sixth trial

[airlockedmods]

[You get a little time after your investigation is over, but not too long. PAL gets bored easily and doesn't like to be kept waiting, after all.

When everyone has gathered at the elevators with their evidence, the one going down turns on automatically. It...it looks like you're taking a leap of faith into an elevator shaft, not gonna lie. But the first person to step in finds that it's a carefully-balanced anti-gravity field made to just shoot you down and deposit you gently at the end of a long hallway. Like a walk-through aquarium, the walls and ceiling are all made of thick glass, giving you an even better view of the stars outside.

You're led to a wide-open area, empty except for a circle of podiums in its center. Choromatsu and Junpei have joined the ranks of their grey-faced photo friends. The walls here are equally transparent, and they seem to have lines of large hatches going along them, as if this is where one might park one's small short-journey craft when getting ready to go on vacation to a galaxy far far away. Shame you don't know anything about those.

You already know what you're here to do. You'd best be getting along with it.]

Comments

[kingshaming]

I didn't find much, but what I did was.... very distressing. Many of you likely walked past the church pew by the elevators. When investigating it I found a long bit of rope tied to it and leading towards the elevator. Inside I was only able to find some scratches in the paint and metal. They seemed to be in between the floors but closer to the second then the first. I tried to investigate them further, but with the machine being unreliable, I was loath to stretch out into it anymore than I already did.

[cyan_maid]

[...Oh this is really not okay to find out.

Jane lets out a soft, pained sound and puts her head down on her podium.]

[motherfucking_ghost]

Wait. Wait, rope tied to a pew? What the fuck? How do you mean, like, was he testing the elevator and needed something to ground it?

[tokencanadian]

[Pyrrha hates to be the person that has to talk about this, but she was the one to investigate Junpei himself.

...God, there's so few of them now.]

I-I was the one to check Junpei. I... found bruises on the back of his head that went down his neck and to the shoulders. Me and Arianna also found that there was one long bruise around his torso.

[Ugh. Just...] There was also something resembling glue stuck to his metal arm, and there were no defensive wounds from what I could tell. I don't think he was attacked... or, I guess it means he didn't fight back.

[motherfucking_ghost]

Glue--the glue's from a hot glue gun from his room. He was working on something in there, and that shit's always messy...

[daughterofthemark]

[YOU CAN DO IT DAME PYRRHA]

[induality]

...sorry for leaving you alone with that.

[She really. Should get better with bodies.]

That's an awful lot of bruising though... consistent either with hitting something large or being hit a lot of times....

[ratherdoweddings]

Wait, around his torso? Then... wouldn't that be from the rope? Then it wasn't around his neck after all! Think about it. The elevator wasn't working, and Junpei-kun always liked to investigate anything peculiar. So he climbed down the shaft, and for safety, anchored himself with a rope. He didn't hang himself -- something went wrong.

[everylittlesecret]

[Sorry, Pyrrha, she feels so bad about that, but that's not a body she could handle checking out...]

Bruising like that... and an elevator... [This isn't a nice picture.] He... could have been dragged into the shaft, causing the bruising...... and at a fast enough speed, snapped his neck in a high velocity impact? Unless it was like a Gwen Stacy almost...

[motherfucking_ghost]

[Church is still sporting a fairly big and ugly bruise on his cheek, though it's had a little time to heal. Still, it's not at all pretty. He's got some tools with him. And Ruri. Or what's left of Ruri.]

Jun...Junpei was working on a project in his room. Something mechanical, I guess? There were wires and batteries missing and--a fucking microwave in there, but I can't even begin to guess what the fuck he was doing...

Fuku? You got any ideas?

[induality]

There was a transformer missing from the microwave. The other roomba was turned around and turned off... but in one piece. Maybe... he was using it as a reference? For whatever he was doing.

Either way... a transformer... he might have wanted to create a high-voltage electrical charge... but for what, I don't know.

[everylittlesecret]

[Nari is tired and doesn't want to be here. Junpei was family, and she keeps losing more each week and she's tired.]

I investigated the showers. I found a loose panel... There was a ziplock bag full of papers and a ring. I.......have a note to pass around... I'd like it back please when everyone is done with it.

[Here's the note!] I think he was afraid of losing all his memories again so he thought ahead.

[daughterofthemark]

[Hi, yeah, Arianna's just gonna take a look at this note so she can suffer.]

[kingshaming]

[Xander winces, but honestly this is what he already knew Junpei felt about him so it's not a surprise]

[cyan_maid]

[Jane is near enough to read the note pretty soon after Nari hands it around, and...she gets to the part with her name, and she immediately hands it off.

She can't do this.]

[myocordial]

[Oh.

Oh, Junpei...]

[tokencanadian]

[Pyrrha gazes at the note and has to put it down after a moment.]

If he was that afraid, it might have pushed him to attempt this, despite how dangerous it was.

[induality]

...each day we lost multiple people... he was probably afraid of what would happen if he forgot certain individuals... and maybe what this game would be like if we started forgetting each other.

[motherfucking_ghost]

I'd...like the ring, if nobody else has a claim to it. To keep it safe for him.

[let's not comment on the note. oh he'll definitely read the note, and then mentally check out for a little bit, but nope, not gonna comment on it.]

[kingshaming]

It seems we have an idea of how Junpei likely died. But we don't know how he ended up in the holodeck... which, as awful as it is, we need to focus on.

The purpose of this trial is to see if anyone aside from Junpei is at fault for his death. So we must be SURE no one else was involved. Anyone that might have been helping him. Someone that might have used the elevator that might not have realized he was in it. Someone that might have seen him working and took advantage.

The first step to be being sure is finding out who moved his body?

[cyan_maid]

...They...would have to be strong enough to carry him there, right? At the very least, if they didn't...pull him up, or...

Full Body Check

[induality]

Alright. Since I know what we're looking for... I'm going to conduct a search for the missing transformer.

[kingshaming]

[He opens his arms so he can be patted down. He's clear]

[myocordial]

...It seems there's an awful lot to clear up. But I don't intend to lie to any of you. I didn't go into this trial with the intent of dragging you all down, though I wouldn't blame any of you if you didn't believe that.

Still. I'm willing to answer whatever you need. I assume you all want a clear picture of what happened.

[ Shall we? ]

[cyan_maid]

[Oh wow fuck aaaaaall of this]

...Do you know what he was trying to do?

Voting Time

[airlockedmods]

Well this has been fun, hasn't it? It turns out that Peter Parker was actually Gwen Stacy all along.

Now vote for the one responsible for the death of the Champion Challenger.

[daughterofthemark]

Sir PAL?

Execution: Hasta La Vista

[airlockedmods]

Processing...

[The lights overhead go out, the circle illuminated by only the red lights coming from each empty podium... including Heart's.]

The votes have been tallied. The Champion of Compassion has been decommissioned.

[All the lights in the room go out, and when they come back up Heart is no longer among the Champions.

The setup is eerily similar to the executions in the sim. A pane of presumably stronger-than-glass protects the Champions from what's going on behind it. Heart is not tied down or restrained in any way, and there are two robots dressed like a nerd and a lady approaching him.

Heart doesn't even blink, wasting no time as he connects the battery back to the electromagnet. If seeing these poor imitations of his friends was supposed to slow him down at all, it doesn't work. There's no hesitation at all as he punches them full force, one after the other, while tightly holding the magnet.

He's wincing as he does it and his grip on the magnet is almost too tight.

When the execution bots fail, the ground shakes a little as PAL's robot body comes in to finish the job. His big gauntlet-looking hands set off sparks of dangerous electricity as he clenches and unclenches his fists.

Heart breathes heavily, supporting his arm with his free hand for a moment as holding the magnet almost becomes too much. But despite looking like he's in pain, he's... smiling. And without thinking it over, he rushes right towards PAL, ready to meet him head on. Punching the magnet right onto the large body.

Sparks fly as the electromagnet hits, sealing the two metal bodies together instead of sending PAL flying back. The eyes on PAL's robot body flash red and blue like police sirens, and sparks fly from his joints and he lets out a pained scream. When his arms obey his command, he reaches up and grips Heart's hand, sparks flying and electricity arcing between the two robots' bodies. With the other hand he grabs Heart's face and squeezes with a hand big enough to crush his head.

Regardless of the pressure, Heart fights to keep his hand on PAL's body, even as the pain just keeps coming. Those paying close attention will notice steam coming from the Roidmude's body. The electric buzzing and the creaking of metal is muffled through the glass, but inside it's loud enough to drown out the squeal of binary that escapes PAL as he strains, twisting Heart's wrist to crush the electromagnet and Heart's hand with it.

And briefly, Heart actually seems to falter. It's hard to tell with the larger robot's hand covering his face, but his body language shows clear shock.

In an instant, it's over. PAL recovers from Heart's falter before Heart does, and he brings up his other hand and...pauses, for a second so short only computers could notice, his hands on either side of Heart's head. But then he gives a final burst of strength and smashes his palms together, and Heart's head groans and squeals with the sound of metal-on-metal, before it pops in a shower of sparks.

In that same instant, there's a quick red flash and Heart's body - and what's left of his head - no longer looks like everyone knew it, now just a simple gray, humanoid form. And it is completely still.

The magnet crushed and Heart unmoving, slowly PAL's hands part and let the metal body drop to the floor. And then PAL staggers, still sparking heavily, and falls heavily to his rear end.

The last the Champions hear of him, before the lights go out again to hide the execution chamber and the elevator turns back on, are shaky, pained, distressed metallic sounds.]

[daughterofthemark]

[Once again, Arianna forces herself to watch a horrible execution.

...

But wow, something kind of went weird there, didn't it?]

Sir PAL?