The evening of the next staff meeting, Viper heads to Supernova Arcade, slides her card into the reader and steps inside. She notices the meeting room has been expanded to look closer to a stage with an audience pit. She notices four people overseeing the audience, Ashley Andromeda wearing a labcoat and slacks, Spark Estelle wearing his usual white hoodie, an electric-blue furred humanoid rabbit woman, and an older gentleman wearing a black cape and an eyepatch. The one eye she can see is glowing crimson. When looking for a place to sit, she notices there are no nametags, but Rebecca and Toby are sitting together near the back wall. Viper heads their way and sits a couple seats from them before making some minor presentation adjustments to her suit.
Rebecca and Toby notice Viper sit near them and they both wave with a smile. Rebecca says, "Oh hey! Long time no see."
Toby, on the other hand, can't help but focus on the stage and especially on the rabbit. You hear him mutter, "Gods! What did they do to you. I- Was this my fault?"
Viper looks over at Rebecca and waves as she smiles, "It has been a while, I hope you're doing alright" she then looks over at Spark as she sighs "Poor girl..."
Spark has a big smile on his face while watching his ADMINSHIP enter. It's weird seeing everyone up there so positive despite how dire things are. There's an odd feeling in the air like Viper and everyone else is being watched somehow. Spark begins with a clap of his hands and begins to speak, "welcome my admins, my family, to our final meeting before Showtime."
Only a couple people clap. Most of them seem very confused about his phrasing. The rabbit only stares blankly. Ashley looks excited. Sol is there. Spark bows for his applause, even if the only people clapping for him are Artemis and Leonidas.
Instead of clapping herself, Viper tries to find the source of this watched feeling but she’s unable to find it. The room is full of people and the walls, aside from sparse decoration, are otherwise completely barren. She notices there are no visible security cameras in the room. Viper huffs and tries to not look as nervous as possible but under her slight smile she's incredibly nervous that she's being watched.
As the two awkward claps die down, Spark continue to speak: "As you're well aware, Phases 1 and 2 are a resounding success! Stardust Production, The Capturing of Legends, The Mental Reprogramming of Our Family, all complete! And now... we begin Phase 3. Destruction of our Enemies." Again, the same few people clap and most of the crowd looks insanely confused. The rabbit woman grins wildly and flexes her clawed paws.
Viper continues to hide her nervousness behind a smile as she looks around for the nearest exit, preparing an escape plan if things go south. Unfortunately, other than a blue terminal with a card key reader, she sees no other way out. Nova truly thinks with portals.
Viper huffs as she notices that her only way out would be the terminal, she moves one foot backwards as she prepares to stand up
[Spark continues and selects the next slide on his presentation as some soft music plays. Oddly, you hear some bells added into the music, but it's nothing. Just an odd instrument choice is all.
Right?
You notice Rebecca and Toby seem to shiver and Rebecca mutters, "ugh what is that feeling?"]
Spark then continues his spiel: "Phase 3 is well underway. With Wanted signs posted throughout the city, even our citizens will be able to assist us with stopping anyone who can get close to stopping us!" He goes to the next slide and Viper notices that alongside a $10k cash bounty, four photos of people are placed in a square. Photos of Luna, Hinata, Spider, and a woman clad in blue named Teresa P. Kells are all wanted. Teresa looks vaguely familiar to Viper.
Viper glances at Rebecca and Toby then directs her eyes to the slide show as her eyes widen, realizing that now Luna and Hinata are in grave danger, her smile is gone and is replaced by a horrified expression
"And now you may say, ‘Spark, what if no one captures these four?’ Well that's where Step 2 takes place. With the defeat of Chandra last night on live television, the Creature of Legend calling himself "Ashen Demon", I have full control of the moon! Every single one of these targets is affected heavily by it. If they even think of getting close, they will suffer for it! Thank you Andromeda for the idea."
Andromeda smiles widely, "This is my job. And even if that fails, Hypernova is our final weapon. Our final defense against our plans failing. Isn't that right, Hypernova?" Hypernova looks out into the audience with a genuinely terrifying smile and in a monotone voice speaks, "yes. Let me at them. I will gladly end their game right here and right now!"
Spark sighs, "not yet Hypernova. I guarantee you, you will have your chance!"
[The bell sounds get louder and louder and you notice the audience begins to fall asleep at their chairs.]
Sol is still just standing there. Menacingly.
Viper seems to notice everyone falling asleep at their chairs as she puts weight on her back foot, ready to bolt in a moment, trying desperately to hide her horrified expression but failing miserably
The crowd is asleep. Everyone except for Viper. Spark notices this as well and calls out to her, "Rasalhague! Hello!" with a smug smile. "You didn't think I'd forget about you did you?"
Viper clears her throat as she smiles at Spark, turning her horror into fuel to stare Spark dead in the eyes and wave with as much corporate happiness as possible, "Awww! Of course you wouldn't forget about me, I'm a special case aren't I?" she takes her right hand and places it at her side
The moment she does so, she finds she cannot move as a winged figure behind Spark begins to stare at her. Spark grins, "DON’T. Move. A muscle." Ashley facepalms from his joke. Hypernova is staring. Sol is there.
Viper doesn't move an inch as she continues to smile and asks "I don't plan on it! Pray tell, are you gonna let me in on what's gonna happen to little ol me or is that a surprise for later?"
She cannot move her arm muscles no matter what she does. "Nah. It's better I show you!" [Thankfully only movement is restricted. Removing access to ALL muscles will likely cause death.] He snaps his fingers and the six of them disappear.