Chapter Text
Purple was lost.
They had rushed off in fury without thinking, too distracted by their anger to really take notice of where they were going.
Now they were wandering between old tall grey buildings on a road that seemed to continue on forever. There were no helpful signs on this road to keep track of where they were.
Purple sighed. This isn't how the security wanted the landing of the Skeld to go. They didn't think they'd ever miss their life before this job.
Purple thought back to Heracles. If only the fish was still alive, they wouldn't have to feel lonely again.
Purple's thoughts wandered back to Red, but stopped quickly. There was no point in thinking about the captain now. Red didn't care, they were probably already at MIRA helping them cover up the whole stupid incident. Classic.
Still, Purple couldn't help but feel a little guilty about their lashout back at the ship. It's true Red had been irritating the whole way ever since they left the MIRA HQ. But if Purple knew Red at all, they knew the captain had no ill intentions. It was more so that...they were very confusing. At times Purple had thought they knew Red, knew how they thought and acted. Knew they would never cause harm to anyone out of free will.
But Purple had been proven wrong before by the red crewmate themselves.
Come on, Purps! Don't do this. We can trust MIRA.
We can just pretend like nothing happened.
No Biggie!
Purple shivered.
Non-existent brows furrowed, Purple started hopping forward, desperate for a distraction. Maybe they could find a relaxing place to sit and think things through. Come up with a gameplan now that they were surely getting fired from MIRA. Not that they were planning to stay anyway.
That's when Purple heard it — tens of amongi footsteps approaching from the direction they were headed to. They froze.
Purple stopped to listen, and sure enough now they could hear the steps clearer. They saw nothing in the distance no matter how far they tried to see, due to their vision being blocked by smokey clouds infront.
Still, Purple started to panic. Were they crewmates sent by MIRA? What did they want? Was it just a protest? Another NDA?
In any case Purple needed a way out, and quick. They started hurriedly searching around for a way to hide.
Suddenly they spotted a sewer hole nearby. As they heard the steps getting closer, they made a hasty decision to lift the sewer door, climb in and close the door behind them.
Purple felt their hands shaking. No matter what, they shouldnt be in danger, so why did alarms start blaring in their head anyway?
They looked around the sewer, it was as expected. Dirty, wet and a little gross. There was rubbish everywhere, caused by all the industrial machines on the planet's surface. The sewer kind of reminded Purple of the ship vents which they tried very hard not to think about.
Instead, Purple concentrated on listening for any sounds from above. Surely the crewmates had already caught up. The purple crewmate had no clue what they could want.
Only small buzzing could be heard. It sounded like the crewmates who had come were talking on a radiophone, but Purple could only hear some of it through the sewer door:
"...**** zzzz...disappeared? Zzz... Must...Find....Can't let leave Industria..."
Purple froze. Had they just heard correctly? The crewmates must be MIRA workers then. There's no other way they could've...
Well theres was one thing they did know.
Purple was screwed.
_____
Red was having the time of their life.
While looking for the MIRA offices, they had stumbled into a crew of fellow ex-captains such as Red themselves. They had offered Red a drink and let them into the group. Everyone was very eager to share their heroic experiences and Red was listening intensely, their visor shimmering. They took another chug from their red plastic cup.
That's when a blue crewmate brought up the captain's handbook and Red almost choked on their drink.
"This thing has helped out a ton!" Blue exclaimed, "Any issue I have had on board have all been solved by a page on this book! It's like magic."
Everyone else around the table seemed to agree, nodding and showing thumbs up, chuckling in unision. Red gulped. They really didn't ever want to see that handbook again. Luckily, it was time for Red to take action anyway.
"So... talking about the handbook, do you guys know where id get at new one? Kinda uh, lost mine...in an accident ...on the ship", Red chuckled nervously.
Well that wasn't smooth at all.
It seemed to do the trick though. A maroon-colored crewmate perked up, "Yeah you can get another one from MIRA If you ask i'm sure. They got tons of copies!"
"Great, know where I could find them?"
Look. Red wasn't stupid nor ignorant, well maybe a little. Atleast that's what Purple would say.
But Red wasn't going to be able to talk to MIRA that easily. Despite Red working for them, it seemed like they had totally gone radio silent after what happened with Green and the eggs. It was all the more suspicious.
Red had no paperwork and wasn't called anywhere after they had landed. It's like they all already knew what had happened.
Red suspected they knew the reason. What exactly had informed them, or who.
After a moment Red sheepishly excused themselves from the company of the ex-captains and thanked them before leaving swiftly. They weren't going to lie, they had gotten a bit caught up in the conversation, but the plan had succeeded.
Red looked down on the paper they got instructions on. The captains had been nice enough to write down even the doorlock codes. See! Red wasn't totally useless!
The building was surprisingly near, to Red's delight. Approaching the facility, the first thing Red noticed was how abandoned it looked. No lights were on, there was a singular broken window next to the entrance and the walls were dusty grey. They probably hadn't been taken care of properly in years.
Glancing at their paper Red apporoached the entrance. It was a pair of glass doors and the wall above them looked like it might crumble down any second.
Red was really starting to have second thoughts about this. But they were doing this for Purple, so they couldn't back out now.
Putting their fears aside they held up the paper and read the scribbling on the corner, the entrance code.
They dialed it in on the keylock beside the doors and sure enough, the doors slowly opened with a creak.
Walking in Red winced a little at the dusty smell covering the building. Going forward they came to a dark empty hall with desks on both sides and an elevator at the end. Looking around they realized they couldn't see or hear anyone. Was this really the right address?
Red looked for a light switch to be able to see better, and spotted one right beside them. Reaching they flipped it to 'on' mode.
Aand nothing happened.
Red sighed. Did anyone really work here? Maybe they should just go back and–
Crash.
Red nearly jumped out of their skin.
Someone just had crashed down from a vent above Red that they had missed. They got a glimpse of a grey blob.
Of course, their natural reaction was to run. When Red got to to the entrance door, they realized there was no way to open it on the other side. What kind of design is this???? They started slamming hurriedly on the door. They didn't want to die here! Red still had to go warn Purple and–
Red felt a poke at their back. "Hi! I-"
Red squealed.
Turns out it wasn't an impostor, but a mere worker. Red was happy they managed to stay calm and collected.
Now, they were squinting at the other crewmate in the building, suspicious. "So who are you?"
"I'm Grey!" Grey exclaimed, "I'm the mechanic of this place!... Well i'm also the engineer, and cleaner, and the electricity guy, and I do the delivery.."
Red took the chance of the crewmate rambling on to observe their appearence.
Grey was a light grey-colored crewmate with a red turtle neck. There was an antenna poking from their head and at it's tip there was a red metal ball. And also was their antenna wagging...?
Red sighed. What was with this crewmate? They appeared out of nowhere and scared them for no reason. Not that Red would ever fear anything. Now they seemed all unworried like this place wasn't actively collapsing on itself. If this really was the MIRA HQ of this planet then...
That's when Red perked up. "Wait, do you work for MIRA?" They questioned Grey, frowning.
Grey paused for a second. "Oh yes, MIRA! That's right, see I used to be a little orphan crewmate and then..."
Red couldn't care less about their backstory right now. "Where are they now?" Red murmured interrupting Grey's flashback monologue.
Grey seemed to think about that one for a while. "Umm... Dunno! They just left me in charge of this building in particular haha. No clue why! But they gave me purpose in life by giving me this job", Grey prattled.
"Right..." Red squinted at the mechanic..electric guy..whatever.
Red did not trust this crewmate at all. There was definitely something they were hiding. They don't think they had ever met someone as suspicious as them.
Red's thoughts wandered momentarily to a particular green-colored 'crewmate', and sighed.
"Is there somewhere I can find them?" Red still asked, desperate.
"Well all of their emails go through here so I'm sure there would be info on it if you need! Did I tell you im also the email guy?" Grey babbled.
Red spluttered. "You'd help me?"
"Of course! You seem like a trustworthy crewmate."
"Right...thanks."
Red started following Grey along the hall. Even if this was a trap, Red had nothing else to go off of. This suspicious mechanic was their only lead. MIRA wouldnt try to get rid of Red now would they? Maybe. Probably.
Soon, they arrived to a room with a dusty old computer. Grey walked up to it and pressed the 'on' button.
Nothing happened.
"Jeesh these things seem to never work these days!" Grey complained.
Red was getting ready to get jumped any second, already hastily searching for a way out of the room just in case.
Nobody came, though. Grey just gave the computer a few quick harsh hits, tried it again, and the computer started booting.
"Voilà!" Grey said a little bit too excited to show off their special...skills.
Red was irredeemably unimpressed, but kept their mouth shut for the sake of maybe finally obtaining useful information.
Grey did a few clicks and dragged open an email window effortesly.
"So..are you also the hacker of MIRA?" Red remarked.
Grey did not pick up on the sarcasm.
"Nope! But it does get boring here so I've been fooling around with these computerd for quite a while now!"
Red didn't respond to that. Still too suspicious to engage in actual conversation with this grey blob.
That's when Grey opened up an email that got their attention immediately.
"Wait, let me see that", Red scrambled to the computer and bumped to Grey's side.
__
Subject: ATTENTION!
Crewmate ID PURP# is on the loose. They have been identifed as a threat to our company and to what we strive to attain.
To protect the company, they must be brought to court at once. Search teams are already being deployed to go after the suspect. If you see them, or know anything, contact our task forces at once via the company radiophones given to you.
The suspect is purple, and they are wearing a dark blue security outfit and a cap to go with it.
They have last been spotted at the edge of Industria, at the spaceport, West of the launch site.
Attached to this email is also a photo of the target. See more down below ...
__
Red's breathing stopped.
No.
They thought they were using Purple only as a scapegoat, but now they were actively hunting them down too? Red could only imagine what they were so afraid of.
But they did have to find Purple, now.
Unless it was already too late.
They turned on their heel back towards the entrance and started sprinting, leaving a confused Grey behind. Red imagined a poor Purple sitting in a cell, alone. They couldn't stand the thought!
Red started hitting the keylock inside and the doors automatically opened. Huh. Who knew that'd actually work.
They ran to the street with no plan, once again. Red was getting a kind of déjà vu.
Suddenly the ground below them started moving. They looked down to see they had stumbled into a sewer door that was slowly being lifted up with Red still on it.
Was this another plan of MIRA?! Had they caught onto Red?
That's when Red fell down the hole. Right onto something. Or someone.
Red recognized a familiar shade of purple. They had fallen onto Purple. The captain couldn't believe their eyes.
"Purp- Purple!" Red exclaimed and hugged the crewmate, "You aren't in a cell!"
Purple grumbled something unintelligable. "Can you get off of me", Purple murmured, "And why would I be in a cell?"
Red quickly realized their predicament of being on top of each other, in the bottom of a random sewer, and remembered where they had last left off. Red stood up. "Sorry! There's something you really need to hear though", they proceeded to explain in a rush. They made eye contact and Purple squinted in suspicion.
"I'm listening."