Chapter Text
The suffocating hold of the hot Skeld vents was harsh on Lime’s skin as they scrabbled through them towards Medbay, having finished their “check-up” (gentle holding and caressing) on the reactor before their initial liftoff in just a few minutes. Everything seemed to be in order at the moment. Everything that mattered to Lime, that is.
They had just one last thing to check up on. They needed to go see Blue.
It wasn’t that Lime actually cared about them, as aforementioned. They knew that Blue was even more of a boot-licking klutz than the rest of them, with all their test tubes and examining beds and scalpels and bandages and WHATEVER SCIENCY STUFF. They had just been asked by Blue to come see them before the liftoff, and Lime had just happened to remember.
It wasn’t like they had been constantly thinking about the idea ever since Blue walked up to them a full few days prior to ask about it. No. That would be ridiculous.
But completely unrelated to that absolutely untrue and stupid idea, Lime was starting to get really worried that Blue had put some sort of thought-eating brain worm inside of them.
Lime managed to find their way to Medbay after a handful of wrong turns and grumbling at the touring crewmates when they accidentally 360-d back there. They looked up at the room through the windows of the vent—emergency medkits lined the walls that were so white and clean they glowed, with wires trailing around and nearby them leading to computers, MIRA tablets, and the body scanner, all below a high built-in industrial fan going on full blast in the ceiling and making the room chilly. Lime knit their fingers into the bars of the vent, before quickly snatching them away, even more shocked at how cold the metal was over here.
Unluckily for them, Blue had spotted their bright-green digits before they could hide themselves. The doctor, seemingly unphased by the cold, walked over with a smile in their visor, leaning down and pulling up the vent for them instead. Lime frowned, curling in on themself and refusing to come out of the warm burrow. Though they would never admit it, their face was already heating up a bit; head to toe, they looked like a model (though models were obviously sworn in by the government in order to hypnotize and seduce unsuspecting victims into lowering their guard so that they could give them brain-altering chemicals just like Blue’s brain worm, all the more reason why Lime needed to stay away), and in their drab white uniform their body only glowed brighter.
“It’s good to see you, Lime. Are you here for what we discussed?”
“Nope. Just a wrong turn.” They said as coolly as possible, despite everything feeling like it was on fire in their brain.
“Well—...while we’re here then. I want to talk to you about your health on the ship.” They could feel an irritated grumble rising in their chest as they listened. “It’s simply that I think you should get used to using The Skeld’s doors. While I know how much you love your vents, they’re a much safer alternative.”
“I’ve NEVER gotten hurt in the vents.”
“That may be true, but the reason why I specifically wanted to see you before liftoff is because I think the added pressure of the atmosphere could cause the vents to break in on you or heat up to cause burns.”
Lime tugged on their scratchy bandana so that it covered their view of the handsome doctor a bit. They wouldn’t let Blue’s brain-worm affect their judgment. “You want me to work up there with all of those other kooky crewmates?!” They then animatedly pointed up at the room.
“Precisely.” Blue grinned so matter-of-factly, yet so sincerely, completely missing the point.
“It’s not happenin’.” Lime tried to close the vent, but Blue held it open a minute longer, their fingertips brushing at the altercation.
“Why not?”
“B-Because the vents work just fine for gettin’ around! If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!”
Just then, Lime glanced past Blue, hearing tapping noises and getting overwhelmed by the Medbay’s beeping and the footsteps and the bright white lights. They hide their face in their bandana just a little more, trying to block out the sights, at the very least.
“But it is broken. They’re unsafe—”’
Annoyed, they snap.
“It’s NOT unsafe. I’m the engineer, it’s MY job to live in these vents like a RAT LIVIN’ ON TOASTER CRUMBS and FREEZER-BURNT SAUSAGES, and those VULTURES you call higher ups SURE don’t pay me ‘ta WORK OSHA-COMPLIANT, so STOP PRYIN’, HUH?”
But somehow, Blue is as patient and understanding as ever.
“Forgive me, Lime—I’m not trying to pry. My concern is simply that squeezing yourself into such a tight space so often could cause permanent damage to your body. If there’s so much as a stray wire or panel that you fail to notice, you could get electrocuted or stabbed without an easy way out for care.”
“Care, schmare! If I can go down there to get stabbed in the first place, I can wriggle my way back out by myself. It’s not like I was provided with a better option in the first place. Hell, I bet RIMA or whatever they are WANT me dead—THEY KNOW I KNOW TOO MUCH AND ARE TRYING TO GET RIDDA ME!! God, this place is a death trap made to get rid of all of the smart crewmates out there. IT’S NOT GONNA BE LONG ‘TILL THEY START SENDING THE OTHER THEORISTS UP HERE WITH ME!! WELL, TOO BAD!! YOU CAN TRY AS YOU MIGHT, RIMA, BUT YOU’RE NOT GONNA KILL OLE’ LIME! NUH UH, NOT ME!!!!”
Lime slams the door to the vent behind them, and it rattles on its hinge from the strength of the action. They’re just about to start crawling back towards the reactor room to go take a nap before they pause. They can hear Blue sigh, then the creak of their office chair as they sit back in it, folding their hands in their lap. Right after, they turn around to see Green, Orange, and White, all touring the ship together. They had seen half of that.
…Lime scurries away.
—
Later that day, “Green” stared down at White, violently shaking beneath their frame. They could see the tiny line where they had sliced their head straight off, and they began to think about the satisfying spray of blood that would come from it when they finally bit the bullet. The cut was specific and calculated, to create the most flashy beginning to their rampage as possible. They could already imagine the reactions of the crew, panicked and erratic, and tried to imagine what they could do to stay surreptitious. Maybe crying, but that was somewhat annoying to force; might be better for another kill. Or perhaps screaming, running away… or a panic attack. A panic attack was easy to show and also great for tricking people. Nobody reasons with someone in a panic attack.
Regardless of what Green might eventually choose, the kill was clean, and there was no way anyone would be able to find out that it was them. The person they were possessing—well, they definitely had some skills in being a prude little pushover, which made their goal much easier to achieve. A simple walk to the cafeteria with a mop and a bucket would be enough to shatter all of their doubt towards them.
So that’s what they did. They waved goodbye to White, retching and convulsing as they struggled to pick themselves up and crawl away, then went and grabbed their supplies from storage. And after a brief intermission where they made doubly sure that there was nothing at the murder site that could incriminate them, they strolled away and went the long way around, barely holding in the urge to jump onto the janitor’s cart and start spinning in joy. They had always imagined this moment since they were still squirming in their egg, but it was a whole different feeling in person. So much different.
They hummed their way past the reactor and security room and all the way past Medbay, and entered the wide-open cafeteria to start tearing pizza crusts from the sticky tile and wiping down dirty tables that they had already cleaned 20 minutes prior. Sure, it was far from the most exciting job, but for Green, this was heaven. Maybe it was the original Green’s love for helping everyone they can, or maybe it’s this new Impostor’s love for the thrill of playing the long, manipulative game. Yet again, it didn’t matter. All that mattered was White mumbling and crying and then fountaining blood all over the doorway.
The question now was who to kill next.
To Green, the answer was horrible, but obvious. While many should not be underestimated according to their observations, Blue was by far the smartest, most rational member of the ship. And everyone loved them. If they died, it would send the whole team into chaos, tearing them away from their most valuable resource and emotional support. And even more importantly, it would also disarm Lime.
Now, that sounds like a stupid priority. But Lime was powerful. They could travel room to room and peek through those stupid vents, they could fix all of the machines that Green could sabotage in the blink of an eye, and they were just crazy enough that sometimes their ramblings would loop around into being an actually reasonable (and oftentimes factual) statement. Lime was attached to Blue, and Blue was attached to Lime. Getting rid of the both of them would make the rest of the kills like clockwork.
…Green considered that.
They don’t want it to be like clockwork. They want some challenge on their journey. But that’s why they’re keeping crewmates like Red and Purple, right? Quick thinkers, and yet will jump to accusations. Or Brown and Yellow—their bond was unmistakable, but one snap of Green’s fingers and the other would be on the ground grieving, useless to their team and waiting to die. These relationships were the heart of both the ship and Green’s meticulously planned operation.
Green was just about to grasp a specific idea on how to kill their second two targets when they heard heavy steps from the other end of the room, and throaty gargling as, just as they expected, White fell to the floor and sprayed the entire corner of the room with a nice, thick coating of blood.
They felt their mouth, hidden underneath their fake crewmate skin, turn up wide. Green took a deep breath, watching the shell-shocked crowd of loners, before they began to pant and cry, curling in on themself and crawling away from the body now fallen to its side.
Green could hear a hundred overlapping voices immediately as their crafted play unfolded. Red frenzied past them. Cyan shook and leapt into the air. The impostor initially thanked Green for whatever shitty high school theater classes they must have taken—though, yet again, most of the people here were idiots, it’s not like it would have mattered if they just sat there on their MIRA tablet playing video games. They’d probably accuse Lime for just being crazy before they ever accused the poor little unpaid intern.
…
Probably accuse Lime…
Green could hear voices all around them again, much calmer, as Red desperately tried to rein in the crew. Workplace accidents, Blue taking care of it, et cetera, et cetera. It all turned into endless ‘bleh bleh bleh’s in Green’s mind.
Until they had a bright red finger pointed right in their face, and for a split second in their shock they were scared they were being accused. “And you! Green. Clean all this blood up, will you?”
…Nope. Just the so-called Captain doing their so-called Captain-ly things.
They saluted and got to work, diligent and submissive on the outside, but seething with undeniable rage on the inside. Their mop kept getting stuck to the floor with how stiff their shoulders were and how strong they were pushing down on the blood pool they worked so hard to make. They would have to continue thinking about their plans another time, when not so many people were around to watch their every little move.
But they knew that people would quickly start singling people out, and that Green was one of the only people without an alibi while the situation was happening. They’d have to kill Blue quickly.
…And if Lime got caught in the crossfire, with just a bit of luring around… that could be very, very good for them.
So, that night, as Green was struggling to get comfortable in their poorly fixed fabric coffin that crewmates called a “sleeping bag”, they devised a simple three-step plan to get a double-kill all on their own.
Step 1. Lure Blue and Lime together.
Step 2. Kill Blue.
Step 3. Get ready to put on a show yet again.