Hoist the Colours

[airlockedmods]

[After a few long, tense minutes there's the unmistakable sound of a distress alarm going off cut off seconds later by the power shutting off. They're in total darkness for a few weightless seconds before the backup generator kicks on and red emergency lights along the floor click on followed by a rush of fresh oxygen from the life-support system.

The robots outside the kitchen go eerily silent but there's no sound to intricate that they've left. In fact there's no sound at all for a long minute until it starts.

Step.
Kthunk.
Step.
Kthunk.

The footsteps stop abruptly and, without warning, the door to the slowly kitchen opens with a soft hiss...

And a very large, familiar body oozing green blood is thrown into the room like a rag doll, hitting the floor with a wet, solid thud. One arm is severed cleanly at the shoulder, cauterized and still smoking. His amphibian face stares sightlessly up at the ceiling, jowls slack and a burning, cauterized wound all the way through his throat.

Fourtinbras is dead.

Step.
Kthunk.]

Comments

[theoversight]

[In the darkness of the hallway a large figure stands straight, flanked by armed robots and silhouetted by the blazing red emergency lights. The figure doesn’t say a word but his white teeth shine red when his lips curl back in a bloody-looking grin. One eye glows red in the darkness, shining off of the metal plate on his cheek, and his hair is so pale that it catches what little light there is.

He lifts Fourtinbras' severed arm, and the hand flops on the wrist in a mockery of a wave.]

Hello, Champions.

[He throws the arm on top of the body it was once attached to.]

[ebonyknight]

[What the hell?]

Who are you?

[tokencanadian]

[The extremely tense moments of weightlessness are not immediately passed when Pyrrha hits the ground again. She scrambles to get her broom, holding it up in a tight grip.... right as the door opens.

Oh. Oh no.

Pyrrha chokes on a gasp, then freezes on sight of this new face.]

You... killed him.

[helladoptera]

[Okay she has been fairly quiet so far, but UM- ]

... What the fuck?

[peopledieifkilled]

He's dead.

[ Shirou can immediately see that from where he is and he can't help but tense up slightly. It's been a while since he's seen a dead body and seeing one again now, regardless of the green blood makes him almost literally sick. ]

Did you... kill him? [ He looks up and swallows hard. ] Why the hell did you have to kill him?!

[intemperateindeed]

[This is not the first comrade in arms Alexander has seen dead, but this.... This is like a sign, like a warning. An alarm builds up in him and still holding his slightly battered stolen gun like a club, he looks up at this.... guy, struck wordless for a moment.]

[rickdiculous]

...Can we cut the cryptic sh-shit. Jeez. Enough of the Hollywood bullshit, dude.

[casually working on akandes arm here as he talks unless akande decides to. not do that.]

[withoutred]

[ welp that's a corpse.



welp that's a cyborg. ]

Well, this is just excessive.

[toomanybaseballs]

[Staring at the space pirate Guy Fierri?! and unsure of what to make of this.]

... Champions? You mean us?

[heartswapped]

[That's enough for her to clench her hand ever tighter around that rolling pin she grabbed just a while ago. She stares at the man's face with a burning intensity, before starting to tap that rolling pin impatiently into the palm of her other hand.]

You bastard-

[nightcure]

[ what the hap is fuckening ]

You didn't have to kill him!

[jerkassic]

[Well that all happened. That was...wow.]

Was that really necessary?

[Murder, waving...all of it really. Diego's not sure if he should award points for presentation or if it's really just too much.

He's also confused and definitely alarmed, but doing his best to try and hide that.]

[induality]

Champions?

[What the hell is that?? WHO the hell is that? Jesus...]

[andneversaydie]

[...okay. okay look. she's. she's not doing good, she's obviously crying some and she's shaking like a leaf, but she's holding up a kitchen knife.]

What did you do to him.

[tenimuho]

[Oda is relatively quiet when he stirs from unconsciousness, but it's probably noticeable if you're not entirely focused on the extremely extra cyborg over there.

Despite having been knocked out by an electric baton just recently, Oda is quick to get his wits about him, and his gaze flashes first to Fourtinbras' body and then to the man in the doorway, where it remains while Oda gets to his feet.]

...Most people knock.

[theunderseen]

[Every hair on Scraggly's face bristles at the sight of his friend's body, an ache he hasn't known in many, many years quickly encroaching in his chest and threatening to burst at any moment. But he closes his eyes to allow himself only a moment of sorrow before he looks up at the man still shrouded in shadows and narrows his two good eyes straight at him.]

Blaze Dudely. Been a long time.

[power_of_dominance]

[Soma stares at Fourt's corpse in mute horror. He's frozen, hands slack at his sides.

Then they start shaking as they curl into fists.

Golden eyes fix on the cyborg, pale lips curling back to reveal white, savage teeth. No fangs yet but god he is so close and doesn't know it.]

Cabron...!!

[silverguitarhero]

That was quite the unnecessary display. [His voice is sharp and clipped. He's holding that gun he got from Alex now, although he hasn't raised it yet.]

i just had a thought

[thecounselor]

[...

Actually, fuck this.

He's putting away his tablet and heading toward the storage room while no one's paying attention to him. Bye bitches he's taking that suit and getting the fuck out of here.]

[tenimuho]

Dr. Price, are you leaving?

[I'm sorry are you suggesting that in an obviously dangerous situation Oda isn't paying attention to any slight movement?

He raises his voice enough to make sure that everyone notices.]

[heartswapped]

[first of all how dare you]

[toomanybaseballs]

Wha- HEY!

[Is he able to catch up to him with this crowd?]

GET BACK HERE!

[neverheardofhim]

[ Varric, having been relatively quiet up until this point -- having kept a wary eye on those already tentatively under his wing (whether they knew it or not) -- let out a deep, bellowing laugh. ]

You're shitting me, right? [ They clearly weren't, and so Varric quickly shook his head. ] You aren't like the pirates I've met, that's for sure.

[heartswapped]

I dunno if these are like any pirates any of us have met.

[She has never actually. Met a pirate. BUT STILL.]

hey blazey you still look like a slut [LOCKED]

[theunderseen]

[Alright. Enough's enough.

Scraggly, without taking his eyes off of Blaze Dudely, unscrews the head of his mop and collapses the handle into a single piece no bigger than both of his hands together.

Which he holds in front of him, like the hilt of a sword.

And spits off onto the floor (what does he spit? We just don't know).]

Hey. Captain of Evil.

[theoversight]

[Blaze's eye glows just a little bit brighter.]

Scraggly. Shoulda known you'd be here if he was. [He gives Fort's corpse a firm nudge with his foot.] And here I thought you were done cleaning up everyone else's messes.

[thecounselor]

[From his spot on the floor, Aiden hasn't said much since Blaze Dudely's attention was pulled from him. But he can't fight back like this.

The inmates can't fight, even if they're about to.

He wracks his brain for a way out of this, looking down at the ground as Scraggly is killed. But before anyone can lunge at Blaze Dudely, he lifts his head and says, forcefully but with his usual calm, level tone:]

Parley.

[toomanybaseballs]

Huh?

[Still clinging to Touko, but what does that mean?]