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]

[ 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.]