Chapter Text
Darkness.
That was the first thing Red saw upon opening their visor.
Complete, pitch black, darkness.
The kind you’d only really see when you’re a child and your parents have turned the lights off. A darkness so thick that it makes your skin crawl.
“Uhh… hello?!” Red called out, their voice echoing through the pitch black.
They looked down at their hands, or at least tried to, but the sheer oppressiveness of the darkness made them unable to see their own limbs.
That was when they heard it.
A whisper in the dark.
They looked up, visor scanning the endless abyss to try and find the source behind the noise, only to end up with nothing.
“Okay… that’s a little-” They started, only to be interrupted by another, much louder whisper.
“Why?” The voice spoke in a cold, raspy tone, its invisible breath crawling down their skin and bone. They shivered, turning back towards the noise, only for the sight to make them wish they never did.
Standing before them was the reanimated corpse of White, their body cut clean through by the center.
“Why did you do this to us?” They said in a wispy voice that made Red’s metaphorical hairs stand on end.
“I don’t know what you’re-” They tried to defend, only to be cut off by another voice.
“You knew.” The new voice, this one unmistakably belonging to Cyan, their suspicions being confirmed when their faceless, mutilated corpse approached from the dark.
“You knew there were aliens aboard the ship, yet you didn’t tell anyone.”
“I-”
“And all because of your loyalty to MIRA and to not harm your precious ego.” Another voice, Black, came from behind.
“You led them all straight to me.” Another voice, this one more clear and more smug than the last. The bodies of White, Cyan, and Black all began to rise into the air, attached to meaty tendrils, the repulsive form of the impostor, barely disguised within Green’s flesh, appearing before them, the corpses of all the other crewmates that had been killed held in each of its limbs.
“You could’ve ended this all far sooner, but no, you just had to follow your pathetic little manual, and now, because of you, all of these innocent crewmates are DEAD!” The impostor exclaimed with glee, the bodies of all those Red had failed pointing their fingers at them.
“Your fault.” They chanted.
“Your fault.” They cheered.
They kept repeating the same phrase over and over again. Red tried to block them out by covering their ears, but that only seemed to make the voices louder.
The laughs of the impostor, Green, reverberated through their mind like a twisted melody. Red began bashing their own skull, trying and failing to get the noises to stop.
When they could no longer take it, they did something only a coward like themselves would do.
They ran.
They ran and ran and ran.
Through the suffocating abyss they fled, not knowing where they were going but not daring stop. They needed to get out of there, they needed to leave, they needed to-
A hard impact causes them to topple over.
Their vision blurs, ears ringing.
For a moment, Red just sat there, trying to calm the droning in their head.
As their sight returns, and the ringing stops, they realize that those constant, taunting voices have ceased, leaving them in complete silence.
They look up, trying to gauge what it is they ran into.
“...Purple?”
Standing there, back turned to them, was Purple, the sight of them alone filling Red with instant relief.
“Purps!” They exclaimed, quickly getting to their feet.
“Boy am I happy to see you, I don’t know what’s going on here but…” They trailed off, the thoughts of what they had just seen and heard still fresh in their mind.
Purple remained silent, not turning to face them, the lack of reaction causing Red to pause for a moment, though they were quick to try and brush it off.
“But hey! None of that matters now, after all…” They reach out, placing a hand on Purple’s shoulder.
“As long as we have each other…” They begin to turn them around.
“We’ll be just…”
They froze.
What met them as they turned Purple to face them was not the comforting sight of their visor, but rather a large hole burrowed deep into their head, revealing the skin and bone that sat inside.
They immediately recoiled, the lifeless body of Purple to fall haplessly to the floor.
“No…” Red whispered.
“No no no no NO!” They surged forward, grabbing the corpse and cradling it desperately to their chest.
“Purple please, wake up. Wake up damnit!” They screamed, smacking the side of the corpse’s head, like doing so would suddenly cause them to awaken, as if they could still possibly be alive.
“Please.. don’t leave me…” They pleaded once more, voice broken and on the verge of tears.
“I… I love-”
Their words were cut off as a long, fleshy tendril found its way through their chest. Red gasped, choking on their own blood as it began to pool in their mouth, their body going slack as they were raised into the air and forced to once again face the very monster they had allowed onto their ship.
“Poor… sad… Captain.” The impostor droned with mock sympathy.
“Don’t worry Redsy… you’ll be with Purple soon.”
The chanting returned in full force as the monster brought them forward into their maw. Red tried to squirm, tried to scream, but all that came out was desperate gurgles.
The last thing they saw before they were swallowed whole, was the face of Pink, staring back at them.
Red awoke with a start, their breathing heavy and their heart rate through the roof. For a single, fleeting moment they didn’t know where they were, and it was only when they felt the stiffness their mattress and the cheap, scratchy material of their blanket that they were able to put two and two together.
Another nightmare.
What was it now? The fifth one this week? And each and every time it was about the same exact thing.
You’d think it wouldn’t affect them as much at this point, but alas, life was rarely ever fair.
With a resigned sigh, Red sat up in their worn, creaky, rickety old bed, visor gazing down at the floor, the only light source being those shining from the cracks of their blinder. Forcing themselves to their feet with considerable effort, they walked over to the window, and pulled open the blinder.
Streams of light blared through the scratched glass, illuminating the room and causing Red to wince and recoil, disembodied hands held over their visor as their sight gradually adapted to the sudden absence of darkness.
Their room of the apartment was about as miserable and unkempt as you’d expect a MIRA-owned property to be, the walls aged and worn, the ceiling looking as if it was on the brink of collapse, and a front door that was just moments away from breaking off of its hinges.
Yes indeed, this was the abode of the average employee, a true testament to how much they care.
Walking over to their bedside table, Red grabbed the framed picture that sat on top of it, staring at it with an expression of longing.
It was a photo of them and Purple, back when they were just unpaid interns at MIRA, their arms wrapped around one another as they smiled up at the camera.
With a sigh, Red set down the picture and stared blankly out the window.
“...I hope you’re okay, Purps, wherever you are.”
Red trudged through their home town without saying a word, their visor glued to the ground below them, desiring to pull the least attention to themselves as possible, not that that required much effort, where they lived now the only thing their fellow crewmates cared about was getting to work on time, a sentiment they shared… to an extent.
Soon approaching the bus station, Red dragged themselves along with their handbag under the hanger and sat themselves down, though not before something caught their attention.
Two wanted posters, displayed on the nearby wall, one showing a picture of Red, the other showing a picture of Purple, both of which talk about a “former MIRA employee turned fugitive evading law enforcement and disobeying direct orders.”
It wasn’t a new sight, far from it. Ever since their escape MIRA has been searching high and low for the two runaway crewmates who possess knowledge that could destroy their entire corporation were they to ever leak to the public.
Without a word, they reached a hand towards the poster displaying their name and face, hesitated, then grabbed Purple’s wanted poster, scrunching it into a paper ball and tossing it into the trashcan sitting next to the bleacher.
Moments later, the bus arrived, and Red stepped in.
The drive to their destination was mostly a silent one, what few crewmates that were on the bus having little interest in conversation, not that Red was complaining, they didn't either.
Stepping out at the correct stop, Red gazed skyward to their designated space shuttle, sitting there in all its bleak, sterile glory.
Without a word, they stepped inside and took a seat, slipping their bag under the chair.
They’d hoped their voyage would be a silent one, but they also knew such an expectation was unrealistic, especially with other young, giddy crewmates being on the ship with them. One of which seemed to take a keen interest in them.
“Hi there! I’m Fortegreen! What’s your name?” A green crewmate wearing a slice of cheese as a hat sitting next to them greeted.
Red had to do a double take, the sight of a green crewmate of all things making them feel on edge, certainly didn’t help that the crewmate in question sounded a little too much like them.
Ignoring the anxious pit in their stomach, Red put on a fake smile, offering their hand to shake.
“Nice to meet you, I’m Red.” They greeted with as much faux enthusiasm as they could manage, luckily it seemed to work as Fortegreen shook their hand without question.
“Wow! My first day getting to be a real MIRA employee and I’m already shaking hands with my coworkers, my parents would be proud!” They exclaimed cheerfully, continuing to shake Red’s hand for just a few seconds too long before letting go.
“Yeah… I’m sure they will be.” Red responded, pretending as if they had any knowledge or care for the other crewmate’s background.
Taking this moment to survey their surroundings, they took note of the other crewmates on the shuttle, six of them to be exact. One blue, one black, one cyan, one yellow, one purple-
They did a double take.
For just a moment, they could’ve sworn they’d seen that familiar security uniform they remembered so clearly from their partner, making their heart rate jump involuntarily, though that excitement was short-lived as they looked closer and realized that what they had seen was actually a business skirt, and this purple crewmate, while not physically dissimilar from their friend, lacked that cynical edge that made Purple… Purple.
The last crewmate in the lineup was coral-colored, a sight seldom seen by Red’s visor. They had perhaps the flashiest outfit of the group, their attention entirely consumed by the phone they had held up to their visor as they spat out nonsense about “live streams” and “giveaways.” Clearly an influencer of some sort.
Great.
As they got further away from civilization and closer to their destination, the run-down television setup automatically turned itself on and began playing an all-too-familiar employee training tape.
“Fun. Engagement. Fun-gagement! Here at MIRA Corporation, the company culture is so fun-gaging, it will have you making up words. Hi! I’m Orange! Don’t think of me as your HR rep, think of me as your HR family!”
Red inwardly cringed at the sight of their old coworker. Even after Orange’s demise MIRA was still using their old tapes to continue pushing their agenda.
They might not be all too fond of their former colleague in retrospect, but it still repulsed them to see Orange’s likeness being used and exploited from beyond the grave.
“You. Yes you! Have been selected for a very special job of going beyond the clouds to THE Mira Headquarters itself to make sure everything is in ship-shape! Because here at MIRA Corporation, we trust and respect our employees enough to get the job done!”
Red suppressed a scoff, what blatant lies Orange’s words were, they knew full well from experience that “trust” and “respect” had nothing to do with any of MIRA's decisions, it was all about increasing profits in the most cost effective way possible.
Their employees mean nothing to them, and the only reason they were letting them step aboard their headquarters was to take care of issues they couldn’t be bothered to fix themselves.
Of course, this was all from the perspective of someone who had seen first hand the kind of underhanded tactics this company uses, to the average crewmate on the other hand...
“Oooh! Did you hear that Red?! We get to explore the MIRA Headquarters! Isn’t that exciting!” Fortegreen exclaimed, practically vibrating in their seat from excitement.
“I just hope I don’t mess this up, otherwise the people at MIRA might not respect me anymore!”
“They already don’t respect you, kid.” Red had so badly wanted to say, though they ultimately bit back the remark. The last thing they wanted was to crush this poor crewmate’s spirits by revealing the truth, and even if they did, the chances of them actually listening were zero to none.
Plus, actively badmouthing the company you worked for definitely wasn’t the best move, especially when you’re trying to be as lowkey and unassuming as possible.
They weren’t looking to draw attention, they were here to go in, get what they needed, and get out.
Soon enough, the shuttle found its destination, finding purchase atop MIRA HQ’s designated launchpad.
As the doors to the shuttle opened, they were greeted with the sight of a very unenthused looking gray crewmate.
“Hey… I’m Gray, welcome to MIRA Headquarters.” They greeted with a monotone voice, Red could already tell that Gray was about as thrilled to be working at MIRA as they were.
“Your tasks are on your MIRA-issued tablets, follow the rules, don’t break anything, remember that you’re a valued member of our family, yada yada yada corporate stuff.” Gray explained, looking just about ready to let themselves be thrown into space, before turning around and walking off.
“Wow… I can’t believe I’m really here!” Fortegreen said with absolute vigor.
“I can.” The coral-colored crewmate spoke, still holding out their phone.
“I do, after all, have over fifty-thousand followers on CrewTube, makes sense that a celebrity like me would be invited to stand here among the greats.” They continued with a flourish as they began making their way into the building, chanting “Coral Crew for the win!” the entire time.
With a dejected sigh, Red made to do the same.
Contrary to what you might believe, Red has only visited MIRA HQ a handful of times, and in those instances they were only really there to listen to Pink spew nonsense about “the importance of keeping our image clean”. Because of this they actually didn’t have much knowledge of the place’s inner workings, luckily for them the MIRA-issued tablet, alongside providing their tasks, also worked as a map, and when it came to their mission, only one room really mattered.
Spending the first few minutes simply wandering around and familiarizing themselves with the premises, Red made sure to do some of the tasks assigned to them, so as to not drum up suspicion. The last thing they needed was for one of their crew to catch onto what they were doing.
Two tasks and one refreshing beverage from the soda machine later, they were finally ready.
Surveying their surroundings to make sure nobody else was near, Red discreetly made their way into Communications, keeping their footsteps as silent as possible.
Once there Red immediately zeroed in on the computer that sat on the desk in the far-left corner of the room, and got themselves seated.
Blowing out a breath to calm themselves, they reached into their backpack and pulled out a flash drive, inserting it into the computer.
The screen booted up immediately, fleshing with a bunch of incomprehensible green text and data that they couldn’t for the life of them understand.
“Come on come on…” They muttered to themselves, fists clenched.
The computer continued flashing with codes that may as well have been gibberish to them, and then…
“Welcome Pink! We are happy to see your return!” A robotic voice spoke from the screen.
“Yes!” Red cheered, pumping a fist into the air.
“Thank you random salesperson on the street!” They said, visor twisting into a wide smile. This was it, through one admittedly shady purchase, they had hacked their way into MIRA Corporation's most intimate source of information, now all they needed to do was search through what would likely be an ocean of files and folders, all with the hope of finding something incriminating.
That shouldn’t be too hard right?
As long as they weren’t distracted this shouldn’t be a problem whatsoever-
“Howdy-ho neighborino!”
The sudden presence of another crewmate caused them to damn near jump out of their skin. Looking over, they found none other than Fortegreen, peeking in through the doorway and waving with a big smile, the slice of cheese almost falling off of their head from the angle.
“Damnit.” Red lamented internally.
“Really had to go and jinx myself didn’t I?”
Schooling their expression to mask their frustration, they turned to face Fortegreen with the most placid expression they could manage.
“Hey.” They greeted simply.
“Whatcha doin?” Fortegreen asked, wandering into the room and taking a look around. Red’s mind blanked for a moment, unsure of how to respond to that. Telling the truth wasn’t an option for obvious reasons, so they’d just have to do what MIRA taught them to do all the way back.
Lie.
“Oh ya know. Just… doing my tasks like any good crewmate should be hehe…” Even to their own ears the words sounded remarkably fake.
“Oh right! Of course! I almost forgot we still had tasks cause I finished mine already! I mean, I really wanna impress MIRA so I figured what better way to do that than to finish all of my assigned tasks in record time-” What started as a simple response turned into a fully fledged rambling session as Fortegreen went on about how important winning the praise of MIRA was to them.
“That’s great Fortegreen.” Red stated flatly, turning back to the computer. Perhaps now that Fortegreen was fully absorbed in their own yapping they could use this opportunity to continue searching through MIRA’s files.
It was worth a shot.
Unfortunately for them, whether it was because Pink was aware of the possibility of someone hacking into their account, or simply being incredibly messy, finding anything that could actually be used against them and their company was like trying to find a needle in a haystack.
Seconds ticked by into minutes and still Red could find nothing, and they were starting to grow desperate. It was only a matter of time before someone at MIRA, whether it be Pink or some other higher-up at the company, realizes what’s going on and make the move to shut them down.
God. Why was searching through these files so difficult?! Surely there has to be something they can use against them, they can’t have gone through all this effort for nothing could they?
Alas, it seemed Red’s dreams of exposing MIRA for the monsters they really were was going to be a lot harder than simply hacking into one of their systems.
By the time they realized this, the computer had already begun to fight back. With a sigh, they tore the flash drive out of the machine, and put it away.
They’ll just have to try again at a later date.
“Red! Hey Red! You still there?” Fortegreen called out from beside them, seemingly only just now noticing that they hadn’t been paying attention at all.
They felt a hand on their shoulder.
“Red… aren’t you forgetting something?”
They froze. Turning to face what they thought was a fellow crewmate, they were met with the sight of Green, donned in their signature dark green hoodie and brown cap. The creature, no, monster, stood in front of them, expression blank and their body caked in blood from head to toe.
“Come on Red, you’re not avoiding your responsibilities again are you? We all know what happened last time you did that.”
For a moment, Red just sat there silent, body stiff and visor wide. Then, Green took a step forward and they practically recoiled out of their seat, letting out a harsh gasp as they backed themselves against the wall.
Silence fell over the room as Red took in harsh intakes of air. Slowly, they closed their visor, the darkness from the lack of vision a comfort.
“Red?”
They opened their visor, finding Fortegreen looking at them with concern.
“You good? You like, totally freaked out for a second there.”
They didn’t respond, at least not immediately, their back still pressed securely against the wall as they tried their best to get their bearings.
When they were finally stable enough to reply properly, they spoke.
“Huh? Me? Oh yeahhh I’m fiiine, just experiencing a little workplace stress, you know how it is.” They brushed off with faux casualty.
“Come to think of it, I’m pretty sure I still have some tasks up in the lab, better not keep them waiting!” They announced, already making to leave.
“W-Wait! Hold on a second! Are you really sure you’re-”
They didn’t hear the rest of what Fortegreen had to say, as they were already out of the room by the time they started speaking.
Breathe.
Breathe.
Breathe.
Is what Red tried to tell themselves as they clutched the top of the bench nearest to the air vent. Their vision swam, breaths coming out in heavy gulps as their mind replayed everything that had just occurred.
“It’s not real.” They muttered to themselves.
“They aren’t real.”
They knew it to be true, that the monster, the one that paraded in the skin of one of their crew, wasn't really there, that they couldn’t be there, that they were dead. But their mind failed to connect the dots, it didn’t understand that it was gone, perhaps it would never understand, perhaps they were doomed to forever be haunted by the image of the beast that killed their crew.
The beast that wouldn’t have made it as far as they did, had Red chosen to let go of their pride sooner.
With a deep breath, Red looked up, staring into the mirror that sat opposite them, the gaze of their own reflection boring into theirs.
“...Look at you.” They began to speak.
“Look at how far you’ve fallen.” They leaned forward, staring into themselves like a parent ready to shame their kid for not being good enough.
“You used to be on top of the world, now look at you, just a lowly intern who can’t even make it five minutes without having a panic attack.”
Their grip on the bench tightened.
“Did you really think that you alone could change anything? That doing this would suddenly redeem you?!”
They slammed their hands on the top of the bench, their visor contorting in disgust.
“They all counted on you! Purple counted on you, and you failed! Purple is never gonna like let alone trust you ever again because of what you did! And because of you and your incompetence, eight crewmates are now dead, gone, forever.”
Their fingers dragged against the material of the bench top, leaving behind a stomach-churning skidding sound.
“Even if you managed to bring MIRA down, that doesn’t absolve you of what you’ve done, of the people you killed thanks to your negligence.”
Their visor began to grow moist, tears pooling from the bottom of it.
“And yet despite all of that, despite everything being your fault, you still have the gall to feel sorry for yourself.” They continued to reprimand, ignoring how their own voice cracked.
“Your parents were right, you really are worthless.”
Their voice faded into silence after that, the only sound being that of their own, traitorous whimper as tears spilled down their body.
Their hands slipped off the bench, hanging loosely at their sides as their gaze cast downward.
What was even the point of any of this?
They knew they were fighting a losing battle, that all of their efforts were pointless. To MIRA they were nothing more than a drop in the ocean.
Maybe Purple was onto something.
Maybe, they’d be better off dea-
The sound of the Decontamination doors opening and closing snapped them out of their stupor.
“Yooo, what’s up Coral Crew! We up here in the laboratory!! This is where all the magic happens.” The familiar voice of Coral came through into the lab.
“Oh hey, didn’t realize anyone else was up here.” Coral said, now looking directly at Red, their phone still raised.
Red, realizing their own sorry state, quickly made to clean themselves up, wiping away their tears and drying themselves off.
“Heyyy there, you’re Coral right? I assume that’s your name since you keep mentioning a ‘Coral Crew’.” Red greets, schooling a fake smile and a faux upbeat tone of voice.
“That’s me alright!” Coral confirmed with an air of confidence.
“You’ve probably heard of me, I am a pretty big deal after all.”
They didn’t, but for the sake of being polite they kept that information to themselves.
“Well uh… better get to doing those wiring tasks, I’ll see you around Coral.” Red quickly lied, they didn’t have wiring, they just needed an excuse to leave, how effective of an excuse it was they didn’t know, as they were already heading back into Decontamination before Coral could respond.
“Oh uh, yeah, I’ll see ya around man!” Coral called back. Had Red perhaps been a little more observant, maybe they would’ve seen Coral snap a picture of them before they left.
By the time the day was over, Red was physically and emotionally exhausted, they made it no closer to accomplishing their mission. Their one shot at finding some kind of dirt they could use against MIRA had failed.
As they sat in the shuttle while it made its descent back to home, they couldn’t help but think of how much better Purple would’ve done had they been the one doing this.
They had always been smarter than Red, more competent, more efficient, more determined. How deeply they admired their former colleague and best friend, how deeply they loathed themselves for letting someone so amazing slip through their fingers because of their own mistakes.
Oh Purple, how Red missed them so.
The shuttle soon landed, its backdoors opening with every crewmate spilling out into the cool air of the night. Red made to do the same, only to be stopped by a hand on their shoulder.
“Hey… Red?”
Sighing, Red looked back to find none other than Fortegreen, looking at them with a mixture of concern and guilt.
“Listen I… I just wanted to apologize for earlier. Clearly something I did or said upset you, and for that I’m sorry.”
Red stared at them for a moment, their expression blank.
Fortegreen was… apologizing to them.
The first thought upon hearing that was to question it. Why was Fortegreen apologizing? They hadn’t done anything wrong beyond looking and sounding like someone who had caused them so much pain.
If anything they should be the one apologizing for acting out the way they did. They were the one acting weird here, not Fortegreen.
And yet, because of how they acted, this friendly, happy-go-lucky crewmate had been made to feel as though they had something to atone for.
Congratulations Red, you fucked up without even trying.
“Uh… Red? You there buddy? I didn’t trigger you again did I?” Fortegreen spoke once more, their hand now lowered from Red’s shoulder but still looking concerned.
Realizing that the other had expected a response, Red quickly put on a smile and did a thumbs-up.
“Huh? Oh yeah I’m fine, and don’t worry about it, you didn’t do anything wrong, it’s like I said, it’s just workplace stress, no biggie!”
Now it was Fortegreen’s turn to stare, and while it was hard to read their expression, Red could practically feel the disbelief radiating from them.
“...If you say so.” They acknowledge with a nod, seeming to think better of pushing any further. Red had hoped that would be the end of the conversation, that the two could part ways and they’d never have to see them again.
Unfortunately, it seemed Fortegreen had other plans.
Rummaging through their backpack for a moment, Fortegreen pulls out their phone and holds it out to them.
“Here, I was thinking we could exchange numbers, that way we can stay in touch!” They offered with a smile.
Red blinked.
“You… Want to stay in touch? With me?” They asked, genuinely surprised. Fortegreen seemed to deflate slightly at that, as if Red’s confusion had caused their confidence to waver.
“Oh well uh… yeah, I just… you seem like a pretty friendly, chill person and I thought maybe we could spend more time together in the future.” They looked down, a hint of a flush on their cheeks as they kicked at the floor.
Red took a moment to simply take in what Fortegreen was offering. To exchange numbers and remain in each other’s contacts, the idea that anyone would want to be friends with them in the first place felt so foreign to them, the only person who ever seemed to actually want a connection with Red was Purple, and they screwed that up more than MIRA screws up at being a good company.
They should say no, having to spend time with someone else means less time doingwhat’s important, taking down MIRA. On the other hand however… The loneliness they had felt from the months of isolation since their escape from Industria had really started to take its toll on them, and they’d be lying if they said having someone who was completely unburdened by all the hurt and trauma MIRA caused would be kind of… nice.
Almost… normal.
…
“Ya know what… sure, I could use some new friends.” Red finally spoke, pulling out their phone despite their better judgement telling them otherwise.
“Wait really?!” Fortegreen says, their visor practically beaming with surprise and excitement.
“Why not? You seem friendly and trustworthy enough.” Red responds in an almost dismissive tone.
“Oh yes! Exactly! Why not?!” Fortegreen repeats, their voice borderline giddy. The two of them exchange phones, inputting each other’s numbers, before handing them back to one another.
“I better get going now, it’s getting pretty late and I could really go for some sleep.” Red said, putting their phone away, finally stepping off the shuttle.
“Oh yes! Right! Me too! My parents get really worried when I don’t come home at a reasonable hour.” Fortegreen says, practically bouncing on their feet as they step off the shuttle and begin bounding off in the opposite direction.
“I’ll see you later Red! I’ll be sure to message you as soon as I can!”
With that farewell, Fortegreen was gone, disappearing into the city streets.
Red watched them go for a moment, something almost akin to warmth filling their chest. How oddly comforting it was to see someone so youthful, so naive about the wider world and the kind of corrupt regime they were unknowingly contributing to.
It reminded them of themselves in a way. How excited they were to first be working at MIRA, and how quickly their world came crumbling down under them.
Letting out a sigh, Red averted their gaze to the ground, making their way back home.
Even with this potentially positive development, there was still so much weighing on their shoulders, burdens that they had no choice but to carry on their own.
For no one else could know what was really going on, not without the risk of them getting hurt.
The only person who could ever possibly help them bring down MIRA was Purple, and there was no telling if they were even ali-
Their train of thought is suddenly cut off as they find themselves bumping into something.
“Ow! Hey! Watch where you’re going, asshole!” Another voice spoke. Red blinked, realizing quickly that the something they had bumped into was actually someone.
“Sorry. Wasn’t watching where I was going.” They said apologetically, taking a step back.
“Yeah you better be.” The other person, a purple crewmate, said as they gathered their belongings.
“I swear, the amount of times I’ve bumped into idiots who don’t look where they’re going is insane, seriously is it that hard to be aware of your-”
They stopped, and so did Red.
Their visors met, and suddenly, everything fell into place.
This purple crewmate, their voice, their attitude, the slight bags under their visor…
…Could it be?
“...Purps?”