The Final Investigation

[airlockedmods]

[There's a moment of utter blackness upon passing through the window, and then a sensation of great heaviness and an abrupt change in orientation.

But when the Champions open their eyes, they'll find themselves lying on their backs, staring up at the same ceiling they saw through the looking glass. Each one has an oxygen mask over their nose and mouth providing crisp air, and some kind of headband around their foreheads, and there's glass curved in front of them.

Luckily, they aren't trapped for long, as their PIP detaches from the life support system with a hiss, and the glass overhead lifts up to let the Champions sit up and take stock of their surroundings.

Welcome to the real world.

The room the Champions awake in is a large pentagon, and the reason it looked different becomes obvious - the pods were lined up four along each wall, plus one that's next to and plugged into a large center tower. Every Champion is wearing their Champion's unitard, with their PIP still attached to their arm, and no inventory.

However, anyone who got any items back (which everyone should have gotten something, including a special present for the Ultimate Champion) will find those items piled at the foot of their pod.

((OOC: For the investigation, we ask you split off into two teams: Red Team will be Xander, Thomasin, Yurika, and Natsuhi, and will investigate rooms A and B. Blue Team will be Jane, Togami, Jamie, and the Doctor, and will investigate rooms 1 and 2.]

Comments

[kingshaming]

[Waking up back in the unitard, Xander's first instinct is to grab at his throat.

The necklace is gone, and his heart sinks. Was... the last two months a dream? No, it couldn't be with the weird mask on his face. Tearing it off he tries to stand seeing if he feels off or like he's been asleep for two months a long time]

[ratherdoweddings]

What in the...

[Yurika sits up with some effort and looks around.]

Togami-san was right.

[kingshaming]

The machine based hallucination he suggested...? Gods...

[cyan_maid]

[She'd just grabbed her stuff, slung it over her back, joined the others through the weird looking glass, and -

- And it's lucky that they aren't going to be trapped for long because the sensation of something around Jane's forehead is enough to get her to scream and slam her hands against the glass before it rises. Once she can move, Jane lurches forward, tumbling awkwardly out of her pod and half onto her pile of stuff.

What the fuck is any of this?!?!!??!]

[stitch_in_time]

[Okay. Well. That's a thing. The Doctor carefully climbs out of the pod, not quite trusting the environment. For all they know this is just another layer of VR- but no, no, that way lies madness. Focus. Treat everything as if it's real until evidence indicates otherwise.]

[...He can't believe his screwdriver's gone AGAIN.]

...At least I didn't try arguin' it, havin' to hear Togami say "I told you so" would just be insufferable.

[Okay, first things first -is that a water bottle?- take stock of the situation. Are there pods here for any of the victims and culprits, and does this headband thing come off?]

[imnotfat]

So it seems.

[Togami was right about so many things, he's so damn proud of that]

[airlockedmods]

[The headband is padded for comfort, and contains sensors. Other than being a padded weight, however, it doesn't interfere with her in any way or behave oddly when she throws it off.

If she looks back after her initial panic, she'll find it looks like some kind of trauma headband, or probably more likely a brainwave reader.]

[curdle]

[ It is very good that mask is fastened securely to her face, because from the second she gains consciousness Thomasin is screaming her head off. She only stops when the glass lifts, at which point she attempts to stumble her dumbass way out of the pod, ripping all the connections save the PIP off of herself. ]

Our clothes...

[ It's not out of modesty that she's frightened now, but from not knowing why she's in the unitard again. The bottle of water at the foot of her pod goes totally ignored. ]

[refusedtoleave]

[Oh she's wearing this thing again. She's just going to pull the turtleneck and trousers on over the top of it, thanks for the clothes!

Now...what else is-

She sees her reflection first, in the silver, flower engraved mirror she's held so many times before. The she notices the shiny paper, the slight glint of gold.]

These are...

[airlockedmods]

[The headband/sensor comes off easily, which is a good thing because it's connected to wires inside the pod.

As for the pods... No, there are only 8 in the room. The 8 are scattered, however, in a way that would imply that there were once 20 arranged around the five walls of the room, plus Jamie's next to the power core.]

[curdle]

Does't mean... they have released us?

Why would they do that?

[ratherdoweddings]

I don't know. We should be careful in here.

[imnotfat]

[And so once again Byakuya Togami confirmed he was right. Praise him, everyone.

Buuuuuut he'll brag later. This is the big time. Here's where things will get real, in more ways than one.

Oh, look, over there is Togami's Future Foundation pin. He's going to put it on his Champion unitard with some effort and get ready.]

So this is where we're at...interesting place.

[ratherdoweddings]

It looks like it to me. But then where are we?

[ratherdoweddings]

Jane-chan! Are you hurt?

[Yurika jolts up at the scream.]

[stitch_in_time]

Whoa! Thomasin. It's okay. You're okay.

[Physically, anyway. He's gonna put a steadying hand on her shoulder, make sure she's not about to trip and hurt herself. More than she might have already, anyway.]

Just breath. It was a simulation- an artificial dream, like Togami thought it was. ...Don't remind him of that too much.

RED TEAM

[airlockedmods]

[Xander, Yurika, Natsuhi, and Thomasin get rooms A and B]

[ratherdoweddings]

Like the things they would send us in the dumbwaiter. Are any of them yours?

BLUE TEAM

[airlockedmods]

[The Doctor, Togami, Jane, and Jamie get rooms 1 and 2]

[ratherdoweddings]

[Yurika gets up and picks up her stuff.]

We can't just sit here. Let's treat this like an investigation.

[imnotfat]

I'm standing right here.

[Hearing you say that, he means. Look, he has reasons to be smug]

It should mean the sleeping bodies of those who died in the simulation must be somewhere. We should form groups to investigate this place.

[stitch_in_time]

Hell.

[He takes a second to stretch -however long they were actually in those pods, it sure FEELS like a couple months.]

[Once he's settled, he'll probably approach as many people as possible with a simple question-]

You all right?

[refusedtoleave]

[She's just staring intently at the photos. If you look carefully you'll see a much younger Natsuhi is some of them]

[kingshaming]

No idea. Could this be the waking wor- wait.

[He finally sees what's on the ground, his eyes wide]

...impossible-!

[Sorry Yurika, Xander cuts off the conversation to rush to the item at his pod's feet. It seems to be a giant pink magenta sheath with gold plating. Xander lifts it like he's picking up a diamond, grasping the hilt-

-the air practically rumbles when he pulls out the huge blade, and the weapon crackles with energy.]

Welcome back, old friend.

[stitch_in_time]

Yes you are, and even if any of us managed to forget I'm sure you wouldn't let it last more than a second.

[Still focussing on Thomasin, as he says this.]