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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[ The voice drones on again once both parties are inside ]

TERMS: EXECUTIONER, PLEASE SELECT TOOL FROM TERMINAL. GUILTY PARTY, PLEASE AWAIT EXECUTION. IN CASE OF NON-COMPLIANCE OF EXECUTIONER, GUILTY PARTY MAY SELECT TOOL. THIS ROOM WILL OPEN WHEN AT LEAST ONE PERSON HAS PERISHED. BIO-SENSORS PRIMED.

[ Luckily for the executioner, the guilty party here will be treated to those same nasty shocks if they try and attack their executioner or fight back. Of course, if the executioner checks out the terminal, it might not be what they expect. When they boot it up, it's no longer a list of names, but a list of something.

> VIDALIA
> ROUGH N' TUMBLE
> DIRT NAP

Choose your weapon, executioner. ]

—

This thread is meant for the guilty and the executioner only.

Edited 2016-10-30 17:12 (UTC)

Oh- Oh, of friggin' course, that's what you meant?

[ Jack's face twists up in anger again as soon as his name is called, but he's not terribly surprised. He hadn't quite believed the selections were actually random in the first place, but for Rhys to have actually requested him infuriates him. The door closes behind him, and Jack closes the distance to Rhys quickly. ]

What, you think- You really think I'm not going to kill you?

[ Jack doesn't even seem to be interested in the terminal at all. Jack kicks his leg out in a sweeping motion to knock Rhys off balance and get him to fall. As soon as he does, Jack pins him down by straddling his chest, and his hands wrap around Rhys's throat. He could use one of those weapons, sure, but this is personal, and so Jack wants to deal with it very personally. Strangling someone is about as personal as you can get, he figures. ]

Bad plan, kiddo.

[ when the shocks start up, rhys winces but he doesn't look particularly bothered -- just heading straight into the chamber with his hands tucked into his pockets and looking entirely at ease. this is, again, exactly what he wants. when he gets inside, he walks over to the middle of the room, looking around it with a mild curiosity and then over to the window where the other residents watch.

he gives a short wave.

of course, this is when he gets knocked to the floor with a yelp and suddenly there is a weight on his chest and hands around his throat. rhys doesn't even look startled, but he does look mildly irritated as jack starts to squeeze. ]

You -- you're supposed to pick a weapon, Ja-Jack. Go pick.

[ his hands are going to wrap around jack's wrist, making attempts to tug him off his throat because come on. it does occur to him then that, despite everything, this is the first time he's ever actually been strangled by jack.

... that's kind of awesome. ]

[ Jack barks out a laugh, then shifts forward to put more of his weight into bearing down on Rhys's neck and more strength in his grip. It's probably to the point that Rhys won't be able to say anything else, because despite all his reservations earlier, it's like they're gone now. He'd equated Rhys's life with some idea of who he was or wasn't going to become, but for now? ]

Don't need it. Just shut up and let me break your neck.

[ For now, he realizes he doesn't really care. It was irrational and he knew it, so it wasn't as if there were any weight in that thought. Though even if there was, maybe that was just the path he was meant to take. If killing this guy sets him on the path, so be it. ]

[ okay, now this is starting to hurt? or well -- he was cool with it until he wasn't able to speak. rhys makes a few aborted gasps for speech and the look of irritation on his face grows and grows. he'd rather be able to talk while being strangled but then jack had to go and ruin it. way to go too hard too fast, jack!!

so rhys hands scramble a little at the floor before he reaches up to jack's hair with his robot hand and pulls hard, as hard as he can while trying to get air into his lungs and he's hoping the action will let this up enough for rhys to gasp out a -- ]

Jude.

[ because really, jack. you've had your fun but now rhys needs to get this show on the road. ]

You will have to be more specific with your requests, Rhys.

[ Though that's probably Judy's form of a joke, since Jack will suddenly get a very sharp, intense shock from his ankle monitor. It's also not stopping. ]

But I suppose we should move on to the next phase. As you requested.

[ Rhys may be able to pull Jack off enough to be able to breathe out his call for Judy, but only for a moment, because Jack is quick to bear back down with intensity. A smile is starting to crack on his face, because watching Rhys struggle is-- Well, it's only fair. This asshole had betrayed him, so he was just delivering exactly what was deserved. And honestly? That feels pretty great.

Jack doesn't even pay attention to Judy's voice since he's so focused on applying the strength and pressure needed to kill Rhys, but that bubble is quickly burst. The shock gets him to yell out, and his grip falters, but he tries to keep going. He expects the shock to just be a quick jolt, so he could power through it, but it doesn't stop. It's not long before he has to withdraw, thinking that might stop the shocks, but it still doesn't. He growls out a loud noise of pain as he bangs his fist on the ground right next to Rhys's head.

He moves off Rhys, thinking that might help too, tries to stand, but he ends up just collapsing as the shocks course through his leg. He looks to the window briefly, but he shakes his head as he starts to laugh, of all things. ]

You- You're a friggin' coward! You, whatever the hell Judy is, all the scientists, dammit!

[ Because those shocks aren't stopping, and it's increasingly difficult to move. He thinks he gets Rhys's plan now. He wasn't baiting Jack into killing him. It was the opposite. ]

[ when jack finally releases his hold and rolls off, rhys pushes himself up slowly with his flesh hand coming up to rub at his neck. jack is laughing, then yelling, and rhys just takes a moment to tune it out as he gets air back into his lungs enough to focus again. he'll ignore jack for a moment then to respond to judy. ]

It's hard to be specific when you're struggling for air, Judy. Also, shut up, Jack. I'm getting really sick of hearing that word and you know? You talk too much.

[ he'll be pushing up from the ground now to stand, hand moving up to the back of his neck so he can roll it and he looks over to the window, at their audience. he takes a few steps closer, ignoring jack on the floor behind him and frowning at the group instead. ]

You really don't remember why you're here, do you?

[ a shake of his head and he laughs, sad, but lifting his robot arm and opening a small section in it to pull out the scalpel. he'll turn back to jack after and sigh heavily. ]

Okay, Jack. You're my responsibility so -- so I'm taking care of you. I won't let you kill all these people for something that doesn't even exist. I mean, how stupid would that be? Jesus. At least I had like, real reasons.

[ and then he walks over with the scalpel clutched in his flesh hand, moving forward quickly to reverse their positions from earlier, with rhys straddling jack now and his robot hand moving to grip jack's throat. ]

[ Come on Rhys, this is Jack we're talking about, "shut up" are basically two foreign words to him. That's why his immediate response is an eloquent: ]

Oh, screw you. Not my problem if you don't want to hear the goddamn truth, asshole.

[ He'd considered doing so earlier, but now, he really does spit at Rhys. Don't get too excited about it.

When Rhys comes back to reverse their positions, Jack's face is still split in a wide, vicious grin. It's almost like he's not sure what else to express, so this sort of angry, manic expression is what he defaults to. He grips Rhys's wrist on his throat and tries to move it, but it's far weaker and more feeble than a few moments ago. With those shocks, it's hard for him to stay conscious, but dammit, he'll stay awake as long as he can. And also not stop talking. ]

You're insane, Rhys. You -- Hah, you realize that, right? I should've-- Should've killed you my goddamn self when you told me who you were, you know that?

[ rhys is going to roll his eyes here now that he's got jack under control and just scoff. ]

You don't even know what the truth is, idiot!

[ and he's about to elaborate but then jack spits at him?? and rhys takes a moment to feel disappointment that the same sort of excitement of before doesn't run through him now. he misses when jack's spit meant a lot to him. he really does.

so instead, he just gets to work and as jack keeps talking, rhys lets out a frustrated huff and wags the scalpel at jack. ]

But you didn't, did you? I told you the truth and you kept me alive because you wanted to see how you could use me to kill everyone else. You wanted to see if you could manipulate me because of my trust in you to help you leave, you didn't care if I left too. It was only ever about you.

[ he taps the scalpel a few times against jack's cheek, incredibly condescending as he nicks at his face a few times. it feels good, he realizes, so he decides to keep doing it -- continuing to slice along the face in a matching line to the other scar. ]

Why do I know this? Because you've done it before, asshole. Old dog, same bullshit. Last time I believed you and it ended up in thousands dead. This time, I just decided to kill us both.

[ and then he shrugs and sinks the scalpel into jack's left eye. ]

Yeah, you're right. It's about me, because I have a goddamn moon to save. You- You're gonna kill all those people, and you—

[ His jaw sets tightly when Rhys starts to drag that scalpel along his face, and at least now, he shuts up. If this is now it's going to be, Jack doesn't want to give any more sign of how this is effecting him than he has to. He's breathing hard, and his eyes are wild, and he wishes if he just had a moment, he'd definitely be able to take that scalpel and jam it right into Rhys's throat over and over again. He's possessed with that thought of how he would kill Rhys, because for now, that's all he can focus on.

Though any rational thought Jack had stops almost immediately when that scalpel sinks into his eye. He yells out loud and harsh, because it's painful enough that it's immediately dizzying, and he scrapes at the floor to instinctively try and get away.

don't go the yandere route, kids ]

No. No, you're not getting away. Fuck you.

[ he grabs jack's hair tight in one hand to keep him in place, shifting to put his weight down hard on jack and keep him there. he starts digging the scalpel in harder with a sneer on his face as the blood spurts and covers his hand followed by another shove, frustrated and angry as it turns the eye into complete mush within the socket. it's absolutely disgusting and rhys is beginning to feel a bit ill.

so, he pulls the scalpel out after, breathing hard. ]

That -- that was impulsive. But, you're kind of pissing me off here, you know? I feel like some payback was, uh. It was owed.

[ his heart is beating kind of fast here, he realizes and he places his free hand to his chest before breathing out slow. he throws a concerned look angel's way before looking back at jack wiping the gore of the scalpel off on his pants. he wants to finish this up with jack because he has -- he has something else to address, something else to deal with. their personal issues can wait, he decides. ]

Earlier, I told you I remembered something, right? You're all blah blah, I have a moon to save, whatever. Thing I remembered?

[ he poises the scalpel above jack's throat, swallowing heavily. ]

Elpis doesn't exist.

[ and then he sinks the blade straight into jack's throat, dragging it slightly to run it deep before pushing off of jack with shaky legs. he stares at jack, bleeding out there on the floor and yet can't bring himself to take the final plunge to really kill him. instead, he lets him suffer and turns away for a moment to --

yeah, he's gonna puke. ]

[ There's not much for Jack here in terms of actual thought so much as just running off fear and instinct. The shocks almost feel secondary to what Rhys does to his eye, and he desperately tries to claw at him or do anything he can just to get him off or away, even when Rhys draws the scalpel away. ]

Fuck you.

[ He's breathing hard and on the verge of passing out, but he still feels that's important to say, apparently. It's brief, since that's about all Jack has the thought to manage, but even though he's barely listening to Rhys, just staring him down with his one remaining eye, and when that scalpel is poised over his throat, the expression on Jack's face is easy to read. He's about to die, and he knows it, and the betrayal he feels in that moment is clear. Though of course, that last statement of course catches his attention. That expression shifts to confusion, but it's even briefer.

The scalpel sinks into his throat, and Jack makes a noise again, but this one is much wetter. He almost scrambles to grab Rhys's wrist, but it doesn't seem to be to stop him. Jack doesn't have the strength to, and maybe he just knows he can't. But he still grabs Rhys's wrist desperately like he wants to at least hold him there.

Though he'd been ignoring the window up to this point, he looks that way briefly, to Elizabeth and Sakyou primarily, but as Rhys moves to vomit, Jack's grip on his wrist weakens enough to allow it. He looks up to the ceiling of the room, and as Jack bleeds out, he closes his eyes with a pained expression, though it's not for the physical pain.

Jack dies thinking of how Elpis is going to die with him. ]

[ 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)

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)

[ 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)

—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.

[ 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.

[ 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.

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.

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