Character Scramble Season 20 Round 0: Eden Prime

[u/TheAsianIsGamin]

To determine Roster Seeding, Round 0 writeups will be ranked from 1-5 by our esteemed panel of judges. Seeding scores will be determined by the judges’ averaged ranks of your stories, with higher ranks receiving higher seeds. All three judges will read all Round 0s.

Your Judges are: /u/TheAsianIsGamin, /u/Proletlariet, and /u/Talvasha

When judge voting goes up for this round, we'll have a WWW moderator lock the thread, preventing anyone from posting more. Make sure to get all of your writing done on time!

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The Character Scramble is a long-running writing prompt tournament in which participants submit characters from fiction to a specified tier and guideline. After the submission period ends, the submitted characters are "scrambled" and randomly distributed to each writer, forming their team for the season. Writers will then be entered into a single-elimination bracket, where they write a story that features their team fighting against their opponent's team. Victors are decided based on reader votes; in other words, if you want people to vote for you, write some good content. The winner by votes of each match-up moves on to the next round. The pattern continues until only one participant remains: the new Character Scramble champion, who gets to choose the theme, tier, and rules of the next Scramble!

The theme of Character Scramble 20 is Scramble Effect. Round prompts will be based on the many worlds, missions, and memorable moments found throughout the Mass Effect series.

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Round 0: Eden Prime

Lightyears away from where any of its ancestors once roamed, a rooster crows. The sun turns the purple of dawn into a bright, beautiful azure, and from within the arcologies that dot the land, efficient with both energy and space, the people rise just as slowly. There’s much work to be done, out there on the fields, but mornings like this are worth enjoying. The skies are clear, the land is fertile, and all is quiet. It’s hardly the most exciting corner of the galaxy—and that’s just the way it’s supposed to be.

Until an unexpected discovery turns this once-sleepy idyll into a flashpoint. At first, your team thinks this is a simple mission: Recover whatever it is they found, and slip out to get it where it needs to be before anyone can make a fuss.

But the moment your team makes it onto the planet, a firefight breaks out with an unforeseen enemy. Soon, it becomes clear: Something important has been unearthed, and someone wants it. Badly enough to kill for it.

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Round Rules:.

• Galaxy Map: Hundreds of billions of stars, each with its own system of planets. Your round doesn’t have to take place on an agrarian colony—or even on a sci-fi planet at all. But a season like this is about discovery as much as anything else. Start to show your audience where you’ve brought us.

• Find the Beacon: Whether by being ordered to investigate it, or by chance, your team stumbles upon an object revealing something rather sinister. This object can be an artifact showing you visions, a murder weapon, written logs, a witness, or anything your story needs. But it has to be threatening—something your team never would have expected.

• Don’t Worry. I’ve Got it Under Control: A contact or ally that your team expects to help instead betrays you. This contact must come from one of the Class Role Adoption Pools other than the one you adopt from.

• The Price of Revenge: The traitor acts swiftly to take or destroy the object—without care for any bystanders or collateral damage. They set bombs, or a computer virus, or something else that would have disastrous effects for everybody around you. You must choose one of the following prompts:

  • Paragon: There are lives at stake, right here, right now—and besides, you’ve already seen the evidence yourself. The powers that be will just have to believe you. Let the traitor escape, lose the object, and save lives.
  • Renegade: Your newfound mission is too important. Hunt the traitor down, defeat them, and take the object back.

• We Could Use Your Help: Your team comes with two characters, but you must select your third from the unscrambled characters of the Class you do not currently have, listed in tables below the roster here.

Please include in a comment, either before or after your writeup, which character you are adopting, with a link to their signup post.

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Normal Rules:

• Stand Fast, Stand Strong, Stand Together: Nobody can take on a mission like this alone. You’ve got a team of the brightest, toughest, and deadliest allies a Scrambler can find—use them. We’d love to see your characters make full use of their wide-ranging abilities, both on their own and as a team.

• We Will Hold The Line: You know what’s at stake. Failure is not an option. Even if your characters have only a small chance of victory, write that small chance happening!

• Special Tactics and Reconnaissance: Saving the galaxy will take more than the same old tricks. You are allowed and encouraged to mix and match powers, and to develop your characters in any way you wish, both on the battlefield and off. However, your opponents are not expected to keep track of these in-story changes, and vice-versa.

• Every Life Is a Special Story of Its Own: Feel free to give a brief summary to introduce your characters at the start of your post. If you do, you should mention things like powers, personality, history, and anything else that the average reader should know before reading.

• Legendary Edition: Sometimes, Spectres have to go a little outside the lines in service of their mission. You’ll have the same latitude—as long as you go with the broad strokes of the prompts and the rules, you'll be fine.

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Round 0 will run from Saturday, July 19th to Saturday, August 9th, 11:59pm US Eastern Time.

The character limit for this round is 4 full length Reddit comments, or 40k characters.

While it is fine to go a little bit over, anything that far surpasses this limit will be disqualified. This limit does not include intro posts, or analysis of the matchup.

[u/DudeBro231]

NIL // is it real or is it fake it really makes you wonder?; blurry in a dream I've been slippin' under

Riku’s breathing was heavy and laboured, eyes bloodshot, waking up with his back in that wet sand.

Back on that damn beach.

He let the shock of his sudden awakening wear off for a moment, let his breathing settle before placing his palms in the sand and pushing himself up to his knees. His fingers sunk into the sand ever so slightly, and for a second he felt like the shore meant to swallow him. The feeling quickly passed, pushed to the back of his mind, and Riku was back on his feet.

With his feet in the sand, Riku finally felt the breeze graze his skin, and he shuddered under the cold touch for a moment before crossing his arms as a make-do remedy. The winds rushing past him sounded like music, a faint song whispering in his ear. Like the music itself had somehow died, and he was hearing its last echoes before it finally faded from existence. Locks of his hair blew softly in the notes.

His gaze moved, from the sand beneath him to the waves in the ocean. The water was gray, dull, soulless. Like everything else in this world did. Even the grains of sand that covered his toes.

Riku looked forward again, his eyes following the dune in front of him up to its summit. And his eyes widened at the sight. Someone stood there, a boy feet planted in the grass that crested the top of the hill, brown hair on his head and a smile on his face.

Riku’s lips parted for a moment, beginnings of a name already edging to leap off his tongue. But he forced his jaw shut and keep staring at the boy looking down at him. And then the boy smiled at him, tilting his head in the progress. The corner of Riku’s lip twitched.

“Riku! Follow me!” The boy waved at Riku, almost hopping in place from the sheer excitement. And Riku swallowed.

And he started to run up that hill.

He slipped on that first step, his right foot digging into the sand and tripping him up. The thought that he should’ve been used to it by now ran through his head, but he quickly forgot as he saw the boy disappear beyond the hill’s crest.

On instinct, Riku threw a hand forward and yelled out.

“Sora! Wait for me!”

Riku quickened his pace, tried to catch up, yet Sora had already disappeared from his sight. The distance felt too long, a surreal hike up a hill that somehow or some way wasn’t. His feet tripped on rocks, stepped in ditches, but obstacles couldn’t stop his stride any. Sora was right there, he couldn’t stop now. He had to keep moving.

Riku crested the hill soon enough, found the summit and slipped to a halt. But there was no one there. Like Sora had disappeared into the nothing. Like a dream.

He looked around, tried to find Sora, any trace of him. Anything that could tell him where he’d gone. He wanted to follow him. He needed to find him. Riku’s breathing was still haggard, edging on exhaustion. But he had to keep running. Sprint into the infinity of this world until he found Sora.

He set another step forward and the air around him froze, the music stopped. Silence reigned and Riku came to a complete halt. He listened, for anything; rustled grass, a sudden breath or even one last gust of wind. Instead it was a footstep right behind him.

Riku turned on a dime, summoned his Keyblade into his hand and braced the weapon with both hands to block what he was sure was a coming strike. But fully turned, watching a fist soar towards his face, a realization struck him.

His weapon hadn’t appeared.

Knuckles struck him across the bridge of the nose, and Riku slammed back first into the ground. Sand kicked up in the air from the impact, a cloud of sand obscured his vision.

“Who are you?” The voice of the man who’d just attacked him spoke out, hidden in a cloud of grey sand but undeniably standing over Riku. Riku looked up into the cloud, not gracing his attacker with any kind of answer. “Nothing?”

Riku gulped. “Why don’t you tell me who you are first?”

“Heh.” The dust settled on his amused tone, and with the cloud gone Riku’s gaze could finally take in his attacker’s visage. Black hair with what seemed to be dirty blonde highlights, slicked back along his head, a smile on his face that suggested a certain ease in taking Riku down. There was something written across his forehead, but Riku was too dazed to read it. Riku frowned at the unspoken assertion as he stared back up at him. “You wanna know my name? You know there’s more important stuff going on, right?”

“What? What are you talking about?”

“There’s a storm coming. Don’t you feel the rushing winds? Can’t you hear the music, Riku? It’s coming, and it can’t be stopped.”

The music? Riku was proper confused now, just staring back at the man with a mouth wide open. And how the hell did this guy know his name. After a few seconds of silence, however, Riku shook his head and yelled back up at him. “Just tell me your name or kill me, asshole!

“Alright.” The man chuckled. “The name’s H-”

---

[u/DudeBro231 → u/DudeBro231]

Riku’s breathing was heavy and laboured, eyes bloodshot, though now awake in his bed. He stared up at the ceiling for a good minute, tried to let his breath settle and his stiff fingers to let go of the sheets. His jaw was clenched, like his subconscious was scared his teeth might fall out if he didn’t hold on. His mind was racing, like his thoughts had forgotten how to settle.

But Riku forced his lips to part and his lungs to suck in a breath.

His fingers let go and he brought his hands to his chest, felt his heart try to beat its way out. He pushed back, a placebo to try to bring rest to his heart, as his mind went back to the dream he’d just woken up from.

His right hand moved up to his face, and tried to rub some of the sleep from his eyes. The first time he’d dreamt of that place was a year or so, the day after he left. On the first day of the SOLDIER program. Recently it had started getting more frequent.

He’d seen Sora again, heard his voice again. That one happened even more often these nights; Sora’d show up, and run away just as soon as he did. He’d beckon Riku to follow, but Riku’d be stuck in his tracks. Or Sora’d disappear.

Or like tonight, some guy’d show up and beat him up.

Riku’s left hand balled into a fist, he felt his lip want to curl up in frustration. This time it was a vibration in his right arm that snapped him out of it. He brought the arm in front of his face, and the bright orange Omni-tool appeared around it, also flashing his chances of getting any more sleep away with it. But as he clicked into the messaging terminal, he spotted the digital clock in the corner and reasoned he shouldn’t sleep in any more than he already had anyway.

Right there in his inbox sat a message, from the Citadel Council, to all SOLDIERs who graduated from the program at the ceremony the week prior. Riku found himself among that highly prestigious group, and he was expected to be on the Citadel’s hangars in roughly two hours time, which gave him enough time to shower and get all cleaned up for his introduction.

But he decided to let his body rest. What’s a few more minutes?

---

The hustle and bustle of the Citadel still felt unfamiliar to Riku, conversations moving in and out of range as he made his way to the Citadel Docks. Every so often, when he’d pass one of the shops or small cafe’s that begun popping up recently, someone’d call out to him, and wish him good luck on his coming journey.

Riku didn’t much care for the sentimentality, in all honesty he’d wanted nothing more than to leave this place for the year he’d spent there. He wanted to be up there, in the stars, explore what’s left to explore. Find what hasn’t been found. Not be so… confined. First on Earth, then on the Citadel. Life on the Citadel’s Presidium, the large central ring that housed much of its upper class, wasn’t hard by any means. At this point it was probably the easiest place in the galaxy to live.

Riku stepped on the elevator down to the docks, clicking the button for his floor before resecuring the backpack slung over his shoulder. Docking Bay D38, Riku was heading to the VSS Destiny. The message in his inbox had ended with “your new Commander will explain the rest to you.”. Riku had been fine with it, in all honesty, he’d had a good understanding of the pipeline for a while.

You’d join the SOLDIER program, go to the Citadel and undergo certain procedures that Riku didn’t claim to understand in the slightest, learn how to use your newly gained strength and bionic abilities, and then be assigned to the crew of a Systems Alliance ship. In Alliance Space, at least one SOLDIER was mandated by Alliance law, a law instituted some years ago. And that was the moment Riku had decided he wanted to be a SOLDIER, to ensure his chances of being on the crew of an Alliance Vessel.

The elevator dinged, Riku’d arrived at his floor. Docking Bay D38. The doors slid open and revealed a man standing on the other side. A dark-brown haired man, slicked back with a tightly trimmed goatee to match the look. They stared each other down, a second or two that felt like a minute of awkwardness. The man was the first to do anything. He took his right hand, which had been in his pocket, and shot a flimsy handgun at Riku.

“Hey. I know you.”

“You do?”

“Yeah, you’re Rico, the new kid.”

“It’s Rik-”

The man sighed as he placed his hand back in his pocket, his head dropping as he turned around to walk back down the catwalk. “Commander expected you on deck fifteen minutes ago, kid.”

“What? I’m right on time.” Riku rebutted as he followed behind the other man.

“The Commander expects punctuality, and everyone knows that being punctual actually means being early.” The man explained. “If you’d been a second later I’d already be at the bar upstairs.”

“Who the hell are you, anyway?”

“Me?” The man turned his head back to Riku, the look on his face almost disgusted. “I’m Tony Stark. Like, Stark Industries? Hello?”

The name rang familiar to Riku, but he didn’t wanna acknowledge it. “Doesn’t ring a bell.”

“Funny. Real funny.”

---

[u/DudeBro231 → u/DudeBro231]

Stepping into the _SSV Destiny_’s Hanger, Riku felt a certain sense of… well putting it as destiny would be a bit too on the nose, wouldn’t it? It’s not like Riku hadn’t been on an Alliance Frigate before, he’d seen enough hangers during the SOLDIER program. But this one felt different, somehow.

Tony rushing past him, their shoulders bumping, slapped Riku back out of his thoughts.

“Alright Rico, guess I’ll be your defacto tour guide for the evening.” Tony sighed, already walking towards the elevator on the far side of the hangar. Riku quickly caught up.

“It’s actually-”

“This beautiful waste of space is our hangar, it’s where we keep our shuttles, miscellaneous, and and vital mission intel minutes before we actually leave.”

“You don’t sound too happy about the ship.”

“All the money in the galaxy can’t buy a word in the design of the ship you’ll spend your best years on, I’ve learned.” Tony sighed, his Omni-tool lighting up as he pointed his hand at the elevator door, the doors sliding open in accordance. “There’s a lot I’d change if it did.”

Riku followed him inside, before the doors slid back closed behind him. “But I guess I can’t complain too much, they let me implement the pilot AI.”

Riku turned his head to Tony. “The what? An AI pilots this ship?”

“Specifically an AI built, written and based on me. But in essence, yes.”

“I thought the Alliance had a law against that? Something about vulnerability to Geth influence?”

“Pfft.” Tony scoffed, arms crossed as he stared at the elevator doors. “Maybe the Alliance’s dinky VI’s are susceptible to Geth hacks, but even a half-decent Cerberus engineer could hack together an AI that won’t get snapped in half by some rogue clankers. Let alone the great Tony Stark.”

“Clankers?”

“Point is, my AI is pretty much ten times as advanced, and a hundred times more secure. We’ve got nothing to worry about.” Tony’s gaze moved to Riku, eyebrows pursed. “And especially nothing to report back to the Council. You got that, Rico?”

Riku returned a frustrated groan back to Tony, and before he could give an actual response, the door’s opened.

“Anyway!” Tony let his arms drop to his sides and stepped out of the elevator, Riku following him again. “This is the ship’s main deck, the crème de la crème as I like to call it.”

Riku rolled his eyes.

“In front of us is the galaxy map, which our lovely commander uses to tell Tony² where to go and how to go there.”

“Tony² is your AI?”

“Duh.” Tony pointed an arm to his right, and Riku followed his motion to a closed door. “That leads to the Tech Lab, which is where you can find me on most days. At least the days when I’m on the ship, I’ve been known to enjoy my time on the Citadel every once in a while.” He now spread out his left arm, and Riku’s gaze followed again. “On the left is the Armory, which is where you can stock up before any missions, and maybe try to coax some conversation out of the blind guy who runs the place.”

“Blind guy?”

Tony turned back to Riku, letting out a sigh as he crossed his arms again. His gaze was still on the Armory door, however. “Yeah, some guy called Samura. Commander Fair needed a new Armory Chief, and the Alliance sent him. Doesn’t talk much, but damn it he can work that sword. I-”

“Stark! Leave the new kid alone!”

Both Riku and Tony’s gazes shot to the direction of the voice, and Tony just groaned as his eyes landed on the man strolling in their direction. Riku’s reaction was far from similar, eyes glazed over in non-recognition. Zack’s focus was solely on him, however, sticking out a hand as he approach and flashing Riku a welcoming smile.

“Commander Fair, at your service. Welcome to my crew.” Riku’s eyes flickered between his face and hand a few times, and Zack let out a soft snicker. “I don’t bite, kid.”

“I’ve heard there’s some Krogans on the Citadel that do, he might just be traumatized.”

Riku ignored Tony’s slightly racist remark, cleared his throat and took Zack’s hand. “I’m Riku, SOLDIER Third Class.” After a thorough shake, they let go.

“Oh, yeah. Been a while since I’ve done that.” Zack let out another snicker. “Zack Fair, SOLDIER First Class.” He straightened out his postured and aped a mocking solute. Riku couldn’t help the soft smile his lips curled into. A second later the smile turned to a slacked jaw, as realization began to set in.

“You’re… that Zack Fair? You were there on Eden Prime, when the Geth attacked. You were in the middle of your SOLDIER training, but you managed to fight off the attack and bring your colony to safety. You’re a SOLDIER legend, one of our very first and one of humanity’s greatest heroes.”

“Well, I don’t like to brag about it.”

“Oh yes, yes he does.” Tony interjected.

“Why don’t you head back to your lab and give us some time to talk?” Zack shot a gaze at Tony, and he simply rolled his eyes before strolling to the Tech Lab. Zack looked back at Riku. “Yes, I’m that Zack Fair.”

“But… aren’t ships just supposed to have one SOLDIER?”

“Ehhh, we’re mandated one SOLDIER. But I saw your dossier when they sent it to all Alliance crews, and you looked promising. I think you could do a lot of good with us.”

Zack cleared his throat and turned around, looking over to the ship’s cockpit. “Come on, follow me for a second. I wanna show you something.” He began walking before Riku had said anything back, so Riku just decided to follow.

“So, you’ve been on a frigate like this before, right?”

“Uh, we’ve had guided tours and trainings on parked frigates. But never… out here, in space.” Riku looked to his right, took in the galaxy map as they walked past it.

“Oh, so… what do you think?”

“It’s… different.”

“I mean, it’s awesome, right?” Zack looked back at Riku, an incessant smile on his face. Riku couldn’t help but reciprocate with a soft chuckle. Zack looked ahead again as they stepped onto the bridge. “You know, I’m Earthborn too. Left a lot earlier than you did, of course, but still… I miss the place sometimes. Despite what they say, it’s never really quiet out here. In space.”

“I… I don’t miss it.” Riku almost swallowed his words, mumbling them as he stuffed his hands in his pockets. “I always wanted to do this, to explore space. To find new worlds and meet new people. Earth was never enough for me.”

Zack made a noise of vague understanding, nodding as he stepped into the cockpit. He moved to stand beside the pilot’s chair, placing a hand on the headrest as he stared out the wind shield, Riku standing on the opposite side. Riku gave a quick look at the chair and spotted a holographic double of Tony sitting there, quickly looking forward before… the AI had a chance to notice him.

“So, s’that why you decided to become a SOLDIER? To explore the galaxy?”

“I guess.” Riku’s gaze was squarely on the wind shield now, watching stars fly by as they travelled at warp speeds. It wasn’t the first time Riku had seen it, but it was the first time he’d seen it like this. From so close. “I just wanted any opportunity to get out of there.”

“Mhm.” Zack nodded. “You know why I became a SOLDIER?”

Riku turned his head to Zack. “Why?”

Zack smiled. “I wanted to be a hero.” He sucked in a breath, a deep one through his nose, and puffed his chest. “The best to ever be. I wanted to save everyone who couldn’t save themselves. Protect those that needed it.”

“Well, I guess your dream came true.”

Zack let out a chuckle. “I guess.”

---

[u/DudeBro231 → u/DudeBro231]

Zack stepped into the lab, Riku trailing behind somewhat as Zack approached the workbench Tony was working at. He was in a rolling chair, bent over the workbench, welding something with his Omni-tool. Riku didn’t even know that was an application.

Tony’s head perked up at the sound of Zack’s footsteps, his hard-light visor disappearing as he looked up. “I thought you told me to fuck off, Fair?”

“I told you to stop scaring the new kid, Stark.”

“I wasn’t scared.” Riku chimed in as he leaned against the door frame.

“Besides, I told you I wanted to talk about the mask as soon as he showed up.”

“The mask?” Riku’s tone rang curious, though he felt like he’d been asking questions all day already.

Tony let out a snicker. “Damn thing slipped my mind until right this second.” He got up out of his chair and gave his back a good stretch before turning to face Riku and Zack. “You wanna wait ‘til were out of Alliance space?”

“Of course.”

“Out of Alliance space?”

Zack turned his head to Riku. “Don’t worry, we’re not doing anything illegal. It’s just… best if the Council doesn’t know about this until we figure out what it actually is. There’s a lot going on in the galaxy that they’d rather ignore, so we need to hit ‘em with something they can’t.”

“Alright.” Tony looked up from his Omni-tool. “Setting a course to keep drifting inbetween systems. We should be in the dark for the foreseeable future.”

With a sigh, Tony stepped back from the workbench, turning mid-walk to face look back. The room lights dimmed automatically, and Riku’s eyes had to adjust for a second. By the time he could see adequately in the dark, Tony had re-summoned his Omni-tool and was pointing his open palm to the workbench.

The Omni-tool flashed, and the workbench reacted. Its surface split in two, two metal panels lifting up before sliding apart to reveal a large cavity. A moment later another mechanism started moving, a robotic arm extending from the center of the workbench. It was holding something, something forged from gold or a metal with a similar hue. It was small, clenched between three thin metal fingers. And the moment Riku laid eyes on it, he felt a sudden pressure in his chest. He reached for his heart, felt his legs want to give way, but held strong as he let his hand drop back to his side.

“What the hell is that thing?” Riku’s tone rang exasperated, and he was surprised at the exhaustion in his own voice.

“It’s the very reason Commander Fair wanted another SOLDIER on deck.” Tony stepped forward, tapping something into his Omni-tool with his left hand. Metal parts sprang from his wrist watch, reds and golds, forming into a gauntlet that covered his forearm. Tony grabbed the thing out of its containment claw, the hand retracting back into the workbench, and Riku finally got a better look.

It was a mask, he was sure now. A skull, a lower jaw, gold and shining. Out of its containment, Riku once again felt a wave of pressure pass through him, though this one was lighter now that he’d acclimated to the feeling. Riku looked over at Zack and saw a similar pang of pain reflected on his face.

“We recovered it on a mission out in the Far Rim. A crashed Geth ship, in the middle of an impact crater that was far older than the ship itself. And in its centre, we found this. We call it the Golden Mask.”

“Our commander’s quite the creative mind…” Tony remarked, though Riku chose to ignore the jab.

“And why did you need a second SOLDIER, exactly?”

Zack looked over at Riku. “Because you feel it too, right?”

Riku met Zack’s gaze, and they both found recognition in each other’s eyes. Riku nodded. Zack looked back at the mask.

“No one else on the ship does. I collapsed to the floor, felt its energy, the moment we opened the containment field setup by the stranded Geth forces. But Tony didn’t, neither did Susie. I figured it was down to my nature as a SOLDIER, but I needed a second opinion. Someone else to confirm.”

“I can feel it, but I’m not collapsing.”

“That’s because I built a localized containment field projector. Wherever this thing finds itself…” Tony began juggling the mask with his right hand, and Zack let out a soft snicker at him. Still, in the air, Riku could spot the faint blue glimmer of a containment field surrounding it. “… a containment field follows. Keeps a majority of the radiation… well, contained. Keeps you two from convulsing on the floor.”

“So, that’s it? I’m just here to confirm what you already thought?” Riku looked at Zack again, but Zack didn’t look back this time. His gaze was squarely on the mask.

“No, if that was the case I could’ve gotten any old SOLDIER. I picked you for a reason, Riku. Because of who you are.”

“What the hell’s that supposed to mean?” Riku scrunched his eyebrows.

Tony took over.

“Out in the Far Rim, that impact crater on a planet at the edge of the Perseus Veil, we went there because of the Geth ship crash. Geth ships don’t crash, they don’t make errors like that. As we approached the planet, Tony² noticed something peculiar. A strange radiation emitting from the planet, into the immediate zone around it. It didn’t seem directly harmful, but we cross-referenced it with different radiation signatures, and we found a match.”

Riku sharpened his look and cleared his throat. “Match with… with what?”

“A match with Protos Radiation signatures, the same-”

Riku froze, as he felt the hairs in his neck stand up. He snapped himself out of it by pure power of will, and mouthed the words his ears had failed to pick up from his commander. “The same radiation that accompanied the Death Stranding. That still radiates from the dead Earth.”

Riku got up and began walking to the door, though coming to a stop before the sensors could open it for him. “I can’t… I don’t know what you’re planning but I can’t help with this, Commander Fair.”

“You don’t understand, Riku. You’re the only one who can.” Zack’s footsteps were soft, but Riku could hear them approaching from behind. “You were there, on that day. When the Stranding came. When humanity lost its home.”

“I-” Riku cut himself off, balled his fist against his right hip and tried not to snap at Zack. “That was the worst day of my life.”

“There’s a lotta people who’d say the same.” Zack stopped walking, taking a comfortable distance behind Riku. “There’s not a lotta people who survived that day, less than a thousand who managed to get off planet before… before it happened. Your ship left an hour before it started, you were lucky.”

“Lucky’s the wrong word.” Though it wasn’t like Riku could find the right one. “I… so many people lost everything that day.”

“But doesn’t that mean we should do whatever we can to make it right?” Riku groaned at the cliché. “I know you don’t think so, but you’re the only one with the power to do what needs to be done, Riku. Humanity needs you. The people you lost, they need you.”

“Listen to your commander, Riku.” A new voice, one Riku’d never heard before. Riku turned on a dime, to the door on the other side of the room. Zack and Tony had turned to look in the same direction, and there in the open doorway stood someone Riku did not recognize.

“God knows they’re gonna need it.”

[u/DudeBro231 → u/DudeBro231]

Tony was the first to say something back. “Samura? You’re sounding… uh, grim.”

“The situations changed.” Riku spotted it now, a katana sheathed at his hip. An antiquated weapon, a physical sword, but anyone lacking sufficient physical protection, relying fully on shields, was still at risk. His hand was resting on the weapon’s grip, but Riku wasn’t sure he was set up to quickly draw the thing. “Things are happening, and I’m here to make them.”

“Stark’s got a point, you’re sounding kinda creepy.” Zack’s quip rang less care free and more calculated, Riku seeing a sort of tension building in his own stance. “What’s brought the sudden change of attitude?”

Samura stepped further into the room, and Riku took another step back almost instinctively. With more light on him, though, Riku could spot something new. Something behind those dark sunglasses, two large scars through his eyes. The blind man, of course, Tony had mentioned him. “I smelled something.”

“The mask?” Zack inquired.

“No, I smelled that a long time ago. The moment it entered this ship. That thing is ancient, yet new at the same time. It might have always existed.”

“Ever the clear communicator…” Tony sighed.

“What I smelled was… this. The silence. The blackness of space. The isolation.”

It was like Riku could see Zack’s jaw clench even tighter, he recognized something bad in those words that Riku could make no sense of.

“We are not in Alliance space, no. We aren’t in any civilized space.” Samura took a big sniff, and Tony scrunched his upper lip at him. “We’re in the nowhere between galaxies. Isolated from anyone else, but a self-imposed exile.”

“How do you know that? You shouldn’t have any access to our flight programs.” Tony sounded more frustrated than concerned. “Did Tony² tell you that?”

Samura’s eyes darted to Tony, and then to the mask still in his hands. In an instant, Samura unsheathed his blade. Both Tony and Zack immediately reacted; Zack pulled the gun off his hip, while Tony stepped back and formed another gauntlet around his left hand. Riku watched the semi-Mexican stand-off at a standstill, debating whether to make the situation even worse by drawing his own weapon.

“So, that’s it Samura? Waited for us to be isolated so you could steal the mask? That’s why you joined my crew?” Zack’s frustration was palpable, though he didn’t sound surprised. “I thought you were telling the truth back on Mavigon.”

“I was.” Samura’s blade was pointed at Tony, though his gaze was squarely on Zack. Like he barely saw Tony as a worthy threat. “But every story’s got two sides, Fair. I only told you the one.”

Samura let out a deep breath, before going into a deadly silence. Zack kept his aim trained on Samura’s head, but the creepiness was really starting to set in for Tony. And he just had to say something.

“What the hell is your probl-”

“Tobimune: Crow”

Black feathers exploded outwards from Samura, filled the room in what felt like pure black for a second. But it was long enough for Samura to make his move, appearing in front of Tony instantly and hitting him in the stomach with his shoulder. Tony doubled over, the mask flying out of his grasp.

“Seiichi, dammit!”

Zack began firing, and the mere action gave Riku the go-ahead; he was moving in too. Riku began sprinting in Samura’s direction, readying a bionic spell in his right hand instead of reaching for a gun he wasn’t carrying. He kept his eyes forward, watched Samura kick Tony away into a faraway shelf, watched him unsheath his katana to block Zack’s shots, watched him catch the golden mask out of the air-

Riku felt the breath get sucked out of his lungs. Then the pressure sent him flying back through the room.

A second later his back hit the wall, violently knocking air back into his lungs as he sank to the floor. His breathing was heavy, haggard, the mask’s pressure pulsing through him in waves, stronger than before. Like the containment field had been broken. Riku tried to force his breathing to stabilize, his eyes to focus. By the time his eyes found the resolve to see clearly, he was looking at Zack.

The commander was on one knee, gun dropped behind him, balled fist against the floor as he looked up diagonally. Riku followed his eye line and found Samura, standing above all of them, Tony slumped against a newly broken shelf, Zack on his knee and Riku against a wall. And he was wearing the mask, gold shining brighter than ever.

Samura sucked in a deep breath, and let out a sigh that filled the room. That felt to Riku like it was whispered in his ear. He slicked his hair back,

and he opened his eyes.

“Bah, finally rid of that miserable sod.” Samura’s voice had changed, a familiar cadence to Riku, though it was hard to pinpoint how through the mask’s voice filter. “Of all the people to inherit my will, it had to be a blind man? Just my luck, right?”

“Samura?” Zack sounded more concerned than confused. He let out a laboured cough, keeping his gaze on Samura throughout. “What are you talking about?”

“Oh no, Mr. Seiichi is disposed of. Has been for a while now, I’ve just been doing my best impression.” The man claiming Samura’s body met Zack’s gaze, and Riku felt like he could sense a wry smile through that golden mask. “I boarded your vessel as an… imposter, I suppose. Waiting for you to give me what I wanted.” The man reached for his own face, and stroked the mask’s cheek in an almost sensual manner. Riku scrunched his upper lip.

“And you finally let me out of my cage. Egg on your face, mask on mine.”

“So…” Riku groaned, pushed himself up. Zack looked back at him with a worried expression. With much effort, Riku reached his feet, propping himself up against the wall. “… who are we talking to now?”

“Oooh, that’s the question I was waiting for.” The man spread his arms out, an inviting gesture like some kind of showman. “The name’s Higgs. God’s chosen harbinger, returned to this plane to deliver his final judgment.”

“Higgs? But, that’s not…” Zack trailed off, but Riku ignored his words.

“Well, if you wanna take that mask you’re gonna have to get past me!” Riku yelled, barking the challenge at the top of his straining lungs.

“Oh?” Higgs tilted his head, almost surprised at the show of resistance. “You really believe so? That’s cute.”

Higgs lifted his right hand to the ceiling, snapped his fingers. And the ship began to quake.

Riku stumbled, but managed to keep himself upright. The alarm started blaring, red lights flashing and filling the room with dread. Riku shot his gaze forward and found Higgs casually walking out the door.

“Come back here!” Riku yelled out, breaking into a sprint to catch him. He wasn’t gonna let him get away.

[u/DudeBro231 → u/DudeBro231]

“Riku, don’t!” Zack’s words faded away behind him, practically whispers in the noise that surrounded Riku. Through the door, and another shock hit the ship. A robotic sounding version of Tony’s voice broke through the alarm.

“Dear passengers and crew of the SSV Destiny, This is your pilot speaking. Our vessel is currently undergoing some… minor turbulence, but please try not to panic.”

The voice was just loud enough to sound out over the combination of alarms and panicked crew members. Another shock, Riku stumbled forward but stabilized himself with a hand against the wall before running forward, down the hall where he spotted Higgs turning the corner.

“Alright, the turbulence might actually be major. It seems some kind of electromagnetic storm has formed along our flight path, so we are currently flying through a mass of storm clouds and being pelted by lightning.”

Riku turned, Higgs already stepping into the elevator. He ran faster, tried to catch him before the doors slid closed. His surprise was palpable when stopped to a halt in front of an empty elevator shaft.

“What can’t this guy do?” Riku mumbled, leaning down into the shaft to look down. And there he was, floating through the doorway a floor down; back to the hangar. He was going to escape on a shuttle, of course. Riku sucked in a breath, leaned in further, and let himself drop into the shaft.

He fell down the shaft for only a second, but it was a silent second, looking down into that cold darkness. The alarms didn’t play from inside the empty shaft, only echoing from outside, and it was an odd sense of tranquillity inside there. He couldn’t linger in it for long, though. His feet found the opposite wall, and he kicked off to launch himself into the hangar floor.

Riku smashed through a window in one fell move, and pulled into a roll as he hit the floor, landing back up on his feet. And there was Higgs, slowly strolling into the back of the shuttle Riku had come in on. He wasn’t gonna let him get away, if that mask could stop the Death Stranding, or was connected to it in any way… he couldn’t let it happen. He couldn’t let this guy get away with it.

He broke into another sprint, loading another spell in his right hand as he ran. He felt his bionics burn, pumping undue levels of energy into the attack. He winced in pain, but didn’t let it stop him. A fireball would be enough, it had to be. Riku pulled his arm forward, ready to fire.

And then he froze.

It wasn’t an involuntary reaction this time, no shock or trauma had stopped him dead in his tracks. It was more like he’d actually been frozen in a block of ice, or time had ceased to move around him. And the coldness that came felt like it confirmed his assertions, his body refusing to shudder and forcing him to stare ahead.

Staring straight at Higgs still standing there in the shuttle’s on-ramp, a finger gun pointed at Riku. Riku felt like he could spot the smirk through his golden mask.

“Oh, my battle with the keyblade warrior doesn’t happen until at least two chapters from now, Riku. We have to stay on script. Or else it all goes to hell.” Higgs yelled, trying to get over the sound of blaring alarms and his already hovering shuttle. “You know that, or do you not? Or have you been stubbornly refusing the call of the Beach? The coming storm?! Don’t you hear the music?! I expect a lot more from someone like you!”

Riku wanted to yell back, spit in his direction, or send that damn fireball into his face. Especially imagining the joy Higgs was taking in monologuing at Riku without him having the chance to talk back. Frustration compounding frustration.

“Earth’s Stranding was only a trial run, kid. Today… today is when the real fun starts. Now stay still and let me aim…” Higgs closed one eyes and tilted his head, like he was aiming down the sights of a pistol. His hand stopped swaying, and he sucked in a breath. “Bang.”

Riku felt his body unfreeze, stumbling forward from his conserved momentum. He recovered, made an attempt to run forward and get Higgs. An explosion from above erupted to stop him from doing exactly that.

He didn’t even have the time to turn his head in its direction, before a lightning bolt struck him in the chest and sent him to the floor. The hit sucked the breath right out his chest, and as he found himself on the floor, gasping for air combined with fighting through the pain of lightning bolt, Tony^2’s voice rang out over the intercom system again.

“Oh, that’s not good. Hull breach detected down in the cargo bay, I’d recommend steering clear of that deck until we get out of this storm and begin repairs. If you’re already in there… I hope you can hold your breath. If you’re not, please keep extinguishing fires so I can fly us out of here.”

Riku’s mind cursed at him, both Tony² for his awful advice and Riku himself for failing. But his mind didn’t have much time to continue the self-flagellation, because at the same time the shuttle left the ship, Riku felt himself getting sucked right back off the floor and towards the ceiling.

And he was headed right for that breach.

Riku forced himself out of that haze, forced his body to work through electrically cramped muscles to do something, anything to stop himself from getting sucked into the coldness of space. But while his limbs flailed, his momentum only got faster, his destiny only coming closer. No spells to save him, and he certainly couldn’t muster the ability fly.

So this was it for him? He was going to die on his first day as a SOLDIER? Riku was almost resigned to his fate, until Zack’s voice screamed out.

“Blizzard!”

The sound of a biotic spell being cast rang through the cargo bay, and Riku felt a cold chill run through him as the spell flew past. A second later Riku heard the spell hit, heard ice spread, and immediately felt himself fall back down to the floor. Looking up as he fell, Riku closed his eyes and braced for impact… only to land in Zack’s arms.

Riku was dazed for a second, looking up at the cargo bay’s ceiling and finding the breach that had just been there was replaced by a large patch of ice. No doubt unstable, but strong enough for Riku and Zack to get out of the bay. As if speaking of the devil, it was Zack’s voice that pulled him back out of his thoughts.

“Riku? Are you alright?”

“Uh… can you put me down first?”

“Oh, yeah.” Zack let out a huff, placing Riku back on his feet. “As I was saying; are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” Riku stuffed his hands in his pocket, staring past Zack as he let out a sigh. “But Higgs got away. With the mask.”

“That’s fine.”

Riku’s gaze snapped to Zack, a mix of confusion and frustration painting his expression. “What? Didn’t you hear me? Higgs escaped! He told me, he’s gonna cause another stranding. He said… he said the Death Stranding was just the start.”

“So what?” Zack smiled at Riku. “We’ll stop him.”

“Are you kidding?”

“Nope.”