[interstellar-amity]

Movies (for muse) 1, 8, 10, 11, 13, 16 (definitely not someone asking so Oppy can surprise him on a date night)

((Ahh I’m picking up what you’re putting down ;D))

1. What’s your favorite movie?

“I don’t know if I can pick just one! I love the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies I just love superheroes, but also sweet meaningful ones like Steel Magnolias. In addition, I like space movies and noticing the little inaccuracies. You’d think a society that sent countless craft into space would know basic facts.”

8. Are there any movies that had a huge impact on you? In what way?

“Lilo and Stitch resonated with me. I know what it’s like to land on an alien planet and feel alone. But just like Stitch, I’ve got a family here <3″

10. What’s your favorite movie genre?

“Romantic comedies! I also enjoy historical documentaries.”

11. What’s a movie you absolutely hate? Why?

//looks at Sausage Party

//puts it in the trash

13. What’s your favorite tv show?

“The Golden Girls! It was my favorite of the shows I had to watch to learn about human social behavior. I enjoyed Friends, too. But TGG is the best.”

16. Do you listen to soundtracks? What kinds? Who’s your favorite composer?

“Yes, I adore soundtracks! I mostly like orchestra music, and scores that reflect the culture of the movie. I don’t have a favorite composer.”

[givemeangstymemes]

Questions for movie fans

Specify if for mun and/or muse!

What’s your favorite movie?

What’s the last movie you saw?

What’s the first movie you ever saw?

Who’s your favorite actress/actor?

Do you collect anything movie-related? Is there a backstory to any of those items?

How many movies do you have?

Do you prefer going to the theater, DVDs, BluRays, or watching online? Why?

Are there any movies that had a huge impact on you? In what way?

Who’s your favorite director?

What’s your favorite movie genre?

What’s a movie you absolutely hate? Why?

How many movies do you watch in a week?

What’s your favorite tv show?

Do you go to Comic Cons?

Have you ever met an actress/actor?

Do you listen to soundtracks? What kinds? Who’s your favorite composer?

[multiverse-of-misfits]

@interstellar-amity might like this one.

[the-rovarians]

Amity scuffed a wheel on the floor, filled with nervous energy. Opportunity had been unresponsive and missing for too long now. A beep pulled him out of his thoughts: it was his video transmitter. "Hello, this is Amity from NASA, how may I.... oh, no...."

He was met with a horrible sight.

It was Opportunity, forced down onto folded axles by heavy chains and metal cables. His hands were tied behind him with cables, wrenched upward in a way that was meant to cause him pain. The same cables were wrapped all around his body, with dozens of what Amity recognized as tazer prongs stabbed into him at random points.

His head hung low, making it obvious he’d been denied any sun, just the fluorescent tube lights of the dirty, musty room he was in.

Suddenly, all those tazer prongs activated, the cables magnifying the effect, and Opportunity screamed, actually screamed, in pain as he thrashed against the restraints holding him. The words on the message simply said You know what we want. The longer you wait, the worse it gets for him. Wait too long, and the shock will be so strong it’ll kill him. It’s up to you.

[interstellar-amity]

Voices and the tap tap tap of human feet running echoed in the empty building. The pair raced down the hallway as the beeping on Amity’s transmitter grew louder. 

They turned a corner, and there, surrounded by hooded humans and tangled in a mess of cables, was Opportunity.

Amity let out a scream and charged forward, whacking one man aside with his arm and slamming into another one. He decided to let Spirit handle the majority of the fighting while he worked to unhook Opportunity from the cables. 

Suddenly, a human came at him with a taser. “Don’t even think about it,” Amity snarled, and flung the man into a wall, taser and bones breaking upon impact with the bricks.

With no other humans attacking at the moment, Amity was able to roll to a stop in front of the MER. “Wake up, love. It’s me. Spirit and I are getting you out of here.”

He pressed a kiss to the top of Opportunity’s mast, then got to work pulling out the taser prongs.

[the-rovarians]

Spirit was a blur of pure rage-fueled fire as she leapt over the fallen one and into the fray, her staff weapon knocking them away from Amity and her brother. When they drew their own weapons, she traded it for her disruptor, aiming for arms or legs. Nothing fatal, but enough to put them out of commission. If they got close enough, though, she let her fists fly. She knew her brother was in good hands-hand-until backup and the medics arrived.

———–

How was this possible? He was hearing Amity’s voice. Was this dying? But then he felt a hand on him. Not a cold, rough hand either. This hand wasn’t even human. It was small, metallic, warm……and gentle. Then he felt what was unmistakably a kiss.

Amity? He tried to say. But all that came out was pained static. His whole body hurt. He was shuddering hard, various parts of him sparking, and he winced when the prongs were pulled out, even though Amity was trying to be gentle and not hurt him anymore. Even once the cables were off, he sagged on his axles, too weak to hold up his own weight. When Amity removed the cables binding his arms and mast, he collapsed into the one arm of Amity, which he felt close around him as he shook, staticky sobs racking him.

“…..a…..mit….y……” he ground out. Painful as it was, a pain evident in his voice, he wanted to assure Amity he’d heard him. But all he could get out was his love’s name before the pain was too much.

[interstellar-amity]

“Sshh,” Amity soothed, “Just rest.” He spoke too soon. Opportunity went limp in his arm, and Amity had to restrain himself from screaming.  “Spirit, help me get him out of here, I can’t carry him!” 

More humans with guns began to file into the room. They were armored, and Amity realized that they were SWAT. Those men quickly got to apprehending Opportunity’s captors. 

[the-rovarians]

“Medical’s on their way…..Ohhhh, Oppy!” she gasped, seeing her brother, usually standing tall and strong, laying there shaking and twitching in Amity’s arm.

“We shouldn’t move him on our own. We could hurt him more that way.” Spirit said. She gently took her brother in her arms as Amity stalked over the one of the downed guys. He watched the guy groan and try to sit up……before ramming his wheel between the guy’s legs, causing him to curl into a fetal position.

Spirit helped the medical group load Oppy onto a big stretcher, which they then wheeled out to the waiting runabout.

“You go with him.” Spirit said to Amity. “I’m going to thank everyone from Earth for their help ands see if maybe anyone can figure out how and why they took him. But he should have one familiar face to look at.”

[interstellar-amity]

Amity rolled away, satisfied with the man’s submission. He tasered one more struggling human for good measure and handed him off to a SWAT officer. 

“That’s for kidnapping and hurting the love of my life!” he spat.

When Spirit told him to go ahead, Amity balked. He knew he should stay, since communicating with Earth was really his job, but he knew Spirit would be okay. Besides, he got to be with Oppy.

“You’re right. I’ll keep an eye on him.” Amity bid Spirit farewell and boarded the runabout, settling as close to Opportunity as he could without getting in the way. He reached out to hold the MER’s hand.

Please don’t let us be too late.

[the-rovarians]

The hand was shaking, but it gave his a weak squeeze. He knew Amity was there. Even though he was half blind, he knew his love was there. He was safe, and he would be okay now. Amity was with him all the way back to Mars and the medical center in Meridiani. Only there did he have to leave his beloved’s side as Opportunity was taken in for surgery.

It seemed like hours before someone came to get Amity and took him to an individual room in their ICU. Inside was Oppy, hooked to a charger and a monitor for his vitals. Currently, it read “self repair nanos activated. Damage level: Severe. Infections/viruses: None detected.” His mast and upper body rested on soft pads, raised so he lay at an angle. Several heating blankets covered him, to help calm his shivering. But the fix that most surprised Amity when he entered that room was,

“A-…..Am-mit-ty?” It was weak, but it was still unmistakably his voice. That voice, pained and weak as it was, still made Amity happy to hear it.

[interstellar-amity]

“Hey.” Amity rolled forward, looking over Opportunity’s battered body. It hurt him to see, but he tried to lighten the mood.

“You know,” he said, sliding his hand into Opportunity’s, “even when you’ve been through the wringer, you’re still as handsome as ever.”

Amity leaned forward to kiss the top of Oppy’s mast. “How are you feeling?”

[the-rovarians]

“Much better knowing you’re okay.” Opportunity said, forcing a weak smile. “Everything still hurts…..mmh…….but you being here makes it hurt less.” His hand came up to weakly pull the other closer.

“Now that I have you back……is my sister okay?”

[interstellar-amity]

“She’s alright. She stayed on Earth to talk to the humans who helped us, and to try to figure out why this happened.”

He pulled away to gesture, eyes smiling. “You should have seen her! I mean, I was focusing more on you, but she was great fighting those guys. I kind of just… swatted at them.”

“And don’t worry,” he said softly, cuddling into Opportunity again, “she’ll be back soon. She’ll be so happy to see you.”

[the-rovarians]

This earned a small laugh.

“Now you see why she’s the one they call to knock cocky recruits back into place. But don’t compare yourself to her. She was in a war, remember. She had to be good or she’d be dead.” His arms shakily moved until it was around Amity, holding him close as best it could. “I knew you wouldn’t give in to them.”

[interstellar-amity]

"Of course not," Amity said. "I was so scared, though. We all were. I was trying to negotiate, but they wouldn't listen. Maybe I'm just no good at my job."

Amity's eyes scanned the places those taser prongs had been jammed into Opportunity's body. They roamed over the scratches caused by the metal chains.

"I couldn't do anything to help you. I'll be better from now on, promise. You can't run a society with me by your side if I'm useless at my job."

[the-rovarians]

Amity scuffed a wheel on the floor, filled with nervous energy. Opportunity had been unresponsive and missing for too long now. A beep pulled him out of his thoughts: it was his video transmitter. "Hello, this is Amity from NASA, how may I.... oh, no...."

He was met with a horrible sight.

It was Opportunity, forced down onto folded axles by heavy chains and metal cables. His hands were tied behind him with cables, wrenched upward in a way that was meant to cause him pain. The same cables were wrapped all around his body, with dozens of what Amity recognized as tazer prongs stabbed into him at random points.

His head hung low, making it obvious he’d been denied any sun, just the fluorescent tube lights of the dirty, musty room he was in.

Suddenly, all those tazer prongs activated, the cables magnifying the effect, and Opportunity screamed, actually screamed, in pain as he thrashed against the restraints holding him. The words on the message simply said You know what we want. The longer you wait, the worse it gets for him. Wait too long, and the shock will be so strong it’ll kill him. It’s up to you.

[interstellar-amity]

Voices and the tap tap tap of human feet running echoed in the empty building. The pair raced down the hallway as the beeping on Amity’s transmitter grew louder. 

They turned a corner, and there, surrounded by hooded humans and tangled in a mess of cables, was Opportunity.

Amity let out a scream and charged forward, whacking one man aside with his arm and slamming into another one. He decided to let Spirit handle the majority of the fighting while he worked to unhook Opportunity from the cables. 

Suddenly, a human came at him with a taser. “Don’t even think about it,” Amity snarled, and flung the man into a wall, taser and bones breaking upon impact with the bricks.

With no other humans attacking at the moment, Amity was able to roll to a stop in front of the MER. “Wake up, love. It’s me. Spirit and I are getting you out of here.”

He pressed a kiss to the top of Opportunity’s mast, then got to work pulling out the taser prongs.

[the-rovarians]

Spirit was a blur of pure rage-fueled fire as she leapt over the fallen one and into the fray, her staff weapon knocking them away from Amity and her brother. When they drew their own weapons, she traded it for her disruptor, aiming for arms or legs. Nothing fatal, but enough to put them out of commission. If they got close enough, though, she let her fists fly. She knew her brother was in good hands-hand-until backup and the medics arrived.

———–

How was this possible? He was hearing Amity’s voice. Was this dying? But then he felt a hand on him. Not a cold, rough hand either. This hand wasn’t even human. It was small, metallic, warm……and gentle. Then he felt what was unmistakably a kiss.

Amity? He tried to say. But all that came out was pained static. His whole body hurt. He was shuddering hard, various parts of him sparking, and he winced when the prongs were pulled out, even though Amity was trying to be gentle and not hurt him anymore. Even once the cables were off, he sagged on his axles, too weak to hold up his own weight. When Amity removed the cables binding his arms and mast, he collapsed into the one arm of Amity, which he felt close around him as he shook, staticky sobs racking him.

“…..a…..mit….y……” he ground out. Painful as it was, a pain evident in his voice, he wanted to assure Amity he’d heard him. But all he could get out was his love’s name before the pain was too much.

[interstellar-amity]

“Sshh,” Amity soothed, “Just rest.” He spoke too soon. Opportunity went limp in his arm, and Amity had to restrain himself from screaming.  “Spirit, help me get him out of here, I can’t carry him!” 

More humans with guns began to file into the room. They were armored, and Amity realized that they were SWAT. Those men quickly got to apprehending Opportunity’s captors. 

[the-rovarians]

“Medical’s on their way…..Ohhhh, Oppy!” she gasped, seeing her brother, usually standing tall and strong, laying there shaking and twitching in Amity’s arm.

“We shouldn’t move him on our own. We could hurt him more that way.” Spirit said. She gently took her brother in her arms as Amity stalked over the one of the downed guys. He watched the guy groan and try to sit up……before ramming his wheel between the guy’s legs, causing him to curl into a fetal position.

Spirit helped the medical group load Oppy onto a big stretcher, which they then wheeled out to the waiting runabout.

“You go with him.” Spirit said to Amity. “I’m going to thank everyone from Earth for their help ands see if maybe anyone can figure out how and why they took him. But he should have one familiar face to look at.”

[interstellar-amity]

Amity rolled away, satisfied with the man’s submission. He tasered one more struggling human for good measure and handed him off to a SWAT officer. 

“That’s for kidnapping and hurting the love of my life!” he spat.

When Spirit told him to go ahead, Amity balked. He knew he should stay, since communicating with Earth was really his job, but he knew Spirit would be okay. Besides, he got to be with Oppy.

“You’re right. I’ll keep an eye on him.” Amity bid Spirit farewell and boarded the runabout, settling as close to Opportunity as he could without getting in the way. He reached out to hold the MER’s hand.

Please don’t let us be too late.

[the-rovarians]

The hand was shaking, but it gave his a weak squeeze. He knew Amity was there. Even though he was half blind, he knew his love was there. He was safe, and he would be okay now. Amity was with him all the way back to Mars and the medical center in Meridiani. Only there did he have to leave his beloved’s side as Opportunity was taken in for surgery.

It seemed like hours before someone came to get Amity and took him to an individual room in their ICU. Inside was Oppy, hooked to a charger and a monitor for his vitals. Currently, it read “self repair nanos activated. Damage level: Severe. Infections/viruses: None detected.” His mast and upper body rested on soft pads, raised so he lay at an angle. Several heating blankets covered him, to help calm his shivering. But the fix that most surprised Amity when he entered that room was,

“A-…..Am-mit-ty?” It was weak, but it was still unmistakably his voice. That voice, pained and weak as it was, still made Amity happy to hear it.

[interstellar-amity]

“Hey.” Amity rolled forward, looking over Opportunity’s battered body. It hurt him to see, but he tried to lighten the mood.

“You know,” he said, sliding his hand into Opportunity’s, “even when you’ve been through the wringer, you’re still as handsome as ever.”

Amity leaned forward to kiss the top of Oppy’s mast. “How are you feeling?”

[the-rovarians]

“Much better knowing you’re okay.” Opportunity said, forcing a weak smile. “Everything still hurts…..mmh…….but you being here makes it hurt less.” His hand came up to weakly pull the other closer.

“Now that I have you back……is my sister okay?”

[interstellar-amity]

"She's alright. She stayed on Earth to talk to the humans who helped us, and to try to figure out why this happened."

He pulled away to gesture, eyes smiling. "You should have seen her! I mean, I was focusing more on you, but she was great fighting those guys. I kind of just... swatted at them."

"And don't worry," he said softly, cuddling into Opportunity again, "she'll be back soon. She'll be so happy to see you."

[the-rovarians]

Amity scuffed a wheel on the floor, filled with nervous energy. Opportunity had been unresponsive and missing for too long now. A beep pulled him out of his thoughts: it was his video transmitter. "Hello, this is Amity from NASA, how may I.... oh, no...."

He was met with a horrible sight.

It was Opportunity, forced down onto folded axles by heavy chains and metal cables. His hands were tied behind him with cables, wrenched upward in a way that was meant to cause him pain. The same cables were wrapped all around his body, with dozens of what Amity recognized as tazer prongs stabbed into him at random points.

His head hung low, making it obvious he’d been denied any sun, just the fluorescent tube lights of the dirty, musty room he was in.

Suddenly, all those tazer prongs activated, the cables magnifying the effect, and Opportunity screamed, actually screamed, in pain as he thrashed against the restraints holding him. The words on the message simply said You know what we want. The longer you wait, the worse it gets for him. Wait too long, and the shock will be so strong it’ll kill him. It’s up to you.

[interstellar-amity]

Voices and the tap tap tap of human feet running echoed in the empty building. The pair raced down the hallway as the beeping on Amity’s transmitter grew louder. 

They turned a corner, and there, surrounded by hooded humans and tangled in a mess of cables, was Opportunity.

Amity let out a scream and charged forward, whacking one man aside with his arm and slamming into another one. He decided to let Spirit handle the majority of the fighting while he worked to unhook Opportunity from the cables. 

Suddenly, a human came at him with a taser. “Don’t even think about it,” Amity snarled, and flung the man into a wall, taser and bones breaking upon impact with the bricks.

With no other humans attacking at the moment, Amity was able to roll to a stop in front of the MER. “Wake up, love. It’s me. Spirit and I are getting you out of here.”

He pressed a kiss to the top of Opportunity’s mast, then got to work pulling out the taser prongs.

[the-rovarians]

Spirit was a blur of pure rage-fueled fire as she leapt over the fallen one and into the fray, her staff weapon knocking them away from Amity and her brother. When they drew their own weapons, she traded it for her disruptor, aiming for arms or legs. Nothing fatal, but enough to put them out of commission. If they got close enough, though, she let her fists fly. She knew her brother was in good hands-hand-until backup and the medics arrived.

———–

How was this possible? He was hearing Amity’s voice. Was this dying? But then he felt a hand on him. Not a cold, rough hand either. This hand wasn’t even human. It was small, metallic, warm……and gentle. Then he felt what was unmistakably a kiss.

Amity? He tried to say. But all that came out was pained static. His whole body hurt. He was shuddering hard, various parts of him sparking, and he winced when the prongs were pulled out, even though Amity was trying to be gentle and not hurt him anymore. Even once the cables were off, he sagged on his axles, too weak to hold up his own weight. When Amity removed the cables binding his arms and mast, he collapsed into the one arm of Amity, which he felt close around him as he shook, staticky sobs racking him.

“…..a…..mit….y……” he ground out. Painful as it was, a pain evident in his voice, he wanted to assure Amity he’d heard him. But all he could get out was his love’s name before the pain was too much.

[interstellar-amity]

“Sshh,” Amity soothed, “Just rest.” He spoke too soon. Opportunity went limp in his arm, and Amity had to restrain himself from screaming.  “Spirit, help me get him out of here, I can’t carry him!” 

More humans with guns began to file into the room. They were armored, and Amity realized that they were SWAT. Those men quickly got to apprehending Opportunity’s captors. 

[the-rovarians]

“Medical’s on their way…..Ohhhh, Oppy!” she gasped, seeing her brother, usually standing tall and strong, laying there shaking and twitching in Amity’s arm.

“We shouldn’t move him on our own. We could hurt him more that way.” Spirit said. She gently took her brother in her arms as Amity stalked over the one of the downed guys. He watched the guy groan and try to sit up……before ramming his wheel between the guy’s legs, causing him to curl into a fetal position.

Spirit helped the medical group load Oppy onto a big stretcher, which they then wheeled out to the waiting runabout.

“You go with him.” Spirit said to Amity. “I’m going to thank everyone from Earth for their help ands see if maybe anyone can figure out how and why they took him. But he should have one familiar face to look at.”

[interstellar-amity]

Amity rolled away, satisfied with the man’s submission. He tasered one more struggling human for good measure and handed him off to a SWAT officer. 

“That’s for kidnapping and hurting the love of my life!” he spat.

When Spirit told him to go ahead, Amity balked. He knew he should stay, since communicating with Earth was really his job, but he knew Spirit would be okay. Besides, he got to be with Oppy.

“You’re right. I’ll keep an eye on him.” Amity bid Spirit farewell and boarded the runabout, settling as close to Opportunity as he could without getting in the way. He reached out to hold the MER’s hand.

Please don’t let us be too late.

[the-rovarians]

The hand was shaking, but it gave his a weak squeeze. He knew Amity was there. Even though he was half blind, he knew his love was there. He was safe, and he would be okay now. Amity was with him all the way back to Mars and the medical center in Meridiani. Only there did he have to leave his beloved’s side as Opportunity was taken in for surgery.

It seemed like hours before someone came to get Amity and took him to an individual room in their ICU. Inside was Oppy, hooked to a charger and a monitor for his vitals. Currently, it read “self repair nanos activated. Damage level: Severe. Infections/viruses: None detected.” His mast and upper body rested on soft pads, raised so he lay at an angle. Several heating blankets covered him, to help calm his shivering. But the fix that most surprised Amity when he entered that room was,

“A-…..Am-mit-ty?” It was weak, but it was still unmistakably his voice. That voice, pained and weak as it was, still made Amity happy to hear it.

[interstellar-amity]

"Hey." Amity rolled forward, looking over Opportunity's battered body. It hurt him to see, but he tried to lighten the mood.

"You know," he said, sliding his hand into Opportunity's, "even when you've been through the wringer, you're still as handsome as ever."

Amity leaned forward to kiss the top of Oppy's mast. "How are you feeling?"

[the-rovarians]

Amity scuffed a wheel on the floor, filled with nervous energy. Opportunity had been unresponsive and missing for too long now. A beep pulled him out of his thoughts: it was his video transmitter. "Hello, this is Amity from NASA, how may I.... oh, no...."

He was met with a horrible sight.

It was Opportunity, forced down onto folded axles by heavy chains and metal cables. His hands were tied behind him with cables, wrenched upward in a way that was meant to cause him pain. The same cables were wrapped all around his body, with dozens of what Amity recognized as tazer prongs stabbed into him at random points.

His head hung low, making it obvious he’d been denied any sun, just the fluorescent tube lights of the dirty, musty room he was in.

Suddenly, all those tazer prongs activated, the cables magnifying the effect, and Opportunity screamed, actually screamed, in pain as he thrashed against the restraints holding him. The words on the message simply said You know what we want. The longer you wait, the worse it gets for him. Wait too long, and the shock will be so strong it’ll kill him. It’s up to you.

[interstellar-amity]

Voices and the tap tap tap of human feet running echoed in the empty building. The pair raced down the hallway as the beeping on Amity’s transmitter grew louder. 

They turned a corner, and there, surrounded by hooded humans and tangled in a mess of cables, was Opportunity.

Amity let out a scream and charged forward, whacking one man aside with his arm and slamming into another one. He decided to let Spirit handle the majority of the fighting while he worked to unhook Opportunity from the cables. 

Suddenly, a human came at him with a taser. “Don’t even think about it,” Amity snarled, and flung the man into a wall, taser and bones breaking upon impact with the bricks.

With no other humans attacking at the moment, Amity was able to roll to a stop in front of the MER. “Wake up, love. It’s me. Spirit and I are getting you out of here.”

He pressed a kiss to the top of Opportunity’s mast, then got to work pulling out the taser prongs.

[the-rovarians]

Spirit was a blur of pure rage-fueled fire as she leapt over the fallen one and into the fray, her staff weapon knocking them away from Amity and her brother. When they drew their own weapons, she traded it for her disruptor, aiming for arms or legs. Nothing fatal, but enough to put them out of commission. If they got close enough, though, she let her fists fly. She knew her brother was in good hands-hand-until backup and the medics arrived.

———–

How was this possible? He was hearing Amity’s voice. Was this dying? But then he felt a hand on him. Not a cold, rough hand either. This hand wasn’t even human. It was small, metallic, warm……and gentle. Then he felt what was unmistakably a kiss.

Amity? He tried to say. But all that came out was pained static. His whole body hurt. He was shuddering hard, various parts of him sparking, and he winced when the prongs were pulled out, even though Amity was trying to be gentle and not hurt him anymore. Even once the cables were off, he sagged on his axles, too weak to hold up his own weight. When Amity removed the cables binding his arms and mast, he collapsed into the one arm of Amity, which he felt close around him as he shook, staticky sobs racking him.

“…..a…..mit….y……” he ground out. Painful as it was, a pain evident in his voice, he wanted to assure Amity he’d heard him. But all he could get out was his love’s name before the pain was too much.

[interstellar-amity]

“Sshh,” Amity soothed, “Just rest.” He spoke too soon. Opportunity went limp in his arm, and Amity had to restrain himself from screaming.  “Spirit, help me get him out of here, I can’t carry him!” 

More humans with guns began to file into the room. They were armored, and Amity realized that they were SWAT. Those men quickly got to apprehending Opportunity’s captors. 

[the-rovarians]

“Medical’s on their way…..Ohhhh, Oppy!” she gasped, seeing her brother, usually standing tall and strong, laying there shaking and twitching in Amity’s arm.

“We shouldn’t move him on our own. We could hurt him more that way.” Spirit said. She gently took her brother in her arms as Amity stalked over the one of the downed guys. He watched the guy groan and try to sit up……before ramming his wheel between the guy’s legs, causing him to curl into a fetal position.

Spirit helped the medical group load Oppy onto a big stretcher, which they then wheeled out to the waiting runabout.

“You go with him.” Spirit said to Amity. “I’m going to thank everyone from Earth for their help ands see if maybe anyone can figure out how and why they took him. But he should have one familiar face to look at.”

[interstellar-amity]

Amity rolled away, satisfied with the man’s submission. He tasered one more struggling human for good measure and handed him off to a SWAT officer. 

“That’s for kidnapping and hurting the love of my life!” he spat.

When Spirit told him to go ahead, Amity balked. He knew he should stay, since communicating with Earth was really his job, but he knew Spirit would be okay. Besides, he got to be with Oppy.

“You’re right. I’ll keep an eye on him.” Amity bid Spirit farewell and boarded the runabout, settling as close to Opportunity as he could without getting in the way. He reached out to hold the MER’s hand.

Please don’t let us be too late.

[the-rovarians]

Amity scuffed a wheel on the floor, filled with nervous energy. Opportunity had been unresponsive and missing for too long now. A beep pulled him out of his thoughts: it was his video transmitter. "Hello, this is Amity from NASA, how may I.... oh, no...."

He was met with a horrible sight.

It was Opportunity, forced down onto folded axles by heavy chains and metal cables. His hands were tied behind him with cables, wrenched upward in a way that was meant to cause him pain. The same cables were wrapped all around his body, with dozens of what Amity recognized as tazer prongs stabbed into him at random points.

His head hung low, making it obvious he’d been denied any sun, just the fluorescent tube lights of the dirty, musty room he was in.

Suddenly, all those tazer prongs activated, the cables magnifying the effect, and Opportunity screamed, actually screamed, in pain as he thrashed against the restraints holding him. The words on the message simply said You know what we want. The longer you wait, the worse it gets for him. Wait too long, and the shock will be so strong it’ll kill him. It’s up to you.

[interstellar-amity]

Voices and the tap tap tap of human feet running echoed in the empty building. The pair raced down the hallway as the beeping on Amity’s transmitter grew louder. 

They turned a corner, and there, surrounded by hooded humans and tangled in a mess of cables, was Opportunity.

Amity let out a scream and charged forward, whacking one man aside with his arm and slamming into another one. He decided to let Spirit handle the majority of the fighting while he worked to unhook Opportunity from the cables. 

Suddenly, a human came at him with a taser. “Don’t even think about it,” Amity snarled, and flung the man into a wall, taser and bones breaking upon impact with the bricks.

With no other humans attacking at the moment, Amity was able to roll to a stop in front of the MER. “Wake up, love. It’s me. Spirit and I are getting you out of here.”

He pressed a kiss to the top of Opportunity’s mast, then got to work pulling out the taser prongs.

[the-rovarians]

Spirit was a blur of pure rage-fueled fire as she leapt over the fallen one and into the fray, her staff weapon knocking them away from Amity and her brother. When they drew their own weapons, she traded it for her disruptor, aiming for arms or legs. Nothing fatal, but enough to put them out of commission. If they got close enough, though, she let her fists fly. She knew her brother was in good hands-hand-until backup and the medics arrived.

———–

How was this possible? He was hearing Amity’s voice. Was this dying? But then he felt a hand on him. Not a cold, rough hand either. This hand wasn’t even human. It was small, metallic, warm……and gentle. Then he felt what was unmistakably a kiss.

Amity? He tried to say. But all that came out was pained static. His whole body hurt. He was shuddering hard, various parts of him sparking, and he winced when the prongs were pulled out, even though Amity was trying to be gentle and not hurt him anymore. Even once the cables were off, he sagged on his axles, too weak to hold up his own weight. When Amity removed the cables binding his arms and mast, he collapsed into the one arm of Amity, which he felt close around him as he shook, staticky sobs racking him.

“…..a…..mit….y……” he ground out. Painful as it was, a pain evident in his voice, he wanted to assure Amity he’d heard him. But all he could get out was his love’s name before the pain was too much.

[interstellar-amity]

“Sshh,” Amity soothed, “Just rest.” He spoke too soon. Opportunity went limp in his arm, and Amity had to restrain himself from screaming.  “Spirit, help me get him out of here, I can’t carry him!” 

More humans with guns began to file into the room. They were armored, and Amity realized that they were SWAT. Those men quickly got to apprehending Opportunity’s captors. 

[the-rovarians]

Amity scuffed a wheel on the floor, filled with nervous energy. Opportunity had been unresponsive and missing for too long now. A beep pulled him out of his thoughts: it was his video transmitter. "Hello, this is Amity from NASA, how may I.... oh, no...."

He was met with a horrible sight.

It was Opportunity, forced down onto folded axles by heavy chains and metal cables. His hands were tied behind him with cables, wrenched upward in a way that was meant to cause him pain. The same cables were wrapped all around his body, with dozens of what Amity recognized as tazer prongs stabbed into him at random points.

His head hung low, making it obvious he’d been denied any sun, just the fluorescent tube lights of the dirty, musty room he was in.

Suddenly, all those tazer prongs activated, the cables magnifying the effect, and Opportunity screamed, actually screamed, in pain as he thrashed against the restraints holding him. The words on the message simply said You know what we want. The longer you wait, the worse it gets for him. Wait too long, and the shock will be so strong it’ll kill him. It’s up to you.

[interstellar-amity]

Voices and the tap tap tap of human feet running echoed in the empty building. The pair raced down the hallway as the beeping on Amity’s transmitter grew louder. 

They turned a corner, and there, surrounded by hooded humans and tangled in a mess of cables, was Opportunity.

Amity let out a scream and charged forward, whacking one man aside with his arm and slamming into another one. He decided to let Spirit handle the majority of the fighting while he worked to unhook Opportunity from the cables. 

Suddenly, a human came at him with a taser. “Don’t even think about it,” Amity snarled, and flung the man into a wall, taser and bones breaking upon impact with the bricks.

With no other humans attacking at the moment, Amity was able to roll to a stop in front of the MER. “Wake up, love. It’s me. Spirit and I are getting you out of here.”

He pressed a kiss to the top of Opportunity’s mast, then got to work pulling out the taser prongs.

[the-rovarians]

Amity scuffed a wheel on the floor, filled with nervous energy. Opportunity had been unresponsive and missing for too long now. A beep pulled him out of his thoughts: it was his video transmitter. "Hello, this is Amity from NASA, how may I.... oh, no...."

He was met with a horrible sight.

It was Opportunity, forced down onto folded axles by heavy chains and metal cables. His hands were tied behind him with cables, wrenched upward in a way that was meant to cause him pain. The same cables were wrapped all around his body, with dozens of what Amity recognized as tazer prongs stabbed into him at random points.

His head hung low, making it obvious he’d been denied any sun, just the fluorescent tube lights of the dirty, musty room he was in.

Suddenly, all those tazer prongs activated, the cables magnifying the effect, and Opportunity screamed, actually screamed, in pain as he thrashed against the restraints holding him. The words on the message simply said You know what we want. The longer you wait, the worse it gets for him. Wait too long, and the shock will be so strong it’ll kill him. It’s up to you.

[interstellar-amity]

Sharp cold shot through Amity’s body. He couldn’t move, couldn’t think.

“Oppy?!” he managed, “Can you hear me?”

If Opportunity responded, it got lost in the scream echoing in Amity’s mind. He scanned the words in the message instead. Calm down, he told himself. You were made for negotiating. You can get him back.

“Who are you? Make your identity known. This will be considered an act of war if you do not comply.”

No one said anything; those same haunting words continued to light up the screen.

“Spirit,” he asked, turning to her. “Can you track the signal?”

[the-rovarians]

“D-Don’t….give them…..what they want…..” Opportunity managed once the tazers shut off. He struggled with talking, it hurt him to talk. He thought he’d heard Amity’s voice, and he was afraid the smaller rover had been taken too.

A metal bar slamming into his face brought him back to reality, and he forced out words again.

“You have….t-to respond….to th-this. It’s the only way……they’ll c-com-mun-nic-cat-te.” If he could, he would’ve had tears sliding down his face from the pain.

“WHO ARE YOU COWARDS!?” Spirit roared, “LET MY BROTHER GO OR I’LL KICK YOUR ARSES INTO NEXT EON!!!!”

[interstellar-amity]

“Hang in there, love,” Amity said softly, his hand touching Opportunity’s face on the screen. “Everything’s going to be okay.”

His eyes narrowed and his voice became steely as he addressed Opportunity’s captors. “What is it you want? I’ll get you on the horn with NASA if you’d like to speak to my superiors. I’m sure we can come to an agreement.”

[the-rovarians]

The words changed You know what we want. Quit stalling. The tazers activated again, a meter on the bottom of the screen showing that this shock was more powerful than the last, and when it finally shut off, Opportunity was sparking and shuddering, quiet sob sounds coming from him.

Spirit was already on the comm console,

“Rovaria Prime Leader 2 calling NASA. Red alert. Please respond…….It’s Oppy.” Her voice broke on that last bit.

[interstellar-amity]

The answer was quick. “Dr. Johnson here. What’s going on?”

Amity had to tear his gaze away from the screen to look at the comm console.

“Doctor, this is Amity. Opportunity has been taken hostage. He’s hurt.”

He looked at Spirit. “You know we can’t give them information on you. If we feed them false info on NASA, we can team up to fight back.”

[the-rovarians]

“We can’t wait them out, they’ll kill him if we do.” Spirit’s voice was breaking, “Please, there must be something you can think of to help him.” She sent them a copy of the message and linked them into the live feed Amity was watching. “Amity’s right, this is going to take both NASA and Rovaria to do. So, what does Earth think?”

[interstellar-amity]

Dr. Johnson was quiet. “If you can track the signal, or find out who could have captured him, we can have battle rockets on their way in less than an hour.”

“An hour?!” cried Amity. “We don’t have a clue where he could’ve been taken!”

He started to panic. This was more than anxiety: paralyzing fear was making its way from his core up his mast, making it feel like he couldn’t move or think.

“Calm down,” Dr. Johnson said. “Do your job, Amity. We can’t get him back with you panicking.”

She turned her attention to Spirit. “Can you find out if there’s been any breach in security on your end? If not, this could be an inside job. It looks like someone wants to take control of your government.”

[the-rovarians]

“If that’s what they’re after, they’ve made a fatal mistake.” the MER snarled, her eyes, despite being brown, blazing with fury, “No one hurts my family or my people and gets away with it.” Having known her for a while, Amity knew the rage and anger was they only thing stopping her from falling apart and crying at the sight of her beloved brother’s suffering.

“I can tell you it’s not on Mars or any of our facilities. We don’t use those kind of lights.” Spirit said after taking a pause to cool off, “I’ve got Kiali, Ceres, Centaurus, and Crux looking into it on our end. I’d have people get to work on it on your end too. The more time we take, the less chance we have of finding him alive.” Her voice wavered again, but she fought it. The thought of finding her brother dead was too awful to imagine. 

“I don’t know how much he’s been through already, nor do I know how many more of those shocks he can take. They get stronger every time………Maybe it’s time to alert the public that he’s missing. That way, we have WAY more people searching.” She was interrupted by the third shock. At NASA, the screams from the live feed turned heads, some people questioning what the hell Johnson was listening to or watching. Spirit deliberately turned away. She knew that if she watched, she’d break. It didn’t stop Amity, though.

Now the Rovarian’s shaking was making it difficult for him to remain upright. The cables binding him were the only thing keeping his mast and upper body from folding onto his back. He tried to rasp out words, only to find his voice synthesizer damaged, giving his screams a screechy, horrifying, blood curdling sound. Opportunity couldn’t talk anymore. Which was just as well, talking had become its own painful form of torture. He just hoped Spirit and Amity were okay.

[interstellar-amity]

“What if alerting the public makes them angrier?” Amity asked. “They can hurt him even more.”

A shrieking scream came next. Amity could barely recognize it as Opportunity: what he saw and heard on the screen was the shell of a person, who was having the life beaten out of him. His voice should never have sounded like that.

The sight drove daggers into Amity’s core.

“NO, STOP!!”

Dr. Johnson’s heart tore in two. She hadn’t been on the original MER mission, but from her communications with the twins over the last few years, she’d grown to genuinely like and respect them.

When the screaming died down, she turned to her colleagues; they had seen it all.

“I want battle rockets on standby, and at least one satellite at each facility talking to Mars. Let’s find him, people!”

[the-rovarians]

He was going to die here. Opportunity was sure of it. He knew Spirit and Amity would never give in. They knew he wouldn’t want that.He knew they were probably looking for him, but he couldn’t imagine how they would find him. HE didn’t even know where he was.

And yet, death itself wasn’t what scared him. It was the thought that he was alone, that when he died here, no one would know it. No one would know what happened to him. If he could, he would’ve cried at the mental image of Spirit and Amity carrying his body to the citadel to lay in state.

I’m sorry, he thought, I’m sorry Spirit, Amity. I love you both so much.

———————–

Hold on, Oppy, Spirit begged, Please hold on, just a little more. We’re coming.

“Excuse me.” Both of them turned to see Captain Kiali in the doorway, another Rovarian behind her.

“Spirit, Amity, Dr. Johnson, my communications officer has an idea to help find Opportunity. Lieutenant Gemini, go ahead.”

“Thank you, Captain,” the lieutenant turned toward the comm screen.

“Dr. Johnson, what about NASA’s old tracking systems. The ones you used to locate Spirit and Opportunity on their original mission. I was scanning for Opportunity’s communicator signal, but I can’t pick it up. However, I’m getting all kinds of low-tech signals-low tech compared to us, I mean-no matter where I scan. Our systems aren’t designed to pick up the old MER tracking signals, but I figured NASA might still have the ability to do it.”

“Dr. Johnson, please get someone on that,” Spirit begged, “I know we don’t have proof it’ll work, but Oppy doesn’t have time for us to get proof. Please. For him.”

[interstellar-amity]

“My goodness, you’re right,” Dr. Johnson breathed. “I hadn’t thought of that!”

She spun around and looked at two colleagues sitting at computers behind her. “Get communications running with Odyssey, MRO, and MAVEN. They’ll be our best shot at finding Opportunity’s signal.” The employees nodded and got to work. Soon enough, Opportunity’s signal appeared on the screen. Amity felt his RTG nearly jump out his body. “There he is!” he cried.

“That doesn’t make sense,” said Dr. Johnson. “It should have taken longer for the signal to reach us. It hasn’t even picked up on Spirit yet. Unless…” Everyone looked at each other as they reached the conclusion.

“They’re hiding him on Earth!”

[the-rovarians]

“Kiali, fire up the Artax!” Spirit barked, “We may need her sickbay, so have Medical teams on standby for an emergency! Admiral Ceres, get us a clear shot into the air! Centaurus, Crux, you’re our diversion! Kick some ass, but don’t kill anybody! NASA, remain in contact with us and alert the proper authorities on your world. Amity, you’re with me! I want us there five minutes ago, people, let’s move!” She transferred the communication to her data pad, only pausing to grab an extra disruptor and let Amity climb on so he wouldn’t be left in her dust as she raced to the docks, where the Artax’s engines were already powering up.

Hold on, Oppy, she thought, We’re coming

————-

The ensign watching the comm station barely had time to say “Captain on the bridge!” as Kiali and Gemini arrived in a rush.

“Helm, get us off the ground and set course for Earth, full impulse, on the double.” Kiali rattled off as she took her position on the captain’s pad and activated two comms to other decks on the ship. “Shuttle bay, have the runabout standing by to go planetside. Medical, be on standby to receive an emergency patient.” 

“Aye, Captain”, “Yes Captain”, “We’re on it” came the replies. Kiali then activated the shipwide PA.

“All decks, this is the captain. I want everyone prepared to enter combat either in space or on the ground. We’ve very little idea who or what we’re dealing with, so I want us prepared for anything. This is not a drill, I repeat, NOT A DRILL. Captain out.” She shut off the speaker, and at a signal from Spirit, she gave the order to the helmsman. 

Heads all over Meridiani turned at the thunderous roar of engines as the Artax shot into the sky.

————–

His secondary eyes had gone out with the most recent shock, and Opportunity was sure his primaries would go next. And he didn’t even know who had him or why. But with each shock now, some part of his body shorted, glitched, or failed completely. This was a death he wouldn’t wish on anyone. His vision was blurry and staticky, and he could barely make out the wall in front of him.

More than anything, he just wished he could see Amity and Spirit again. He wished they were here to hold him now.

[interstellar-amity]

Amity’s entire body shook and trembled with the movement of the Artax. He was no stranger to spaceflight, but he much preferred having his wheels on solid ground. He’d nearly fallen off Spirit in her hurry to get to the ship.

Dr. Johnson was still on his video transmitter. “I’ve contacted authorities in Wyoming, as that’s where Opportunity’s signal is coming from. Looks like it’s in the middle of nowhere, so you should have plenty of space to land. Military and police are setting up a perimeter as we speak. If those goons are in there, they’ll be arrested for sure.” “Thank you, Doctor,” said Amity quietly. “I know you’ll make sure they get what they deserve. I just hope we aren’t too late.” “Of course, dear.” Dr. Johnson’s voice and gaze softened. “And don’t worry about causing a stir here on Earth. NASA will handle the press. You just get Opportunity back.”

[the-rovarians]

Amity scuffed a wheel on the floor, filled with nervous energy. Opportunity had been unresponsive and missing for too long now. A beep pulled him out of his thoughts: it was his video transmitter. "Hello, this is Amity from NASA, how may I.... oh, no...."

He was met with a horrible sight.

It was Opportunity, forced down onto folded axles by heavy chains and metal cables. His hands were tied behind him with cables, wrenched upward in a way that was meant to cause him pain. The same cables were wrapped all around his body, with dozens of what Amity recognized as tazer prongs stabbed into him at random points.

His head hung low, making it obvious he’d been denied any sun, just the fluorescent tube lights of the dirty, musty room he was in.

Suddenly, all those tazer prongs activated, the cables magnifying the effect, and Opportunity screamed, actually screamed, in pain as he thrashed against the restraints holding him. The words on the message simply said You know what we want. The longer you wait, the worse it gets for him. Wait too long, and the shock will be so strong it’ll kill him. It’s up to you.

[interstellar-amity]

Sharp cold shot through Amity’s body. He couldn’t move, couldn’t think.

“Oppy?!” he managed, “Can you hear me?”

If Opportunity responded, it got lost in the scream echoing in Amity’s mind. He scanned the words in the message instead. Calm down, he told himself. You were made for negotiating. You can get him back.

“Who are you? Make your identity known. This will be considered an act of war if you do not comply.”

No one said anything; those same haunting words continued to light up the screen.

“Spirit,” he asked, turning to her. “Can you track the signal?”

[the-rovarians]

“D-Don’t….give them…..what they want…..” Opportunity managed once the tazers shut off. He struggled with talking, it hurt him to talk. He thought he’d heard Amity’s voice, and he was afraid the smaller rover had been taken too.

A metal bar slamming into his face brought him back to reality, and he forced out words again.

“You have….t-to respond….to th-this. It’s the only way……they’ll c-com-mun-nic-cat-te.” If he could, he would’ve had tears sliding down his face from the pain.

“WHO ARE YOU COWARDS!?” Spirit roared, “LET MY BROTHER GO OR I’LL KICK YOUR ARSES INTO NEXT EON!!!!”

[interstellar-amity]

“Hang in there, love,” Amity said softly, his hand touching Opportunity’s face on the screen. “Everything’s going to be okay.”

His eyes narrowed and his voice became steely as he addressed Opportunity’s captors. “What is it you want? I’ll get you on the horn with NASA if you’d like to speak to my superiors. I’m sure we can come to an agreement.”

[the-rovarians]

The words changed You know what we want. Quit stalling. The tazers activated again, a meter on the bottom of the screen showing that this shock was more powerful than the last, and when it finally shut off, Opportunity was sparking and shuddering, quiet sob sounds coming from him.

Spirit was already on the comm console,

“Rovaria Prime Leader 2 calling NASA. Red alert. Please respond…….It’s Oppy.” Her voice broke on that last bit.

[interstellar-amity]

The answer was quick. “Dr. Johnson here. What’s going on?”

Amity had to tear his gaze away from the screen to look at the comm console.

“Doctor, this is Amity. Opportunity has been taken hostage. He’s hurt.”

He looked at Spirit. “You know we can’t give them information on you. If we feed them false info on NASA, we can team up to fight back.”

[the-rovarians]

“We can’t wait them out, they’ll kill him if we do.” Spirit’s voice was breaking, “Please, there must be something you can think of to help him.” She sent them a copy of the message and linked them into the live feed Amity was watching. “Amity’s right, this is going to take both NASA and Rovaria to do. So, what does Earth think?”

[interstellar-amity]

Dr. Johnson was quiet. “If you can track the signal, or find out who could have captured him, we can have battle rockets on their way in less than an hour.”

“An hour?!” cried Amity. “We don’t have a clue where he could’ve been taken!”

He started to panic. This was more than anxiety: paralyzing fear was making its way from his core up his mast, making it feel like he couldn’t move or think.

“Calm down,” Dr. Johnson said. “Do your job, Amity. We can’t get him back with you panicking.”

She turned her attention to Spirit. “Can you find out if there’s been any breach in security on your end? If not, this could be an inside job. It looks like someone wants to take control of your government.”

[the-rovarians]

“If that’s what they’re after, they’ve made a fatal mistake.” the MER snarled, her eyes, despite being brown, blazing with fury, “No one hurts my family or my people and gets away with it.” Having known her for a while, Amity knew the rage and anger was they only thing stopping her from falling apart and crying at the sight of her beloved brother’s suffering.

“I can tell you it’s not on Mars or any of our facilities. We don’t use those kind of lights.” Spirit said after taking a pause to cool off, “I’ve got Kiali, Ceres, Centaurus, and Crux looking into it on our end. I’d have people get to work on it on your end too. The more time we take, the less chance we have of finding him alive.” Her voice wavered again, but she fought it. The thought of finding her brother dead was too awful to imagine. 

“I don’t know how much he’s been through already, nor do I know how many more of those shocks he can take. They get stronger every time………Maybe it’s time to alert the public that he’s missing. That way, we have WAY more people searching.” She was interrupted by the third shock. At NASA, the screams from the live feed turned heads, some people questioning what the hell Johnson was listening to or watching. Spirit deliberately turned away. She knew that if she watched, she’d break. It didn’t stop Amity, though.

Now the Rovarian’s shaking was making it difficult for him to remain upright. The cables binding him were the only thing keeping his mast and upper body from folding onto his back. He tried to rasp out words, only to find his voice synthesizer damaged, giving his screams a screechy, horrifying, blood curdling sound. Opportunity couldn’t talk anymore. Which was just as well, talking had become its own painful form of torture. He just hoped Spirit and Amity were okay.

[interstellar-amity]

“What if alerting the public makes them angrier?” Amity asked. “They can hurt him even more.”

A shrieking scream came next. Amity could barely recognize it as Opportunity: what he saw and heard on the screen was the shell of a person, who was having the life beaten out of him. His voice should never have sounded like that.

The sight drove daggers into Amity’s core.

“NO, STOP!!”

Dr. Johnson’s heart tore in two. She hadn’t been on the original MER mission, but from her communications with the twins over the last few years, she’d grown to genuinely like and respect them.

When the screaming died down, she turned to her colleagues; they had seen it all.

“I want battle rockets on standby, and at least one satellite at each facility talking to Mars. Let’s find him, people!”

[the-rovarians]

He was going to die here. Opportunity was sure of it. He knew Spirit and Amity would never give in. They knew he wouldn’t want that.He knew they were probably looking for him, but he couldn’t imagine how they would find him. HE didn’t even know where he was.

And yet, death itself wasn’t what scared him. It was the thought that he was alone, that when he died here, no one would know it. No one would know what happened to him. If he could, he would’ve cried at the mental image of Spirit and Amity carrying his body to the citadel to lay in state.

I’m sorry, he thought, I’m sorry Spirit, Amity. I love you both so much.

———————–

Hold on, Oppy, Spirit begged, Please hold on, just a little more. We’re coming.

“Excuse me.” Both of them turned to see Captain Kiali in the doorway, another Rovarian behind her.

“Spirit, Amity, Dr. Johnson, my communications officer has an idea to help find Opportunity. Lieutenant Gemini, go ahead.”

“Thank you, Captain,” the lieutenant turned toward the comm screen.

“Dr. Johnson, what about NASA’s old tracking systems. The ones you used to locate Spirit and Opportunity on their original mission. I was scanning for Opportunity’s communicator signal, but I can’t pick it up. However, I’m getting all kinds of low-tech signals-low tech compared to us, I mean-no matter where I scan. Our systems aren’t designed to pick up the old MER tracking signals, but I figured NASA might still have the ability to do it.”

“Dr. Johnson, please get someone on that,” Spirit begged, “I know we don’t have proof it’ll work, but Oppy doesn’t have time for us to get proof. Please. For him.”

[interstellar-amity]

“My goodness, you’re right,” Dr. Johnson breathed. “I hadn’t thought of that!”

She spun around and looked at two colleagues sitting at computers behind her. “Get communications running with Odyssey, MRO, and MAVEN. They’ll be our best shot at finding Opportunity’s signal.” The employees nodded and got to work. Soon enough, Opportunity’s signal appeared on the screen. Amity felt his RTG nearly jump out his body. “There he is!” he cried.

“That doesn’t make sense,” said Dr. Johnson. “It should have taken longer for the signal to reach us. It hasn’t even picked up on Spirit yet. Unless...” Everyone looked at each other as they reached the conclusion.

“They’re hiding him on Earth!”

[interstellar-amity]

Warm Hearted: Weather, Succulent, brown sugar, cupcake

Weather - What do you love most?

“Being able to relax and have fun with loved ones. It’s a joy to return to Earth to visit my JPL friends, and any time I get to spend with Spirit and Oppy (not doing work) is great.”

Succulent - What are you looking forward to?

“Hm, I’m not sure. Growing old and watching Rovarian society flourish, probably.”

Brown Sugar - What is making your heart warm today?

“Ah,, any time I think about Oppy, my RTG heats up a bit more. I’d blush a lot if I were human.”

Cupcake - Are you in love?

“Absolutely.... are you jealous?” ;)

[the-rovarians]

Amity scuffed a wheel on the floor, filled with nervous energy. Opportunity had been unresponsive and missing for too long now. A beep pulled him out of his thoughts: it was his video transmitter. "Hello, this is Amity from NASA, how may I.... oh, no...."

He was met with a horrible sight.

It was Opportunity, forced down onto folded axles by heavy chains and metal cables. His hands were tied behind him with cables, wrenched upward in a way that was meant to cause him pain. The same cables were wrapped all around his body, with dozens of what Amity recognized as tazer prongs stabbed into him at random points.

His head hung low, making it obvious he’d been denied any sun, just the fluorescent tube lights of the dirty, musty room he was in.

Suddenly, all those tazer prongs activated, the cables magnifying the effect, and Opportunity screamed, actually screamed, in pain as he thrashed against the restraints holding him. The words on the message simply said You know what we want. The longer you wait, the worse it gets for him. Wait too long, and the shock will be so strong it’ll kill him. It’s up to you.

[interstellar-amity]

Sharp cold shot through Amity’s body. He couldn’t move, couldn’t think.

“Oppy?!” he managed, “Can you hear me?”

If Opportunity responded, it got lost in the scream echoing in Amity’s mind. He scanned the words in the message instead. Calm down, he told himself. You were made for negotiating. You can get him back.

“Who are you? Make your identity known. This will be considered an act of war if you do not comply.”

No one said anything; those same haunting words continued to light up the screen.

“Spirit,” he asked, turning to her. “Can you track the signal?”

[the-rovarians]

“D-Don’t….give them…..what they want…..” Opportunity managed once the tazers shut off. He struggled with talking, it hurt him to talk. He thought he’d heard Amity’s voice, and he was afraid the smaller rover had been taken too.

A metal bar slamming into his face brought him back to reality, and he forced out words again.

“You have….t-to respond….to th-this. It’s the only way……they’ll c-com-mun-nic-cat-te.” If he could, he would’ve had tears sliding down his face from the pain.

“WHO ARE YOU COWARDS!?” Spirit roared, “LET MY BROTHER GO OR I’LL KICK YOUR ARSES INTO NEXT EON!!!!”

[interstellar-amity]

“Hang in there, love,” Amity said softly, his hand touching Opportunity’s face on the screen. “Everything’s going to be okay.”

His eyes narrowed and his voice became steely as he addressed Opportunity’s captors. “What is it you want? I’ll get you on the horn with NASA if you’d like to speak to my superiors. I’m sure we can come to an agreement.”

[the-rovarians]

The words changed You know what we want. Quit stalling. The tazers activated again, a meter on the bottom of the screen showing that this shock was more powerful than the last, and when it finally shut off, Opportunity was sparking and shuddering, quiet sob sounds coming from him.

Spirit was already on the comm console,

“Rovaria Prime Leader 2 calling NASA. Red alert. Please respond…….It’s Oppy.” Her voice broke on that last bit.

[interstellar-amity]

The answer was quick. “Dr. Johnson here. What’s going on?”

Amity had to tear his gaze away from the screen to look at the comm console.

“Doctor, this is Amity. Opportunity has been taken hostage. He’s hurt.”

He looked at Spirit. “You know we can’t give them information on you. If we feed them false info on NASA, we can team up to fight back.”

[the-rovarians]

“We can’t wait them out, they’ll kill him if we do.” Spirit’s voice was breaking, “Please, there must be something you can think of to help him.” She sent them a copy of the message and linked them into the live feed Amity was watching. “Amity’s right, this is going to take both NASA and Rovaria to do. So, what does Earth think?”

[interstellar-amity]

Dr. Johnson was quiet. “If you can track the signal, or find out who could have captured him, we can have battle rockets on their way in less than an hour.”

“An hour?!” cried Amity. “We don’t have a clue where he could’ve been taken!”

He started to panic. This was more than anxiety: paralyzing fear was making its way from his core up his mast, making it feel like he couldn’t move or think.

“Calm down,” Dr. Johnson said. “Do your job, Amity. We can’t get him back with you panicking.”

She turned her attention to Spirit. “Can you find out if there’s been any breach in security on your end? If not, this could be an inside job. It looks like someone wants to take control of your government.”

[the-rovarians]

“If that’s what they’re after, they’ve made a fatal mistake.” the MER snarled, her eyes, despite being brown, blazing with fury, “No one hurts my family or my people and gets away with it.” Having known her for a while, Amity knew the rage and anger was they only thing stopping her from falling apart and crying at the sight of her beloved brother’s suffering.

“I can tell you it’s not on Mars or any of our facilities. We don’t use those kind of lights.” Spirit said after taking a pause to cool off, “I’ve got Kiali, Ceres, Centaurus, and Crux looking into it on our end. I’d have people get to work on it on your end too. The more time we take, the less chance we have of finding him alive.” Her voice wavered again, but she fought it. The thought of finding her brother dead was too awful to imagine. 

“I don’t know how much he’s been through already, nor do I know how many more of those shocks he can take. They get stronger every time………Maybe it’s time to alert the public that he’s missing. That way, we have WAY more people searching.” She was interrupted by the third shock. At NASA, the screams from the live feed turned heads, some people questioning what the hell Johnson was listening to or watching. Spirit deliberately turned away. She knew that if she watched, she’d break. It didn’t stop Amity, though.

Now the Rovarian’s shaking was making it difficult for him to remain upright. The cables binding him were the only thing keeping his mast and upper body from folding onto his back. He tried to rasp out words, only to find his voice synthesizer damaged, giving his screams a screechy, horrifying, blood curdling sound. Opportunity couldn’t talk anymore. Which was just as well, talking had become its own painful form of torture. He just hoped Spirit and Amity were okay.

[interstellar-amity]

"What if alerting the public makes them angrier?" Amity asked. "They can hurt him even more."

A shrieking scream came next. Amity could barely recognize it as Opportunity: what he saw and heard on the screen was the shell of a person, who was having the life beaten out of him. His voice should never have sounded like that.

The sight drove daggers into Amity's core.

"NO, STOP!!"

Dr. Johnson's heart tore in two. She hadn't been on the original MER mission, but from her communications with the twins over the last few years, she'd grown to genuinely like and respect them.

When the screaming died down, she turned to her colleagues; they had seen it all.

"I want battle rockets on standby, and at least one satellite at each facility talking to Mars. Let's find him, people!"

[in-love-suggestions]

Warm Hearted Asks

Weather - What do you love most?

Dove - How do you express love?

Friendship Bracelet - What does friendship mean to you?

Loveseat- Describe your ideal house

Record Player - Love songs or breakup songs?

Stargaze - Celebrity crush?

Planter - Do you have a green thumb?

Linen - Do you prefer being friends with someone before starting a romantic relationship with them or starting straight into love?

Hot Cocoa - Three things you love about yourself?

Valentine - Do you like pda?

Succulent - What are you looking forward to?

Bath bomb - What is the best form of self care?

Roadtrip - Where is the farthest you’ve been from home?

Brown Sugar - What is making your heart warm today?

Pearls - Do you want to get married?

Seaside - Ideal date?

Luna Moth - City or country?

Velvet - What is your style?

Cupcake - Are you in love?

Romcom - Is your story a comedy or tragedy?

Sunset - Ask anything you want!

[lareinedususpense-deactivated20]

Pretty please!!!!

[curiouser-and-curiouser-fics]

Do it

[interstellar-amity]

Date? (you know dang well who, XD )

Here’s my take on it

Who asks for it:

[ ] Your muse asks mine

[X] My muse asks yours (nervously, tripping over himself)

Type of date:

[ ] Platonic Date

[X] Romantic Date

[ ] First Date

[ ] Double date with: ____ & ____

Location for the date:

[ ] Movies  • [ ] Romantic Comedy  • [ ] Adventure Movie  • [ ] Animation (Pixar/Disney)  • [ ] Horror  • [ ] Drama  • [ ] Buddy Movie  • [ ] ___ (other options)

[ ] Restaurant  • [ ] Expensive/High Class  • [ ] Small and familiar  • [ ] Fast Food

[X] Nature • [ ] Beach • [X] Park • [ ] Forest     • [X] …and having a picnic (humanized, probably)

[ ] Visiting a Museum

[ ] Visiting an amusement park

[ ] Visiting a haunted location

[ ] Staying at home • [ ] Watching movies • [ ] Playing Video Games • [ ] Reading

[ ] ___ (other options)

The date might hopefully end with…

[X] …holding hands

[X] …a kiss

[ ] …in bed

[ ] …knowing each other better

[ ] …sleepover between friends

[X] …a marriage proposal (oooooooo)

[ ] ___ (other options)

Should you reblog this?:

[ ] Yes. I want to send you one.

[X] Yes. (@anyone that wants to send this with another character)

[] No.

[the-rovarians]

Date? for the boys

Who asks for it:

[ ] Your muse asks mine

[ X ] My muse asks yours

Type of date:

[ ] Platonic Date

[ X ] Romantic Date

[ ] First Date

[ ] Double date with: ____ & ____

Location for the date:

[ X ] Movies• [ X ] Romantic Comedy• [ ] Adventure Movie• [ ] Animation (Pixar/Disney)• [ ] Horror• [ ] Drama• [ ] Buddy Movie• [ ] ___ (other options)

[ ] Restaurant• [ ] Expensive/High Class• [ ] Small and familiar• [ ] Fast Food

[ X ] Nature• [ X ] Beach (on Earth)• [ X ] Park• [ ] Forest   • [ ] …and having a picnic

[ X ] Visiting a Museum

[ ] Visiting an amusement park

[ ] Visiting a haunted location

[ ] Staying at home• [ ] Watching movies• [ ] Playing Video Games• [ ] Reading

[ ] ___ (other options)

The date might hopefully end with…

[ X ] …holding hands

[ X ] …a kiss

[ ] …in bed

[ ] …knowing each other better

[ ] …sleepover between friends

[ ] …a marriage proposal

[ X ] ___ (other options) HUGS FTW!!!

Should you reblog this?:

[ X ] Yes. I want to send you one.

[ ] Yes.

[ ] No.

[sinnnieren]

Send me “Date?” and i'll answer...

Who asks for it:

[ ] Your muse asks mine

[ ] My muse asks yours

Type of date:

[ ] Platonic Date

[ ] Romantic Date

[ ] First Date

[ ] Double date with: ____ & ____

Location for the date:

[ ] Movies   • [ ] Romantic Comedy   • [ ] Adventure Movie   • [ ] Animation (Pixar/Disney)   • [ ] Horror   • [ ] Drama   • [ ] Buddy Movie   • [ ] ___ (other options)

[ ] Restaurant   • [ ] Expensive/High Class   • [ ] Small and familiar   • [ ] Fast Food

[ ] Nature  • [ ] Beach  • [ ] Park  • [ ] Forest      • [ ] …and having a picnic

[ ] Visiting a Museum

[ ] Visiting an amusement park

[ ] Visiting a haunted location

[ ] Staying at home  • [ ] Watching movies  • [ ] Playing Video Games  • [ ] Reading

[ ] ___ (other options)

The date might hopefully end with…

[ ] …holding hands

[ ] …a kiss

[ ] …in bed

[ ] …knowing each other better 

[ ] …sleepover between friends 

[ ] …a marriage proposal

[ ] ___ (other options)

Should you reblog this?:

[ ] Yes. I want to send you one.

[ ] Yes.

[ ] No.

[the-rovarians]

Amity scuffed a wheel on the floor, filled with nervous energy. Opportunity had been unresponsive and missing for too long now. A beep pulled him out of his thoughts: it was his video transmitter. "Hello, this is Amity from NASA, how may I.... oh, no...."

He was met with a horrible sight.

It was Opportunity, forced down onto folded axles by heavy chains and metal cables. His hands were tied behind him with cables, wrenched upward in a way that was meant to cause him pain. The same cables were wrapped all around his body, with dozens of what Amity recognized as tazer prongs stabbed into him at random points.

His head hung low, making it obvious he’d been denied any sun, just the fluorescent tube lights of the dirty, musty room he was in.

Suddenly, all those tazer prongs activated, the cables magnifying the effect, and Opportunity screamed, actually screamed, in pain as he thrashed against the restraints holding him. The words on the message simply said You know what we want. The longer you wait, the worse it gets for him. Wait too long, and the shock will be so strong it’ll kill him. It’s up to you.

[interstellar-amity]

Sharp cold shot through Amity’s body. He couldn’t move, couldn’t think.

“Oppy?!” he managed, “Can you hear me?”

If Opportunity responded, it got lost in the scream echoing in Amity’s mind. He scanned the words in the message instead. Calm down, he told himself. You were made for negotiating. You can get him back.

“Who are you? Make your identity known. This will be considered an act of war if you do not comply.”

No one said anything; those same haunting words continued to light up the screen.

“Spirit,” he asked, turning to her. “Can you track the signal?”

[the-rovarians]

“D-Don’t….give them…..what they want…..” Opportunity managed once the tazers shut off. He struggled with talking, it hurt him to talk. He thought he’d heard Amity’s voice, and he was afraid the smaller rover had been taken too.

A metal bar slamming into his face brought him back to reality, and he forced out words again.

“You have….t-to respond….to th-this. It’s the only way……they’ll c-com-mun-nic-cat-te.” If he could, he would’ve had tears sliding down his face from the pain.

“WHO ARE YOU COWARDS!?” Spirit roared, “LET MY BROTHER GO OR I’LL KICK YOUR ARSES INTO NEXT EON!!!!”

[interstellar-amity]

“Hang in there, love,” Amity said softly, his hand touching Opportunity’s face on the screen. “Everything’s going to be okay.”

His eyes narrowed and his voice became steely as he addressed Opportunity’s captors. “What is it you want? I’ll get you on the horn with NASA if you’d like to speak to my superiors. I’m sure we can come to an agreement.”

[the-rovarians]

The words changed You know what we want. Quit stalling. The tazers activated again, a meter on the bottom of the screen showing that this shock was more powerful than the last, and when it finally shut off, Opportunity was sparking and shuddering, quiet sob sounds coming from him.

Spirit was already on the comm console,

“Rovaria Prime Leader 2 calling NASA. Red alert. Please respond…….It’s Oppy.” Her voice broke on that last bit.

[interstellar-amity]

The answer was quick. “Dr. Johnson here. What’s going on?”

Amity had to tear his gaze away from the screen to look at the comm console.

“Doctor, this is Amity. Opportunity has been taken hostage. He’s hurt.”

He looked at Spirit. “You know we can’t give them information on you. If we feed them false info on NASA, we can team up to fight back.”

[the-rovarians]

“We can’t wait them out, they’ll kill him if we do.” Spirit’s voice was breaking, “Please, there must be something you can think of to help him.” She sent them a copy of the message and linked them into the live feed Amity was watching. “Amity’s right, this is going to take both NASA and Rovaria to do. So, what does Earth think?”

[interstellar-amity]

Dr. Johnson was quiet. "If you can track the signal, or find out who could have captured him, we can have battle rockets on their way in less than an hour."

"An hour?!" cried Amity. "We don't have a clue where he could've been taken!"

He started to panic. This was more than anxiety: paralyzing fear was making its way from his core up his mast, making it feel like he couldn't move or think.

"Calm down," Dr. Johnson said. "Do your job, Amity. We can't get him back with you panicking."

She turned her attention to Spirit. "Can you find out if there's been any breach in security on your end? If not, this could be an inside job. It looks like someone wants to take control of your government."