Mask or Menace ☂ IC Phone Post

[numberthree]

INBOX Voice | Text | Call | Video | Surprise Me A flat computer automated voice comes on and states in monotone: "This is the voicemail box for Allison Hargreeves. Leave a message at the beep."

Luther

Diego

Klaus

Five

Ben

Vanya

code credit

Comments

aegis force; closing time.

[obediences]

New year. New him. A bright new future looking like himself again; Allison's new year's kiss still burning on his cheek; signing up for more responsibilities at Aegis, feeling more like himself again.

What it wasn't meant to be: a long silence from Helix Station, no word on his upcoming shift rotation, and all of the agents' IDs appearing deactivated on the network. All of them all at once, as if eight doors all slammed shut at the same time. They've been through this before, and Port-Outs aren't uncommon, so Luther tells himself — firmly, pragmatically — to not worry. Not to jump to conclusions.

He lets a day go by. Twenty-four hour Port-Outs aren't uncommon, either; that had happened when he'd come back with his Televator power, after all.

But the more that Luther tests sending further messages to teammates that he didn't know all that well and had rarely spoken to, and even their accounts are deactivated, that fear starts ticking higher and higher in his throat. And he decides to look into it. Just in case.

He's thinking it could be a trap, it could be some sort of attack or abduction targeted at Aegis Force itself — the team's made a few enemies over the years — but the news is already starting to spread over the course of the next day's morning, afternoon, and then heading into evening. It's looking like a mass Port-Out, possibly like what happened when they all went to the City (or to that golden island—). Maybe it's happening again, and this time he's just the one left behind.

In the end, on that second day, he waits for Allison to get home and then asks her to come with. He isn't as stubborn these days about going it alone.

They head to Maurtia Falls together, where she'd once lived, and Luther keys in his security credentials at the entrance to the massive white citadel of Helix Station, and they enter the echoingly empty lobby. He's used to seeing the place bustling, with up to fifteen agents at a time, with the occasional visiting civilian asking for help, or government reps here for meetings. Tonight, however, the place is empty. His hair is standing up at the back of his neck, and he's waiting for— something, anything, to reveal itself, but the fact remains that there's nothing here to fight. And that's worse. It's just empty.

"I talked to some of the non-imPort admins earlier today," Luther says, in that crisp curtness that she recognises as his Number One voice, "and they confirmed that they haven't seen anybody else around. All of the other agents are just... gone."