vivarium | CALHOUN HOUR

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CALHOUN HOUR - SURVIVOR

At the crack of dawn, presumably, Calhoun gathers everyone in the first floor warehouse to make an announcement.

"That's right, it's time for another of my special events!" He seems pretty pleased with himself. "I noticed you lazy, fat test subjects really let yourselves go last round! It's like I don't feed you here or something."

"Well, I'm worried about your health, always lazing about and not getting proper exercise. So, I decided to be the change I want to see in the world, and so we're going to do something a littttttttllllllle different this time."

"To stop you guys from getting soft from all the fun you're having here, it's time for a little workout."

From one of the doors Calhoun never lets anyone go through there's a loud, metallic banging sound repeating, as if something is trying to get out. Calhoun does not seem troubled at all by this. In fact, he seems pretty excited.

"The rules are simple, everyone's getting sixty coins to use as they see fit. You'll notice the vending machines on both warehouse floors. Anyone who isn't caught will even get a memory back." But what does that mean?

"So go on, survive for 23 hours, I'll even give you a five minute head start. Good luck!"

And with that he scurries off. Should people hang around they'll get to witness that same door open five minutes later. From the door comes several figures, human in shape but something is very, very wrong.

They seem to be robotic, skeletal humans. At one point they must have had some synthetic skin over them but most of it seems to be melting or ripped off. They don't move very fast, mostly they shamble about until they focus on a target. Better hope it's not you!

BASIC INFO ✖ FIRST TEN HOURS ✖ LAST HOURS ✖ POST EVENT MINGLE

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No need to tell him twice. Without a word, he quietly begins to move, heading for the Gallery - but not without cautiously checking to make sure there are no robots in the vicinity first.

The coast is clear for now... They'll have to hope it stays that way as they move along.

Once they were in the room, Heiji relaxed a bit. "Okay, so here's the plan. We'll lure one of them robots in here and get them to attack that white statue. It's got a pretty powerful grip, and it's heavy. So it should be able to hold the thing down while ya try a bit of target practice."

Easy peasy, right?

Easy peasy... if they can get it caught in the statue. And if his aim proves true. But they've come this far, so backing out isn't much of an option anymore. He'll give another one of his usual short nods.

"Do you want me to lure it, or...?"

Heiji shook his head and handed Sasuke one of the knives. "Can't let you take all the risk, right? Just stay outta the immediate line of sight. I got a bunch of that rotten meat, so I'll use that to attract one of them."

After checking that the white statue was still intact, he went over to the door and looked around, placing a piece or two of the meat in one of the hallway intersections. The faint clanking of robotic feet grew louder, but Heiji waited out of sight until the robot shambled past the small blind spot in which he was hiding.

There was an exposed area on its back, near the area of its waist, where he could clearly see a cluster of old wires. Heiji thrust the blade of the shovel into the junction, knocking the robot temporarily out of its normal balance. Then he ran, straight down to the Gallery, with the robot lurching after him. Its arms pinwheeled crazily through the air, probably a side effect of the damage to its wiring.

It clanged into the doorway, then surged after Heiji, who had assumed a defensive stance in front of the white statue.

Sasuke himself picks a spot behind the dividing wall, waiting until Heiji has left to do a quick test without actually releasing the blade. As with kendo, there was the odd sensation of familiarity as he shifted into the stance, his grip on the blade immediately switching to a more comfortable one for throwing.

...And quickly went back to a neutral one, feeling vaguely disturbed as he allowed his grip on the knife to loosen. What a thing to know...

Once Heiji reenters the room, he's on the alert, the knife held low at his side for now. He's going to be sure the robot is in range before he even readies to throw, whether it puts him at a slight disadvantage or not.

The robot lunged for Heiji, who quickly stepped aside, allowing the robot to barrel straight into the sheet covering the statue's body. Immediately, the statue grabbed for the robot, catching it by the neck (or what passed for a neck on a robot, anyway). The machine beat furiously at the statue, but it was made of stone and thus rather more sturdy than Heiji and Sasuke would have been.

"We're ready!" said Heiji, backing off a little so that he was out of Sasuke's immediate line of sight. "Try and aim for one of those exposed bits!"

That's his cue. He quickly snaps an arm up to throw, the knife not even having the chance to complete a spin before it embeds itself in the wiring at its waist. It's hard to say which one, exactly, but apparently something important is severed, because the robot begins to spasm for a moment before short-circuiting completely.

Victory?

The statue released the robot, which fell to the ground with a thunk.

"What? Was that it?" Heiji actually sounded a little disappointed as he prodded the robot with his shoe. "Guess they don't make them mechanical menaces like they used to."

Before he could say any more, however, the now-familiar clanking sound of more robots began to approach from the hall outside...

Hey, isn't it supposed to be a good thing they were able to stop it? Though he's pretty sure at least part of it was luck...

And then there's that sound. He looks predictably alarmed by the sound of multiple robots coming all at once.

"Don't tell me... are they-?"

Heiji tossed Sasuke another knife. "You know... I think we should probably get outta here."

The door burst open, though it was certainly not wide enough to admit several robots at once. When they tried to enter, they got wedged in the doorway. Improbably, one of the more broken-down ones started flailing at the others, making it more difficult for them to get through.

He catches the knife with ease, peering around the wall at the robots now blocking the door. Wow, yeah, no, let's not even. Rather than deal with that, he'll make a break for the other exit - hopefully there aren't robots waiting there too.

FAST BREAK

It looked like there weren't any robots down the hall, but they really didn't have any choice either way, so out the exit it was! A robot popped its head out around a corner as they were making a break for it; Heiji swung hard with his shovel and partially caved its head in. Let's see, from here, where could they get to...?

"The Garden!" said Heiji. "Let's see if we can knock a couple of these guys into the water!"

"Even though the creek's so shallow?" However, Sasuke will obligingly change course for the garden, his sprint swift. If they were going to short out the robots, they'd need a lot of water--

Oh. "You mean the waterfall?" That would be the obvious option, wouldn't it.

"Worth a try," said Heiji, casting a quick glance over his shoulder as the first of the pursuing robots tripped over the one he'd hit. It seemed like several of them were not actually pursuing them, however, and instead moving off in a different direction. For what reason, Heiji could only guess -- maybe there was another test subject nearby?

Regardless, it was something in their favor as they approached the Garden.

And in they go! He barely has enough time to register that it appears mostly clear unless there's a zombiebot hidden behind one of the trees in the room - the rest of his attention is on sprinting for the waterfall.

Okay, how are they going to do this...? He's still got that knife, but it would take a lot of force for something like that to knock one of these robots into the water. He'll probably have to just support Heiji with the shovel handle as best as he can.

The remaining robots, each in their own spot on the sliding scale of falling into disrepair for one reason or another, sorted themselves out as a matter of course as they pursued their quarry, with the fastest one taking the lead. Heiji ran toward the waterfall, tossing Sasuke a length of rope in case he got a chance to use it.

"Listen; if it looks bad, just run for it!" What was he planning to do, though? The first robot was coming up on them fast, waterfall or not, and as it threw itself at them, Heiji jumped...

And landed on its shoulders, pushing off to swing the shovel at the next one. Heiji's weight, plus the robot's own forward momentum, sent it wobbling forward into the stream of water pouring out into the garden.

Heiji

Heiji what the actual heck.

His sheer surprise causes him to pause for a moment, though he did at least manage to catch the rope earlier. But he doesn't have much time to ponder over it-- they need to take care of these robots first.

While it's occupied with Heiji's shovel, Sasuke circles around the second robot as best as he can. Some exposed wiring behind the knee catches his eye - are those just for supplying power, or are they actually involved in the movement of the limbs?

Well, only one way to find out. He throws that last knife at it, hoping to cripple it at least slightly.

The best thing about dousing the first robot in the waterfall (aside from enjoying the light show as it shorted out for good) was that two of the robots lagging behind it had their feet in the river as they powered up after Heiji and Sasuke. Meaning that they, too, got a good dose of electrical current.

They flailed out with their arms, battering at each other and quickly bashing in their own metal plating. One fell over and rolled into the last and slowest robot to enter the room. Apparently, the fallen robot's ability to distinguish friend from foe was impaired; it grabbed its fellow robot and began dragging it in the direction of the elevators in short, sputtering movements.

Wow, it was like they actually had a chance now.

"Too bad robots can't charge for assault and battery."

Heiji is this really the time...

Since they're down to just one robot, Sasuke is going to make do with what he has and try to tangle up its legs with that rope. A quick, skilled throw is enough to get it to wrap around a couple of times, but even as he pulls it taught again, he can see the rope beginning to slide. Hopefully it will remain tight enough to trip it up and into the water first...

YES IT WAS ALWAYS THE TIME FOR RIDICULOUS PUNS

Also fuck this shit. Heiji swung hard for the back of the robot's neck, where a tangle of frayed wires were protruding. Combined with Sasuke's efforts with the rope, the robot jerked, shambled, and fell forward.

It tried to stumble towards Sasuke, but succeeded only in tangling itself up further.

IT'S A ROBOT ZOMBIE ATTACK THO.

Man, he really should have saved that last knife. It doesn't look like it will be up quickly, but if they could just finish it off for good...

"Heiji. The knives." Those wires should be easy enough to hit; he's sure he can do it now. He just needs one more...

ALL THE BETTER

Heiji fished out another knife and tossed it to Sasuke wow, look who was using them like a pro now, Clive would be so happy.

Clive would kill him but he tries not to think about that as he snatches it out of the air, correcting his grip and sending it flying for the wires. A short buzz, a shower of sparks, and the robot whirs to a stop.

...Are they finally safe?

Well... there was no more clanging and clanking of creepy humanish zombiebots, so... maybe? One of the robots that was lying on the ground sort of weakly opened and closed one of its hands, but Heiji picked up a chair from the nearby small table and gave it a quick whack.

Then he sat down and stretched out his legs. "Well, looks like it's mission accomplished. Nice job, there, Sasuke."

He lets go of a small sigh of relief, his posture relaxing considerably now that they are no longer under threat. "I can't believe that actually worked." Of course, it probably helps that Heiji is completely insane when it comes to dealing with these things, but even then...

CALHOUN HOUR - SURVIVOR

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