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

[1st_response_is_anger]

*Maria wasn't about to let anyone carry her across. She wasn't as tall as Heiji but not as short as Sasuke. She kept her jacket above her head while she walked and squished around the platform.*

All I see are posts and gas masks. What else is around here?

[fushuuu]

[Maria may have been an independent lady who didn't need no man, but Kaidou watches to make sure she and Ellie get through the gross water without incident anyway, trying to ignore how his shorts will likely never be pure white again.

[and indeed there are a lot of posts and gas masks. but also...]

...Elevators?

[skyentificmethod]

Ambidex Rooms? ...What are those doing here?

[frowning, she goes closer to examine them, not going inside, though...the betrayer...huh.]

Anything special about those posts and masks?

[detectiveofthewest]

Time to recap for the visually-impaired. "Specifically, there're nine posts numbered one to nine, and they've each got a nail to hang something on. The labels are in text and not numeric, and bracketed, if that matters. There're a bunch of gas masks around the room, each with what looks like a name or word engraved on the back.

ALESSA, CL-9, ROBIN, LEE, CHERYL, JANE, JOHAN, BLUE. And there're three Ambidex rooms here. They're labeled THE BETRAYER, THE ENDURING, and THE INNOCENT.

That's three rooms, eight masks, and nine posts. It seems like the masks should be hung on the posts, but if so, we're missing one. Unless that's part of the puzzle? Either way, I don't see any clue sheets like there usually are."

He thought for a second. "Alessa and Cheryl were the names of people we encountered in some of the experiments earlier. I ran into them in the twelfth round, though since we were split into groups, it would've been different for each group. There was a reference to CL-9 in the theater back in round 7, too, but back then it was a clue based on a simple code. You know, A=1, B-2?"

He wasn't sure how helpful any of that was, though. "Another thing Zero really likes is digital roots. But a lot of the inscriptions have the same root. Alessa, Jane, and Johan would both be 3. Robin, Lee, and Blue are all 4. Plus the digital roots of the numbered posts don't match, either."

Hmm. Hmm.

"...I'm gonna dredge around in the pool and see if there's a ninth gas mask or anything else that might help. It might be that the water's not just gross just to be obnoxious. It might also be to hide somethin'."

#poolparty

[vivariummods]

[ Sadly for Heiji, all he finds is disappointment in the pool of water. Disappointment and that he will be covered in the disgusting water of trash and god knows what else... At least you tried. ]

[detectiveofthewest]

No one likes you Zero

[elliexir]

[ Ellie absolutely needed someone to carry her through the mess that is the gross seaweed and trash filled pool, since she did not know how to swim at all... So when she gets out, she just kind of stands there trying to shake off all this filth and whatnot, instead of actually listening to Heiji's tl;dr or anything else... ]

Ugh, gross...

[ Well, that takes up some time but anyway... ]

But uh, do you guys often find rooms like these? The most we got was the Greenhouse and like two rooms we kiiiind of broke into. [ Not kind of, they totally broke into... ] Because that one dude totally just jumped in to look for something without even thinking twice.

[ Referring to Heiji like dude, no... no...... ]

[babel_hacker]

Sure, I don't mind.

[Whenever Rio get onto his shoulders, Atsuro would take a moment to get used to her weight before he carry her across to join everyone else.

Fortunately, he gets there in time to hear Heiji's recap and explanation.]

[detectiveofthewest]

"It's Heiji," he said, climbing out of the water.

"Also, pretty much. There's one room where we had to shovel medical waste to get out. Plus there was the snails, the --" Wait. Probably not a good time to bring up the arm.

"...Anyhow, a lot of times the puzzles are trapped."

[blind_badass]

Oh yes. Mood altering gasses, dolls that spat fire and knives...Zero is nothing if not thorough in his delight at our misfortune. Although he did give us a piano eventually. Also, certain numbers of people managed to steal couches and bring them back to where we slept.

*He would kiss Heiji for being so kind to take him across but...gross trash water.* It seems a bit strange to have the Ambidex rooms right where the puzzle is, but if this seems like the end of the line, maybe we'll find an answer.

[toybombs]

[Whee, what a nice ride across! She hops down to the ground, still more or less muck-free and in high spirits for it. She isn't going to fuss too much over the puzzle requirements - it's not like the rest of this situation made any more sense.]

What were Alessa and Cheryl like? Maybe that's part of the clue!

[not_that_sasuke]

[Sasuke's expression goes dark at the mere mention of those names.]

...Alessa tricked us.

[And then stabbed them. He didn't like any of the rooms in particular, but that one was one of the worst.]

[babel_hacker]

[You're welcomed, Rio. Atsuro glances over at Sasuke after hearing his response.]

... What happened?

[It sounds pretty bad, but he wants to know.]

[not_that_sasuke]

It was one of the past rooms. They're all puzzles like this.

Alessa was in a room with a camera in the corner for us to see her. We could only communicate with her through pre-written messages to tell her how to get out. We couldn't see what was under the camera, but she told us it was a man in a gas mask.

She was lying. There was another girl there, too scared to do anything. We helped her escape the room to try to keep that other girl safe, and she rewarded us by stabbing us.

[Does he sound unhappy about this? He still is.]

[detectiveofthewest]

"But the weirdest part," said Heiji, "Is that three different teams all encountered the same Alessa and Cheryl a few days apart, in the same scenario -- at least, the same as far as we could tell. It didn't seem to matter if Alessa came out of it fine, or if Cheryl turned the tables and took her out."

Yeah, probably didn't have too much to do with the puzzle. But it was still super weird.

[blind_badass]

I think it was some kind of trick to fool the senses and those people weren't really there. *Says the blind man. Hard for him to form empathy for someone through a screen. Except for the stabbing part, but that wasn't an option in their scenario.*

[toybombs]

But... if they weren't there, then how could they have stabbed you?

[Rio, for her part, will begin to wander over to the elevators. The betrayer...

...Why is that the only one in singular?]

[detectiveofthewest]

BECAUSE IT WAS YOU, RIO!

"Alessa -- or someone or something calling herself Alessa -- definitely was solid enough to attack me and Sasuke," said Heiji. "For our group, anyway. But there was definitely something suspicious about her. Like the way she knew where we were, and how strong she was. Her grip was like a vise, and she was fast enough to nab Sasuke, too. We've seen robots around here that looked like they'd been disguised as humans once, so she might have been one of those."

[not_that_sasuke]

"I didn't even have time to get away." Snake in particular should remember just how quick his reflexes are, after that little incident with the knife. If she was able to catch him off guard... well, it was a pretty impressive feat.

[babel_hacker]

Maybe... That might explain why if she can actually stab you.

[It's an almost idle comment, based on what he heard so far.]

Do you think that... entire scenario can be a clue for this puzzle?

[toybombs]

Maybe something would happen if we brought the Alessa mask into the room for the Betrayer? It sounds like she betrayed all of you. And besides, even if they're supposed to go on posts, we're still missing one of the masks. Maybe we need to do something else with them before we can find the last one.

[blind_badass]

Unless of course, there's a mask hidden in one of the rooms. From what I heard of the room description, it doesn't seem as though there's a lot of places to hide, other than the elevator and the Ambidex Rooms.

[detectiveofthewest]

Heiji looked at Rio.

Rio

That room

Didn't it look comfy?

[toybombs]

[She catches the look, staring back suspiciously.]

What's that look for?

[babel_hacker]

[Hearing that, he looks over. He glance at Rio, then at Heiji.]

... You have an idea?