EMPTY CHAIRS AT EMPTY TABLES

[onemind]

CHARACTERS: All
WHERE: Concordia - VEN DIAGRAMS HQ + BOUT IT OUT PARLOR + BEARINGS APARTMENT BLOCK
WHEN: Late Day :022 + Early Day :023
SUMMARY: The results of all your hard work - for better or worse. One win, one draw, one loss. Anakin Skywalker bites the big one.
WARNINGS: Violence, non-graphic character death.

IT’S BEEN A LONG DAY. Unfortunately, that’s not about to change any time soon. In the late hours of the evening, two things are happening: the final round of the Bout It Out expose between Kun-Kun and The Darkling is spooling up; meanwhile, the infiltration team at Ven Diagrams is working to retrieve information on H+H1 from the company’s security drive. Unfortunately, neither is going to reach the natural conclusion.

At the REGAL STREET GAMING PARLOR, emotions are running high. After a long day of simulation violence and the reveal of Kun-Kun’s new automaton fighting avatar, the crowd has been stoked to a few pitch. The music’s loud but the crowd is louder: cheering and booing, shouting for every landed or evaded strike. There’s an electric pulse of excitement in the air-- and then there’s a very literal one as an electromagnetic pulse rocks the Regal Street Parlor. The Bout It Out ring shorts and the entire parlor is pitched into total, window-less darkness. It doesn’t take more than a few seconds for the crowd’s excitement to melt into panic. Pushing, shoving, shouting - a piercing shriek as one of Kun-Kun’s representatives is stabbed. The nearby hosts (Lexa, Sam Alexander, and anyone in their faux attachment) should be able to help Kun-Kun and his reps to safety, but the crush of the crowd tangles up everyone else. When a rudimentary bomb goes off in the center of the parlor, it catches plenty of people in the crossfire.

There’s a white hot flash. A pulse of heat. A sizzle of agony. It’s a pain that guts, that persists long after the flash of the bomb and extends all the way to the infiltration team at Ven Diagrams. It’s like a limb badly severed. Anakin Skywalker is killed by the blast and every host knows it before they’re aware of anything else.

Unluckily for the infiltration team, they won’t have much time to recover. News of the bombing hits Extraspace in a matter of seconds, which triggers Ven Diagrams - paranoid from the recent attack on their own properties - to lock down their headquarters. All systems are tightened and security clamps down before the infiltration team can access the private servers. If you’re somewhere you’re not supposed to be, now’s the time to get the hell out of dodge.

Retreat, regroup. Upon returning to the Bearings apartment block, the hosts will find that two of their previously comatose friends have woken up: Hux and Aoba Seragaki will probably need to be briefed on the current situation.

     I. THE ROOM WHERE IT HAPPENS
In the Regal Street Gaming Parlor, a pulse flashes. Electronics sizzle. A fight reaching rhythm is shattered and darkness consumes the parlor in its entirety. There’s something like a collective inhale - and then the panic sets in. Screaming. Pushing. Elbows in the dark and a wave of bodies forcing their way toward wherever they think the exit is. Parlors like this one are supposed to be shielded from this kind of problem, but today that doesn’t matter. In just a few short moments of panic, a bomb - basic compared to the one that blew out the Ven Diagram warehouse only days ago - goes off.

There’s a buzz. An electrical hiss. In the wake of the explosion - in the wake of the agony of Anakin’s death -, the parlor’s fire systems go off flooding the upper and lower levels, the spectator balconies with flame retardant powder and coolant. The emergency lighting kicks on, throwing the carnage into stark fluorescent light. The probable intended victim has escaped, along with his entourage, but there are plenty of wounded - groans and weeping permeate the chemical stale air. In addition to Anakin, three people have been killed and two androids have been rendered into scrap by the explosion. Countless others could use help; maybe even a few other hosts have been wounded by the blast.

     II. MEANWHILE...
If you’re part of the infiltration team, you’ve officially overstayed your welcome. Security tightens to a chokehold; if you’re somewhere you shouldn’t be, it’s time to leave. An alarm blares through the development laboratories. The building is evacuated and then sealed throughout. The powerlifts cease operation. All networked systems go offline.

     III. FROM THE JAWS OF DEFEAT
Back at the parlor, the evacuation continues. The parlor is half-collapsed, there are injured to tend to and local authorities to deal with. In a matter of minutes, the the parlor is swarmed by public security and medical personnel. If you’re able bodied, you’re welcome to assist with rescue efforts - or try to find a lead on who could’ve been responsible for this. Some evidence, some sign - anything to make this worth it. During this time those with Kun Adetokunbo will have the chance to make their case.

It’s a long, protracted clean up and triage; it’s absolutely possible that some of the infiltration team members might make it to the site of the explosion to assist or care for their friends. 

     IV. WE TEND OUR WOUNDED, WE COUNT OUR DEAD
In the early hours of the morning on Day 023, the hosts limp back to Bearings. Maybe it should be achingly quiet, but it’s not - there’s a murmur of activity in the mental air as Hux and Aoba muddle out of their way from out of their comas. From here, it’s up to to the hosts to recover, to discuss how they want to proceed, and come up with a way to recover from this setback - and from Anakin’s death.

---

((OOC NOTES: Here it is, your wrapup log for the event! You may have noticed that the Hosts didn’t succeed at the Ven Diagrams infiltration. We thought this was a better way than asking everyone to handwave a huge amount of plot or simply having the NPCs get the evidence. Don’t worry though - there will be other mysteries to unravel soon. Very soon, in fact.

There will be an NPC top-level for the escape with Kun-Kun, but otherwise you’re free to make your own top levels! If you have any questions please feel free to ask them in the event OOC post.

Thanks everyone!))

NAVIGATION • SETTING • FAQ • MOD CONTACT • GLOSSARY

( CODE BY WHAMBAM )

Comments

sam the first/the elder/ anders

[frakkincylons]

A) GOODBYE MR. SKYWALKER 8(

[ It rips through like stray shrapnel, the shot you didn't see coming, the artery that it hits, the shock that sets in as you stare down at the gaping wound and the crimson wet on your hand. one moment, his family is whole, save for jessica's distant sleeping mind, and the next, one is violently, harshly, cruelly ripped away. it's the words from lee's mouth all over again "there was an accident. kara's gone." it's watching jean's body hit the floor, and feeling desperately for a pulse, to find none. floor pulled out from under him.

sam cries out, behind the console he'd been hastily tapping at, set to picking through security systems and dismantling the checkpoints one by one by one to get their infiltration team through. it all goes starkly out of focus when that flash of white and piercing agony takes hostile control of his mind. hands to the side of his head, sam's doubled over as if some invisible spike had just been jabbed straight through his skull, one temple to the other, but luckily he didn't come to this room alone, one of the others from the nest nearby. he'd opened himself up to the brood, to this connection, welcomed it and lost himself to what bound them all together, and now, to have one piece of it torn away like limb severed, jagged, scorching and throbbing with nerve endings still screaming, is the deepest pain his mind can recall right now. ]

No, nonono, Gods no-- [ he's rambling with a strain in his voice and moisture stinging his eyes, hands pressed to the cold tile as he kneels on the floor, now. sirens blare to life shortly after, but sam's not responding as of yet. someone's going to need to give him a hand getting the hell out of here, considering the two of you are definitely not supposed to be here, doing what it was you were doing. ]

B) IS FOR BEARINGS AFTERMATH

[ with the loss of one of their own so fresh, and so soon after jessica fell silent, sam's uncharacteristically still and absolutely quiet, as the others get back. he hasn't done anything since the infiltration team got back to the flat, faster than those from the Bout It Out match, and Sam hasn't moved from where he stands, staring at the elevator door. Waiting, for the rest of his brood to come back. as if he needs to check with his own eyes that they're there, hear it from their own mouths that one of them is gone.

the moment one of them steps through, he'll be stepping forward, a hand reaching out to touch a shoulder, a cheek, the side of their head over the dust of rubble and explosion, or to pull into an embrace. he doesn't know what else to do with himself. can't start to plot for a next move or consider the rest of what's happened until this is done. ]

C) AFTER-AFTERMATH

[ after having had time to be with the rest of Castor, to see that Ren's put somewhere comfortable and looked after, it still takes some time for sam to make it back out to the commons area, and find a seat on the couch, behind all the mess of computer parts and wires that he'd set up with Angel. his eyes skim over it aimlessly, a deep feeling of hollowness settled in him. at a loss, after such a crushing failure. ]

Now what? [ he's asking to the room at large, no one in particular. he'd likely missed much of the debriefing and news due to wanting to attend to his broodmates first. lee or kara would say get yourself together, there's still a fight to finish. but he'd never been a soldier at heart, not like them. he'd joined because he needed to do something with himself, needed to be part of kara was before she'd gone. it was never something that truly suited him, even with the resistance and the insurrection.

find another starting point, keep going. he knows that's the logic, but where does all of this leave them now? ]

B.

[erbier]

[ She allows his initial hug, but she her palms open against his chest, not letting him fully take her weight. She is only on her feet by force of will. She glides away from him again without saying anything, disappearing into quarters to sleep for hours. Her exhaustion cannot be terribly surprising.

When she awakes again and takes the time to scrub the smell of smoke out of her hair, the blood and soot off her skin, she is better prepared to interact, and goes looking for him.

It must have been difficult for him. The only one not with them... ]

Sam...

[ Her throat hurts, hoarse from breathing in smoke and perhaps from screaming although she does not remember doing so. ]

[frakkincylons]

[ It's understandable, and she looks like a mess, but she'd come back in one piece, on her feet, and while much, much worse for wear, safe. Sam had let her go to rest up, maybe left a bottle of water and a bit of food on her bedside table for when she woke.

When Ilde makes it back out to the commons area, Sam's pulled an armchair up to the large window overlooking the city, eyes roaming it listlessly, a bit lost in his head, but not so much that he doesn't devote his attention back to her when she speaks up. ]

Hey you.

[ A small, sad smile touches his lips, the ache from their loss still thrumming in him, but he scoots some to sit at the air of the chair, leaving the seat for her, patting it. Come hang with him, lil sis. ] Sleep okay?

[erbier]

[ She perches on the other arm of the chair, crossing her ankles. There are burns and cuts up her legs, exposed below the hem of her skirt. A souvenir of being tossed across the room. ]

Too deeply.

[ She disliked it, the idea that her body could be so completely overwhelmed as to override years and years of survival instinct. Or was it that she felt safe among her own kind now? Also an uncomfortable thought, but not completely out of the question. ]

How are you?

[frakkincylons]

You're safe here.

[ He offers, following the line of thought, with a small smile that tries at reassuring. For now, at least, they are. While they haven't been discovered. It's hard to really feel safe after something like the explosion, after losing Anakin so suddenly. ]

Definitely been better.

[ that can be said for all of them, likely, at this point. this was more than jessica falling quiet. it was a life ripped right out of their hands, and the void where anakin's mind was is still bleeding. maybe won't ever stop. sam's tense, anxious, angry, restless, sorrowful, and feeling at a loss for what to do about any of it. ]

[erbier]

It was... good that the rest of you came.

[ She had not expected the members of the infiltration team to appear, but they had apparently been more than sorely needed. ]

[frakkincylons]

[ He smiles sadly to her, not wanting to think of what would’ve happened if they hadn’t shown up, but already aware of how badly Ilde had been left with it as it was. Between the crash of wills Ren and Steve were caught up in, she’d been helpless to stop it. He can’t fault her for it - the two of them could probably move mountains if they ever put that kind of determination together. ]

Just wish I’d been there to begin with. [ a beat, and he huffs a little. ] At least before frakking Dark-whatever decided to ‘help’. Who has a name like that anyway that doesn’t just scream ‘I’m an asshole’.

C

[whowhatnow]

We sit back, twiddle our thumbs, maybe think of the meaning of life a little. That could help.

[Says Nathaniel, who is just slouched over the table. Normally, he would be all bright eyes and bright smiles, but this time his energy's been a bit drained out of him, and his joke is delivered in a tired and rather sardonic monotone.]

But really, what do we do? We kind of failed in a glorious fashion, it's hard to see how we could come back from any of that.

[frakkincylons]

[ for once, sam's not up for jackassery. one of his family just died, the other's still lost in a coma, and ren's gone completely psychotic over it. not the time.

so the first joke just gets a dead sort of stare, sam's eyes shifting to the nathaniel, but otherwise not moving, before he blinks back to the wall he'd been staring at. ]

Find what frakker planted the bomb. Make 'em hurt until they give us the information we need. Just a thought. [ Ah. it's one of those days. sighing, sam pushes himself up to lean forward from the couch, digging around in the mess he and angel had made of the coffee table. ] I need a smoke.

[whowhatnow]

That so?

[There's no protest from him. No dissuading word, no complaints, no reminder of good morals and the fact they should not allow themselves to drop down to such a level. There's just a stare from him and a slight raise of his eyebrow. He shrugs.]

I guess that could work. Trouble is finding the guy, which is easier said than done. [He blows away a strand of hair that has fallen in front of his face.] I don't have any smokes on me, and I should really give you the "smoking is bad for your health" spiel, but really, go ahead, man. Knock yourself up.

[frakkincylons]

[ Eventually Sam pulls a carton of cigarette free from the mess on the table, and a lighter, putting one between his lips and striking up with a deep inhale.

Sam’s silent for the question that seems mostly rhetorical. As cheery as Sam tends to be, as much crap as he gives about trying to do what’s right, gods, he’s done some fucked up shit. The Resistance and the Insurrection were ugly, and Sam’s still not sure he regrets all of it. Even knowing what he is now.

It’s his mind spiraling away to something unsavory, and he blinks back to Nathaniel, trying to focus past the anger of loss. ] It was a bomb, that kinda crap’s messy. It takes a device, and there’s always something left of it, even in pieces. There’s gotta be something left back there, unless the cops picked it all up.

knock yourself OUT I MEANT OUT MY GOD

[whowhatnow]

[He raises a hand to brush through his hair, his expression morose- his mind feels like it's moving while his body isn't. There's just so much to think about. Too much.]

[But Sam's statement makes Nathaniel lift his head, and he snaps his fingers.]

Yeah! Yeah, it's like in those shows where the CSI people get the pieces of the bomb and do, like, forensics on it, right? "The bomb is the bomber's fingerprint" or something like that. [He nods.] If there's something left, we can track down the parts to whoever made it.

LMFAO I FIGURED 8'||| NO MPREG, NATHANIEL

[frakkincylons]

[ The excitement is encouraging, though it doesn't particularly give Sam anymore more pep than he had a moment ago. Still, he pulls up an extranet screen on a coffee table in front of them, starting to scroll through reports. ]

That's assuming the police didn't already grab it, in which case, we'd need to do some breaking and entering to get in there. All of us bolted in such a hurry, I don't think anyone stuck around to investigate.

C.

[vocalis]

[ Aoba doesn't really have an answer to offer Sam. He's still trying to piece together the bigger picture of all he's missed through the collective fog over the hosts. It hangs heaviest on Castor, and it's a feeling he recognizes from all the days after leaving Avera.

He approaches from behind the couch, hands stuffed into the pockets of his pants. His eyes also skim over the mess of monitors, before lowering and settling on one of the empty couch cushions beside Sam. ]

I wish I could tell you it gets better, but...

[ The truth is, it doesn't. Perhaps it's safe to say it numbs a bit over time, but the gaping hole that only Adam Parker can fill is ever present in his connection to the rest of Adara. It's different from the other missing members, the ones that still live but sleep indefinitely. This is the feeling of void. ]

I'm sorry for your loss.

[frakkincylons]

[ for a moment after aoba finishes, sam's quiet, eyes watching some blank space on the carpet, before he leans forward, reaching for a bottle of liquor left on the coffee table, somewhere between the tangled forest of wires. ]

I already know it doesn't. No death does.

[ but anakin isn't coming back like kara did, out of whatever bizarre, divine twist of fate delivered her more an echo of herself than really alive. at least they'd both been headed for the afterlife, before the Nest came for him. it's more like when he'd lost jean - one of the very few still left from his life before the bombs dropped, and all it'd taken is too strong a shove to rip her away.

he can only anticipate that this aching void, what aoba likely means, will be much, much worse. ]

How many of yours are left? The ones awake.

[vocalis]

[ It's a simple answer to give, but Aoba takes some time with it. He counts them down in his head. Romy, Adam, Ares. Half of Adara, gone within the small amount of time they'd arrived to the Nest. Gone before, during, and after completing only one mission. ]

Besides myself... two.

[ He steps around the couch then, and settles on the arm of it beside Sam. He's not really sure what he's doing, but he can tell as much as anyone else that Castor is hurting. Not because Sam's mind openly grieves, but through his own loss with Adam. If there's any comfort he can give, he'd try. ]

Did you get to know him well?

[frakkincylons]

[ Sam lolls his head back against the couch, and looks to Aoba as he makes his way around, listening carefully, and considering the question. ]

Not incredibly, but… well, you’re brood, so it’s always personal.

[ It’s difficult to think back on Anakin, and the time he’d had with him, and feel that space that’s left forever empty, but he feels like it’s respect due. ]

He had a wife he’d missed. Skilled, intrigued by ingenuity. [ a pause, and Sam lets out a quiet, understated chuckle. ] Helped me put together a damn sieve for moonshine back on the station.

[vocalis]

[ It's sad, it's heavy, (especially at the mention of a wife) but when Sam chuckles Aoba manages a small smile. A short-lived one, but he makes the effort. ]

I don't know what a sieve or moonshine is, but... I think it's good, that you have those memories.

[ He folds his arms across his knees, posture going tight and rigid as that smile fully fades. ]

The only thing Adam seemed interested in was pushing away and escaping the Nest. I guess he accomplished that, in a way...

[ Maybe that was a little harsh to his memory, but the few Aoba has of his deceased broodmate are not fond. However, their limited time together and what Adam had been trying to accomplish has made him think about what it means to be in a brood. Perhaps overthink. ]

Is it really so personal, though? The feelings we get from the connection to our broodmates are artificial, aren't they? That's why it still feels like there's a missing piece. I barely knew him, and he hated me... I shouldn't still feel like this.

[ He sighs lightly as he stares at a patch of floor just past the couch, clutching folded arms more tightly than he means to. He visibly relaxes when he realizes this, and blinks bewildered and looks back to Sam, surprised and mildly ashamed for saying so much. ]

S-sorry. I'm rambling, and you're tired...

[frakkincylons]

[ Sam watches him carefully as he speaks, taking the comments in and turning them over in his mind. Considering. It’s a long pause after Aoba’s finished that Sam speaks up again, shaking his head. ]

I don’t think so. That they’re artificial feelings, that is. [ how would it matter, though? Like Athena and Boomer and all they remembered of being Sharon. The fact it was planted in them didn’t make it any less real, didn’t make them love the people around them any less, didn’t make the memories feel any more false. Maybe it wasn’t supposed to be there, but it is now.

Either way, that’s more in depth than he really wants to go, without sounding like a crazy person. Back to the main point of it - ]

Do you choose your family when you’re born? Maybe you end up loving your mom because she kind and nurturing and supportive, but when you were born you just loved her because she was Mom.

[ they had an innate bond, like family. Even if you hate everything about a brother, they’re still blood, kin, and that’s a bond that’s beyond that. ]

A

[bracchium]

[One moment, Bucky is standing off to Sam's side, watching the door, and the next he doesn't know up from down. Something--- someone--- is ripped from him so suddenly, the absence fractures through the glass spiderweb holding his head together. A hundred voices scream, a hundred mouths opened wide in terror and begging for life, a white hot poker thrust deep into his neck. His voice joins the chorus, wild and furious and so much of the Soldier pours in through the holes to stem the pain.

Yet no amount of low humming and shouted commands can ease the scalding fury raking his senses.

He's kneeling on the frozen floor in Siberia, arm sizzling and buzzing as circuits try to connect with seared wires, stinking of burning flesh and corroded metal. But when he raises his head, he finds buzzing equipment beside him and an unfamiliar face crushed in agony.

The alarms scream overhead a moment later and the Soldier comes alive, washed in red strobes blinking in and out. As the first guard enters the room, Bucky is on him like a bullet.]

[frakkincylons]

[ sam's head is still ringing, from the bomb, from the severed thread of anakin's life, and the feedback from steve, ilde and ren (especially ren) as the whole group of them crumble from the chasm that'd just opened up in their bonds. not like jessica - there but sleeping. just gone. ripped out, like an organ, the body reeling with attempts to compensate for the loss.

still lost enough so that he doesn't register anything going on with bucky - somewhere distantly, hears the door open, and the sounds of fighting, but he's reaching out past the building, towards his brothers and his sister, trying to cling tight to them.

it's more the want to be close, physically so the bond tightens further, that has him rocketing up taking the second or third guard - whichever rushes in while bucky's dealing with the first. the man's head goes through the closest wall. because, oops, cylon strength, and someone's just gone terminator. the next man standing in the door frame receives sam's foot in the center of his chest, kicking him back towards the one behind him. he may not be an assassin, but he was a soldier. ]

We're jumping. [ Sam shouts behind him, towards Barnes. They're aboooout three or four stories up? He can probably handle it? Maybe? Well, there's a tree he can aim for. Let's go, homie, the squad needs them. ]

[bracchium]

[The first guard goes down without much of a fight; a punch to the side of the head, two fingers to the neck, and then a quick snap of his hands breaks a neck. The Soldier wheels on the second to find him already dispatched, but he makes sure as the stumbling pair fall backwards into the hall. He catches the third by the neck and squeezes with a crunch before tossing him away like refuse. None of them have pistols on them, the Soldier notes with annoyance as he sends the fourth down to the floor with a crack.

Behind him, someone calls out to The Soldier. The first squad of guards are down and broken on the floor, but he makes no move to disengage. More will come, he's sure of it.

Mission, mission, mission catches behind his neck like a fish hook, tugging and tearing--- the programming clawing into control. What is his mission?]

[frakkincylons]

[ were sam more calm, more present, he'd likely have been concerned about leaving such a mess. even in being detected, that the guards came up here at all. but that's for times when he didn't just lose what feels like a piece of his soul, and doesn't feel the rest of it splintering and in agony not far from him.

moving straight to one of the long windows across the hall, sam's quick to find the latch and shove it wide open, ready to clamber onto the sill and drop down, when he turns to look back to his nestmate, still engaged in the fight. ]

( Barnes! ) [ Sam snaps in the man's mind, loud and arresting. No time for this. ] ( We're leaving. )

[ With that, he hops over the edge, more trying to lower himself along the ridge of the window, scaling downward a flight or two before pushing off to make the jump and roll. ]

[bracchium]

[The Soldier is preparing for a second wave of guards when a command rings in his head. The name doesn't wuite resonate with him, but the alarm slips right into the slot labeled MISSION OBJECTIVE in his head. He turns and follows without question, vaulting over the window sill after the lieutenant as easily as one gets out of bed. He lands below in a crouch, eyes focused on he other man and awaiting more instructions.]

[frakkincylons]

[ Once up, Sam's eyes scan the area around them, trying to get bearings on where they've landed and what the fastest route to the arena would be, mind speeding through it all, before he turns to Barnes. ]

Regal Street Gaming Parlor. Ren's losing it, Steve's in trouble. [ It's such a blur of emotional chaos and physical pain, but they're at direct odds right now - Sam can tell that much. Steve can't survive Ren, not like this. Sam's taking off immediately, heading across the lawn towards the direction of the gaming parlor. ] We need to separate them, fast.