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!))

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( CODE BY WHAMBAM )

Comments

[unsea]

You don't believe a word I'm saying, [ posed more as a question, than a statement. It's what finally gets him to rise, with a faint wince - bandages pulling on bruises, limbs stiff and sore - from his seat and close the distance between himself and the youngest of the Sams. He takes the time to stretch out his limbs, rolling his ankles, flexing his shoulders, before he drops heavily into the space near Sam. Not directly besides him, though. ]

What do you wish that you could do?

[ If he doesn't see his worth and helpfulness in that, then there must be something else. ]

[headinjuries]

[ He opens his mouth to answer, then closes it.

Thinks about that for a moment, before he speaks again. ]

I...guess I get how that's useful? But it's not what I'm used to doing. Like, smacking up a monster on the rampage or stopping a bunch of meteors the size of the Empire State Building. That's the kind of thing I'm usually doing.

So with what we're doing here, I guess I have no idea what I should be doing.

[ He likes straightforward problems. Problems you can punch in the face. This is the complete opposite, and it makes him second-guess how he's handling it. A lot. ]

[unsea]

[ The Empire State... Hopefully, Sam doesn't take offense to the way he reaches out, to try and glean some insight into what he's talking about. It's an iconic image from Sam's world, he wouldn't have to reach far - and ah, there it is. It clicks. Very large, very tall - taller than the palace at Os Alta. What an incredible feat of architecture. Meteors the size of that. ]

You're not one for subtlety. [ In conclusion, Sam likes when things are active and loud? ] If only the monsters here weren't also people.

[ Not that HE has issue with hurting them, if need be. They've established that. ]

I hope you're still going with Lexa, even still. Position yourself to defend her and this meeting that you've established. There may be another attempt at eliminating Adetokunbo - and perhaps anyone with him. They could undoubtedly use your eyes, and your strength.

[headinjuries]

[ There's a reflexive jolt in his thoughts, almost a pull back, but more from surprise than offense, and when it passes he doesn't push back. As weird as this whole mindlink thing still feels, it's not like Sam's proven to be very good at turning down how loud he thinks anyway. ]

I figured I'd go. I mean, she's... [ How to put it that doesn't sound really dickish to say? ] She's kinda stiff.

[ Sam's social life may be a disaster, and he doesn't have much delicacy when it comes to speaking his mind, but there's never any real doubt that he's genuine, even if he's often genuinely annoying, blunt, or otherwise lacking in tact. ]

[unsea]

I believe... she has been a leader for a long time. I don't know if she knows how to be otherwise.

[ The mistrust he felt for her has become something more generalized. An overarching umbrella that is directed more towards technology in general, than Lexa's intentions. He can respect the weight she carries, and still does. Which - is why he thinks Sam should be present. And he shares that sentiment, through the mental link they share, as nest. ]

When you spoke to me, at the tournament, you were honest. [ Echoing that 'genuine' sentiment, bud. ] Emphatic, compassionate. You looked after others well-being, and I believe that is something that Adetokunbo may continue to appreciate witnessing. More than that, Mind Life's leadership may find the way you feel towards others... familiar. It may not be fighting meteors, Sam, but you have heart. They need to see that, and so, you are needed.

[headinjuries]

I...didn't really think of it that way.

[ Which is probably unsurprising. Action is what Sam's best at.

There's a little rush of gratitude that comes along with his sheepishness about what hadn't occurred to him, though. Whether it's self-imposed or out of real necessity (and more than likely, it's some of each), Sam had isolated himself from a lot of people back home, before the Nest. He was used to being overlooked, underestimated, and never taken quite as seriously as his adult counterparts.

Being recognized so easily as having something to contribute feels...pretty good, honestly. ]

Thanks.