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 Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2011 6:33 pm
A7 had already flipped a table in a fit of childish anger - but when he heard the scream, and counted his fellow teammates - very slowly - a much deeper anger welled within him.
That was it, then. It looked like Phoenix had finally fallen, never to resurrect again.
It was a stupid idea, anyway.
A7's cheerful attitude was so easily swayed back into the dark, brooding well of anger, mollified only by the constant feeling of a warm presence on his lap. Still, it felt like a little more of him had died, now that he realized no one would represent them on the final day.
Except.. she still wasn't here.
He'd seen her die. Twice. A10 couldn't have somehow survived when the rest had fallen. She was here, somewhere. Maybe she was just hiding from him. Or -
His heart clenched as he thought of it.
Maybe she'd gone through the door before he'd even arrived. So eager to end it all, she may not have even waited to say goodbye.
Well, wouldn't that just be a b***h.
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Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2011 6:36 pm
E-12 laughed uneasily at E-7’s remark on the singing. What kind of people had she ended up dead with? Were they really on the island that entire time? Those whole, what, two days?
“I...agree with you on that one, E-8” Whatever method the mastermind has used to sort the teams, at least it seemed like they’d made pretty good personality matches overall. E-12 didn’t know if she could have lasted even two days with singing weirdoes.
Let alone eternity.
A lot of the Pink Team had gone silent. E-12 was happy to be in their company nonetheless, but she couldn’t help meditating on what had gone wrong. Their ultimate failure came at the loss of teamwork. That first battle...It was glorious. E-12’s fingers twitched at the memory of her knife sinking into B-1’s chest.
B-1’s not even here now. Now THAT was cruel irony.
“What were we supposed to do?” E-12 blurted suddenly. “Is it even possible to win this thing?”
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Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2011 6:59 pm
"That's for sure," yII added to Beta Seven's comment. Turning, he saw a handful of other people show up. None of them were the ones his little group had marked for their bets. Maybe they were all out of danger at the moment. Then again, he had doubts that there were any safe points on the island.
The light hearted air that was around moments ago seemed to have completely vanished now, partially broken by the scream that rang through the room.
How many days had gone by he wondered. It only felt as if he was in this lounge for a few hours, but this wasn't on Earth. For all he knew, they could be on their last day. He had his doubts about that, though.
Resting the back of his head against the couch again, his mind began to wander about as he waited. The desire to go through the door was slowly growing but as he thought about that, he was also becoming more apprehensive of it. The only thing he knew that would happen upon stepping through the veil was that he'd regain his memories. The rest was unknown to him and that was a little frightening.
That aside... he didn't want to be alone.
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Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2011 7:07 pm
A-One wasn't quite sure what to say to A-Nine. Women being teary and apologetic wasn't exactly within his usual range of experience. After a moment, though, he unfroze and put a careful arm around her. "It's okay," he said, and tried to figure out what to say next. The pause was probably far too long, but he found words eventually. "I'm not gonna be a hypocrite. I'm here too. You tried. That's all I would've asked you to do. Try your best. Because that's all we can do. Right?"
He cautiously patted her arm, half-expecting to be shaken off any moment. "All of us, we promised to stick together and defend each other. I'm sorry I couldn't help you."
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Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2011 7:15 pm
E7 chuckled at E8, "True, but at least it's better than doing nothing? It's not like we really have games to play."
He chuckled, "Well I might take that back if another game here involves killing someone." He frowned softly. Sighing and shaking his head, looking at the door. "I guess at least if it gets to nutty for us we can leave."
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Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2011 7:21 pm
A-Two slowly got to her feet, still trembling as she took in the surroundings, stretching her arms tenuously outwards as if expecting to meet resistance at any moment.
And there they were. The rest of her team. She fled towards A-Seven and Z-Eight, utterly ignoring the non-Phoenix figures in the room. "Are we, did we, are you... where are we?" she blurted out. Ugh, she felt like there was still blood and and and things running down her clothes... she scrubbed at her eyes.
As best she could given the mask, anyway.
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Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2011 7:25 pm
((ENTERING FROM SQUISH ROOM NO SURVIVORS!))
It came a bit late to T-13, the idea of a room filled with trash, a girl with cinamon bun hair. They needed to stop the walls, they needed to find the watch. Five was helping him, five was glowing bright in the darkness, Five would help five would help. R2 stop the walls...
... and just like that it stopped with a sickening crush.
Finally he awoke face on the bar staring to the side at a glass of rum. Everything was still fuzzy. So fuzzy. Slowly he sat up looking around. He was in a bar, he was still in the suit. He was still in the suit from earlier! Howling suddenly he slapped the rum away falling off his bar stool. Falling to the floor twitching ever so slightly.
In his mind he was still in the suit, he was still on the island. Everyone here clearly was out to kill him still and he couldn't muster the ability to get up and move. Only letting out a horrified wail as his already screwed up brain tried to cope with more stress.
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Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2011 7:27 pm
The rush of movement pulled A7 out of his moody reverie, and he looked up just in time to see A2 running towards them. The bloodcurdling scream had come from her, and she looked utterly terrified. As was his nature, he reached one arm around and pulled her into his chest, giving her back a comforting pat.
"Yeah. We're dead." He confirmed, though he tried to be nice about it. His chest lifted in a heavy sigh. "I really thought we had a chance at winning this thing, too. I guess you can't account for things like trap rooms and magic scythes that drive you bloodthirsty." But if they were all dead, then..
"So who killed you two, sweetie?" He almost, almost held a tiny bit of hope that somehow it had been A10, despite having watched her die before him.
In this wacked out place, anything was possible.
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Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2011 7:32 pm
A-Two... recoiled. She shoved A-Seven's arm away with all her might, letting out a little cry of pure fear. "Squish," she whispered. "Walls... squished..."
Deep breath. Deeeeeeeeep breath. He was only trying to help. He wasn't going to squish her. "Please don't squish again..." she pleaded, helplessly. Instead, she took up A-Seven's arm again and hugged it. Gingerly.
Hugging back was probably not the best plan right now.
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Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2011 7:55 pm
"Oh."
...Ew.
Immediately, as if his mind refused to even harbor the thought for a second, he stopped thinking about it. The idea of human beings trapped in a room that - again, his mind froze before he could even think about it, and he reached his hand up to pat against hers while she hugged his arm.
"That's.. that's terrible, sugar. I'm really sorry."
No one deserved to die that way. Looking around at the filled room, he shook his head. No one deserved to die, period. But to be killed, not by another person, but by a room itself..
He couldn't imagine what she was going through. He couldn't even hug her - it was clear any kind of squeezing brought her more agony than comfort.
So he hummed. Softly at first, a tune he couldn't place. As he did so, he heard G3 pick up on it behind him, idly tapping on the water glasses. So he stopped humming and just listened.
His hand reached up and brushed against the back of A2's helmet gently. He could feel the emblem of phoenix carved there, and his fingers brushed away the red that was left. As he pulled his fingers away, and rubbed them together, the song broke over him like a wave crashing on the sand.
"Mama take this badge from me, I can't use it anymore."
His own hand raked across the back of his helmet, crassly brushing the red of his phoenix away.
"It's getting dark, too dark to see."
His eyes rose up to that swirling vortex waiting for them.
"Feels like I'm knockin' on heaven's door."
His red stained hand reached out, and found purchase in the shoulder of his team leader, his boss, A1. He'd brought A9 closer, and A7 was proud to hear the other man lend his voice in song.
"Knock-knock-knockin' on heaven's door." A7 couldn't help but grin as he echoed the sentiment.
"Knock-knock-knockin' on heaven's door."
"Knock-knock-knockin' on heaven's door." He briefly wondered how the two men knew the song as he returned the echo one last time.
"Knock-knock-knockin' on heaven's door."
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Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2011 7:56 pm
The music ... stirred something inside him. A-One looked up, his eyes going unfocused as memory and emotion hit. Oh, he knew this song, and, well ...
"Mama put my guns in the ground," he sang when A-Seven went quiet, not quite sure where the words were coming from. His hand tightened on A-Nine's shoulder.
"I can't shoot them anymore
That cold black cloud is comin' down," and yeah, that fit way too well, didn't it? They'd all died, all of Phoenix, and he'd led them into it.
"Feels like I'm knockin' on heaven's door," except maybe it was better than killing, over and over, till everyone was dead. A-One hugged A-Nine closer, feeling a faint glow of gratitude. They'd all been great, no matter how short a run they had.
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Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2011 8:05 pm
A7 patted A1's shoulder, letting out one laugh before smiling down at A2. She needed this. They all did.
"Sing with me, sweetie." He whispered. "Just follow my lead."
Then he sang. "Knock-knock-knockin' on heaven's door."
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Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2011 8:06 pm
"Knock-knock-knockin' on heaven's door," A-Two repeated, very quietly, a little off-key.
... if this was what being dead was like, maybe it was... okay? To be dead already was okay, that is. The trip from there to here was... ohgodshedidn'twanttothinkaboutit.
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Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2011 8:07 pm
"Thatta girl!" He laughed, and squeezed Z8 tightly. "Come on sunshine, let me hear it."
"Knock-knock-knockin' on heaven's door."
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Interesting Conversationalist
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Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2011 8:25 pm
If Zeta Eight had been surprised by the sudden table-flip, she didn't show it, her attention flicking to it as it flew before watching it crash to the ground, the sound echoing a little in the dimly-lit room. For a few seconds there was a pause, as there always was, before she lifted her face back to Alpha Seven, who had seemingly reverted back to his little brooding mood. She didn't have time to dwell on it, however. Zeta Eight looked up as Alphas Two, Nine and Eleven suddenly appeared, shaken even beyond how they had been themselves upon their own arrivals. Immediately she sat up a little straighter, looking between them, taking a few seconds to settle on Eleven, then Nine and finally Two, automatically shifting to allow Alpha Seven to pull her to his chest.
Well that was it.
The last of the Phoenixes.
Zeta Eight did her best rendition of a statue as Alpha Seven and Two began to talk, pretending not to hear the conversation that felt private. In fact, she was pretending they weren't even in the room, it seemed, and doing a marvelous job at it, instead eying the others mingling around them. Even as they began singing, she didn't let herself acknowledge it, although the words couldn't help but seep into her mind, coaxing her to tighten. It was only at the sudden squeeze that she turned to finally look at them again, shifting between the others singing before looking at Alpha Seven.
"...."
Was she thinking about it? Steeling herself?
"Knock..."
The single note lingered for a little while, hanging in the air as if waiting for the rest to follow. She waited, letting it die before she continued.
"... knock-knock-knockin' on... ... heaven's door."
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