Amber rushed towards where the two enemy proxys were hiding as fast as her mechanical legs could carry her. she saw one of them lean out to shoot, then saw bullets slam into the rock around it forcing it to duck back behind cover.
Thank you Penny Amber thought as she leaped around the wall the two were hiding behind and thrust her dagger forward.

The bot she had been aiming at dodged out of the way at the last second, luckily however, she was able to swing her arm into the other proxy's chest, hitting it solidly with her elbow. the blow sent the bot stumbling back several feet, but before Amber could capitalize on her opening, the first proxy was grabbing her knife arm. Amber was able to deflect the bots own attempt to stab her and the two were locked in a grapple, each pushing to keep the other from bringing their own knife down.
Amber heard the other enemy say something, then saw its head explode into Shrapnel as a bullet tore through it.
Then the bot she was fighting turned his head just enough to look at his fallen comrade, giving Amber her opening. She kicked out with her right foot at the proxy's left knee, throwing it off balance, while shifting her grip on its arm letting her leverage her own weight and flip the proxy over her hip. With it on the ground Amber rolled it onto its "stomach" and pulled its knife arm behind its back.
At that point she realized Jack and Penelope had approached.
“Wait, wait!” the enemy proxy stammered. “Just- look, please don’t eliminate me. I’m not a threat to you anymore, okay? There are three of you. Add me, and that makes four. If we team up now, we can all come out on top!"
"Sorry dear," Amber responded,"I'm the one on top."
She then brought her dagger down into the back of the proxy's head, killing it.
"That was a great shot Penelope." Amber said as she stood. She looked at Jack, "So I take it Tiana didnt make it then?"

Instance 1 (Amber, Jean)

“Sorry dear. I’m the one on top"

Realizing Amber’s intent, the proxy she had pinned called out in a final act of defiance. “That’s what she sai-“

A chime punctuated his final words as the proxy disappeared. Jack gave a stifled chuckle, in response to which Penelope jabbed him in the arm with her elbow. Amber didn’t seem to care, though, getting right down to business.

“That was a great shot Penelope.” The girl gave a thumbless thumbs up as Amber then addressed Jack. “So, I take it Tiana didn’t make it then.”

“Afraid not.” The man said as he began walking toward Jean’s position, the others following close behind. He filled them in on everything that had happened, including his confrontation with the crippled proxy that was now apparently chilling by himself over in the corner of the map.

“Crippled, huh? Well that’s no fun.” Amber remarked as the group drew near to where the encounter had taken place.

"Speak for yourself.” Penelope said. “I’ve had more than enough fun for one day.”

“Hold up a sec.” Jack said in a hushed tone, holding an arm out. Without saying a word, he crept forward and dug through some rubble, retrieving two proxy legs. “Oops.” He mumbled.

“What do you mean oops?” Penelope inquired.

“Er… these legs are Tiana’s. I guess I forgot to retrieve them.”

“Seriously? The guy you left for dead could easily have used these to sneak up behind us while we were fighting! What were you thinking!?”

“Hey, no harm no foul.” Jack pouted. “The fact is, he didn’t.” The man paused for a moment. “Weird. Why wouldn’t he take the legs?”

“That’s… That’s a good question actually.”

While this exchange took place, Amber surveyed the area to see if she could locate the straggler. It only took her a moment to spot a faint path where Jean’s proxy had dragged itself along the ground.

“Hey, we know you’re over there!” She called out, careful to stay out of Jean's line of sight. “Why don’t you save us all some time and show yourself so we can get this over with? You don’t stand a chance, we very clearly have a leg up on you.”

Jack groaned and pressed a stub against his head module.

“Come on, it wasn’t that bad.” Penelope said under her breath.


Victory is near.

__________
Instance 2 (Sven, Gideon, Adrian)

“Damn it!” The enemy proxy hissed, seeing that Sven’s dot was still on its map. “Why won’t you just die!?” The machine pointed its arm in Sven’s direction and fired off several shots with its baselard. However, the bullets flew past harmlessly since the man was partially obscured by trees. In desperation, the proxy attempted to flee, but it merely collapsed to one knee again, its leg far too damaged to carry it anywhere.

***

“With pleasure.” Adrian smirked, firing a single clean shot from his longsword directly at Rogue. The opposing proxy flicked its head module to the side with inhuman speed and then stood still, unscathed. Stunned, Adrian’s mind raced. There was no way someone could react quickly enough to dodge a bullet. The projectile would reach its target before they could even register that a shot had been fired.

Impossible! How could… no. The boy froze as the answer hit him like a steamroller. He had time to dodge because of lag!?

Adrian prepared to fire more shots, but it was too late. Rogue had raised both of his arms toward his assailant and let loose two bullets from each of his baselards. One glanced off of Adrian’s head, two more slamming into his arm, sending his shots wide.

“Ugh, kids these days.” Team Mom muttered, though she remained concealed in cover, making no attempts to contribute to the skirmish.

“Yeah, some help you are.” Adrian grumbled, but by the time he had righted himself, Rogue was already on the move, and a new contender had joined the fray. Even though all of the proxies were physically identical, the one that now stood before the group was especially intimidating. Perhaps something about a robot equipped with four heavy assault weapons made it seem larger then the rest. Adrian barely managed to duck back into cover before his head casing would've been blown wide open by a storm of metal. He waited for the enemy to run out of ammunition and reload, but the opportunity never came. Each of Warrior’s longswords were being reloaded separately, so at least three of them were firing at all times.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me. What’s with these guys?” Adrian complained.

“That’s enough, already!” Cleric’s voice boomed throughout the battleground. The part-laden proxy stepped out of its hiding place, and the gunfire ceased immediately. When all was quiet, the young man continued. “If I go with you, you promise you’ll leave them alone for now?”

Warrior stood still for a moment before nodding once, though her aim never wavered. Adrian dared a peek at the enemies’ position and noticed that Mage was now standing next to her teammate. He refrained from firing on either of them, however, not wanting to end this impromptu ceasefire while Cleric was in the open. Instead, he called out to his comrade. “Come on, man. You don’t have to do this. I’m sure we can take these guys.”

The proxy merely lowered its head in response, then began walking toward the enemy.


9 contestants remain.

The three clustered dots trickled southwards, towards him.

Ugh. Not enough. One too little. Jean needed one more elimination notice to go off - a single additional chime in his virtual reality headset - before he would finally be free of this ordeal. He considered pointing his Baselard at his own head module and ending it right there, but quickly decided against it. Eliminating himself would be admitting defeat; as much as his headache hated him for it, the mechanic was far too stubborn to do anything of the sort. He would win.

The mechanic groaned as he forced the gears in his mind to run, said gears lashing back out at him due to their ever-growing lack of bottled lubrication. A few moments of mental wrestling later, he ran through his options. Jean had full confidence in his fighting ability under normal circumstances, but taking on three opponents was foolish in and of itself, not to mention the fact that his own proxy was barely more mobile than the rock behind which he had hid himself. Come to think of it, dragging the metal carcass around had probably scraped up a sizeable trail of dents and scratches in the rocks, all leading to his present location. It wouldn’t be long before the southbound trio arrived, and it wouldn’t be much longer before they found out exactly where he was. It looked like his only option would be to, once again, talk his way out of yet another terrible predicament. This sucked on all fronts.

As the approaching group came within earshot, Jean caught the tail end of what seemed to have been a conversation. Something about the legs he had abandoned in favor of gaining a more favorable position? Was that… were they arguing? Was that an insult he heard? Were they dealing him the best hand he could have hoped to be dealt? This group really was full of idiots.

“He left the legs as bait for you two lovely ladies.” the mechanic said, a good deal of venom infused into the latter two words. “But I see he’s done one better and led you right into our trap.”

“Good going, Jackie boy.”

Jean didn’t move. Not that he could, anyway.

"Are you trying to turn us against each other? That is hilarious!" Amber exclaimed
"But I'll tell you what. Give us a good reason not to frag your crippled a** and we might just ignore you and go deal witht eh other guy. Deal?"

...An expected response, really. It wasn’t like any of Jean’s other attempts at diplomacy had bore fruit. Hilarious, though? That was a bold statement coming from someone who refused to snatch the victory staring them in the face. What was really hilarious was the trio’s complete trust in each other and in their abilities. Each of them must have let their guard down at least once on the trip here; it would have been easy for one of them to off another and ensure their own success. What was it that these kids didn’t understand? They had already been pitted together as enemies, all of them. It wasn’t Jean’s doing, it was the game’s. Anyone willing to trust their competitors for even a second would have been dead meat back in his gang days. It was surprising that anyone like them had managed to make the final five; the mechanic grimaced at the idea of any of them being one of his future colleagues. Someone who wouldn’t backstab you was someone you couldn’t trust to backstab the people that mattered.

“Plan B, then.” Jean thought, shifting his proxy’s weight to the right arm. For the first time since the simulation had started, he was taking matters into his own hands. Plan B was a win-win for everyone involved, really. Either the mechanic succeeded and he shut his doubters up, or he failed and he wouldn’t have to deal with any of them again. They could go on thinking him a hilarious buffoon, and he could go on... living cheque to cheque and fixing people’s cars. Wonderful.

Tensing the joints of what remained of his mech, Jean poured everything he could into the nerves controlling his right arm, thrusting the magnetic stub into the rocky floor. Its energy output limited only by the extent of his willpower, the limb shot the hunk of virtual metal up and above the rocky outcropping, into the view of his targets, and them into his. Still in the air, Jean wasted no time in training his Baselard onto the head module of the nearest opponent and unloading as much of the clip as he could.

Instance 1 (Amber, Jean)

As Jean pressed into the ground with all his might, his proxy’s arm clipped through the surface for a split second. The mechanic’s vision momentarily went haywaire, and when it recovered, he found himself being propelled much higher into the air than should’ve been possible.

Halfway across the map, a very bored proxy kept watch in the direction of the other remaining contestants. In the worst case scenario, they would all team up, and then it would be four on one. Still, if that came to pass, it shouldn’t be difficult to pick just one of them off. The proxy scanned the horizon for any sign of the enemy, but saw only a bird in the distance. A bird, huh? Nice touch. The player immediately did a double take. The far-off figure flailing through the sky was definitely not flying by its own power. What the fu-

Jean quickly made the best of his newfound height advantage and took aim at one of the now exposed proxies. However, as he fired, his target was knocked out of the way by another. Fortunately, it wasn’t quick enough to avoid taking the brunt of the attack itself, receiving three bullets in its head casing. However, Jean didn’t see if that had been enough to destroy it, and he was now plummeting earthward with more than enough speed to completely demolish his own robot. The ground approached mercilessly as both the man and his hopes of winning were dashed against the rocks. The final elimination notification sounded.

Jean found himself suspended in mid-air, a mere foot from the arena floor, before drifting gently to the ground.

“CONGRATULATIONS!” The announcer’s voice boomed as a confetti particle effect filled the arena. “The winners of the first selection round are… Penelope Bennett, Jean-François De Champlain, Amber Chapman, and Vivian Sechrest!”


4 applicants remain. Instance 1 concluded.
__________
Incandescent Laboratories: Interior (Amber, Jean)

In the next moment, everyone’s screen went black. With a slight hiss, the controllers were released from their heads and they were bombarded by bright, fluorescent lights and agitated shouting. Of the forty-seven who had entered the simulation, fewer than half still remained in the room, and only five were still seated. There were Jean, Amber, and Jack, of course, as well as two other women. One wore a knee-length skirt and a sweater, her full sandy brown hair reaching down to her back. She stared at the floor, unmoving, with her hands over her mouth. The other sported a tank top and sweats. Her straight hair was jet black save for a single violet streak in her bangs, and - barring the shaved right side of her head - it fell down to her shoulders. Her face had a heavy touch of dark blue eye shadow and lipstick, and she had three piercings in her right ear, as well as one in her lower lip.

The laboratory staff seemed far too busy to be concerning themselves with clearing the room right now, and everyone else was gathered around a monitor in the corner. It didn’t take long before several of them had broken off and gathered around Jean, congratulating him on his clutch victory. The other victors were received similarly, though Jack got a few consolatory words as well. When the coast was clear, he got up and left the room, slipping Amber a note in the process. She didn’t have an opportunity to read it, however, as two more people suddenly approached.

“Hey, congrats on winning, Ambs.” A young woman said. Amber recognized the voice as Tiana.

“Yes, well played. You got me good.” Some guy added. It sounded like… the man she had executed not five minutes ago. Huh, go figure.

"Thanks T. I hate that you didn't make it, we were a good team." Amber said as she grasped the woman's hand pulling her into a hug. releasing the woman she turned towards her companion, and smiled sheepishly"Oh and I'm sorry about lobotomizing you, dear. I kinda got caught up in the moment."
After talking a bit with her new friends, Amber noticed that the gaggle of people around the man she assumed was John something or another. She excused herself and walked over to him. She stopped about halfway across the room and noticed no one was paying her any attention. She subtly read the note she had been handed, before pocketing it and continueing across the room.
"Congratulations of making it dear." She said, tapping him on the elbow." And great shooting, but I must know, how did you manage that much air?"

The bright lights weren’t helping with Jean’s spinning head. He wasn’t sure exactly what had happened in the final moments of the simulation - what with all the flying around and glitched visual displays - but boy was he glad that it was over. At least, he was glad until he remembered that the whole thing had been streamed on the corner television and that there was now a crowd gathering to congratulate him. The mechanic, not in any condition to deal with an inquisitive throng of eliminated contestants, shut his eyes and ducked his head. He tried to drown out the sounds from outside and focus on convincing his body that the queeziness it was feeling was a product of virtual reality, but to little avail. The enormous height and ensuing free fall that he had experienced might have been a fabrication, but his stomach was entirely too convinced that it had been real. He needed some breathing room. And a drink.

The mechanic was about to get up from his chair and head to the restroom when he felt a tap on his shoulder. Looking to the source of the annoyance, he saw the woman he had briefly spoken to on the way to the simulation room, asking about the secret to his success. Ugh. Jean recognized her voice. It wasn’t just the woman from earlier, it was the voice that had called his penultimate effort “hilarious” too. He was hoping that she’d been the one he hit with his hail mary maneuver so that he could rub her “hilarious” right back in her face, but the mechanic had been blessed with no such luck. It looked like she was going to be a thorn in his side for a while longer.

Still, Jean saw no reason to pay her any more heed than he did the others gathered around him. He brushed off her inquiry with a dryly spoken “Physics.” and continued on his way to the restroom.

At least, he would, once he found someone he could ask for directions.

Incandescent Laboratories: Interior (Amber, Jean)

“That’s fair.” The young man replied. “I kind of let the simulation get to my head as well. It’s pretty fun to play the a******, y’know?” Completely out of the blue, another girl came up to the group, shoved Tiana aside and clung to his arm. All of the color immediately drained from his face.

“You were absolutely amazing in there.” She cooed, running a finger along his shoulder, then immediately turned and shot a glare at Amber. “We were so close to winning, too.”

Tiana looked at the pair with a mockingly piteous expression. After a brief exchange, Amber excused herself, and the others decided to take off as well. Judging from how things had been run in this place so far, nobody wanted to remain here any longer than necessary. As the trio exited the building, a cry of “Wait for me, dudes!” Could be heard echoing down the corridor.

***

After receiving directions from a disgruntled lab member, Jean made his way down the hall toward the restrooms. As he approached the door, he heard mutterings from inside. “…pid. Stupid- what the hell was I thinking? God damn it.” The voice ceased as Jean pressed the door open. Inside was Jack, rinsing his hands in the sink. He did nothing to acknowledge Jean’s arrival, instead merely drying off and turning to leave. “Nice shot.” He said as he walked past the mechanic and out the door, leaving Jean alone in the room.

***

Their subject of interest having suddenly left them alone, everyone who had been crowding Jean now turned their attention to Amber. She hadn’t snatched victory from the jaws of defeat with a flashy display as Jean had, certainly, but her overall performance throughout the simulation had been very solid. Fortunately, the staff had decided that now was a good time to start clearing the room, shooing out all of the disqualified applicants. When they were finished, the only competitors remaining were Amber herself, Penelope, and this Vivian person. Jean was nowhere to be seen. Nevertheless, Harvey addressed the three winners that were still present.

“Alright, you three. The application process will end once all of the selection rounds have been concluded a little over five and a half hours from now. You are free to leave the premises and return at that time, or you can choose to remain in the waiting room where you will be able to view the remainder of the matches if you please. In either case, you can’t stay here. Now git. Skedaddle, you little pests. Begone.” Harvey flicked both of her hands toward the door, and the trio were ushered out of the room. Once in the hall, they saw the man who had lead them all into the room standing with the next batch of applicants.

“Ah, here we are. This is-“ He began but was quickly cut off.

“Save it, Ralph, no time. Show these chumps to the waiting room. The other winner is in the restroom. Don’t forget. The rest of you.” Harvey snapped her head around to face the gathering behind Ralph, then pointed over her shoulder with her thumb. “In here. Now.” The group swiftly obeyed, cramming themselves into the room in a matter of seconds. Harvey then slammed the door shut, leaving Amber, Vivian, and Penelope alone with the guide.

“Well then.” He said, coughing discreetly into his balled fist. “Should any of you choose to remain here in the waiting room, simply follow me.” He regained his composure quickly, a friendly smile returning to his face. As he took off down the hall, Penelope and Vivian fell in step behind him. When they arrived, the two sat themselves down on opposite ends of the room. Penelope sat with her elbows on her knees, gazing at the floor, while Vivian propped herself up, arms crossed, watching the room’s single screen intently in anticipation for the next round. For the time being, it simply displayed the Incandescent Laboratories logo.

The room itself was simple enough, though a bit large for its purported use. Several dozen chairs were arranged around its perimeter haphazardly, with a single lounge table in the center. There was also a table by the door that was set with a coffee maker. There were also cookies and punch, along with other various refreshments.

Sufferin’ strats, this kid was wimpier than a lead guitarist who hadn’t practiced in a month.

The situation was quickly spiralling out of control. The nameless woman was no help, Cleric wouldn’t fight a stick if it insulted his mother, and he and Adrian were stuck waiting until their meager covering was reduced to virtual dust by the constant pounding of binary lead. Up to this point, Gideon’s screwball plans had been a string of partial successes. A takedown into being taken down. A half-baked escape. A working trap with no payoff. Reality was simple, however. No one crossed the finish line halfway. It was win or lose, all or nothing, precisely the scenario in which he found himself now. It was time to take the insanity up to eleven. No, scratch that.

Twelve.

The would-be tactician turned to his comrade-in-arms.

“Ok, Espresso. Miss Guns-of-the-Four-Winds there, right? She’s mad scary at far range, but up close, those guns’ll be nothin’ but dead weight.” He went on, peeking out from behind the boulder to ensure that the other proxies were still in place. This was pure folly, but if it worked… it had to work.

“When I give the signal, I need you to toss a grenade over to those fools and lay down some suppressing fire. I’ll take it from there. Got it?” No time for discussion. As Cleric drew ever closer, the odds that all of them would make it out unscathed diminished exponentially. Readying himself, Gideon gave his partner a tap on the shoulder. “And Adrian, whatever happens, it’s been a blast.”

Then, without warning, he turned his head to the sky and belted out: “NOW! CLERIC! DO IT NOW!”

Immediately the drummer was on his feet, charging towards his assailants. With any luck, the combination of Adrian’s thrown grenade, the suppressing fire and the momentary diversion that might be caused should the opposing party doubt Cleric’s good will for even a second would allow him to close the gap and tackle the one who called herself Warrior. If not?

He prefered not to think about it.

DickAmber thought to herself after being rudely brushed off by the other winner. Looking around she noticed the girl she assumed was Penelope and walked over to introduce herself.
"Penelope hi, I'm Am-" was all she got out before being interrupted and ushered out of the room into the hallway. As the new contestants shoved past into the sim room.
"I'll catch up with you in the waiting room, I need to go get some fresh air first if that is all right." Amber said as she turned towards the exit doors and out onto the street, taking a left she walked about a block and a half before turning into an alleyway with a bright yellow four door car. She slipped into the passenger side and sat in silence for a moment with its sole other occupant. After a couple minutes of silence she felt the need to speak up.
"Well, that didn't go as planned."

Instance 2 (Gideon, Adrian)

“NOW! CLERIC! DO IT NOW!”

Warrior fixed her weapons on the part-covered proxy approaching her and prepared to fire. However, it made no threatening moves. In fact, it looked taken aback by Gideon’s outburst. In a split-second, she had readjusted her aim onto Gideon’s rapidly approaching body, but before she could fire, she spotted a small, round object flying toward her. With a frustrated growl, she quickly ducked back behind the rocks. Meanwhile, Mage had sent two grenades sailing toward Gideon, but one of her arms was heavily damaged by suppression fire from Adrian in the process, forcing her to hunker down as well. A split-second later, they were joined by the pack mule.

Both of the grenades aimed at Gideon rolled behind him, leaving him no choice but to keep pressing forward. He nearly managed to clear the blast radius but was nevertheless sent sprawling forward by the explosions, landing face-down on the ground. After Adrian’s grenade went off harmlessly, Warrior stood once again and leveled her weapons at Gideon’s prone form.

“It was unwise to spurn our generosity. Then again, I suppose it would only have delayed the inevitable. Goodbye.” Warrior paused, then gave a long sigh. “I never expected you to actually betray us.” Behind Warrior, Mage was being held hostage, a blade to her neck. The proxy pointed its longsword at Warrior, but she didn’t lower her weapons, or even take her eyes off of Gideon. “I know you won’t shoot me. And even if you did, I’d turn your friend here to swiss cheese before I hit the ground.”

***

Rogue slowly circled around the cover Gideon and Adrian had been hiding behind, hoping to take them by surprise. Hopefully, the brief firefight had kept everyone distracted enough not to check their maps long enough for him to sneak up from behind. When he arrived, Adrian was alone, Gideon having rushed forward. Perfect. Even Rogue wouldn’t be able to make a proxy’s footfalls quiet enough to sneak up on someone from this distance, so dashing in for a quick kill was his best bet. However, before he could close in on his prey, an unseen proxy slammed into him from the side. They both rolled on the ground for a moment before Rogue pinned his attacker’s proxy and severed its head.

“Haaah.” Rogued breathed. “You can never really trust luck, I suppose.” He said as he turned to Adrian, who was now standing over him, gun trained on his head.

“I suppose not.” Adrian responded, firing a short burst into the enemy’s proxy. He wasn’t taking any chances this time. Two elimination notices sounded. “Sh-… shucks." the boy mumbled.

***

Warrior smiled secretly as two chimes filled the air.

“There. You hear that? That was Rogue, taking out what was left of that inferior team. Cease this foolishness and let me finish off this weakling.” Mage squirmed in her captor’s grasp, but was able to accomplish little more than wiggle her arms.

“Warrior, it’s-!” Mage started, but Warrior cut her off.

“Not now! Cleric, release her this instant!”

“...Nah.” The limb-toting proxy finally spoke. The voice belonged to a woman.

“Damn it!” With practiced speed and precision, Warrior spun around and took aim at the proxy she'd up until that moment thought belonged to Cleric.

The single dot on the map that was Sven walked toward the fallen proxy.

"It seems that you can't go anywhere. Not on that leg, you're not. You won't get anywhere on raw firepower alone. I learned that one already. There has to be a balance between aggressiveness and passiveness. You do understand, right?"

Sven pointed the second longsword, which is now his only, and rained upon him.

Man, dealing with disgruntled people was the worst. How did people even let themselves get that moody? And in here of all places, a laboratory filled to the brim with all manner of technological wizardry. How could someone even manage to be grouchy here?

...Is what the Incandescent employee would have probably thought of Jean, if the mechanic hadn’t thought it of the employee first.

Jean mumbled a quick “Thanks” under his breath before heading in the designated direction. The trip to the restroom was otherwise painless and uneventful, and Jean made it in what was probably record time. As he got close, however, he heard the sounds of someone lamenting their loss. It was nothing terribly different from what he had witnessed in the simulation chamber moments before, and so the mechanic - in a bout of emotional obliviousness - barged right in… and then quickly placed the voice he was hearing. It was Jackie boy.

The beginnings of guilt began to form in Jean’s mind as Jack - obviously embarrassed and probably more than a little irked at the sight of the mechanic - shut his mouth, dried his hands and gave Jean a “Nice shot” before walking past him and out of the room. Whatever guilt Jean felt passed out of the room with his opponent, however, unable to defend itself against the indomitable rationalisation machine that was the mechanic’s sense of morality. Jack should have been eliminated long ago, it wasn’t Jean’s fault in the slightest. If Philly McGruffvoice hadn’t had his stupid pity, the monterey man would have been out then and there. That’s all there was to it.

Realizing that he was alone in the room, Jean removed, with surprising deftness, a small glass bottle from one of his cargo pants’ pockets before leaning his back against a wall. A victory, an undisturbed corner, and a drink… the mechanic took a hefty swig. Things were finally falling back into order.

His headache now quite resolved, Jean downed a few more gulps before heading out of the hallway and back into the simulation room. He was surprised to find it deserted; he assumed that the other winners at least would still be present. Placing his thumbs in his jacket pockets, Jean resorted to the only logical course of action he could think of: wander around until he found that disgruntled employee again and could ask for directions once more.

Unff.

Gideon hit the ground hard, short of breath. Despite knowing full well that he was still in a simulation, he couldn’t help but feel that he had actually just gotten the wind knocked out of him. He was done for. Cleric couldn’t, wouldn’t do anything to save him, and the drummer was a sitting duck. All that was left was to wait for the warrior to finish him off and… she was going to monologue. Great. He had been given a few more moments to reflect on his own foolishness. So be it. At lea- hold up, had she said “betray”? What was going on?

Fully expecting a hail of bullets to end his journey at any second, Gideon nonetheless propped his proxy up on its elbows and strained the head module as far back as it would go in order to catch a glimpse of what was going on. Much to his surprise, the meager Cleric had taken a hostage, the proxy whose grenades were responsible for Gideon’s present lowly state.

“Whoa, man,” thought Gideon to himself. “I didn’t think the dude had it in him. Rock on, little bro.”

It was then that drummer noticed the absence of the proxy upon which Adrian had first fired. Frantically, he checked his map, but it was too late. Two notices of elimination chimed loudly across the arena.

No.

Adrian and the questionably-helpful woman. Gone, eliminated. But they would be avenged. They would be-

“Nah.”

-alive, clearly.



...right. Gideon was thoroughly confused, but he knew an opportunity when he saw one. Warrior clearly as befuddled as he was, had turned quickly to face he-who-was-once-Cleric, leaving her back exposed. Putting as much force as he could into his machine’s virtual robotic legs, Gideon pounced. He flew towards his would-be executor, dagger out and primed to shred the proxy’s central module.