Days when tensions hit a peak between Lecia and Elizabeth, Cyrus knew the only way to diffuse the situation was to act like he was on Lecia’s side.
When going scouting, Cyrus would often take the time to provide some sort of lesson to Filip and Marshal, knowing Filip probably needed a few takes just to get used to returning to the bunker every time they left.
In times where Joseph was too distracted to realize when Eris needed him, Cyrus was usually faced with the choice of reminding Joseph to take a break or helping Eris himself.
Cyrus knew that Ethan wouldn’t see him as a man who would go out of his way for the group, mainly because nobody played him out to be like that. Elizabeth knew better than any other group members that Cyrus did what he did purely out of the good of his heart, not for glory and that he would actually rather not get credit for what he did.
The Voyagers hadn’t had a doctor around them for quite some time which only set Eris up for a difficult time with her condition. A time that nobody around her wished to see, but that wasn’t a change any of them could take. In order for someone to even to be somewhat qualified to help her, they would have to go undercover for months and attend a medical course that the Onyx Organization offered. Joseph wouldn’t allow anybody to take that risk, but nobody wanted to take that risk either way.
Marshal, Elizabeth, and Cyrus were the three who went into the city most despite each Voyager having a hidden identity. Filip was often prevented from going because of his history with the Onyx Organization, Lecia didn’t often feel the need to go into the city with the scouts around, Eris was too weak to withstand a trip to the city, and Joseph had to run things around the bunker. Marshal, Cyrus, and Elizabeth never had a reason not to go, so they were usually fine with being the only ones to go.
A plan for Ethan hadn’t been discussed yet, but Cyrus already knew that Elizabeth wasn’t going to let him go to the city for quite some time since his face and name were among the most wanted by the Organization at the current time.
It was late, probably around four in the morning at this point, but Cyrus knew that if he checked the time then he would only be more awake, so he didn’t take the chance. Besides, he already knew why he wasn’t able to sleep.
He couldn’t sleep because of Marshal and Elizabeth. He couldn’t get used to the idea that Elizabeth was ‘in trouble’ and she only requested one specific person, but more so that person didn’t update Filip when he reached the city, making Cyrus have his doubts that he even made it to the city or he was in the same trouble that Elizabeth was in.
Despite protesting from pretty much the entire group, Filip offered to watch the monitors until he heard from either Marshal or Elizabeth and he knew they were safe. Cyrus had an issue with this because as a scout, Filip needed to be at his best every single day, regardless if a trip out was planned or not, in the case of an emergency he had to be ready, just like the other scouts.
Cyrus eventually left his room after giving up on sleeping and went to the lab where Filip had ended up passing out at the desk. Cyrus shook him awake, but seemed a little surprised that the drowsiness wasn’t lost by the startle.
Filip looked around before looking to Cyrus and quickly forcing himself to wake up. “Did I miss something? What’s up?”
“I was going to ask you if you’ve heard anything from Marshal or Elizabeth, but I don’t think you’ve heard anything.” Filip looked to the monitors, searching through codes that Cyrus couldn’t comprehend.
He sighed, his face looking a little hopeless. “Nothing immediately, but the records only go back one hour.” Filip scrolled a little bit then stopped. “See? Like that. I did hear from them, I was just asleep.”
“That’s great, Filip, but what did they say?”
“Oh, right.” Filip leaned in closer to the monitor his focus was on. “It was from Marshal and he said that they’re safe but something happened earlier today. Milo has been accounted for, but he did his best to keep Elizabeth from knowing and he wants me to ask you what to do about it.”
“There’s not that many options, truthfully…” Cyrus thought, figuring two favorable options. “They’re due to return tomorrow, right?”
“No, the next day. Elizabeth could come back tomorrow, but Marshal would have to wait until the next day because he left a day later.”
’Three favorable options.’ Cyrus figured.
”Send Elizabeth back but don’t tell her about Milo.” ”Return with Elizabeth, don’t tell her about Milo.” ”Tell Elizabeth about Milo and work out a plan with her”
Note: Much like I did at one point, I don't remember which point but I know I did it, the voting for this choice will be active but the voting for the chapter one finale will also remain active and I'll likely hold off the next part until I decide to close that.
Comments
I can say that the Voyagers are different in how much they're willing to tell about themselves and how often they'll offer the opportunity to learn something personal. Some will offer frequently, others will offer rarely.
Cyrus
I am actually the most curious about Cyrus so far and feel this would make sense for Ethan, given that he is the first Voyager whose name he learned about from his research. I would be very much okay with all of them though. Filip would make sense as well, Eris of course too and I am liking Elizabeth a lot, so I'd like to learn more about her as well. Ah, so many to choose from and I find it very hard to narrow it down to just one
Can't we just ask about them all, like in these games where you just pick dialogue options to get more backstory? I'd like that 
Just to make it clear, if we'd get a vote tie here, given that I am okay with them all, I'd be willing to change my vote as well
This choice doesn't really have any hidden diabolical consequences, so I'd actually be willing to work with a tie and have Ethan ask about both
Lecia
(!) Voting is closed! It's a tie!
So, I mentioned that I would be handling a tie in a different manner and I intend to continue doing that. Ethan will ask about Eris, Cyrus, and Lecia.
I have to say that those three are pretty good choices because two of them will just about never offer opportunities to learn about their personal life.
The new part can be expected sometime soon.
Missing 1.6
Days in the bunker had always been gloomy for Milo and Elizabeth, just as the days before. The two were constantly bombarded with questions from others and themselves about their parents, questions they couldn't answer.
It had been seventeen years since anyone had seen their mother, almost twenty for their father. Milo didn't have to be a genius to see that Elizabeth always seemed hurt by the absences. The pair were taken care of by Joseph and Eris since their mother left until they each turned twenty, by which they were taking care of themselves.
What Milo wanted more than anything was to find out what exactly happened to their parents, but he could never bring himself to leave his little sister alone. He feared for her safety more than his own. No matter how many times she claimed to be safe, happy, and healthy, Milo saw right through it.
Ever since their mother left, Elizabeth suddenly stopped being interested in learning, she stopped her daily activites and shut down the day after their mother left. She stopped being herself.
As they each grew older, Milo thought over the changes he had been seeing and the changes that he had already seen, each of them more painful than the last. What Milo wanted for her was different from what Joseph and Eris wanted from her. He wanted her to be happy again, they wanted her to succeed.
The two were always closer when they were younger, but as far as Milo could remember, a wedge had been driven between them once Joseph had started pressuring Elizabeth to program and Milo to scout, both of them originally refusing.
There had always been times that each sibling struggled with right or wrong, only knowing that they had each other.
The two only agreed to scouting and programming after the bunker was discovered and the security was pretty lackluster.
After taking on their separate jobs, the communication stopped, but Milo's constant worrying didn't.
The first of March wasn't anything but a normal day up until Milo turned twenty-six. That was the day he knew it was okay to leave.
He told Elizabeth his plans, knowing she would be upset, but explained it was for their well-being. She disagreed and protested as much as she could until she realized it was hopeless and gave up.
When Milo decided to leave, Joseph said that the group would send him off despite Milo, Elziabeth, and the scouts disagreeing with the plan. Lecia agreed with it, but she didn't want Morgan leaving the bunker, knowing she would try to stay out of it. No matter what anybody said, Joseph wouldn't change his mind.
They escorted Milo to a midway point and said their goodbyes. It was clear that it troubled Elizabeth and Eris to be there so Cyrus volunteered to take them back and let the others finish seeing Milo off.
Everyone who remained was admittedly distracted until Lecia started to almost hyperventilate after being sent straight into a panic. Morgan had disappeared in between the group being split up.
Milo, Filip, and Marshal agreed to look as long as they could, advising Joseph to take Lecia back and check with Cyrus.
Joseph and Lecia went back to the bunker in high hopes, expecting Morgan to have just gotten confused and to have gone with Cyrus, but they returned to find Cyrus, Eris, and Elizabeth.
Joseph explained what had happened to the three there, causing Cyrus and Elizabeth to leave and join the search while Eris and Joseph focused on trying to calm Lecia down and keep her in the same place.
Anyone who left to search came back to the bunker at a different time, none of them coming back after a single day. Filip came back after three after a distress signal came from one of the other scouts. Elizabeth instructed him on how to access the lab and suggested that he watch the monitors for a little bit.
The distress call was from Milo, but the coordinates that Filip recieved were all wrong. Cyrus was the first to check the coordinates, finding no trace of Milo or Morgan.
After checking the coordinates, Cyrus went back to looking for Morgan, eventually finding himself in the city. There were too many people in the city to sort through and determine who was who. Cyrus spent four days in the city, returning to the bunker after a collective week.
Filip had been in constant contact with Elizabeth and Marshal after Cyrus returned. At the end of the week Filip had told them to return to the bunker, saying that there wasn't much hope to start with. Marshal agreed, but Elizabeth was hesitant to agree.
Marshal returned, but Elizabeth stayed out looking for Milo and Morgan.
Days passed and there was no sign that either of them had even been in the area to begin with. The coordinates on Milo's watch hadn't changed, but they all knew he wasn't there. Elizabeth finally gave in after her second week outside the bunker.
Eventually Milo's coordinates stopped showing up on the monitors, his vitals gone as well. It led the group to fear the worst for Milo, but retain some sort of wishful thinking for Morgan.
For the next two years to come, Milo's name seemed to be considered a forbidden word, but Morgan was always on Lecia's mind and normally the target of Elizabeth's searches.
Each individual in the group knew that hope was all they had. They had limited power and just about no resources, knew nobody in the city, and knew less about the true capability of the Onyx Organization. They only had hope, just like the members before them.
It's nice to have some backstory with this part.
Alright, hello once again everyone! I really wish I had good news, but it's totally not the worst news possible.
I started school today and I can honestly say that I am completely drained. To make matters slightly worse, I've got to wake up at 5:30 each morning, so I'm not looking forward to that.
Now you might be asking to yourself 'what does this have to do with the story?' Well, I'm not going to have as much time to work on it, regretfully. I'm aiming for at least one part a week, but with how my schedule will be playing out I can make no promises.
There was one quick thing I wanted to do before I head off for the night and that was ask some (completely optional) questions.
1) Who is your favorite character?
2) And your least favorite?
3) Who is a character you want to see more of?
4) What is a theme you want to see more of?
5) Where do you believe the main story is going?
6) Are there any plot points you believe I neglected that you would like to see covered?
7) Lastly, do you have any questions of your own?
That's really all I've got for now, but like I said the questions are optional, but with that I'll be taking a short leave, but a new part can surely be expected before next Monday
I wanted to make a small update and apologize ahead of time. It's unlikely that there will be a new part before tomorrow and if there is one then it will lack a choice, the reasoning for that is that I have some things going on in my personal life that kind of just tumbled down and need handling.
I apologize, but that being said, I can't say when the next part will be and I'm not going to try to cap myself with what's happening. I furthermore want to thank you guys for your patience.
1.7
"I've got more than one question, if that's okay with you."
Eris looked around the room before shrugging. "Sure. I don't think my husband or my friend are coming back for a while." She reverted her vision to Ethan. "So, who can I dish about?"
Ethan looked around the room, still only seeing Filip, Marshal, and Cyrus. He figured he could ask Filip and Marshal about themselves, but Cyrus was a different story. Ethan lowered his voice to a whisper. "What story does Cyrus have to tell?"
She smiled slightly. "You don't have to be quiet about it, it's only a matter of time before you learn about the people here and he is a difficult person to get to know, so I don't blame you for asking." Her smile faded as she cupped her hands together. "My best guess is that you found out about our group through Leah's post and asked Elizabeth about her, am I right?"
"Yeah... How did you know?"
Eris was quick to pick up on an underlying sense of fear within Ethan. "That's usually how it goes. Plus, Elizabeth would have told you everything about Cyrus already had you not brought up Leah." She shrugged. "Oh well. Cyrus has been with the Voyagers the longest of any of us at fifty-seven years, having been through two leaders before Joseph and being the security director himself at a time. He had been offered the position of leader multiple times before Joseph was voted in; part of me wishes he had taken it. He might seem really intimidating, but he's really not a bad man. He has the inerest of everyone else in the group on mind just about all the time, making him somewhat disconnected from everyday life. When the scouts aren't out, he can usually be found here in the common room." She motioned towards Marshal and Filip. "Those two normally aren't around and when they aren't, Cyrus reads a lot. If you ever need a recommendation then I would suggest going to him."
"Is that your recommendation?"
"I guess you could say that." Eris nodded, then paused for a moment. "So, anyways, Cyrus is fifty-seven, going on fifty-eight in two months. He was born into the group, the first child actually born into the group, which I find to be pretty interesting. He's got a strong passion for some pretty unique things, just like the rest of us. I'll leave it up to you to find out his passions and get a reaction, mainly because it's quite worth it. As far as we know, he has no family around anymore but that doesn't change how he cares for the group. He's pretty good friends with Filip and Marshal, which doesn't come as a surprise. I never really talk with him much since we run pretty much opposite schedules, but Joseph keeps in frequent contact with him. Lecia only likes him when he's mean to Elizabeth, which is a good fifty percent of the time. He and Elizabeth have some sort of weird relationship, I don't really know how to explain it, you'd have to ask one of them."
Ethan didn't get a chance to respond before he heard one of the men across the room laugh. He looked over to see Filip covering his mouth. Cyrus himself spoke up, seeming more cheerful than he was in the truck. "Before you get the wrong idea, I should clarify that when Eris says relationship she means friendship."
"You admit that you and her are friends?" Marshal spoke up, looking slightly amused.
"Marshal, you understand that I am occasionally your friend, right? I am also occasionally Elizabeth's friend, just less often than I am your friend because I don't talk to her as much as I talk to you."
Filip began cracking up even more. "Occasional friendships... I didn't know that was a thing before now." Ethan couldn't help but find these people a little strange.
Cyrus seemed to pull on a serious demeanor, sitting up straight in his chair, making Filip stop laughing. "Eris is right about the fact that I don't have family, I'll be completely honest with you about that. Nobody here has family, except for technically Eris and Joseph. Otherwise, the rest of us are on our own."
Ethan thought back to Leah's post, remembering a mention of a son, Elizabeth's brother. He stopped himself from asking, thinking better of it. "Then we should get along just fine."
"Was that all you wanted to ask about?" Eris withdrew herself from the conversation before speaking a word to the scouts.
"No, not really. I wanted to know about the woman who was with you earlier. Lecia, was it?"
Eris nodded. "Correct." She sighed. "Lecia's going to kill me if she finds out I tell anyone about her, so please, no matter what you hear, do not approach her with this information." Ethan agreed, allowing Eris to continue. "Lecia's story is a pretty sad one, if I'm honest. She's my closest friend in this bunker, probably in the world at this point. Lecia joined the Voyagers around ten years ago with her husband. They ended up having a baby girl before we moved to the bunker. She was always so happy to help out with whatever was needed and I found that so cool. She's a pretty average woman, if I say so. She used to be a housewife so she has no problems doing chores around here."
Ethan noticed that the scouts had moved closer to himself and Eris. He took a moment to study their expressions, noting that they all seemed sad to some degree. "She used to never have an issue with chores but now she'll procrastinate a bit before becoming upset and doing whatever needs to be done." Filip spoke up after he saw Eris begin to choke up a little bit.
"Lecia's husband was named Jonas and their little girl was Morgan." Marshal's words sent chills down Ethan's spine. "Jonas was involved in an accident a few years back, when we first moved back to the bunker. He didn't make it and Lecia shut down for a while after that. She was depressed and aggressive most days. Morgan was a little too young to understand what happened at the time, so it was made a group effort to keep it from her."
Cyrus studied Ethan for a moment before taking his piece. "The accident Jonas was involved in was an assault on the scouts. It was an oversight on my part, as well as Elizabeth's part."
Filip nodded before continuing on. "Morgan was really inquisitive for her age. She started making attempts at leaving when she was told that her father had previously been a scout." He let out a soft chuckle. "There was a joke between the scouts that she wanted to do her dad's job and stay away from the chores. She was really sweet, too, probably the nicest kid we've run into as a group."
"Two years ago Elizabeth's brother, Milo, decided to look into what happened with people we had lost recently and long ago combined. We were all escorting Milo out when some of the group turned back and went back to the bunker." Marshal didn't seem to be looking anywhere in particular, but he had a look of guilt painted on his face. "Nobody really kept track of who went back to the bunker. We only knew that Cyrus took them back." Ethan looked to Eris to see her struggling to hold back tears, looking a bit guilty herself. "Lecia was in a panic. I remember that Milo was the first one to drop everything and take off searching for Morgan."
"Filip had been approved access to the lab and he stayed there for weeks, trying to find out what happened to Morgan according to the footage, but nothing showed up. He ended up directing the scouts the weeks after he got access to the lab." Cyrus seemed void of emtoion as he spoke. "We ended up scattered and lost contact with Milo. I was in the city, Filip was in the lab, Marshal had gone at least thirty miles out west in the time he was gone, and Elizabeth went further east in her time. Nobody heard anything from Milo after a few days, nobody saw anything of Morgan either."
"A distress call took Cyrus to a nearby creek where nothing was found." Filip closed his eyes for a moment. "The rest... I don't remember."
Eris looked over Filip before taking control again. "After that, Lecia pretty much shut completely down. She blamed Elizabeth and Elizabeth waas trying to fix things with her. Joseph was the only one there, but he said one night Lecia just snapped on Elizabeth. We weren't really told the details of it, since Lecia didn't want to talk about it and Elizabeth just shut us all out after it happened. Marshal mentioned a scar Elizabeth had gotten from it but Joseph got onto him for sharing details, saying it didn't need to be brought up anymore."
"They never really recovered from that and Lecia never bounced back from those emotions. She still wants to know what happened to Morgan. We all do, but there's no way we could know." Marshal finished the topic.
Eris looked at her watch, looking ready to leave. "Is that all?"
"One last question, promise. What kind of person are you, Eris?"
The general aura of the room seemed to lighten up when Ethan asked the question. "I'd say the best kind of person." Filip spoke up. "If I'm right, we all owe Eris something big."
Eris chuckled. "You're right, Filip, you all owe me." Her voice seemed to carry a hint of sarcasm in it. "Well, my name is Eris Duke, I'm married to Joseph, you already knew this. I'm forty-two years old, no kids, like two permanent friends and four occasional friends, as Cyrus would call them. I joined the Voyagers after the government tried to take me out because of my illness, never got through that illness, and now I'm pretty much doomed to a short life because of it."
"And you somehow joke about it." Cyrus crossed his arms. "She and Joseph practically raised Milo and Elizabeth after Leah left."
"She's probably the most laid-back person around and pretty cool to hang out with. You would think that a bunker with seven people living in it wouldn't have much drama, right? You'd be totally wrong and Eris is the person to go to hear about it all." Filip chimed in once more.
Ethan noticed Marshal's silence since the topic change, but the guilty look remained fixed on his face.
"Eris is more than a gossip, though. She also does a fair amount of the chores around the bunker with Lecia." Filip seemed to enjoy speaking good of other people.
Eris shrugged. "Yeah, that's really all I do. Chores and informative speaking. That is my job around here."
Ethan looked towards the archway that connected the common room to the other rooms, noticing Joseph standing there. "Ethan, I'm sorry for any trouble Elizsabeth caused you. I know you were put under a lot of pressure with this decision and it wasn't an easy one to make. I'd like to formally welcome you to the Voyagers, but also leave you the option of going home whenever you feel. Oh, and Lecia wanted me to inform you all that breakfast is ready."
He watched Joseph walk away, the three scouts and Eris standing up almost all at once. "Welcome again, Ethan." Eris smiled before leading the scouts out of the common area.
Ethan noticed Marshal took a separate way from the rest of the group. He stood and took a look around the room, only noticing one thing out of place in the dusty room.
There was a bowl of fake grapes that sat on a nightstand, the bowl positioned nowhere near the center of the ngihtstand.
Approaching the nightstand, Ethan pushed the bowl, noticing a drawer that hadn't been pushed all the way in. When he attempted to push it in, he realized it was jammed and the bowl was placed there to keep it from being seen.
Ethan couldn't help himself. He opened to drawer, the contents including a box of small trinkets, some pencils, and a journal. The journal looked like it had been used before, likely with an explanation behind the seemingly meaningless trinkets written inside.
A sudden thought crossed Ethan's mind. The items had been left there for a reason and the owner was unknown. He quickly counteracted the thought, telling himself that taking a look inside wouldn't hurt and it would provide a clue as to who the owner of the items was.
[Investigate the journal.]
[Put it back.]
[Investigate the journal.]
We might as well see what is inside. It may have interesting or important information inside.
[Put it back.]
[Investigate the journal.]
I don't believe taking a look can't hurt. It can possibly hurt very much if Ethan is caught, as this might be seen as a breach of trust. However, I believe it will be worth the risk. If there's anything important to be found in them, we will learn more, which is great. If nothing important is found in them, nobody has a reason to be mad, at least that is the gamble I am playing here.
[Investigate the journal.]
(!) Voting is closed! Ethan will investigate the journal.
I can't say much about this choice, but I can say that the next part will be the final Voyager POV for the chapter and include the final choice for the chapter.
Oh, and that it will be out momentarily.
1.8
Ethan glanced around the room one last time, gripping the journal tight, nobody was around. He knew a majority of the group had gone to breakfast, but he didn't know where Marshal had gone.
Taking a seat in the closest chair that was out of the view of the doorway, Ethan flipped open the journal. What immediately greeted him was a list of names, a majority of them being familiar to him. 'Cherise, Gerald, Leah, Nolan, Filip, Jonas, Milo, Morgan.' Each name sat on a different line.
He turned the page and found pictures. Nobody in the pictures looked familiar until he reached the next page. There he saw a picture of the same Filip he had met the night before. Next to that was a picture with Lecia, a man, and a little girl. Ethan presumed the two to be her husband and daughter. He noted her husband stood taller than she did, probably by around a foot. He had brown hair, just like the daughter, but brown eyes while the daughter had green. The last picture had the most recognizable people in it. There was a man with blond hair and green eyes who stood between two people, both of them shorter than him. To his left was a girl with brown hair and green eyes and to his right was a man with black hair and brown eyes. Elizabeth and Marshal. Ethan could rightfully assume the man in the middle was Milo.
Turning the page again, Ethan found writing. "Truth isn't just given, it's earned. Not by people like me, though, that's what Lecia says. But she has all right to believe that. The secrets I've kept from this group have been too many to count.'
'What I do is difficult to explain, even for me, I wish she would understand that so i don't have to spend every waking moment of my life wondering what accusation she'll throw at me next.'
'Ha, now that I think about it, I'm pretty lucky. Well, I can't defend that statement, so I take it back.'
The contents seemed to be scattered, like it was someone's thinking process. Ethan speculated for a moment that the owner of the journal could be Elizabeth, citing the lighthearted comments with underlying sadness, just as she had done when they first met.
He turned the page again and found a more organized paragraph. 'It's weird telling every secret I know to only two people. I want to tell the group, but they'd kill Filip if they knew the truth. I wish I was joking...'
'Sigh, the chip isn't linking back to the organization. my best guess now is that they unregistered 'Paul' when he couldn't be found. Well, I guess I can work with what I have now.'
'It's been a few hours since the chip was disconnected and Filip seems sick. He's definitely showing symptoms of withdrawal, but I'm not going to risk separating the chip until he gets better. Cyrus and Marshal don't agree with that idea, but it's the best I can do for Filip right now.'
'Wonderful, more assignments! They'll have to wait, I'm busy (like always.)'
On the back of that page was a layout of the bunker. The layout plan seemed much more detailed than the first time Ethan walked through. Everything was labeled clearly.
'This really isn't going to change, is it? Joseph wants me to send whatever records we have to the collector at the main base. There's a reason I didn't do it last time I was asked and that's because I can keep records myself, we don't need a third party going through our records.'
'Okay, so maybe I'm a little unfair in not trusting the collector in main, but that's just because I haven't been given a reason to trust him. he was a total jerk last time we met.'
'Not sending the records, saving time, the ultimate work plan!'
"I believe there's a note on the fourth or fifth page that says trust is not a given, something like that." A woman's voice greeted Ethan, causing a jolt of panic inside him, making him jump. "You're really pushing the trust you haven't earned yet."
The speaker put her hand out, expecting Ethan to give her the journal. He quickly closed it and gave it to her, rising from his seat he saw that the woman was Elizabeth, just as he had speculated. "I apologize."
She shrugged, turning away from Ethan. "Forget what you read and it'll be fine."
"Wait, I have a question, what chip are you talking about?" The fear that was in Ethan had been replaced by nervousness.
Elizabeth stopped and moved away from the doorway. "You are not going to talk to anybody about what you read. If word gets out then you can expect Filip to be executed and Marshal, Cyrus, and myself to be handed over to the Onyx Organization."
"Then tell me about the chip. If you tell me right now then I don't have to go to anyone else about it."
She froze, a look of defeat on her face. "Fine. The chip is one that the Onyx Organization uses to control their employees. Filip was in the wrong place at the wrong time and we were forced to take him captive. He was under my care for two weeks while I used to chip to get into the Onyx Organization's database." There was a pause, the look of defeat being replaced with one of nervousness. "When the chip disconnected, it sent some type of drug into his system that wiped his memories, so as far as he knew, he was a Voyager."
"In the writings, you said that if they found out that they would kill him. Who is they?"
"Joseph, Eris, Lecia. They weren't involved in this from the start. After the chip disconnected, we set up a ploy to make it look like Filip was just an average person, like you." She sighed. "Cyrus, Marshal, and I tried to change what he previously knew and it worked, for the most part. He doesn't remember anything about the Onyx Organization, but that's not such a bad thing. I can't tell you anything else, so please don't ask."
"Why did you leave the journal in such a lousy place?"
Elizabeth rolled her eyes and started to walk off again."The lab gets searched every so often, I can't risk it being found, but we see how that worked out."
"And where are you going now?" Ethan followed her out.
"To work. I have to change things with the program that's running the bunker to make sure that you're acknowledged as a Voyager and not an intruder."
Ethan could tell where the dining room was by the smell in the air, the opposite way of where she was going. "Are you not going to eat?"
"No, I have no reason to. I have work to do and I'm already behind since I wasn't allowed in the lab yesterday."
[Encourage Elizabeth to take a break.]
[Leave her to work and go to breakfast yourself.]
1.9
It was April 2nd before Luke had finally gotten permission to scope out some places that had been reportedly been involved in suspicious activity. He had to wait for an agent to return from their own involvements, which was typically a gamble.
Despite being the head of Underworld activities, he still had to take orders from the higher-ups, one of those orders was to not go alone.
The first available agent was one who knew Luke fairly well, compared to other workers and agents alike. That was because they had been partners before Luke moved high enough in the ranks to work alone. However, her attendance made Luke feel like he was working alone, so it didn't bother him.
"Agent Jacobson." She was a woman of average height with brown hair and green eyes, her build being generally slim.
"Mr. Lowell, it's been a long time." The two met up in the fourth floor of the headquarters, which was considered Luke's base of operation. They shook hands and headed for the elevator. "What are we dealing with?"
"Inspection, suspicious activity, the usual." The two stepped on the elevator, Luke pushing the first floor button. "Where exactly have you been?"
Sara had her hands cupped in front of her, her stance overall being pretty formal. "Just about everywhere. I figured I would be lucky enough to at least pinpoint the three who are constantly reported, but now I'd be grateful for just a footprint or something."
Sara Jacobson's role was an on-the-field agent. One who was constantly based out of the city, trying to find traces of resistance groups. "Understandable. Have you ever thought maybe they already know you're there and so they're intentionally avoiding your area?"
"I always knew they were bad people, but they don't even have the decency to greet a neighbor? Despicable, just the worst."
The elevator stopped at the first floor and the doors opened, allowing the two passengers off. "Maybe it's your clothing choice. At this point, I'm sure everyone knows that only government officials wear suits all the time."
"Um, I'd like to argue that, have you seen my Saturday sweater vest? It's nothing but welcoming."
"Do you have the sweater vest with you to defend that argument?"
"No." Sara almost seemed shamed by her own answer.
"Then you should take it back." Overall, Sara and Luke had known each other for around two years, but interacted far less than that time. "I could have sworn I've told you many time to not use an argument that you can't defend. Also, to not wear sweater vests because they make your shoulders look broad."
The two exited the building, heading towards the parking lot. Luke pulled a pair of keys from his pocket. "Suits do that too, thank you very much."
"Maybe you just have broad shoulders."
Sara knew Luke's type of humor, which he didn't really show that much. It was a strange one, full of witty comments and the occasional dark joke that would throw off anyone who hadn't known him long. That was if they would actually talk to him. "You've finally found out my darkest secret, that I have broad shoulders, and for that you're on my list."
"Your list of people that you're going to attempt to think of a comeback for? I figured I was already on that one." They stopped at a car, Luke unlocked the doors and got in the driver's seat, Sara getting in the passenger's seat.
"Ow, alright. This conversation is over until you drop that attitude."
"It was over anyways, you can't come back from that one."
The two sat in silence for a majority of the drive, mainly because it was a short drive to the reported area.
They pulled up to a house, the both of them going to the front door. Luke knocked, waited, knocked, then waited some more. He eventually had to take the screen off of one of the windows and climb in.
It didn't take long for them to realize that the owner had definitely abandoned the house. It seemed cleaned, but disorganized at the same time, like someone had been trying to get out in a hurry. "The owner was an unemployed male, aged twenty-seven, named Ethan Rikard. He was one of those who searched the alleged keywords from the email."
"You should probably do a deeper scan on the area, see what you come up with." Sara stood near the open window, her formal posture remaining.
After Sara finished talking, the house seemed to go dead silent. Luke had cut off the sounds of other electronics, preparing to do a more thorough search. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, then reopened them. The immediate reading suggested that Ethan abandoned the house himself, but a few moments later the search picked up evidence of two extra people in the house.
"What's the reading?" Sara knew it was a risk to talk after Luke had started searching.
He turned to face Sara, his eyes gleaming a dark red. "Three males, one being Rikard. Rikard was all over the place, but two were just in the area near the door. There's a scuff on the wall paneling, which makes me believe that something ran against the wall."
She nodded. "Can you figure out what happened with the wall? Maybe pick up a fingerprint or something from the door?"
"The issue with that, Sara, is that people don't casually clean their door handles. Besides, it's unlikely the Voyagers are careless enough to send people who are entered in the organization database out or people who are interested in touching every object in their view."
"They have to recruit new people somehow and I doubt they're doing it by having children run about and get people."
"Fair point, but I'm not going to waste my time with the door handle. I'm more interested in the wall paneling right now." Luke entered the hallway and crouched in front of the scuff, allowing himself a better reading of what had caused it. "It's likely that there was a confrontation in this area and someone got pushed into the wall."
Sara joined Luke in the hallway, looking at the paneling herself. "Do you think it was a kidnapping?"
Luke stood up and walked down the hallway to a bedroom. "It might be set up to look that way, but no, I doubt it. Like I said, the only traces of the two extra men are in the hallway. Rikard's belongings are pretty scattered, so I think he might have left in his own free will."
"Right."
"There's nothing much we can do here except for confirm that Ethan Rikard is gone and then move on. We're going to be moving a little fast to try and catch up to them, so keep up."
"How sure can we be of it? We can definitely do things here. We should gather some clues since we know he's gone."
"If you want to look around, fine. Ten minutes starting now, go."
Anthony Richardson
Anthony has been summoned to the Onyx Organization headquarters to meet Isaac Hampton and talk about matters regarding his marriage to Naomi Dumont. He didn't really see the point of Isaac being involved in the discussion of it, but both his and Naomi's parents insisted on it, saying Isaac would deliver the two proper advice.
Isaac had told Anthony to meet him in the main lobby at 10:05 exact, no earlier and no later.
When he arrived, Isaac told him that Naomi was waiting in a conference room and that they would go to her and discuss the plans.
Arriving in the conference room, they both took a seat. Anthony sat next to Naomi and Isaac sat across from them, none of them really looking too excited to be there. "I can understand the frustration of someone who isn't even a member of your family to be planning your wedding, but I need you two to listen to me and listen well."
"Sir, with all due respect, we already have the preparations handled with extreme precision, we don't require assistance." Naomi spoke up, her voice remaining small, compared to Isaac.
Isaac shook his head. "I wish that was how it works, but you can go ahead and cancel the plans you've already made. The two of you will be receiving and honorary wedding, courtesy of the Onyx Organization, hosted tomorrow at noon."
"Excuse me, what?" Anthony could have sworn he felt his own heart sink, Naomi apparently wanted to be more vocal about her opinion on the matter. "No, sir, regardless of the Richardson's family acceptance, I cannot accept this."
"Ms. Dumont, your family accepted the plans as well. You do want to make your family happy, right?" Isaac waited for a response that didn't come. "With the stir-up that the Voyagers caused, we need a distraction for the people or things will get bad."
Naomi looked over to Anthony with pleading eyes. "Are you really going to let this happen? Other things can be done to pose a distraction, right?"
"Not immediately." Anthony sighed. "It would be a bigger move to host a wedding than anything else. It's a smart move and if they're bold enough to propose hosting it tomorrow then I can only assume that they've figured everything out and have prepared for any moves related to the Voyagers, is that a reasonable assumption, Mr. Hampton?"
Isaac rested his arms on the table in front of him, a move that neither Anthony or Naomi dare to try. "That is the case. Judging by their recent noted activity, it's unlikely they'd take a chance at the wedding, but even if they do, it's covered."
Naomi sighed, a look of defeat crossing her as she turned back to Isaac. "If both families are in agreement and it helps the Organization, then tomorrow it is."
A sly grin crossed Isaac's face as he and Anthony each stood and shook hands across the table. "You won't regret this, Ms. Dumont, I give you my word. The venue will be under constant surveillance throughout the day and you will each be escorted by ten Onyx organization security guards."
"Then let it be set for tomorrow." Naomi seemed frustrated with her words. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some personal preparations to make and further plans to cancel. Have a nice day, Mr. Hampton."
Luke Lowell
After leaving Ethan Rikard's home, Luke and Sara went to other locations where suspicious activity had been reported. A majority of the locations were just nearby people getting stirred up over nothing, but others had few clues to offer about the ongoing situation.
They called the search over at five in the afternoon, knowing they both needed to be back at the headquarters before six.
"How long are you going to be around this time?" They ended up farther away from the headquarters than they initially intended to, though what bothered Luke the most was the effort they had put in and the little results they got.
"Well, we're required to stay for at least three days after an outing in order to fully recover. I really wish I didn't have to stay at all, but I guess three days."
"Why do you say that?"
"What? That I would rather not stay?" Sara rested her head on the window, her voice sounded as drained as she looked. "It's simple, really, I have nothing to stay for. I'd be a fool to show up at the family house. Better to be on the right path than to be foolish and stray."
Luke scoffed. "At least you have the option to show up to a family home. Not all of us are given that option, so you should at least be grateful for that."
Sara didn't respond to the comment and didn't speak the rest of the ride, leading Luke to believe that she had fallen asleep.
Arriving at headquarters, Luke went to wake Sara up, only for her to leave the car before he could.
They went inside and to the elevator, heading to the fourth floor. They were greeted by silence, noticing that nobody was around.
Luke left the elevator first, Sara cautiously following him. "Weird, I half expected some of the nuts to be wandering."
"Someone must actually be doing their job tonight, which probably means that someone more important is around. Keep an eye out." After returning from a search, it was protocol to file reports on what was found and what was noted, but not found. That was their current task, but Luke couldn't help but scan while he walked. There was one conclusion from Luke's search and it was that there was indeed extra people on the floor. He stopped as they rounded a corner, turning his attention to the newest worker of the fourth floor. "Kowalska, what's going on here?"
The pale red-head left her station to approach Luke and Sara. "Hampton's here. He's taking extreme measures, so I'd stay away from him if you have the choice to." She looked to Sara, her green eyes meeting Sara's. "You're married, right?'
Sara seemed suspicious of the question, but overall concerned. "No, I'm not... what exactly is Isaac proposing?"
Alyssa crossed her arms and redirected her vision to Luke. "Yeah, stay away from him. He's setting up some sort of mass marriage ceremony to distract the people. I don't know if he knows her, but if he knows that she's unmarried then it's quite possible that he'll remove her from field duty just to add another marriage to the list."
"Another? How many does he already have set up?" Sara's suspicion was quickly replaced with shock. "What did you tell him?"
"I think like three, but he's telling these people that the organization is covering the cost of everything." Alyssa shrugged. "I haven't spoken to him myself and I don't wish to. I've just been hearing things from people going through and trying my best to keep them contained."
Luke shook his head. "Thank you, Alyssa, that'll be all." Alyssa went back to her station and Luke started to continue on his way until he realized Sara stopped following him. "Are you coming or not?"
"I'll be around in a few minutes, I have something more important to do first."
Ethan Rikard
The bunker was unusually quiet. Nobody had seen Elizabeth for a day or two and Marshal's appearances seemed to be getting shorter each time he was seen. Filip and Cyrus didn't seem to be around as much, but looked miserably exhausted each time Ethan saw them.
What struck Ethan as odd was that nobody else seemed phased by it.
The only person who was bothered was Cyrus himself when Marshal was in a hurry to leave the afternoon before.
Cyrus kept telling Marshal to stay and that it was dangerous out there, but Marshal insisted on leaving. Filip agreed with Marshal and explained the Ethan later on what had happened.
Filip told Ethan that Elizabeth had gone to the city the day before Marshal left but she was in some sort of trouble now and she had requested that Marshal go alone. Cyrus didn't like the idea of Marshal going alone, but nobody knew what kind of trouble Elizabeth had gotten into, so they all eventually assumed that it was for the better.
After Marshal left, Cyrus told Filip to go into the lab and watch the monitors since he was the only other person who had access to them, so that's what Filip did. Since then, the bunker seemed a lot less lively and more lonely than it had been when Ethan first showed up.
Note: That last little piece takes place around three or four days after the choice, so the choice has no influence on that part. That being said, the voting will remain open for some amount of time, I'm not sure how long. I am also unsure of when the next part will be out, however it will be the final part of the chapter. After that, I have some questions (probably the same ones from earlier with an additional one or two, if I'm honest.) Anyways, I'm super excited for what's to come, I will be working on the next part but like I said, I will not be capping myself. Until next time, I hope you all enjoy your time.
[Leave her to work and go to breakfast yourself.]
That was close one, good that she reacted as she did instead of more aggressive.
[Leave her to work and go to breakfast yourself.]
This part was great, a real joy to read for me
Gotta say, the way you wrote Luke in his first part a few weeks back was really on point, but here he had a chance to really shine, and oh boy, he behaved exactly how I imagined him to in every situation 
I was having a grin on my face the whole part, it was just amazing really. Even though Luke prefers to work alone, seems like Sara is the perfect person to work alongside him, I feel like they good a really good chemistry together and I hope they work together a little bit longer as I found their interactions to be really nice.
And then there's Isaac, he is the exact person I imagined him to be. I'm really curious as to what he's planning... man, I can't wait for what's next
Now on a slightly different note, I wanted to ask you a quick question: Was I able to send you Chelsea's submission or perhaps you didn't recieve her? I was having severe internet issues back then and now that I think about it, there's a good chance that maybe I wasn't able to actually send her submission after all.
I'm super happy you enjoy how Luke and Isaac turned out, because it was honestly really interesting for me to change my form of writing to adapt to their characters. It's not too big of a change, but it's one that intrigues me to write for them more. I can say that Luke has so much more to tell in due time.
Also, I did not get Chelsea's submission. I actually just checked and she's not there.
I suspected that might've been the case, though I still had a faint hope that maybe I had been able to send her x.x Well, its not that big of a deal anyway, I'll just rewrite and submit her again
[Leave her to work and go to breakfast yourself.]
PS: I sent you a pm.
1.10
Sara had never been fond of the workers apartments, mainly because she never felt any particular attachment to the organization to begin with. Her job was to be sent away for months at a time so there was nothing there for her. There was no time to make friends or visit family.
There was only one person she could keep being associated with, but that was because they nearly always ended up nearby each other. Steven Suggs, a fellow agent. She would never admit it out loud, but Luke was one of those 'occasional friends' her father had warned her about.
Long after dark there had been a notice of another on-the-field agent returning home. She waited around twenty minutes after the notification before she decided to go to Steven's apartment.
She half expected for nobody to be there when she knocked, but to her surprise the agent opened the door and seemed happy to see her. "You're okay..." He paused. "You are okay, right?" She nodded, but he still retained a suspicious look. "No mere man is good enough for your blessing, is that true?"
Sara scoffed slightly, crossing her arms. "As if. Are you going to keep testing me or are you going to ask me why you're here?"
He moved out of the doorway, allowing Sara into the apartment and shutting the door behind her. "Yeah, I am pretty interested as to why I'm here. You said it was urgent and you were in danger, but you're obviously not. What's the case?"
"There's some plan that Hampton's building up for tomorrow and this entire act of mine could be in danger if he even learns of one of me." She saw a look of confusion cross his face, causing her to sigh in frustration. "Marshal, I've already been warned twice today to avoid everything going on tomorrow because I am twenty-six and unmarried, but because I've only been around one day instead of three, I have no choice."
"And what exactly do you need help with? I'm really not seeing a correlation for what you need help with and why from me specifically." Marshal didn't need an answer to see that whatever was on her mind was sending her into a complete panic. "Elizabeth, sit down and breathe. It's going to be fine. I'm going to be around for the next three days, so just tell me what you need from me."
She shrugged, standing in the same place. "I shouldn't. It'll look suspicious if I'm here too long and probably set my own suspicions about tomorrow in stone."
"Then at least explain what's happening tomorrow."
"Hampton is throwing some sort of giant wedding and he's setting up people. I know it sounds stupid, but I'm afraid of running into him tomorrow because if he finds out anything about 'Sara' through Luke or me accidentally, then I'll be stuck here until I'm eventually found out ."
Marshal shook his head, then left the door and took a seat. "That's your biggest flaw, Elizabeth. You're a lot of things and most of them are good things, but you get so easily paranoid about things that have a microscopic chance of happening. I don't know what made you that way, but you need to take some time to yourself to fix it." Elizabeth directed her vision towards the floor before taking a seat herself, refusing to look at Marshal. "I know what you're put through on a day to day basis is tough enough, but then you've got the long-term projects. It's truly never-ending for you, but you can't let your job or certain people bite at you."
"You said it yourself, it's never-ending. How am I supposed to take a break if it's never-ending?"
"Stop saying yes to everything, turn down things that aren't an absolute necessity. Start standing up for yourself. You don't need to take everything that people push onto you because they can't handle their personal failures." Marshal sighed. "Elizabeth, please, stop torturing yourself like this. It's painful to watch because you won't let anyone help you."
"Because nobody needs to be involved. They're my problems."
"No, they're not! A majority of problems that turn out to be yours have nothing to do with you! You take them on because you're so used to putting pressure on yourself because of other people's recklessness. What happened to Morgan had nothing to do with you, but you've taken blame for it for two years. For two years you've constantly nagged yourself to be better when you've pushed your limits day after day. It's not right and you need to stop." He hadn't realized how much was too much until he realized he made Elizabeth, a woman he had only seen cry on an extremely rare occasion, burst into tears. "I'm sorry, Elizabeth."
Elizabeth took a few minutes to compose herself again, calming herself down so she could at least speak. "Marshal, I called for your help because I knew you would show up. Why you're always on my side, I don't know and sometimes I wish you could see that I am in the wrong most of the time. I've always wondered about you, what your intentions are, but I can never figure them out. You and Milo were so close and he probably knew everything about you, but Milo was good at keeping secrets. I never found anything incriminating about you."
"I don't think you would have considering I'm clean for the most part." Marshal paused, a small smile coming across his face. "I admire the effort at changing the topic, but I don't want to talk about myself right now. I want to make sure that you're going to be okay."
"The gesture hasn't gone unnoticed, but you don't have to care. I know somewhere deep inside you, there's a burning hatred for me, just like everyone else. You're only putting on an act because of Milo, aren't you?"
"No, I'm not putting on an act. I need you to understand that Milo and I were pretty good friends, but it's not because of him that I'm here right now. I'm here because I actually see the good in you and I don't want to sit by and watch you beat yourself up anymore. We're lucky to have you around and I fully believe that the others take that for granted so often that you're not even sure how to accept the fact that somebody genuinely cares for you. You're used to being checked up on so that your work progress would continue, but you're not used to being checked up on because someone actually wants to know how you're doing. You're not used to affection in any way."
"You seem to be confident in your knowledge of it, so tell me, why do you think that is?"
It didn't take long for Marshal to pick up on Elizabeth's upcoming defensive tone, meaning he should likely wrap up the conversation before he upset her beyond repair. "I'm not going to lie to you. Milo mentioned plenty of times how you cut yourself away from everybody else after your mom left. You never let Eris get too close to you because you were ashamed of what your mother did when she left you and Milo. You didn't want to be a constant reminder, so you figured you'd be better off dead. That mentality never changed up until recently, did it? Elizabeth, I'm not stupid. I know most of what Final Product Four is programmed to do and what it's capable of and I know that ending your life with it wouldn't be too hard for you. I also know that this was your plan until Ethan showed up. Am I wrong?"
Elizabeth seemed to go pale as she sunk into her seat, finally making eye contact with Marshal. "No, you're not. You're right about most of it."
"Listen, I know you're tired and you don't want to talk about this anymore, but I don't feel safe with sending you off on your own. If you'd like to stay here, you can take the room and I'll sleep out here or if you'd prefer, I'll take you home myself. Whatever the choice, I don't want you to be alone right now."
She seemed to scan the apartment living room, before slowly rising from her chair. "I don't really want to be alone so I guess I'll stay."
Marshal found it strange how her agreeing to stay made him feel relieved. He didn't want to admit it, but Elizabeth's fears were likely justified and it would only take one slip up for them to discover who 'Sara' really was. "Alright then. You can do just about whatever you want, I don't really care, just please stay inside the apartment. If you want to leave or you want to talk then feel free to wake me up. If it'll make you feel better, I'll go to whatever Hampton's hosting tomorrow with you."
Elizabeth smiled, for once it seemed genuine and kind. "I'd enjoy that. Thank you for coming to help me, Marshal, it means a lot to me."
"Thank you for giving me the opportunity."
Note: So, I know I said 1.10 would be the finale, but I've grown fond of this piece but also come to the conclusion that it doesn't reasonably fit into the events of the finale. The finale will be the next part, 1.11, don't know when it will be out, but until then.
Oh wow, this part just really blew my mind! I gotta admit that I wasn't expecting Elizabeth, who was also my favorite Voyager btw, to be Sara. Man, pretty much the only person Luke seem to consider a friend is actually the freaking "enemy"! Oh boy, if/when he finds out about this things sure are going to get messy... I can't wait!
And the most wanted enemy at that. At the end of the day, who needs friends. Then again, she is part of the reason he has a job. Frenemies?
That was quite a surprise, huh. Wonder what final will bring. :-)
[Leave her to work and go to breakfast yourself.]
Oh, this was really a close one. I mean, this could have backfired spectacularly. We kinda took the risk of course, but it's really been a luck that Elizabeth reacted relatively calmly. I don't want to imagine what could have happened if she wouldn't have been chill about it.
A twist? A twist! And what a twist it is! I was halfway through writing a comment for the part above when deciding to read this one first and that just took me completely without warning. Elizabeth has definitely firmly secured a position as my favourite character right now, that reveal that she's pretty much having a double identity, that was awesome. Certainly, that twist alone was already my favourite moment in the story so far and I can't wait for the finale, because if any part can manage to improve on that, it'll be the finale itself
(!) Voting is closed! Ethan will leave Elizabeth to her work.
I have to say, you guys are not going to regret this choice. This was possibly the best thing you could do for everyone involved, which believe it or not is more than just Elizabeth and Ethan.
The finale will definitely be big, so it will take some time. However, the choices for the chapter are finished and the alternates are actually already written down. I'll leave it up to you guys, I can go ahead and reveal the alternates and leave mention of the finale out or I can post them after the chapter ends.
If there's heavy Elizabeth vibes coming from a character, she's likely more involved than you've been led on to believe
Hey, I sent you a pm, but not the pm. You know what I'm talking about.
Hey, I sent you the pm this time.
Responded and accounted for, thank you so much!
Chapter One Finale - 1.11
It's a shame. Most people in the city are hypocrites, trapped in their fictional reality. What they want to believe is that nothing is wrong with who they are or what they do. I'm sure there's someone here who hasn't been sober for years, but the Organization is hiding it. Maybe someone who's guilty of infidelity. They'd probably cover that up too. With past experiences, I want to know why I spent sleepless nights hiding from them. They don't know some 'street rat' like me is among them, they probably would never know either. Better yet, I want to know why I'm still spending sleepless nights worrying about them. Nobody knows a thing and even if they did, I'm not alone.
Elizabeth rolled over to face the alarm clock on the nightstand next to the bed. 1:53. She came to the apartment around ten and stopped talking to Marshal at eleven. "I can build barriers between people, break into government records, and hide among agents, but I can't sleep at night? The easiest thing in the world and I can't do it." Elizabeth whispered to herself, finishing with a sigh.
She wondered if Marshal was still awake or if he would wake up if she tried. 'Nothing stopping me from trying.' Elizabeth climbed out of the bed, trying to maneuver her way to the door through the dark. After finding the door, she left the room to find a majority of the apartment had gone dark. She followed the only noise she could hear, which was dripping water, until she found herself stumbling into a shut door in the dark.
After she shambled away from the door, trying to keep her balance, the door opened and Marshal stood on the other side. "Why are you awake?" He flipped a switch next to the doorway on Elizabeth's side, lighting up the living room. "Better question, why are you walking around in the dark?"
Elizabeth waited until she was certain she had no chance of slipping before she answered. "I couldn't sleep and so I came out to talk to you but I thought you were asleep since the lights were off. I was going to turn off the water because I didn't want it to wake you up."
"I'm impressed that you could hear the water from the room. Is that what was keeping you awake?"
"I couldn't hear it until I opened the door, so no, it wasn't." Elizabeth crossed her arms. "Since you seem to be grilling me for my lack of sleep, I've got a question for you. Why aren't you asleep?"
Marshal chuckled before shaking his head. "I'm not grilling you, Elizabeth, I'm just checking up on you. To answer your question, I'm going to share a little secret with you, but you're probably going to get mad at me for it." He waited until Elizabeth looked like she couldn't wait anymore. "I am not sleeping because... I also can't sleep."
"Very funny, get me worked up for nothing." Despite trying to look upset about it, Elizabeth couldn't bring herself to do so, eventually giving in and cracking a smile. "Well, since we're in the same boat, what are you doing?"
"I was reading a book, but now I'm having some concerns."
Elizabeth's smile quickly fading, being replaced with an equally concerned look. "And what are those concerns?"
"That you're a vampire and you don't even know it. Think about it, it makes a lot of sense. You're up in the dead hours of the night and you don't walk into places uninvited." He motioned towards the kitchen door. "Seriously, it's been wide open this whole time and you haven't even moved."
"Because I haven't been invited in. I might be a human leech, but I have manners and patience."
Marshal took a moment to study Elizabeth, seeing that despite what had happened a few hours earlier, she looked to finally be genuinely happy for once. "Then let me be the first and only to invite you into my humble kitchen."
She entered the room, taking a seat at the table to the right of the door, Marshal going to the actual kitchen area on the left. How could he stay happy after all he's seen?
Marshal lost everything before he joined the Voyagers. He watched it all happen and he still managed to smile every single day and attempt to make other people happy as well. It gave Elizabeth hope that the current situation of the Voyagers would somehow get better and there would be no need to live in fear anymore.
"Marshal, do you remember when you first joined the group?"
Even without looking at her, Elizabeth knew he was listening inently. She didn't know what he was doing, but she knew it needed at least half of his attention. "I remember a lot, you're going to have to specify what about it. For instance, I remember anytime Milo would get questioned for where he was going, he would ask if nowhere was a good answer and whenever an adult said no, you would say 'well, we're always going somewhere so I think that's a good answer.' and somehow it would work."
She hadn't even thought of the better times from when they were younger herself, but being reminded of them made her begin to understand why Marshal always seemed so hopeful. "I meant do you remember what happened to your family that got you stuck with us?"
"Of course I do. It was an unfortunate situation, but it helped change me to who I am now. I also remember never telling anyone the full story because I was too weak and afraid to talk about it." Elizabeth heard him sigh, noticing his overall attitude had changed with just one question. "For fifteen years I've kept it to myself and wondered if I could have changed anything or done something better to prevent it, but I've only recently come to the conclusion that it had nothing to do with me and I'm lucky just to be alive."
"You know, you never told me what happened. If it's okay with you, I'd like to know."
"I never told anybody, but I thought you were some sort of super genius who knew all of the happenings in the world, what happened to that Elizabeth?"
"That's not really me, it never was. I know what the Organization records tell of what happened, but I also know that the records can't be trusted."
Marshal stopped what he was doing, putting whatever it was in the cabinet before he went to the table and sat across from Elizabeth. She could tell by the look on his face that just remembering whatever happened was a pain for him. "When my parents met, my dad was a first level Onyx Organization employee, handling paperwork and stuff like that. They married and had me before my dad became a fourth level employee, you know what happens there. My mom was against everything he told her about work and told him over and over that he needed to step out of the fourth level works but he wouldn't do it. Every night from when I was younger, I remember my dad coming home late and my mom getting upset about it because he was never around to spend time with me or her and she threatened to leave him day after day because she was so fed up with it... I don't blame her, though, she spent twenty years putting up with it and never had anyone but herself for six of those years. My mom looked into the Voyagers after she had finally had enough and my dad was faced with the order to 'handle us appropriately'. I remember leaving the house with my mom while my dad was at work and instead of going to school, she took us out of the city. We met Cyrus at the end of the planned expansion zone that they were doing and I just remember this loud noise, then Cyrus grabbing me and running. I don't know what happened to my mom, I don't know if my dad it, and I don't think I want to after so long."
"Marshal..." Elizabeth knew Marshal to be unphasable, sometimes almost as annoyingly optimistic as Filip was, but this was the worst she had seen him. "You don't have to talk about it anymore."
Marshal put his shaking hands on the table, hoping the surface would stop them from shaking. "Cyrus might have saved my life at the cost of another. Sometimes I really wonder what would have happened if we hadn't left that day. What is we stayed home or I went to school? Would she be alive? Would I be dead?"
Elizabeth reached over the table and put her hands over his, knowing that words wouldn't get to him at this point. "You were only fourteen, Marshal, there was nothing you could have done. I know that's not what you wanted to hear, but keep listening. Your mom wanted to get you out of there. No matter what you think, I'm sure you were always her first priority and she made the choice she did for you. I know it sounds like I'm blaming you, but I'm not, I'm giving you a reason to not blame yourself and that's because she interacted with the Voyagers for you. You're doing justice for her just by being here so please, stop blaming yourself."
He sighed and cracked a smile, looking to Elizabeth. "I know and I accept all that's happened. You don't need to worry about me, but thank you." She moved her hands to rest directly in front of her. "I have a favor to ask of you."
"And what would that be?"
"No matter what happens tomorrow, you'll stay by my side the entire time. I don't want to think about what trouble you could get into if we get split up." He could tell by the look on her face that she was confused by the sudden request. "What I mean is that anybody would kill to have you, just based on your looks alone and I'm sure Isaac would pick on you because he knows that. I'm afraid once they find out all you really have to offer then we'll never have a chance at getting you back."
"Now you're starting to sound like some skeptic, get your head out of the gutters." Elizabeth got out of her chair, flashing a quick smile. "But I'll stick with you. If you stop saying we and admit that it's totally only you who doesn't want to lose me."
Marshal scoffed, getting out of his chair as well. "You think my head is in the gutters? You hear what you're saying, right?"
"My job is to have a clear head and I have never once become dazed."
"Alright, I'll believe you there, but only because you still have a job." Marshal could tell Elizabeth was ready to go to bed and he couldn't exactly say he didn't want to as well. "I've got one last thing to say to you, so I'll make it fast. I know your main concern was Hampton approaching you. That's why I don't want you to leave my side, however, if he does give you the option to say no to it, I'm leaving that choice up to you and I'll agree with whatever you say."
Lyla Richardson
Lyla was among the few people who worked late night hours at the Onyx Organization headquarters.
She only did it because she was tasked an impromptu job just before she would usually be getting ready to leave that night. The task was an odd one, but not something she hadn't done before.
Lyla had been told to take blood from a few people on the fourth floor and figure out as many sequences as she could and that was because ever since Leah Neil returned to the city and Milo Neil had been found, there'd been a theory that the daughter who hadn't returned was involved with the Voyagers.
The theory had many scientists on high alert because, like many children of influential people, the daughter's traits were assigned to her by Layla herself, long before Leah considered leaving the city. Lyla was familiar with the process, her own son having had his traits assigned to him before his birth as well.
However, Anthony's physical traits were also chosen specifically, whereas Leah didn't agree with doing that to her daughter, so Lyla didn't have the specifics of what she looked like.
Two tubes of recently drawn blood sat on the counter, both had been collected by lab assistants while Lyla put together what she knew about the daughter already, starting with the traits. Lyla remembered Leah's request for a child who wasn't afraid to stand up for herself and others, but knew when to keep quiet. She wanted any talents that she may have to develop naturally, so even if she was involved with the Voyagers, there was no idea as to what role she played.
Looking over Leah's records, Lyla found the request and the results of the daughter's first check-up on her traits at four weeks old. She marked down what she felt important on a separate sheet of paper. 'Elizabeth Valerie Neil, born October 16, 2182, current age twenty-six, blood type B+.'
Lyla pulled out an older file with the initials D.N. on them, scanning the first paper she saw, she went back to her separate sheet of paper. 'David blood type AB+, Leah ??, likely B.'
Lyla looked over her current notes, a quick realization occurring to her. "It's so simple that it's almost brilliant. VE, could stand for Valerie, Elizabeth or Voyagers Elizabeth." She paused, looking over the paper again. "But that has nothing to do with her traits, quite the opposite perhaps."
She scratched out the previous note, but the thought stayed in her mind as she worked with the blood she had been given.
Luke Lowell
Luke had organized a meeting with Sara and Steven, both of whom had offered to help with escorting some of the high-profile people to the venue before the event started. They met outside the worker's apartment building a few minutes before originally planned, but immediately got to work.
It seemed to go relatively easy, considering everyone knew that they were to be expected to be ready before Luke and the agents came to get them.
Arriving at the venue and letting the people they had picked up go, Luke and the agents stood around the entrance, unsure of what to do at the current moment.
Sara was approached by woman with black hair that seemed to go down her back with a few grey streaks in it. She introduced herself as Meredith Dumont, which Sara could have guessed herself based on her accent and knowing a little bit about the members of the Dumont family. "You're one of the security escorts, am I mistaken?"
"No, ma'am, you're not mistaken. How can I help you?" Sara put on a kind smile, knowing that a place in the bad graces of any Dumont family member is not where she wanted to be.
"Wonderful. My daughter, Naomi, is supposed to be wed today but she was running late and my younger son, Elias, stayed with her until she was ready. I would greatly appreciate it if someone went to go get them." Meredith seemed to have the same formal posture that a lot of higher-up family members did with her hand crossed politely in front of her.
Luke listened in on the conversation, ready to intervene when Sara slipped up and said something that would probably get her in trouble with Meredith. Meredith gave Sara the address and returned to her formal posture, waiting for Sara's response.
Instead, Sara watched her tone and words with the most precision she had used in a long time. "I can get that done for you, I'll leave right away."
Sara left without another word and excused herself for the presence of Luke and Steven, going to speak with another woman who had blonde hair and was dressed in a purple skirt that was matched with a white blouse.
After the two women left, Luke and Steven went around the venue, introducing themselves as the security for the day. While the idea was his own, Luke didn't exactly like it, mainly because he already knew most the people there.
Steven seemed as disinterested in it as Luke himself was, but they both knew it was their duty to do the job and they had no other choice. Things seemed to be going fine until they began meeting members of the organization. Luke had been made aware that Alyssa would have to bring a high-risk 'patient' that it was her job to keep track of. Her job was to not leave this patient's side or allow him to leave hers. The reasoning for that was because the normal chips that would be used to wipe memories didn't work on him, indicating that he was a captive of the Voyagers at some time. "Alyssa, introduce yourself to Steven and tell him a bit about your dog, I think he'll find it interesting considering his job."
Alyssa didn't seem too amused by Luke's comment but shook Steven's hand anyways. "My name is Alyssa Kowalska, I'm the fourth floor internal executive." She looked around her, pointing out a man with brown hair. "That is Milo Neil, a former Voyager that I've been tasked of watching every minute of the day."
Luke picked up a reading on Steven, a sudden sense of astonishment, with underlying emotions of horror and sadness. "Why do you have to watch him like that?"
"He remembers everything about his time with the Voyagers, however, he won't reveal anything and we certainly believe he's capable of finding a way out of his keeping area, so he's required an armed guard to watch over him." Steven knew Alyssa was just doing her job, however, he picked up on a small glimpse of remorse for what she did.
Sara Jacobson
Sara went to the address Meredith had given her and retrieved Naomi and Elias, just as she had been asked to. Naomi took the front seat, Elias climbing to the back without argument. Elias seemed more excited than Naomi herself did, but Sara could only guess that it was because he was allowed out of school for the the wedding and the day after it.
"Ms. Dumont, you look stunning, if I may say." Sara knew that remaining radio silent and making things awkward between the two of them wasn't the best thing she could do, and perhaps it was close to the worst.
Naomi offered a small smile, giving Sara a chance to see the resemblance between Naomi and Meredith. "Thank you, Agent Jacobson. You seem to be in high spirits today, is there any specific reason?"
"Not really, it's just a good day so far." Sara took a glance at Elias through the rearview mirror before returning her vision to the road. "I'm sure you two hear this all the time, but look very similar to each other."
"I do hope you're not calling my qualities masculine." Naomi chuckled from the passenger seat, knowing what Sara had meant.
"Well, I was more so going for physical resemblances, such as the hair and the eyes, but no, your qualities are not masculine." Sara went silent for a minute. "That's not to say you don't look dapper yourself, Elias."
Naomi began laughing, much to Elias's embarrassment. "Elias doesn't often use such formal words, so you'd be better off saying he looks good and leaving it at that."
The two siblings began talk to each other, allowing Sara to keep to herself while she drove, only occasionally being spoken to. Her main goal was to make Naomi a bit happier before they reached the venue, which she believed she did.
When they reached the venue, Elias had gone to meet with his parents and other siblings while Naomi as escorted to a different location by Isaac Hampton himself.
Steven met up with Sara, but Luke had gone to where he was stationed, signaling that the event was beginning soon. She noticed that he looked a little frightened, perhaps nervous, but she knew better than to ask why when they were surrounded by government agents.
The weddings began and at least five couples went before Naomi and Anthony. Anthony had been keeping a low profile the entire day, which the agents could only speculate the reasoning to.
Naomi seemed more nervous than she was on the way to the venue, but she stood in front of the arches with a brave face. She wore a long white dress with her curly brown hair draped around her appropriately.
Anthony didn't seem nervous at all. he seemed quite confident in himself as he delivered his vows to Naomi and to the Onyx Organization, causing his parents, who sat front row at a table next to Naomi's family, to gleam with pride. There was a younger woman seated at the table who had brown hair put in a ponytail. She looked uncomfortable with her own attire, but nonetheless happy for her brother.
Meredith and her husband, Louis, both seemed extremely proud of their daughter as she put on a strong smile, knowing she was currently the face of the Dumont family name. There was a woman with her black hair put up in a bun. She wore a light green dress that brought out her eyes, paired with red lipstick. 'A bold fashion move,' Sara thought. 'but she pulls it off'. To her right was Elias and to his right was another man. The man was likely Naomi's older brother. He has black hair that looked to be slicked back with gel, a black suit that was similar to Louis's suit, and a silver watch. While Louis and the older son wore black suits, Elias wore a brown one. Meredith wore a black dress that best complemented her black hair.
Sara continued looking over the people in attendance, seeing plenty of people she already knew from just strolling through the worker's apartments. She spotted the woman she had met the day before, Alyssa Kowalska, easily identified by her curly red hair. She seemed to be sitting a distance away from most other people except for a man that was next to her. The man had brown hair that seemed to stick up.
Finally, Isaac stood close to the arch, keeping an eye on the people and the ceremony from there. He stuck out because of his blond hair, which Sara knew many people didn't have. He also stood out due to his protective nature of the ceremony.
As Sara went to look away from Isaac, he looked at her from across the room, their eyes meeting for a few seconds before Sara jerked her head towards Steven in an act of fear and submission causing Steven to look at her, a little confused as she panicked a bit, but knowing better than to have casual conversations at a wedding, he stayed quiet.
It was finally Naomi's turn to deliver her vow, which was interesting for most people because they knew she wasn't really a social person, despite having the title of a socialite. Perhaps that was because they all knew Anthony and how he held true to his job of representative of the Onyx Organization.
In Naomi's vow, she spoke of her original hesitant stance towards marriage, which just a look could tell that it disappointed her parents. However, she went on to admit that she did have feelings for Anthony and that regardless if their wedding was arranged or by choice, she would continue to love him and stand by his side. She finished off her vow by swearing to make Anthony, her family, the Richardson family, and the Onyx Organization proud.
They sealed their wedding with a kiss and went to socializing with their respective families. Anthony's family seemed happy to have Naomi join them. Lyla and Amanda, Anthony's mother and younger sister, seemed to really enjoy talking to her. Anthony's father, Bradly, had gone to speaking with Louis, taking well to getting to know each other. Anthony spoke with Naomi's brothers and sister while Meredith took to looking over the two tables and keeping things under moderation.
Luke had also gone to speak with Anthony's family, seeming to know Amanda. Sara felt a sense of relief as the event drew closer to a closing until she realized that she and Steven had both lost track of Isaac. That was until he approached the two from behind, a wide grin on his face.
"Mr. Hampton, how can we help you?" Steven was just as nervous as Sara, but not as willing to show it.
Isaac stopped walking when he was just a few inches away from them, his grin not going away. When he spoke, his voice was quiet, but able to be heard over the roar in the venue. "I have a proposition for the two of you. Don't speak for a minute or two and listen." Isaac cut Steven off as he went to speak. "I've been told that you two are pretty good friends and I noticed how intently you were both watching over the ceremonies. I want to reward you both with a wedding of your own."
"Sir, with all due respect, we're not-" Steven stopped, reminding himself that he had told her that she would have the say in it earlier that day.
Isaac waited for Steven to continue, realizing he wouldn't. "I know it's a big choice, but I believe it'll be good for the both of you and the city itself. It'll be good publicity because we've never had two agents marry in public."
"Mr. Hampton, I don't think it'll be good for publicity. We're not really well known around here because of how often we're gone." Sara finally spoke up, her voice very shaky.
"Nonsense. I understand that you're friends with plenty of people around here and Mr. Suggs had gone around with Mr. Lowell and greeted the guests, so you two are fairly known." He walked past the two back into the venue doors. "I'll let you two think about it, you know where to find me."
Isaac left Sara and Steven, but not on a good note. Steven looked to Sara to see her shaking with anxiety. "It's still your choice to make. I think he gave you the option to say no."
[Agree to the idea and risk changes with the Voyagers and Milo.]
[Disagree to the idea and risk questioning and being on the Organization radar for a bit.]
Next time:
“They're going to try to cast your part if you leave this room. I know you don't want to, but you have to protest, there's no other solution and no other place you belong.”
Filip looked on from across the street, preparing to take action against one of the attackers.
“I'm only going to warn you once, if you take the shot then you're going to get caught. Do you know why? Because you're outnumbered by three.”
Ethan now stood face to face with Joseph, who looked just about ready to handle Ethan himself until someone pushed Joseph back, putting herself between the two.
“What do I think? I think you're too careless and caught up in your own little world to lead properly and that's what's going to cause the fall of the group.”
Cyrus and Elizabeth stood in the lab, looking over the statistics from previous years that had been recorded. The only place the line seemed to be going was down. “We're not in this for the long run and we're lucky to have held on this long. The Organization knows too much about the people involved with the group so they know who to expect. They don't know about you and that's all we have going for us.”
Cyrus sighed, getting ready to address his two companions. “You two can't go far into the city this early, but watch your surroundings and take no chances. If you guys get into trouble that you can't fight off then leave, okay? Don't wait for me.”
“Who am I? I'm the one person you don't want to upset. Let me tell you what you're going to do, just so we're clear. You're going to let these two go, forget what and who you saw, and resign from your post because you went into an area that wasn't yours without proper permission. You have five hours to get this done and if you don't then I'll tell the higher-ups about you myself, then you can face a more severe punishment than the one you'd get with resignation. The choice is yours.”
Cyrus knew one thing of Eris’s true person that was bound to reveal itself eventually and that was a silent fury building inside her with a line that grew thinner each time someone slipped even once.
“Immoral, dangerous, disrespectful, oblivious, call me what you want to but I'm going to need to see your basis for these allegations.”
I quickly wanted to apologize for the way the next time segment is set up, there's really not much better I could have done, but there sure was worse I could have done.
On another note, I've also got questions and alternate choices ready. The final choice of the chapter won't be included in this chapter's alternate choices because it'll more so be influencing chapter two, three, and possibly four.
Prologue 2
"We'll stand our ground.": This choice mainly changed how the scouts view Elizabeth and her moral code. It wouldn't have changed Jonas' fate or Lecia's view on Elizabeth.
Chapter One
1.1: [Final decision: Agree with Eris, letting it go]: Had this been chosen, the meeting set up by Joseph wouldn't have happened and Elizabeth's return wouldn't have been expected. It would have changed Elizabeth's stance over the whole chapter, giving her a more direct way of acting but also remaining hostile towards Lecia and Cyrus. In terms of character building, this choice would have been a major fall back for Elizabeth's character.
1.2: [Continue the search for work.]: This choice would have gotten Ethan inducted into the Onyx Organization. Either way he would have learned about the Voyagers. In this choice, he would eventually be faced with a meeting with Elizabeth and the scouts at the end of the chapter, causing the four Voyagers to be caught by the Onyx Organization.
1.3: [Order Elizabeth to Leave]: Elizabeth would have left the bunker immediately. Her fate wouldn't be known until the end of the chapter where it's revealed that the Onyx Organization was using her for information on the Voyagers. Despite being under the control of the Onyx Organization, the Voyagers are still hearing from her in the form of Final Product Four who reveals the fate of some lost Voyagers.
1.5: Joseph: Eris would have told about Joseph and eventually Cyrus would have joined in, giving his opinion on Joseph's leadership, encouraging Marshal and Filip to do the same.
1.5: Elizabeth: Eris would have been hesitant to tell about Elizabeth, but she would have opened up and told Ethan a bit about Elizabeth, including the details of her relationship with most members of the groups and she would have told Ethan more about Milo. She would also admit that she had regrets of how she handled raising Elizabeth and Milo.
1.5: Filip: Eris wouldn't have much to say about Filip, but Cyrus and Marshal would join the conversation and tell of what they knew about Filip. Filip himself wouldn't intervene, hinting at what Ethan finds out in the journal.
1.5: Marshal: Eris would admit that she doesn't know much about Marshal, causing Cyrus and Filip to start jokes about Marshal's life as an agent. Marshal himself will eventually join in on the joke and Eris will confess that it's not often that the scouts are there and things go well enough for all of them to sit and talk with each other.
1.7: [Put the journal back.]: By putting the journal back, Ethan wouldn't have learned about Filip's condition and he wouldn't have been given the chance to talk Elizabeth out of working.
1.8: [Encourage Elizabeth to take a break.]: Ethan would tell Elizabeth to take a break and after Ethan asking a few times, she would agree and gain the idea that nothing needed to be done and put everything off and become a major procrastinator. Had this choice been chosen, Elizabeth wouldn't have gone into the city, 'Sara' wouldn't have been introduced until much later, and she wouldn't have had the conversation with Marshal. Finally, this choice would have brought on Elizabeth's and Cyrus's deaths in a future chapter.
And finally, the questions.
1) Who is your favorite character?
2) And your least favorite?
3) Who is a character you want to see more of?
4) What is a theme you want to see more of?
5) Where do you believe the main story is going for the Voyagers?
6) Where do you believe the main story for the Onyx Organization is going?
7) Are there any plot points you believe I neglected that you would like to see covered?
8) Is there any speculation you’d like to provide on the next time segment?
9) Lastly, do you have any questions of your own?
Alright, so chapter one is finally finished, I'd like to thank you all for sticking with me while I've been working out some things in my own life while continuing to work on this. I'm also very happy to announce that chapter two is already in the works, but I don't intend to work much on it this weekend.
[Agree to the idea and risk changes with the Voyager's and Milo.]
I think this choice would be better for Elizabeth and Marshal, in the long run. Both are already undercover Voyager agents, within Onyx. Being an undercover married couple will only help them in their undercover agent work. It gives them an excuse to see each other all the time without drawing any unwanted suspicion. This will allow them too exchange info that they have learned and help them protect each other easier. Plus, they wouldn't want to put any unwanted attention on themselves by refusing Isaac. It's not like he is asking Elizabeth to marry a real organization agent. Which he might ask her to do if she refuses to marry the agent that is also undercover with her.
1) Who is your favorite character?
If I had to name someone other than Luke, then it would be "Sara".
I imagine this one is a given and I know I'm being really biased here, but I'll have to go with Luke
2) And your least favorite?
I don't really have a least favorite to be honest.
3) Who is a character you want to see more of?
A lil' bit more of Luke wouldn't hurt anyone, right? All jokes aside, Alyssa is definitely someone I'd like to see more of, especially because of the business with the chip and all.
4) What is a theme you want to see more of?
Since I'm someone who likes the bad guys, I'd like to see more about the Organization, especially because they seem pretty powerful.
5) Where do you believe the main story is going for the Voyagers?
They sure talk about freedom, but is that what they truly want? I have a feeling that there's more to this Final Product Four than Elizabeth is letting on.
6) Where do you believe the main story for the Onyx Organization is going?
Well, they certainly want control, at least that's the vibe I'm getting from them with all those control chips. But they're really elusive tbh, I can't tell what's their main goal here.
8) Is there any speculation you’d like to provide on the next time segment?
Well, from what I saw there is going to be a lot of action and I can't wait! I'm really hoping for a big Voyagers x Organization confrontation in the near future...fingers crossed.
Hopefully this will actually be posted, as I'm having some issues with commenting on the forums, I believe this is probably the third time I've tried posting this. Welp, here's hoping
You're definitely right, a little bit more of Luke wouldn't hurt the readers. The characters, I wouldn't be so certain. Good news is, Alyssa actually has a majority of the planned Onyx Organization POVs in the upcoming chapter.
Congratulations, it posted! Third time's the charm.
2.1
After fifty-seven years, the Voyagers as a group had reached the happiest Cyrus had seen them.
Sickness and tragedy had crossed each of them multiple times and never left a few of them, but they each had the strength to smile and laugh like nothing was wrong. It was an admirable quality that Cyrus himself had taught Elizabeth and she had also taught that quality to others.
The effort that each person had put into the group was an effort stronger than life, with most people working themselves to exhaustion. It had been the same in the past when the Voyagers were made up of a complete different set of people.
Thinking that there was a time where that was such a thing always managed to get a chuckle out of Cyrus. The people that made up the group now were the people Cyrus considered family, more so than previous group members had.
After Milo’s disappearance, Cyrus taught Elizabeth how to fend for herself, knowing that she was allowed to be weak willed by Milo.
Days when tensions hit a peak between Lecia and Elizabeth, Cyrus knew the only way to diffuse the situation was to act like he was on Lecia’s side.
When going scouting, Cyrus would often take the time to provide some sort of lesson to Filip and Marshal, knowing Filip probably needed a few takes just to get used to returning to the bunker every time they left.
In times where Joseph was too distracted to realize when Eris needed him, Cyrus was usually faced with the choice of reminding Joseph to take a break or helping Eris himself.
Cyrus knew that Ethan wouldn’t see him as a man who would go out of his way for the group, mainly because nobody played him out to be like that. Elizabeth knew better than any other group members that Cyrus did what he did purely out of the good of his heart, not for glory and that he would actually rather not get credit for what he did.
The Voyagers hadn’t had a doctor around them for quite some time which only set Eris up for a difficult time with her condition. A time that nobody around her wished to see, but that wasn’t a change any of them could take. In order for someone to even to be somewhat qualified to help her, they would have to go undercover for months and attend a medical course that the Onyx Organization offered. Joseph wouldn’t allow anybody to take that risk, but nobody wanted to take that risk either way.
Marshal, Elizabeth, and Cyrus were the three who went into the city most despite each Voyager having a hidden identity. Filip was often prevented from going because of his history with the Onyx Organization, Lecia didn’t often feel the need to go into the city with the scouts around, Eris was too weak to withstand a trip to the city, and Joseph had to run things around the bunker. Marshal, Cyrus, and Elizabeth never had a reason not to go, so they were usually fine with being the only ones to go.
A plan for Ethan hadn’t been discussed yet, but Cyrus already knew that Elizabeth wasn’t going to let him go to the city for quite some time since his face and name were among the most wanted by the Organization at the current time.
It was late, probably around four in the morning at this point, but Cyrus knew that if he checked the time then he would only be more awake, so he didn’t take the chance. Besides, he already knew why he wasn’t able to sleep.
He couldn’t sleep because of Marshal and Elizabeth. He couldn’t get used to the idea that Elizabeth was ‘in trouble’ and she only requested one specific person, but more so that person didn’t update Filip when he reached the city, making Cyrus have his doubts that he even made it to the city or he was in the same trouble that Elizabeth was in.
Despite protesting from pretty much the entire group, Filip offered to watch the monitors until he heard from either Marshal or Elizabeth and he knew they were safe. Cyrus had an issue with this because as a scout, Filip needed to be at his best every single day, regardless if a trip out was planned or not, in the case of an emergency he had to be ready, just like the other scouts.
Cyrus eventually left his room after giving up on sleeping and went to the lab where Filip had ended up passing out at the desk. Cyrus shook him awake, but seemed a little surprised that the drowsiness wasn’t lost by the startle.
Filip looked around before looking to Cyrus and quickly forcing himself to wake up. “Did I miss something? What’s up?”
“I was going to ask you if you’ve heard anything from Marshal or Elizabeth, but I don’t think you’ve heard anything.” Filip looked to the monitors, searching through codes that Cyrus couldn’t comprehend.
He sighed, his face looking a little hopeless. “Nothing immediately, but the records only go back one hour.” Filip scrolled a little bit then stopped. “See? Like that. I did hear from them, I was just asleep.”
“That’s great, Filip, but what did they say?”
“Oh, right.” Filip leaned in closer to the monitor his focus was on. “It was from Marshal and he said that they’re safe but something happened earlier today. Milo has been accounted for, but he did his best to keep Elizabeth from knowing and he wants me to ask you what to do about it.”
“There’s not that many options, truthfully…” Cyrus thought, figuring two favorable options. “They’re due to return tomorrow, right?”
“No, the next day. Elizabeth could come back tomorrow, but Marshal would have to wait until the next day because he left a day later.”
’Three favorable options.’ Cyrus figured.
”Send Elizabeth back but don’t tell her about Milo.”
”Return with Elizabeth, don’t tell her about Milo.”
”Tell Elizabeth about Milo and work out a plan with her”
Note: Much like I did at one point, I don't remember which point but I know I did it, the voting for this choice will be active but the voting for the chapter one finale will also remain active and I'll likely hold off the next part until I decide to close that.