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

[deployed]

Maybe.

[ Bellamy's hedging. He'd seen so many soft-hearted kids lost because they couldn't get it together. The stakes were different for Kun-Kun, but if he didn't have the steel to rise to the occasion, then they'd wasted time trying to get to him. Anakin would have died for nothing. ]

If he believes in what he was saying enough to fight for it, maybe.

[ They'd have to be convincing. And Bellamy would have to trust Lexa to make their case, though he isn't sure her brand of negotiation is going to play well this time. ]

[headinjuries]

He said he's friends with Sheena Frey, but not through Mind Life. Just friends.

[ Which raises the question of whether Kun-Kun does have connections to the organization of his own, or if he's just got sympathies but hasn't done much to act on them. ]

[deployed]

[ Based on Sam's earlier impression, Bellamy's assuming the latter. He'd like to be wrong in his assumptions, but outright optimism feels like a stretch. ]

I wonder how they met.

[ Which is just an idle, useless curiosity. It probably doesn't matter how they met. What matters is how strongly he shares Sheena Frey's beliefs and whether or not he can summon the courage to expose them in public. Bellamy's still thinking about the viciousness of the rallies he'd attended, the jeering in the parlor. For all he'd talked to the Darkling about countering that by unmasking the leaders of the hate groups, Bellamy still worries that it won't be enough. He worries that even Kun-Kun posing a full-throated defense of synthetics won't be enough. ]

But maybe we should come up with a back-up plan. In case he gets spooked.

[ Premature, but potentially necessary. ]

[headinjuries]

She did some kind of sport or something too, right? But I think it was a different one.

[ Do they mingle across the gaming lines here? Or would that be like...dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria, however it goes? ]

It'd probably be way too straight-forward to just go through Mind Life's official channels and ask if we can talk, right?

[ Everyone went straight to the sneaky solution. He's so bad at sneaky. ]

[deployed]

[ Bellamy's lips twitch into a smile. He still looks wrung out, but some of the misery dissipates as he chuckles. Sneaky isn't really Bellamy's forte either. The idea of making simple, straightforward contact seems a little too easy, like they're asking for trouble, but maybe— ]

Probably, [ He agrees, looking around the room before his gaze settles back on same. ] But right now, what can it hurt?

[ They're already hurting. Bellamy can feel it. Ahsoka's grief is a palpable undercurrent, compounded by the various injuries and lingering pain felt by the rest of the Hive. ]

Maybe it's worth a try before we come up with another backdoor approach.

[headinjuries]

I mean, you'd think they'd be glad for whatever support they can get, right?

[ It...isn't exactly a popular cause, as they've all noticed. It's not like people are beating down their doors to help, to the point where they can be that choosy about who supports them. ]

[deployed]

Maybe.

[ Sam has a point, but maybe Mind Life could afford to be picky. Considering the motley crew the Hive consists of, maybe Mind Life would opt for something safer than to ally itself with them. But that's not considering Lexa's plan.

And Bellamy happened to think it would work, even if he worries about what it would cost Lexa to enact it. He'd seen the Flame in action. It could easily tip the scales. But they'd have to trust Mind Life to use it properly. That's what comes after the acceptance of their help, and what has Bellamy getting skeptical. ]

If we're offering them some kind of leverage, then I think they'd take us up on the offer of help.

[ They'd be idiots not to. That goes unsaid. ]

We should try to see what Kun Kun thinks of their organization. If he thinks they can all be trusted.

[headinjuries]

Maybe we should've asked him that when we were asking for the contact.

[ Although, then again - ]

But I guess we were kinda in a hurry.

[ Vicious understatement. A hurry to get things settled before anyone else showed up, to get Kun-Kun's entourage moving for medical care, to get back inside and figure out what the hell was going on before Castor managed to cause another explosion or something because seriously, what was that even...

Things were a little crazy. ]

[deployed]

It wasn't the right time, [ Bellamy agrees, though his impression is all second hand, gleaned from the sharp urgency in Lexa's contact. ] It'll be easier when you see him next. He'll already trust you.

[ Which doesn't feel right to say, but Bellamy thinks it anyway. They've still made progress amidst the disaster and loss. The infiltration had failed, but Lexa and Sam still had an in when it came to Mind Life.

It's hard to focus on those things with Anakin's death hanging over their heads. In some ways, it feels like a disservice to try to plan their next move so immediately after the loss. Bellamy's jaw tightens, and he looks away from Sam, riding out a brief flash of frustrated anger. There's nothing he can do. Lexa was right when she'd told him they were at war, even if Bellamy's first instincts almost always contradict that. ]

[headinjuries]

[ Frustrated anger is half of Sam's life, so he doesn't bat an eyelash when that washes past. Because it's stupid. They lost someone and they have to keep going and pretend what they accomplished was worth it, because pretending stuff's better than it is is how you keep going when everything sucks. That, or telling the world to fuck off, you're not giving it the satisfaction of getting you down.

Or both. Both is good. ]

I dunno if he trusts us that much, but his...friend? Manager? Whoever she was, I think she's vouching for us.