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

[deployed]

And the Darkling, yeah.

[ Clint, who was still a mystery. He was closed off in a way Bellamy half-envied. Sam was different, but there was a familiarity in the way he mentioned Clint that had Bellamy guessing— ]

Do you know Clint? From where you were before?

[ He and Lexa weren't unique. Bellamy knows that. Angel and Rhys knew each other as well, and it stood to reason that there would be others plucked from the same places. But it's still a curiosity, and Bellamy's interested to know the relationship between them at the very least. His thoughts prick up and focus on Sam. It's not much of a shift. He'd already been leaning into it, unconsciously turning towards the calm comfort Sam's radiating. Bellamy soaks it up like a sponge, as embarrassing as it is to be so obvious. ]

[sizeofyourbaggage]

[ Sam nods at that, even if he didn't really need the question confirmed - he hasn't really meet the Darkling, yet, but he's felt glimpses of both of them in Clint's mind.

Clint who's a mystery to everyone, Sam's pretty sure. He just lucked out enough to have gone through some shit with the guy, both before and since they've gotten here. Well. Maybe 'lucked out' isn't the right term, but still. ]

Yeah, I do. We're friends. Used to be teammates, I guess we kind of still are.

[ It's almost a relief, having Bellamy lean in like that. At baseline like this, Sam's pretty good at holding in his emotions, but that doesn't mean it isn't nice to be able to let go a little. He's had to be careful even with calm, ever since Barnes freaking out on him, but now there's a sigh of relief as he just lets it go, breathing in and out. ]

How long you been here?

[deployed]

[ Sam had lucked into a deeper connection, maybe. Or a familiarity that Bellamy couldn't quite replicate. Some days he isn't even sure he should. He's already have enough difficulty with his thoughts blending and settling in with the Darkling's. Suppose he finds that same common ground with Clint? ]

Not very long, [ Bellamy answers, frowning. ] Not long enough to have everything figured out the way I wish I did.

[ He's sick to death of surprises. The ability to cripple and sicken people with his hands is yet another unwelcome discovery. ]

Do you trust him? Clint?

[ Casually asking old friends for deets on his broodmate, no big deal. ]

[sizeofyourbaggage]

I hear you. [ Sam absently tugs the collar of his t-shirt down a little, revealing a dark bruise on his collarbone. ] I'll feel a hell of a lot better when I figure out how to patch someone up without taking on their injuries. But I'm getting pretty good at the mental shit, at least.

[ He lets his shirt go, running a hand over the back of his neck as he considers Bellamy's question. It's not like Bellamy doesn't probably already have an answer - Sam'd stopped holding in his emotions to let calm bleed out, and he knows he couldn't have started again in time to keep the quiet affection and sense of comaraderie from getting through, too.

No point in trying, really, though he does turn his mind real quick back to calm. ]

Yeah, hell yeah. We've had each other's backs for a while now, can't see that changing.

[deployed]

He's...good at keeping us out.

[ Which Bellamy is clearly envious of, even if there's some newfound instinct that bristles over being barred from Clint's head every time he considers it. Feeling the wash of positive emotion from Sam confirms what Bellamy already knew, but it goes a long way to assuage the skepticism Bellamy had reserved for the unknown quantity. ]

Or me out, I guess. I don't know about the Darkling.

[ Though it stands to reason Clint's rebuffed everyone. ]

[sizeofyourbaggage]

He's a private guy. There's a lot of stuff I don't know, too. [ A lot of stuff Sam hasn't asked, out of respect for the first - but he says it half because it's true, and half to reassure Bellamy that he isn't the only one. ] We both got a lot of experience in keeping things under wraps.

[ Just in different ways. Well, mostly different - they both know how to keep classified information well buried, how to deflect with humor and smiles, but the cage of Clint's mind comes from years as an agent, surviving off secrets. Sam's got a couple of years of therapy and working at the VA mixed in with his training. ]

I got a few tricks, if you ever want any of them.

[deployed]

[ There are members of the Hive with actual skill, the kind of innate self control Bellamy can only aspire to. The offer pulls him up short as his thoughts immediately stray to Angel, wistful.

But she's asleep. Bellamy can't consider the possibility of her failing to wake, but he can't really pass up Sam's offer. He struggles for a long moment against the impulse to turn him down, but if Clint can trust him, then Bellamy should be able to as well. ]

If you don't mind sharing trade secrets, I'd appreciate it.

[ Keeping things under wraps is something Bellamy truly needs to get better at. ]

[sizeofyourbaggage]

[ Sam waits while Bellamy thinks it over, doing his best to keep himself out of the mental link so he doesn't accidentally pry into his thought process. He'll push sometimes, yeah, but not like this. He made the offer, he's just gonna hang back and let Bellamy decide for himself.

When he agrees to it, Sam shoots him a small smile. ]

Back home, I spent a couple of years helping people figure out how to regulate their emotions, keep their thoughts from overwhelming them, stave off nightmares, that kind of thing. Ain't exactly trade secrets. But yeah, man, I got you. When do you wanna start?

[deployed]

When I feel less like I'm gonna puke.

[ That's better for his concentration, isn't it?

Not that Bellamy's been great so far. He doesn't get distracted by anything external. It's what crops up in his head that'll take him out at the knees. Allowing Wilson to get in close enough to field that is a real measure of trust, one that Bellamy's believes is well-placed. ]