S3, E8 | Derelict

\ Realm of Reality /

“Back away from the premises this instant!” a general exclaims, standing at the forefront of his unit with a bullhorn in hand, the angry mob that stands before him, some waving fists in the air. Surging forward, an armoured cavalcade moves toward the unit, its progression moving sluggishly as the vehicle advances, its path largely blocked by the hostile mass impeding its furtherance.

“This is fucking absurd” Scarlett murmurs, she and Vic having sought the comfort of a nearby set of bushes, concealing their identities as the group holds firm, refusing to let the convoy through. “I think releasing the video is even more absurd” Vic responds, her hands shuffled away to the sanctuary of her back pockets as she kneels toward the ground, her knee pressing into soft dirt, “this is the kind of thing that can cause a revolt.”

“Yeah- that’s why I don’t think they did” Scarlett quickly responds, lowering herself close to the ground as Vic’s face gazes into hers. “Well, who else would have gotten it?” Vic queries, her eyes wandering back to the mass collective gathered at the troops’ borders, “I’m pretty sure it wasn’t a news helicopter- it would have gotten out by now, wouldn’t it have?”

“I saw the wreckage when we took that first shot at him, it wasn’t” Scarlett retorts, her left hand draped against her bent left knee, “but that doesn’t mean it was the police’s call to put the video out there.” Her head shaking, Vic thinks quietly for a moment before taking Scarlett by the wrist, her right hand snapping its first three digits together as they evacuate the once-quiet town.

“Who else could have done it?” Vic inquires, leaving her knee as she steps through the parlour of their Maldives villa, approaching the set of sliding doors near the room’s back. “The only people that would have a motive to do it would be some anarchist looking to set fires and walk away” Vic proceeds, stepping onto the terrace as Scarlett slowly follows, her hands swatting at her jeans’ stained left knee, “and I have my doubts that Lincoln or Suzie managed this from the grave.”

Tucked behind her ears, Scarlett’s long, blonde locks flow in the wind as she joins her friend upon their Arabian Sea overlook. “Does it matter at this rate?” Scarlett raises the question, her sights setting upon the waves that crash into the large, wooden stumps that support their home. “What’s done is done. Praireville was fucking destroyed and it doesn’t seem like it’s coming back” Scarlett remarks, her hands folded atop the bannister’s railing, “people were bound to question it eventually.”

“Yeah, ‘eventually’ is a lot different from right now” Vic responds, her right elbow pressing into the railing as her hip rests against the glass divider beneath it, her front centred upon Scarlett. “Lincoln and Suzie may not be alive anymore, but we sure as hell still are” the brunette persists, “with that video out there, how long will it be before someone sees us use our powers? How long will it be before someone mistakes us for the same kind of crazy as Lincoln?”

“Has it happened yet?” Scarlett quickly counters, the question redirecting the conversations focus entirely. Her mouth closing, Vic looks to Scarlett with a frown, her eyes gliding toward the greater Maldives coastline a near kilometre away. “We’re not fugitives, and we’re not on the run. We haven’t been ousted yet and we live in paradise” Scarlett continues, letting free a sigh as Vic’s eyes pull toward her own, “can’t we just enjoy whatever time we have left?”

Rolling her eyes, Vic offers a frustrated sigh as she turns away, returning to the home in a curious way. “What did I say?” Scarlett inquires, following Vic back toward the parlour with the assumption that she’d crossed the line somewhere. 

“I don’t fucking understand you anymore!” Vic exclaims, throwing her arms toward the sky as she spins around, facing Scarlett once more, “you convince me to not fight what the realm wants, then spend weeks ignoring me to do the exact opposite, and now you’re right back with the ‘live each day like it’s your last’ bullshit!”

“What more do you want me to do!?” Scarlett shouts, her face scrunching as it turns red with anger, frustration taking her over almost immediately. “I told you that I knew there was a chance that I could have been wrong!” Scarlett continues, kept from continuing as Vic interrupts her. “And what did it take you to figure that one out? Huh!?” Vic qualms, stepping forward with a visibly fury, “the realm turning itself into some freak with a mouth to tell you it was all fucking hopeless!?”

Bowing her head, Scarlett’s hands find their place upon her hips as the room falls quiet, the soft waves that shift beneath their home filling the background with faint noise. “I’m sorry” Scarlett sympathetically replies, her eyes taking toward her disheartened friends’ face, Vic’s loss for words quickly becoming apparent. “I turned you away and I shouldn’t have” Scarlett further explains, watching Vic’s head bow just as her own had, “families fight. We’re no different.”

Her nostrils flaring, Vic’s chin lifts, her face still filled with a simmering aggravation, its flame having been reignited. “Yeah, we are” Vic responds, backing away as the fingers on her right hand press closely together, “we’re not family.”

Mirroring similar actions to those Scarlett had taken, Vic vanishes without another word, refusing to allow the opportunity for her friend to put in a final word. Looking toward an empty corner of the room, Scarlett shakes her head just as she turns away, sights setting upon the vast waters beyond as she conscientiously makes the effort to calm herself, reclaiming her calm demeanour from the grasp of shamefaced vitriol.

= Dream Sequence is created by Zachary Serra, all rights to the series belong to Zachary Serra and the entity of Pacer1 Media from the start of Season 1 onwards =

\ Realm of Reality /

With her head hung, Vic follows the Bourbon Street walkway, its roads largely void of travellers in light of recent circumstances. Her brunette hair falling over her silk top-strewn shoulders, Vic carries on with her day, the sky clear of obstructions as the sunlight rains down upon her.

“Get indoors, lady!” a nearby man exclaims, sitting at the entrance of a cramped, narrow alleyway with a paper bag in hand, “it’s not safe out here!” Her eyebrow raised, Vic barely passes the man an ounce of her concern, “why is that?” she asks, hands hung by her sides as she walks along.

“‘Cause the world’s ending!” the man shouts back, a few teeth from the bottom row of his mouth visibly absent, replaced with nothing more than an empty gap. “Why didn’t anyone tell me?” Vic half-heartedly mocks, continuing her venture as the man responds. “‘Cause no one believes it!” the man exclaims, kicking over a metal cup as he uncrosses his legs for a moment, “but it’s happening! It’s happening and we’re all gonna feel it!”

Pausing her leisurely stroll, Vic takes her head toward the man’s street-side corner, unable to shake the feeling that the nonsensical ramblings may have some weight behind them. “I’ve seen crazier things happen” Vic responds, squinting to brace against the sunlight shining in the distance directly over the older man’s head, “how’s the world going to end?”

With a chuckle, the man’s head tilts backward, his hand fumbling along the ground in search of his overturned cup. “It’s gonna make the wrong choice, girl!” the man grunts, lifting the cup to his lip before spitting into it, flashing what’s left of his smile in Vic’s direction, “we’re all gonna pay for it!”

Her face gradually lessening its tension-filled muscles, Vic subtly bobs her head and carries onward, her regard carried elsewhere without another word to offer.

|

\ Realm Beyond - Eternal Office /

Her fingers curling, Scarlett angrily steps through the halls of the Realm Beyond, her hand thrown forward without anything leaving her grasp. Within seconds, a distant explosion rips through the eternal office’s nondescript walls, her mastery of the time grenade seemingly improving the longer it’s tested.

As the minutes pass, Scarlett begins her descent through a massive stretch of floorspace, walls stretching dozens of levels through the air lining each side she walks. Nearing the halfway-point between the way she’d entered and the destination she has yet to arrive at, Scarlett’s eyes take to the lone ghoul rounding the corner ahead, its attention directed toward her the moment it steps foot within the labyrinth-like walkway.

The growling it greets Scarlett with is kept to a minimum, the ghoul continues along its journey, its intent clearly not set on cutting Scarlett’s voyage short. Despite the lack of ill-intentions behind the emotionless display the feral entity has put forth, Scarlett summons her service weapon, its brilliant shade of blue illuminating the walls she walks through, the ghoul’s progression forward stopping upon this sight.

As if accepting its fate, the ghoul’s head begins to hang, eyes directed toward the floor as it falls, knees colliding with the ground below. Already aware of the effect she has on the aimless that wander the halls equally destination-depraved, Scarlett remains somewhat taken aback by the sight, unsure how to react for a brief moment before acting upon her instinct.

Raising the weapon, Scarlett pulls her index finger over where she’d anticipate the trigger to be, the lack of a fired pellet making her question what had gone wrong. Glancing to her side, Scarlett’s eyes take to her hand, the trigger guard she’d expected her face to fall toward replaced instead with a handle, the reality-warping firearm’s body having become the hilt of a blade, the barrel of her weapon’s tip replaced with the sharpened edge of a blade.

“All hail the king” the ghoul remarks sadly, momentarily looking up to Scarlett before returning its head toward the ground, the blonde woman’s posture changing upon this strange discovery. Looking upon the back of the ghoul’s semi-decrepit skull, Scarlett lowers her service dagger for a brief moment, its blue tip falling into the ghoul’s line of sight.

“Do you say anything else?” Scarlett inquires, prompting the feral soul to lift its head once more, its eyes travelling toward the hall’s distance. Without a word, the ghoul gently shakes its head in refusal, eyes lowering as its head bows once more, awaiting the sentencing its decided king prepares to bestow.

A disappointed look carried in her face, Scarlett’s eyes take to the way she’d arrived, now carrying the fate of the ghoul that prepares to step within it. Relinquishing her service dagger, Scarlett steps back, watching the ghoul’s face lift toward her. “Carry on, ghoulie” Scarlett orders, resuming her stride toward her initial destination as the feral spirit watches on, surprised at his life being spared.

“Is that growth I see?” a hauntingly familiar voice inquires, freezing Scarlett in the place she stands, her attention called back for the moment her first syllable is uttered. Her service dagger summoned once more, Scarlett spins around, her face returned to its bright, blue colour in the shade of her weapon.

“It does become grating eventually, doesn’t it?” Suzie’s voice whispers, her semi-transparent, ghost-like body standing directly within Scarlett’s sights, the red glow in her eyes leaving little to assume. “What the hell are you doing here?” Scarlett inquires, stepping away from the concerning sight as she wields the dagger, prepared to lunge her hand forward at the first sign of danger.

“What? Did you think I’d die and not find my way back to the realm?” Suzie inquires, stepping around Scarlett’s tense, defence-readied self as the living woman turns with her. “You’re dead” Scarlett responds, a remark that Suzie’s apparition can only nod in agreement to. “Of course I am, you already made sure of that” Suzie replies, her chin lowering as her red eyes stare intensely into Scarlett’s deep blue’s, “and soon enough, you will be too.”

|

\ Realm of Reality /

Making her way through the empty parlour, Vic picks up on the strange sense of loneliness carried throughout her home, Scarlett’s absence making the villa feel larger than it truly is. Though she carries a photograph in her hand, Vic’s attention holds upon the empty living room, the white falls falling to a dark, greyish colour as the sun outside begins to fall behind the cloudy sky.

Brushing off the odd aura surrounding her, Vic takes her photo through the sliding glass doors, her feet carrying her directly to the cushion-covered patio chair. With a sigh of relief, Vic sinks into the seat just as the large, burning star her planet orbits around becomes covered entirely, her hand extending toward the heavens as she closes her eyes.

“You’re just going to say goodbye” Vic murmurs beneath her breath, her eyes closing tightly as her head tilts back, her breaths steadying as her head sinks further into the seat’s welcoming embrace. “You’re just going to say goodbye” Vic repeats, her eyes slowly releasing from their intense closure, gradually returning Vic’s view to the puffy clouds above, “you’re just saying goodbye.”

Parting, Vic’s sights take to the photograph momentarily, the blue skies greying ahead of schedule as the world goes numb, Vic’s mind travelling with the rest of her body elsewhere.

A breath of relief leaving her lungs at the sound of glass cups clanging together, Vic awakens in a world mirroring that of her own, a downtown bar packed to its limits in every direction she turns. “Happy twenty-first!” one older woman shouts in the distance, joining a group of friends as they surround a younger lady not too dissimilar from herself, a celebratory drink thrown down in unison.

“Yeah, happy twenty-first” Vic mutters beneath her breath, tapping an older man nearby on the shoulder to little effect, her presence not only unattended to, but non-existent itself. Stepping around those she crosses paths with, Vic’s eyes navigate the busy bar room, billiard tables surrounded by beer-holding men whilst booths sit occupied by younger, less bar-experienced groups.

A metaphorical fish out of water, Vic listens into conversations that surround her, waiting a few moments and traversing a few further tables before finally uncovering what she’d hoped for. “To the first drink of the night!” one woman from a group of others exclaims, an abundance of shot glasses clinking together at the nearest booth, its tall seats situated in the corner of the establishment.

Her eyelids pulling away from each other slightly, Vic’s attention takes to the declaration, a group of familiar faces capturing her attention. As the unfortunate club remix of already unbearable pop songs blaring through randomly scattered stereo speakers persists, Vic drowns the garble out, her senses refusing to pay any mind to the distractions that surround her.

“God, we haven’t done this in forever!” one woman, seemingly belonging to the group’s older side by her appearance, remarks aloud, the palms of her hands pressing against the table. “Well, most of us have kids- I don’t know why you’d expect any different” a second woman, likely on the group’s younger side replies, turning her glass over before resting it atop the booth.

“I’ll still never be able to understand why you’d do that to yourselves” a third woman, also likely belonging to the table’s younger demographic remarks, tying her hair into a short ponytail. “Because they make our lives whole” a fourth woman, whose voice immediately brings the hairs on the back of Vic’s neck to a stand, responds, “you can’t for much more than a happy family.”

“Who’s got a happy family here, Bethanne!?” a fifth girl shouts aloud, her attention driven to the mid-30’s brunette sat near the booth’s rear. “Don’t dig on her and Artie like that!” the second girl responds, her index finger directed toward the question-baring lady, “every marriage has its troubles!”

Raising her hands in surrender, the fifth girl defends herself, clearing the air before it has the opportunity to grow fuzzy. “I never named names! You’re the one who named names!” she responds, the woman serving as the conversation’s subject forced to get involved in splitting the discussion apart. “Let’s not start arguing when we’ve got plenty ahead!” Bethanne quips, sliding past her situated friends on her way to the bar counter, “we’ve got too long of a night ahead for that!”

The potential debate thwarted before it has the chance to begin, the group of girls collectively cheer as their fifth occupant steps away from the carrel. Her eyes watching Bethanne pass by, Vic remains silent, her chest tightening as her eyes fill with emotion, her hands shaking by her hips without certainty over how to respond.

Her every breath growing shaky, Vic begins to tail the older lady, following the path she wages ahead as she steps between men and women at random. Occupying an empty seat at the counter, Bethanne snaps her fingers at the rushing bartender whilst Vic watches on, the fish-out-of-water presentation she’d sported previously having strengthened as the minutes pass.

“Ten tequila shots, please!?” Bethanne exclaims, waiting a few further seconds before the steward delivers her a nod. Taking advantage of her inconspicuousness, Vic peers over Bethanne’s shoulder as the woman removes a phone from her purse, her thumbs immediately dancing across the screen to open her text messages.

As the seat beside the patron opens, Vic’s hands swipe through the air, freezing time before it has the chance to pass any further, each frequenter of the bar left immobile as Vic sets herself down. Her left arm pressing against the oakwood countertop, Vic’s eyes take to the woman she’d centred her focus upon, her lip quivering as her mind wrestles with the words to speak.

“I’m sorry this had to be the place we did this in” Vic opens, trying her best to loosen the rigid posture she sports whilst her eyes take to the remainder of the rowdy tavern. “I really wish I would have picked a better place than this” Vic explains, making an attempt at becoming more comfortable with the situation she finds herself in, settling into the stool she occupies whilst coupling her hands together, the base of her palms resting against the bar.

“I never thought I’d see you again” Vic mutters beneath her breath, parting her interlaced fingers to rest her hand upon the woman’s wrist, a sudden crack in her voice emerging, “hi mom.” Her mouth going dry, Vic uses her free hand to cover her lips, tears beginning to run from her eyes as a result of the conflicting gestures.

“Goddamn, this is hard” Vic murmurs to herself, shaking her head as she pulls her hand away, rubbing the top of her jean-covered thighs as her head bows. “I don’t really know what I was expecting” Vic murmurs, pretending the conversation she has is one with the woman responsible for raising her, “there’s so much I thought I wanted to say that I- I convinced myself I’d never have all the time to say it.”

Her fingers running through her hair, Vic begins to lean back, her left hand wrapped around the counter’s curve to prevent herself from toppling over. “Sometimes I forget I have these powers, y’know?” Vic continues, her eyes beginning to water once more as her words stray from the script she’d prepared, her heart assuming control of her voiced thoughts, “I forget I could have all the time- literally all the time- in the world to do... To do anything.”

Licking her dry lips, Vic holds her hand against her mouth as the sensation of sorrow becomes too much to carry, her eyes pressing together as she leans forward. “I just don’t really know what to do anymore” Vic weeps, looking into the side of her mother’s face, “it’s like all of this just keeps ripping pieces of me away- and I didn’t even know how many pieces I had left before it all began!”

Hyperventilating, Vic wipes the tears from her face as she struggles to speak, each compilation of words spoken through spotty breaks in her speech. “All I had was Scarlett and now, well, now it feels like I’m gonna lose her too” Vic explains, clenching her teeth whilst returning her touch to Bethanne’s hand. “I didn’t know how badly I wanted all of this to be over until now” Vic confesses, squeezing the woman’s arm tightly as her head rests against Bethanne’s shoulder.

“But now I’ve started to realise that- when all of this is over- I’m gonna lose everything I have left” Vic proceeds, her breathing finally beginning to fall under control, “so, no matter what I do, I keep living this cycle of hell that just never stops.”

Pulling her head up, Vic looks to her mother’s face, pulling in a deep breath as her eyes redirect, staring at the counter for a moment before taking to the phone screen. Her once saddened expression turning around, Vic’s eyes wander through the contact list upon her mother’s phone display, recognising one specific combination of name and face from the many others.

“Lincoln” Vic whispers beneath her breath, her hand pulling away from Bethanne’s shoulder as she backs away, her once bitter-rival’s face on the single message log above her father’s own. With a scowl, Vic’s face fills with anger, her attention squarely centred upon the back of her mother’s head. “Bye mom” Vic callously remarks, her fingers sliding against each other as time resumes, Vic’s presence returned to the realm above as more important matters occupy her headspace.

|

\ Realm Beyond - Eternal Office /

“You still haven’t answered my question” Scarlett responds, tailing Suzie’s spirit closely with her service dagger in hand, cautious to ease her guard for even the slightest moment. “Which one was that again?” Suzie mocks, a smirk carried on her face as she turns her head around one hundred and eighty degrees, eyes locking with Scarlett’s, “you ask so many that I sometimes forget you want them answered.”

“What’s the abrasion?” Scarlett queries, her eyes kept peeled, still uncertain as to whether or not Suzie’s ghostly figure can inflict damage upon her. “Oh, you finally found that old thing?” Suzie laughs, her head shaking as she proceeds at Scarlett’s whim, stepping through the executive sector’s massive depths as her body begins to momentarily destabilise, almost glitching in a weird sense.

“That’s the canyon Razul, Kazro and I emerged from to get inside this god-forsaken hellhole” Suzie responds, a slight amount of spite carried behind her remarks, almost bitter in a way. “Then fucking fix it” Scarlett responds, provoking Suzie into a fit of laughter as the climbs the first set of stairs. “That’s your job, darling- not mine” Suzie’s soul replies, again beginning to rapidly glitch, “after all, I was only able to make it by combining Vic and your DNA.”

“Then uncreate it” Scarlett responds, persuading Suzie to halt her march forward as she reaches the top-most step, her eyes beginning to roll. “The two of you need to step through it if you want that to happen” Suzie replies, looking Scarlett in the eyes as they stand one step apart, “there’s nothing in this realm, neither you or Vic, Lincoln or I, or even Esotera that knows who you and Vic are better than that abrasion.”

Gazing away momentarily, Scarlett takes Suzie’s remarks to heart for a moment whilst the forefront woman moves onward, leading herself to the vast workroom.

“What happens if I step through it?” Scarlett inquires, following Suzie toward the collection of desks in the next room over, a few brief glances shared with the realm’s red-coloured wound paid as the discourse persists. “It’ll show you who the two of you are, I’d assume” Suzie replies, venturing down a line of desks with Scarlett in her shadow, “either that, or it’ll kill you. Either way, I’m fine with whatever outcome happens.”

“That’s just great” Scarlett returns, the remark she follows with guiding Suzie’s attention back the way she’d entered, her eyes falling upon Scarlett’s distressed expression. Attempting to speak, Suzie’s figment goes momentarily silent, her eyes travelling to a dark corner of the room as she struggles with what she tries to say aloud.

“I’d really try to keep that growth going if I were you” Suzie remarks, nodding to herself briefly as she turns away, continuing her patrol. “Why is that?” Scarlett goes out, again prompting Suzie to halt her departure, her face turning back just as the rest of her body does. “Because this is right around the time it happened” Suzie replies, able to see Scarlett’s face shrink in curiosity, “around the time Chris and I had our fallout.”

Nodding, Scarlett’s lips pucker as her head’s up-and-down motion begins to swivel from one side to the other. “Vic and I are on good terms” Scarlett responds, watching Suzie subdue a laugh that prevents her from speaking further. “Yeah, Chris and I were too-” Suzie responds, coupling her hands together as she steps forward, easing her approach as Scarlett lifts her service dagger a slight amount, “-that’s when the sabotage began.”

Her posture as unchanged as her demeanour, Scarlett watches Suzie continue as the thoughts encircle her mind, the sudden emergence of banging in the spacious hall they occupy captivating Scarlett’s sights. “Have you noticed Vic sticking her nose in things it doesn’t belong yet?” Suzie inquires, continuing to draw closer as her hand reaches out, another set of knocks emerging in the unseen levels above.

“Police, open your door!” a distant shout calls out from above, stealing Scarlett’s attention as Suzie’s smirk widens, her words only continuing to linger upon Scarlett’s mind. “Maybe you’ve seen her doing things you can’t explain? Maybe you don’t know how to make sense of them yet?” Suzie inquires further, watching Scarlett’s head shake as the pounding above continues, “things that, as long as you trust that she’d never do you wrong, she’d be able to get away with?”

“Vic’s not that person” Scarlett replies defiantly, again listening to the angered knocking persist. “Police! Open your door!” the voice above repeats, captivating Scarlett enough to draw her face upward, nearly allowing Suzie’s creeping hand to draw near. “You’re both after the same thing” Suzie responds, Scarlett’s arm nearly gracing the tip of her finger, “why should either of you have to stab the other in the front when you can just do it in the back instead?”

Leaping away from her place, Scarlett creates further separation between herself and Suzie before snapping herself free of the realm, returning to the world she’s needed within.

Her feet colliding with the floor of the villa’s parlour, Scarlett takes Vic’s arm into her grasp as the brunette approaches the front door. “We have to go!” Scarlett shouts, again snapping her fingers as she vanishes into thin air, the girls fleeing their villa just as the front door is kicked in, a fleet of officers armed to the teeth storming through their entrance just a moment too late, a patch of the American flag adorned on the left sleeve of each armed soldier as they invade the home.

== Dream Sequence ==