@chaostested still has a fate to be decided.
➦ with the sun setting on the horizon & the extra weight of their previous employer, mimic’s spot atop the frieght-loader’s hull became increasingly slighted, no longer purposeful to watch the evening’s decline. sliding off the roof of the driving cabinet, tentacles catch mimic’s weight while a hand steadies his stand against the side of the cargo hold. no one around at the moment, which meant things might go smoother inside.
one of his tendrils loop & opens the car door behind him, the rest carrying him into the driver’s seat & shutting the door behind. rolling over to shift onto his feet, the mercenary continues on into the back of the truck, heading in deeper to where the group had stowed their now redundant clause. a slow exhale drags beneath his curved beak as MIMIC approaches the bound platypi, those miniscule glasses tilted upon the other’s bill.
❛ - you’ve seen better days, doc. - ❜ mirth rides along every word, sickeningly visceral in his passion for holding starline captive. zavok & him had yet to deem a worthy form of disposing the wasted space, leaving the now open for mimic to ruse up a few scare tactics. after all, starline knew how ruthless the octopus loved to play. ❛ - no doubt forced rest hasn’t been abundant in its graces towards you. - ❜
【 ₪ 】Starline shuffled within his bindings as he grunted against the ache of the rope digging into his wrists. The pain pounding against his head wasn’t from one of the platypus’ usual migraines but, instead, the lingering ghost of a blow to the head. It had knocked the very light from him, and yet was still preferable to the blade that’d been at his throat. A thin sliver of blood, dried, and itchy, was an uncomfortable reminder that his life’s thread had been in the hands of a murderous mercenary in that moment.
Not that his continued existence was any more certain now.
Uncertainties were never something Starline enjoyed. There was no thrill towards life’s trademark twists or turns, nor did he share Eggman’s appreciation towards ‘ sudden dramatic deadlines ‘ as the other had once put it. No, as was often drummed into all that worked within the Syndicate’s ranks, uncertainties were dangerous. A single loose thread could fray and unravel even the most carefully and intricately woven of plans. Uncertainties toppled empires, and one needed only look as far as the Eggman Empire for proof of that.
It was that very line of thought that left Starline with a certain fixation on having data, being prepared, and knowing how to best move forward. That, as he understood it, had always been to him what being a scientist was all about. Yet... out of necessity.. he’d acted against that nature when enlisting the aid of Zavok and the others for his plans. Only for it to blow up so dramatically in his face.
The platypus suddenly stilled his struggles at the echoing clamour of the truck door. A panicked gaze glanced over to see who it might be only for his heart to sink. Mimic. Undoubtedly the worst of his options of the four, it didn’t leave Starline overly hopeful. Zavok he’d at least started to build some kind of.. rapport with. While the skunk brothers, well, they were brutes, but Starline assumed the worst he’d be left with was a few nonsensical insults and a stink-bombed truck to stew in.
❝ No... No it hasn’t.. ❞ He answered more out of a nervous need to say something than anything else. ❝ I-I don’t take it that you’ve all reconsidered..? Or has Zavok seen the usefulness I can offer with taking over the remainder of Eggman’s army? ❞
