THE FINALE - 【 ZERO 】 ESCAPE

[vivariummods]

It's been ten days since the so-called "anniversary" on Day 90. Every single trace of a makeshift casino has been cleared out, leaving this suspiciously identical second warehouse empty (and the doors within that lobby locked), and Calhoun has mysteriously stopped dropping by as often as he should have. In the rare times he did drop by, he hemmed and hawed about what was happening and outright avoided answering any questions, shrieking that he's a busy mouse and he shouldn't be harassed by test subjects. Thus, for nine whole days, not a single particular event has occurred. No Calhoun Hours, Ambidex Games, or even a little announcement. It's not until the morning of the tenth day that something finally transpired. A loud siren goes off and the sound of a heavy door being slid open echoes from the second warehouse's lobby. Within seconds, however, both nuances cease and silence returns...

Comments

[toybombs]

"The robot wouldn't leave its safe room until after we had disabled the power. And even when we came to the room with the tanks, it was reluctant to enter." But she'd kicked up enough of a fuss to spark the others' paranoia and get the robot to come in too, at least.

"Zero's plan must have been to control its escape route. I went down the same route, but he must have captured me not long after I stepped through that door. If he was able to do that, he must have dealt with the robot by then, too."

In the end, no one won.

"As for my ability... If you could ensure my safety and escort me to a door, I would be happy to try." Honestly though, she doubts it. There's a reason she prioritized getting herself all the way up here instead of immediately trying the doors.

[detectiveofthewest]

"Its 'safe room'? You mean a room where Zero couldn't get at it, somehow?" That was news to Heiji; there were bits of the warehouse that Zero couldn't see, but so far no evidence suggested that there was an area of the warehouse he couldn't work his will on as long as the system was working.

"You're sure that the robot was trying to escape the warehouse and not just get to a different location inside?" But why? Robot rebellion? Did it have something that it needed to physically get out -- data, maybe?

"No one can ensure your safety in here, but I can take ya to a door. I wouldn't recommend stayin' up there, anyhow. Someone really wants to get at you, one scraggly tree ain't going to stop them."

[toybombs]

"That's what it seems to have been. He drew us to it while Calhoun was occupied using the screen in this room, sending us a message to leave without calling attention to ourselves." If it were sided with Zero, it wouldn't have had to go through so much trouble to trick them. Why add on a whole extra layer of complexity?

"If it wanted to get to a different area, going into that room with the tank must have altered the route it needed to take. But it was willing to go inside once we called it out on sending only us inside, so either way, it must have been confident it could go where it needed to through that room."Who knew where it was truly headed, though.

She seems to consider the last part for a moment before slowly sliding off from her perch and onto the next branch down, making her way with less ease than Sasuke but more than one might expect from such a small girl. She lands on the grass with a small thud, keeping her balance well enough.

"Remember, it will only work if I'm there, so you need to at least get me to the door in one piece."

[detectiveofthewest]

Hmm. So in the end, they didn't have many more answers than what they started with. "Whoever it was behind that robot, then, sounds like they ain't get what they want. Which means they might try again. But why claim killing you was savin' you? Because of the virus...?"

That was the only thing he could think of at the moment. People usually didn't have a hateboner for kidnapping victims.

"I don't know what the people in your group're like, but I don't think anyone in mine's gonna have a problem with trying to see if you can still open doors." He began walking to the entrance of the greenhouse.

[toybombs]

"The last they saw of me was when I abandoned them in a room filling with water so I could escape alone. I don't think any of them like me very much - especially with their tempers."

This might possibly be because she also taunted them as she left, but hey, that's not important enough to mention. At any rate, she'll go ahead and follow along.

"What's your group like? And how much do you know about this place?"

[detectiveofthewest]

Well most people didn't like being betrayed no matter how even-tempered they were, so.

"What're they like? You mean would they be willing to work with you?" Under normal circumstances, Heiji would cheerfully textwall about everybody. But Rio had apparently bamboozled everyone in her own group before betraying them, so giving her ammunition with which to possibly manipulate the others didn't really sound like a spectacular idea.

"We more or less have to work together in here, whether we like it or not. I don't think anyone's gonna try and outright hurt you, at least from my group. But you seem pretty quick -- you could probably tell just by talkin' to them for a bit what kind of person they are.

"As for the warehouse, Zero said that we've only seen a fraction of it. We've survived here for about 100 days. It's big, a lot of it is booby-trapped, and it's administered by robots and watched via cameras. Zero seems to be able to pull a lot of the strings remotely, but he employs Calhoun when he wants a 'personal' touch."

[toybombs]

...Rude, Heiji. Maybe she was just being friendly!

"One hundred days? That's a long time... I don't remember being here that long, but there isn't any way for us to know for sure, is there?"

[detectiveofthewest]

It was within the realm of possibility B|.

"No. So I should say that we've been awake here for at least 100 days. But we've seen evidence that suggests we're not the only group of people that's been brought here, even before you guys showed up."

Of course, it was possible that they hadn't even been here that long and they'd simply been implanted with memories of being tested for over three months while they were asleep but that was Dark City levels of paranoia.

[toybombs]

"What kinds of evidence? My group hasn't been awake for very long. Although..."

She purses her lips. Hmm...

"Also, what was it like when you woke up in here?"

[detectiveofthewest]

Two questions that could take a really long time to answer. Like days. Heiji crossed his arms for a moment, trying to figure out where to begin. Easiest question first.

"I woke up in what looked like an elevator with one other person, only there was no way out. Since neither of us remembered who'd brought us there or why, we figured we'd been kidnapped. That was when a screen in the elevator came on. It was a guy in a gas mask callin' himself Zero, but he didn't bother answering any questions before he told us good luck. Then the elevator started fillin' in with icewater -- fast. It was pretty clear it'd take less than ten minutes for the whole thing to fill up and drown us both."

[toybombs]

Curious.

"When we woke up, we were all in a large room together. All of us had minor injuries, as though we had been in a fight beforehand. There were also rusted and battered tools scattered around the room."

[detectiveofthewest]

Hmm. Hmm.

"Sounds like they wanted you to conclude that you were enemies. Of course, closer examination would reveal if they were defensive wounds, but even then you wouldn't necessarily be able to know for sure who you'd been defending yourself from."

Just generalities, like if their opponent had been significantly taller or shorter. Unless there were signatures like ligature marks or rope burns or gosh think of all the evidence.

[toybombs]

"If that's what they wanted, it didn't work. It didn't take very long for everyone to work together. There was only one person in particular who didn't seem like he was going to cooperate with the rest of us, and he fell ill soon after we all woke up."

[detectiveofthewest]

"That happens a lot," said Heiji. "People getting sick in here, I mean. One minute they're fine, the next they're out cold. Sometimes they wake up real quick, but sometimes..."

He frowned, thinking of Clive and Kuzuryuu and the others. "...If ya don't wake up, Calhoun carries you out into 'quarantine'."