17th Transmission - Audio - 4TH WALL DAY

[heavyweaponsbot]

So. It is time for the tournament?

[Ironhide chuckles.]

You may as well all retire now. I will be winning this one, I think.

Comments

[heavyweaponsbot]

That is what I remember. Last I saw of you, anyway.

You and everyone else that man employed.

[metharchy]

[Her expression falters a bit, the briefest of winces before she squares her shoulders.]

What happened? After we jumped?

[heavyweaponsbot]

Your captain died. And the thing died with him.

[The next words are slow, steady -- the bitter emotion behind them held carefully in check.]

... The shore was compromised.

[metharchy]

[Meth had enjoyed a not so pleasant conversation with Kevas not long ago, so she's aware that Redd is dead, and the End as well. It's a small consolation, but hearing about the shore...that is not something she expects.

Her face is mask-like as she replies calmly.]

Compromised how?

[heavyweaponsbot]

It was covered in corpses.

[Some of the bitter pain creeps into his voice, despite his best efforts. He'd dug more graves than he cared to remember, arriving at the shore.]

Everyone we lost. Everyone who vanished.

[metharchy]

[It's clear from her expression that this wasn't what she expected to hear. Corpses...the bodies of those lost...she pales considerably.]

That's not how it was supposed to be. I've never been there but I've heard stories. That shouldn't have happened.

[She can't apologize for it, it's not her fault, but was their sacrifice all for nothing then? She and the rest of the crew? Redd?]

[heavyweaponsbot]

[His own expression remains hard, flat -- if he allowed himself to show anything else, he'd show too much, at this point.]

There were feathers too. Red ones.

[But some of the buried emotion creeps into his voice.]

Burned those. No one... no one could figure out what had happened. I do not know what happened to anyone.

[metharchy]

[Her expression hardens, and Meth looks away.]

If it looks like a rat and smells like a rat...if there were red feathers there it seems safe to say what likely happened, but it never should have.

It was supposed to be safe there. You were all supposed to be safe there.

[One person had to understand that.]

[heavyweaponsbot]

[Before they fought the End, he would never have believed those words. He would never have believed anything out of any of the Crew. Part of him... still doesn't want to.]

... So much for that, huh?

[His voice is heavy with resignation, rather than accusation.]

And now we are here. While everyone else is there.

[metharchy]

Here is better than there, it sounds like. And better than dead.

[She doesn't regret her death. It was the best she got toward redemption since serving Redd for the rest of her existence had been cut short.]

[heavyweaponsbot]

But not everyone is here. Not everyone made it off the Shore.

[That's his real problem with this. That not every refugee from the sinking ship managed to get to the Keep.]

[metharchy]

I can't help you there. I would.

[So much emphasis on that point.]

I would, but I don't have that ability.

[heavyweaponsbot]

... All right.

[He hesitates, and looks away.]

At this point... I only want to know if they have survived. Know you have no way of answering that question, though.

[metharchy]

No, I don't. Who else made it here?

[heavyweaponsbot]

Me. Kevas. The boy Xanth. Couple others. But they vanished...

[metharchy]

...so few of you.

[And, no Remy or Tyler.]

[heavyweaponsbot]

... Yeah. I noticed.

[There's no keeping the bitterness from his voice now.]