trial #2 - execution

[judgejudy]

DAY 4 (evening) Complex Population: 32 At 7PM, a tone rings out, but it's not Judy's voice that filters out over the intercom. "TALLYING VOTES. . ." The voice is mechanical and robotic, and a pause lingers in the air. It seems that the voting system is run by some kind of AI. "CONSENSUS REACHED. MAJORITY VOTE. TIE. RESULT 1. LARA CROFT. STATUS: INNOCENT. LARA, PROCEED TO THE JUDGEMENT THEATER. CHARGING..." There's the sound of clicking, and Lara will receive a very sharp shock to their ankle monitor. If they don't step into the judgement room, the shock will increase in strength every ten seconds until they're unconscious. Regardless, the voice continues to drone on. "RESULT 2. LUKE CASTELLAN, EMPLOYEE ID VTSCI62271053. STATUS: INNOCENT. LUKE, PROCEED TO THE JUDGEMENT THEATER. CHARGING..." Luke receives the same treatment, and finally, the last player is decided in the same way: "DESIGNATING EXECUTIONER. . . ELIZABETH. ELIZABETH, PROCEED TO THE JUDGEMENT THEATER. CHARGING..." — ic rulebook character statuses character profiles votes

Comments

[subsisted]

[ elizabeth doesn't deserve this. god. not a one of them did anything wrong. innocent. they're all innocent. none of them fucking deserve being locked in a room like rats with only two weapons. at the very least, one of them is going down in the next minute or so. lara knows that, and it's infuriating, horrifyingly infuriating. her anger is fueling her. fuck whoever is doing this to them.

lara croft will figure out necromancy from the grave and personally come back for whoever the fuck is doing this. whoever put them all in this position, whoever did this to all of them, she's going to slit their fucking throat.

but right now she has to make sure elizabeth's injuries aren't that bad, because she remembers the woman who looked so vulnerable. the woman who nearly cried. the woman who wanted the truth. that's all she wanted. she's coming, liz. it's a mad dash and lara skids on her knees at first, slamming her palms down to stop herself. ]

It's my fight right now, Luke.

[ it's spat with venom and a hint of desperation, perhaps.

she wipes at her brow, quickly, and she's back, bolting like a bat out of hell to him. she's going to knock liz out of the way first, that's her goal. if she succeeds, she'll go for a sharp uppercut, hoping it hits. she just wants to stop him. ]

[tearable]

[ And with that, Elizabeth is caught off guard. Luckily, she has enough sense to turn the bat enough so she almost loses a pinky. Hah. It hits the hilt of the baseball bat, and she's ready to strike when Lara intercepts her. Lara takes the fight to Luke and with that - he does actually succeed! But not on his own accord.

Luke hears the thud of the baseball bat hit the ground as Lara pushes Liz out of the way and presumably lands her punch. Liz was left slamming into the wall with a harsh groan. ]

[chiseler]

[The bat hits the ground and Luke has enough time to kick it away, but not enough time to avoid Lara's punch. She nails him right in the face (thankfully not in his still-recovering nose) and it's solely reactionary, the loud startled yell and the motion of his arms coming up and swinging with the axe. It's blind, pure reaction without thinking, without really noticing where the axe is going, without really registering that it's Lara in front of him. All he knows is that something's attacking and it has to stop, he has to stop it, he has to come out on top or he's going to die. He isn't ready for that, it doesn't matter and he's not sorry, but this isn't fair.

None of this is fair. But the axe swings even with his face throbbing. He hadn't looked to see where, exactly, he swung at though. All he needs is distance and speed and monitoring where exactly the bat is at.]

[subsisted]

[ it collides because of course it does. lara wants to dodge but her arm is stuck, hard. she's been slammed into before but it hits her in a way that gets her arm to buckle at the elbow, so she'll give in for a moment. it stings. it burns. her adrenaline is pumping. lara croft is a survivor lara croft is a survivor lara croft is a survivor.

it garners a shout out of her. ]

I know! I know, Luke! I don't want this, either--

[ it's genuine. strained, hurt, but sincere. lara raises her opposite fist.

she'll go for his chest, then. she wants to knock the wind out of him. god, she should kill luke, she should, she knows it but there's no part of her that wants this. ]

--but please, we're all innocent! I know!

[chiseler]

[He can see that Elizabeth's struggling to get to her knees and crawl for the bat, but his main concern is Lara now. He pulls the axe back and his face is contorted in something that can only be described as rage. Demigods are bred for survival. Demigods are on their own from an early age, Luke has fought monsters with a golf club and lived, he's meant for something greater.

Innocent? Yeah. He used to think that, but he remembers the words of an old man who'd been innocent and punished for it, too. 'Luke, I also saw a sacrifice in your future. A choice. But also a betrayal. Your path is hard to see. But if you survive today, you will betray—'

Is this what the old man meant? He thinks about who's in the room with him, thinks about who's outside and he takes a split second too long to think because she punches him in the chest and he wheezes, knocking back and falling on his ass.]

Innocent? [A gesture to the window.] You think the people that voted for you and me are innocent, Lara? Only one of us gets to leave, how innocent does that make anybody? [His pitch is higher even as he works to stand, stumbling forward to kick the baseball bat further out of the way and turns back to her.] Two of us have to die anyway don't we? [And he darts forward with surprising speed for somebody who was just knocked over, swinging the axe one more time. Sorry Lara. Gods, he's so sorry, even with everything he's saying he's sorry and he manages to look at her with a broken expression that isn't something for show. He didn't want it to be this way, but...one of them should die innocent, at least. The first swing is less calculated, the second a little clumsy, and the third he can't even watch.]

[subsisted]

[ lara thinks about diva, and she thinks about her conversation with elizabeth. she thinks about elizabeth had told her not to blame herself, she thinks about the bottomless guilt and she thinks about the ankle monitors and she thinks about so much as luke's words cut through.

he's right.

they're not innocent.

none of them are. everyone in there, they voted wrong. majority rule won, and a trio of innocent people are paying the price. he's right. she's paying for someone else's stupidity and it's aggravating but she realizes dully that luke's swinging for her.

she knows you're sorry, luke. she is, too. you're just a kid, in the end, and you shouldn't have to play with some sick game like this. elizabeth is moving, she's moving for the bat, lara hopes, sickly, because at least, god, at least try to live. luke's trying so hard. she's not even angry. she would have done the same if it'd been anyone else in this fucking chamber. elizabeth doesn't deserve to see this, to be in this position, she deserves to be home and doing whatever it is that a mysterious, pretty woman like her does. her nails are finely manicured, like sam's were. perhaps she's a party girl. lara hopes you get to have a party again, some day, liz.

his expression is a blur, but she feels it. don't be sorry, luke. don't be. just do your best. make them regret it. make them watch and make them regret every hit you land.

you didn't do it.

they did. ]

Don't bl--

[ it collides.

again and again and again.

lara croft is dead.

"don't blame yourself." ]

[chiseler]

[It's not something he takes pleasure in. So maybe he was part of the staff in this facility. He knew he'd have to kill people he liked...but why now? Why like this? He knows the words were for Lara but he sort of hopes maybe others outside will hear them, too. He might be the one with blood on his hands now but it doesn't mean it'll stay this way.

Lara drops to the ground and he hears the echoing lingers of an unfinished message. He knows what she was going to say. "Don't blame yourself." It's a joke, he thinks. He's a child of Hermes, the god of thieves, the god of liars, a streetsmart fast-talking tricky little thing who stole the master bolt and the helm of darkness right from under the noses of Zeus and Hades. He knows how to talk his way out of nearly anything, has a master he was serving and plans bigger than life.

"Don't blame yourself." He doesn't want to. In the end, maybe this wasn't his fault. Lara Croft is dead and suddenly he stops with the bloodied axe in his hands, staring at her lifeless form as the reality hits him. Even with everything he's done...he's never killed anyone before. Sure, okay, he tried, but...this was different.

His ears are ringing, a hand suddenly coming up to his head as his eyes clenching shut. Gods...what was this? It's not...maybe it was just a shift in adrenaline? No, that's stupid. What the fuck? Maybe it's just because he's sick, because Lara knocked the wind out of him earlier, who knows? But it's a stupid mistake keeping his eyes shut for even that moment because it gives Elizabeth time to crawl closer to the bat. He can hear her, but he's too disoriented to move just yet.]

[tearable]

[ There's a heavy sting in her knees but Elizabeth crawls her damndest - the wounds opening up and leaving a sickening blood streak on the ground. There's about to be much more, don't worry. Elizabeth finally grabs onto the bat's end, fumbling with it between her fingers to get a better grasp. Up she goes, groaning and turning just in time to see - how Lara's end.

It's a sickening sight. Something that makes the bile creep up her throat. Elizabeth stands at the same moment Lara falls. She mixes from sadness and confusion to anger. With Luke distracted, Elizabeth proves her profile card true: she runs in those heels with her arm swung back and a sickening crack echoes around the room as the bat contacts with Luke's bicep. It's a blow that she's unfamiliar with, a melee attack that has the same kick of a pistol. She nearly stumbles over from the momentum, seeing Lara's body lying nearby shortly after.

Lara's bleeding - oh God, that's so much blood... the expression of Lara hidden between a mess of sweat and brunette hair. She can't see... she hopes she's not alive, if the wound was any indication. If anything Luke was doing to kill Lara was true, she prays to God it was quick.

The moment to look at Lara as she struck Luke with all of her might was bittersweet. She was susceptible to countering and that is what separates someone like Liz with someone like Lara - someone who was taught to defend herself against all odds even until the bitter end. ]

[chiseler]

[It's a hard hit, hard enough that he nearly drops the axe but instead it twists his arm in an angle he's not familiar with. The problem is that the swing fulfills and instead catches his shoulder as the bone cracks. Thanks for the hard hit, Liz??? He feels it and belatedly registers it, yelping as pain blossoms through his arm and his shoulder. It's enough to knock him out of whatever reverie he was in and he focuses again, blue eyes almost feral as he faces Elizabeth.

She stumbles though and he refuses to quit so easily, taking his good shoulder to ram straight into her collar to knock her over. If the side of the axe swings into her knees again, oh well. He's physically bigger than she is and he's quick to jump right to the floor with her, the butt of the axe slamming down on her wrist before he hisses and stops due to the movement of his arm. He can't exactly pin her and the axe is a little heavy for one hand as his arm hangs oddly limp. There're tears in his eyes though who knows if they're from the gravity of killing Lara or the pain of his broken shoulder. Maybe both. Instead, he stares down at her.]

You really think you're helping?

[tearable]

[ She tried and no one shall blame her for anything. She feels a tiny victory but Lara is dying - or dead, so no one wins. No one fucking wins. She showed pity to him once - a smartass kid with a pair of shoes stuck with people. She thought...she thought he could be someone she could rely on but she held her guard up enough to avoid that.

He rams her into the ground with a good harsh thud and she hits the ground, scrambling backwards until she screams out. The axe hits her knees and it may only slice a little, but no - as he pins her down the axe slams down and causes her to sob out in an anguished shout of pain. Elizabeth's wrist is broken and it sends pain coursing through her arm. ]

Stop it! S-Stop! Why?!

[ Was all she yelped out. She can barely focus to spread her legs enough to try and leverage his weight against him. Her skirt tears up the side and instead, it gives her access to something else. A reminder of what she needed - the waistline of her skirt. She shoots her free hand down frantically gripping onto the scalpel she fashioned onto her outfit at all times since the first day. Elizabeth grips it, fumbling a bit before securing it and -


stabbing it right into the side of Luke's neck. It wasn't particularly the cut she wanted but she's panicked, sobbing with her own tears streaming down her face. She hits a vein, whatever one that is - she can't quite remember a textbook when she's underneath a guy trying to kill her. ]

I'm surviving.

[ Was all she said as she tried to push him off of her with the scalpel sticking from his neck. ]

[chiseler]

[And that's it. One tiny mistake, one little flaw he never predicted. That's his downfall. It's like...it's like fighting Ares all over again, being too confident in his skill.

But it should say a lot when he doesn't even try to stop her and he rolls onto his back with the scalpel driven into a vein. There's a lot of blood. It takes a moment to realize it's his own, and he closes his eyes so he doesn't have to watch. This is how he's going to die. Irreparable damage.

It's not a quick death, but it will be the longer he bleeds out. He cracks open an eye and looks at her, glancing at the window again before looking at Elizabeth.]

We were all trying to, Elizabeth. Maybe you should try and make sure the important ones do. [Adam. Alvin. Angel. Rhys, Jack, Bigby, Alice, herself, people that were kind to him, people he thought...maybe they could be okay. But it doesn't matter. He played his part. That's all he says though and his face goes slack as he waits to bleed out, breathing coming to a complete stop shortly after.]