62 | trial #4 - execution

trial #4 - execution

DAY 8 (evening)
Complex Population: 19

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. RHYS, EMPLOYEE ID VTSCI62270894. STATUS: GUILTY. RHYS, PROCEED TO THE JUDGEMENT THEATER. CHARGING..."

There's the sound of clicking, and Rhys 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.

"DESIGNATING EXECUTIONER. . . AL—"

The protocol starts, but cuts off abruptly. Instead, Judy's voice speaks up.

"Consider this an official notification for the entire population. If you feel a noose tightening around your neck, I am at least accommodating. If there is someone in particular you want to take your life, I can override the selection protocol for that purpose. Perhaps next time, Alice, since Rhys has requested Jack. Please proceed to the judgement theater."

No one else will be able to step into the judgement theater after them without receiving a nasty shock before they can step too close, and once they're both inside, the door closes behind both of them. There's a clicking sound from the walls, and the panels on the right side of the room are pulled up to reveal a thick glass that allows you to look into the Judgement Theater.

It seems justice is meant to come from the the hands of the jury.

—

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[ and once jack dies, rhys pulls the scalpel out of his throat. he wipes it on his pants again, frowns down at the body, before turning and heading towards the window. ]

Judy, keep the door closed. You know I'm not leaving here alive so it shouldn't really be a big deal.

[ when he's at the window, he does two things. first, he presses a few buttons on his collar until he feels satisfied enough. then he lifts up the scalpel and wags it a little at the window before pressing it to his wrist, at the pulse point. he jerks his chin in angel's direction and as he presses the scalpel down harder, his own heart rate picks up which just -- well, it's pretty obvious what that does.

except, it's even clearer after the buttons he pushed, the pain angel will feel is suddenly much, much more intense. ]

Here's the deal. I'm killing myself, heading after Jack back there and leaving the rest of you alone. No big. But! But, I want to know something first. If you tell me what I want to know, the collar comes off and Angel stays with you for a while longer. I'll also answer some of your questions. It's -- it's a business transaction, payment for payment. If you don't follow it, the payment gets broken and you lose out on the deal.

[ a sigh and he looks rather irritated at this. his eyes then land on elizabeth. ]

Elizabeth, who told you that I was part of the staff? That's why I did this, you know. Jack told me what you told him, so since I was going to die anyway, I wanted to do something that would distract you. You went for the obvious target, me, and really didn't learn anything new in the end, did you?

[ he grins. ]

Since, after all, you still don't know who the other staff members are. You still don't know who the other three killers from last night are. You don't know why you're here. None of you know anything and instead, you set me up out of spite. Haha, idiots.

How do we know you'll keep your deal if we do let Elizabeth answer your question? You're keeping Angel as a damn hostage! For all we know, you'll get the answer you want and off her anyways, you fucking psycho!

[He's not just staring daggers at Rhys right now, he's staring nuclear missiles.]

Edited 2016-10-30 19:48 (UTC)

[ that just makes him frown. ]

'Cause I haven't broken my word once? I lied about the obvious like -- "I didn't do it" but no, I did do it. But otherwise, I feel like I've been pretty, uh, upfront about stuff.

[ a pause and -- ]

Hell, even my profile lists "mass murder" as a skill.

Are you literally kidding me right now.

[Rhys, you are lucky that Alfendi has a concussion and is fountain sick because he would go over to you and try to rip that robot arm off with his bare hands.]

Your answer to "will you keep your word" is - [He pauses here, raising his voice to mimic Rhys in a mocking tone:] "I will totally keep my word you guys, pinky promise!!".

[He shakes his head.]

You're just going to kill her, aren't you? You bastard. Nobody trusts you anymore. Don't try to pretend as if you're some upstanding citizen who's doing this for the good of us all.

Edited 2016-10-30 19:55 (UTC)

[ he just looks completely baffled here. ]

You sure act like you know who I am as a person despite never talking to me for more than a few minutes since we got here.

[ a shake of his head and he sighs again, looking mildly frustrated. ]

No, I'm going to let her go once I get answers. There's not really a lot of point to killing her? I mean, none of her friends are dead so it'd just be -- you know, boring. She can stay here until the rest of you get her killed, I just want to have my answers first. Then the other staff standing with you right now can kill the leak. Super easy.

A jury can stand on trial for a man they've never seen that's accused of murder and hear evidence about him and still can condemn him for what he's done, you moron. That has nothing to do with this.

[Speaking to Rhys just makes his head hurt even worse.]

What's the point of killing us, idiot? What's your big grand scheme in all this? Are we your test subjects, or are you doing us all some noble favor through murder?

[ morality has nothing to do with any of this, dingus!!! rhys just looks annoyed as he feels like someone's trying to bait him again and decides to start ignoring alfendi now. ]

I can answer that once I have my answers. Now, shut up and leave me alone unless you have something to say.

Don't blame me for your shitty temper tantrum.

[ Elizabeth was fucking furious. Especially after watching Jack die. The way he looked to her when he succumbed to death will haunt her. ]

You're a fucking monster and in the end, no one will mourn you. No one will have anything but hate for you. If I die - be it by your staff member friends or not - I'll know I did well in this world.

[ Elizabeth is still weak after all of Rhys's fucking yandere bullshit, so she stumbles forward as much as she can. ]

Let Angel go first. You gotta understand after your little display, we won't trust you. [ She smiles sweetly, feeling her heart race. ] I want to hear that fucking collar hit the ground before I tell you anything.

[ She hisses. ]

You'll pay - I promise you -

Edited (html...) 2016-10-30 19:49 (UTC)

—Elizabeth, wait!

[And as Elizabeth promises certain doom to Rhys, Angel will be speaking up from the corner of the room she's resigned herself to. Electricity is a bitch and the injuries she gave herself earlier during the trial aren't helping in the slightest, but she pushes through the pain in order to allow her voice to be heard.]

Don't — Don't tell him anything. It isn't worth it. [And though she's not all that eager to be discover what a fatal shock feels like, well...] He's not going to let me go. Not as long as I'm his bargaining chip, so... Please. I don't care if I die. All I ask is that they don't get what they need.

[ my god is he getting tired of this. he pulls the scalpel off his wrist for a moment to sigh very loudly because holy shit. ]

Oh my god, I don't care? I can't stress enough how much I don't care. You're just -- you're trying to manipulate me, you know? Trying to bait me but. There's only two people who can do that to me after -- after everything and one of them is already dead back there.

[ the other one, rhys thinks, isn't here. he finds himself intensely grateful for that since, well, he doesn't want fiona to see him like this. he'd rather continue to be a good memory for her than a bad one. ]

So, tell me the truth or you're not going to get anything and Angel will die. You tell me the truth and I'll tell you --

[ a pause and he looks delighted for a moment. ]

I'll tell you what you need to do to leave. You won't get that information even if you let me kill Angel, huh? Why do you think you've all been dying in the first place?

[ Fucking deal with it????? Rhys be a patient killer, please. Angel is concerned and she shoots her a glance. There's hesitance there. She's trying so hard - she sees Angel collared... and there's regret. There's memories there. There's .. too much for her to feel. She lifts a hand to Angel, trying to soothe her.

Elizabeth knows... how Angel feels. How she wants to do good. How she wants to... just be free. She won't selfishly deny her that, but - ]

It's alright - no, they won't get what they ask for because that's not how the cards fell into play.

[ She snaps back to Rhys. ]

Coincidentally, your little buddy back there - [ Sorry, Jack. ] - he told me everything. He told me how he was using you to get a ticket out of here.

[ Elizabeth can't get close to Rhys without getting shocked, but she points to him for a second. He wants the truth? Okay. ]

What information are you trying to hold over our head, Rhys? That only five people can leave the complex alive?

[ Elizabeth's finger turns into a bird, flipping him the fuck off. ]

Jack told me a long time ago, you son of a bitch.

[ the more elizabeth talks, the more rhys looks exhausted and bored and just groans, letting his head fall back and placing his hand over his eyes. ]

Seriously, I knew that. I assumed he told you and his other friend -- uh, who was it. Sakyou? Yeah. Jack's got a big mouth and loyalty to no one except himself. You look at who he hangs out with and you know who knows your secrets. That's just -- that's just Jack, plain and simple.

[ and just like that, he jams the scalpel really deeply into his arm to shock angel. he grits his teeth with a frown before -- ]

Again. Stop baiting me. I know Jack was using me. I don't care? That's just what he does. I still want to know who told you since I know your sources were someone else. Do it, already, stop wasting my time. And I'll tell you something aside from the five.

There is no who. Jack hacked the damn terminal and lo and behold, your dirty receipts were plain as day!

[ Elizabeth looks scared now, glancing between Rhys and Angel. There's going to be bloodshed and she can only hope Angel is spared. She's cutting the bullshit and if no one can catch her in time, she's going to probably stumble forward until she's electrocuted a fair amount. Pls save her. ]

Blame Judy for keeping a log on everything. The amount of items you took from the commissary was far more than anyone else. It was a stockpile and - heh. You just couldn't cover your tracks well enough.

Edited 2016-10-30 20:32 (UTC)

[ rhys just gives a shake of his head and again, looks exhausted like nothing liz is telling him here is new. ]

No, I knew that. That's just -- that's Jack, seriously. He's weak when it comes to a hot, aggressive woman. Spine like dust, morals go out the window. So seriously, can we stop talking about Jack? He's irrelevant here.

[ HE'S GETTING TIRED OF THIS... he's already done with jack, so can they like. stop. he doesn't care. ]

No, I want to know who else you talked to. Also, I knew about Judy too so? Yeah.

Just like Luke, you're not getting the answer you want to hear.

[ Elizabeth doesn't break her eye contact with Angel now. There's a sympathy in her eyes, something that she feels genuinely towards the other woman. She was dead, like her. She was caged, like her. ]

I talked to no one and if you're that much of a child, I can lie to you if you'd like. Tell you Judy told me everything and whispered little nothings in my ear.

I told you what you wanted to know - [ She glances back to Rhys out of her eyes, even if the shocks started when she got close. ] - l-let her go.

[ there we go, a straight answer even if still mildly insulting. rhys looks at her with a narrowed gaze before letting out a slow breath and asking, not to elizabeth, but to judy. ]

Judy, in the context of Elizabeth discovering my identity as staff, is she telling the truth or is she still omitting things from my knowledge? My identity as staff, for the record. Not the others.

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