Intertwined Fates Pt. 3

[Vester Lombard]

(Make sure to read Part 2 first)

"I said, deploy all of the game pods into the Capitol," Vester snarled into the emergency line.

"But those were specifically designed to be used in the arena," replied the operator. "They're extremely dangerous and could harm civilians."

"Don't you see? This IS the arena now. If you want to live, you'll deploy those pods."

"I don't think we have clearance..."

"I am giving you clearance! You work for me! Do it now or you'll be held responsible for the fall of the Capitol!!"

"...Yes, sir."

[Ayla Farrow]

Ayla looked up from her laptop to see Vester entering the room speaking into some type of device. For the past several days, she had been trying to research how to best hack the computers from within the capitol, but with little luck.

Vester must not have noticed her, and she listened in as he described what was surely a plan to take down the remaining tributes that managed to stay alive up until this point.

"What's wrong with you? This game maker role has clearly gotten to your head. It's messed up enough that the capitol has been allowing kids to kill each other for years, but now you're going to take out an entire city."

She looked around the room at the memorabilia displayed in trophy cases and spotted the very gun that she had stolen from Jaffe in the last games. She lunged forward and attempts to break open the case to grab the gun.

Scavenge for Gun (+1 for knowing where it is)
DiM|zO5M1d10+1 1d10+1

[Millie Cartwright]

The adrenaline in Millie's veins was pumping so hard that she even managed to make it to the common area before the peacekeeper let alone Agni.

She saw Vester framed in the dull emergency lighting of the room and, "Was that Ayla diving for a gun?"

She had to do something fast before Vester could make a break for it. If she could give Ayla time to take a shot it could make a world of difference.

Maybe she could even call off...whatever it was Vester had just unleashed on the city.

"Hey Vester," she shouted at him with the knife she grabbed earlier drawn, "it seems like you're running a bit low on allies."

Attack Vester With Knife +1 For Knife (Treating Like Baton) +2 For Attack

g8YJYiYZ1d10+31d10+3

[Agni Sparks]

Eyeing the peacekeeper suspiciously Agni took up the rear to follow Millie and the armed guard down the darkened hallways.

'Feels good to hold ont' this again!' His grip tightened on the axe, a wickedly sharp hatchet with a curved blade. Holding it, the District 11 victor could almost smell the open fields of his Arena again.

"Gotta say Ms. Cartwright." He called, jogging behind her. "Mos' times I'm tryin' to avoid trouble. 'm certainly not used t' dashin' towards it!"

Whatever reply she had was cut short by her charge at the Game Maker. Her knife flashed in the dim emergency lighting as Vester staggered, blood staining his richly clothed suit.

Stepping aside from the peacekeeper, Agni noticed Ayla's scramble to pick up the gun from her Games.

"Howdy, Ms. Farrow! Been wonderin' where you'd gotten to!" Agni's brow lowered menacingly toward Vester.

"You're not gettin' out of here easy, Lombard." Agni growled, brandishing his weapon. "Reckon your only chance is t' call off the pods and give up to the rebels."   

[Ayla Farrow]

Ayla smashed though the trophie case and grabbed the gun that had been her saving grace just a short year before. Just then, Agni and Millie dashed in to her side.

She pointed her gun at Vester, not taking her eyes off him she greeted her fellow victors, "Sorry I was late to this years games" she cocked the hammer back and tightened her grip on the trigger. "That's what this is, right? Only this year Vester's playing. Call of the game pods or I will shoot."

It looked like Milly already had him at knife point. Never underestimate a red head.

[Vester Lombard]

Vester slowly put his hands up in surrender. The three victors had him cornered, yet Vester still maintained his sly grin.

"Looks like someone was feeling a bit left out," Vester said quietly to Ayla, who emerged with her old handgun. "Don't worry, I didn't forget about you."

Just then there is a whirring sound and a small hovercraft appears outside the front gate. It drops a six foot long silver pod onto the ground. The top of the pod bursts off and out from it some sort of mangled creature begins to crawl forward on its hands, dragging its legs behind it...

[Seth Judkins]

The writhing muttation slithered into the common area, behind the three victors. Its flesh was ripped apart with bits of shrapnel protruding from the skin. It locked eyes with Ayla and stared piercingly. It paused, as if thinking, remembering.

The muttation let out a long shriek.

[Ayla Farrow]

Ayla whirrled around ay first glance she thought she saw Seth. The boy she had loves and lost in just a few short weeks. "Seth?!" Could it really be him? Jaden had survived. Was all the pin she has endured last year a lie?

And in a cruel twist of fate she realized that this was not Seth. Her heart had blinded her eyes. In reality, Seth's beautiful unscarred face was now covered in gory wounds, and his eyes were not his own. "Seth..." She wept trying to come to grips with reality.

It wasn't Seth. Heart had kept and then sunk far deeper than it ever had in a matter of seconds.

She turned to Vester. "How dare you? How dare you remind me of the worst day of my life, when I watched a boy that I loved sacrifice himself so that I might have a chance."

[Millie Cartwright]

Millie knew just how much it hurt to tear the scabs off old memories and seeing those memories in the...flesh...definitely made it all the worse.

But right now they didn't have the luxury of dealing with those emotions.

"Ayla," she said evenly, "I know it must hurt more than anything I could imagine but we need to focus right now keep the gun on Vester and I'll handle...that thing."

"Vester! You disable any future pods right NOW or Ayla pulls that trigger!" she shouted as she ran towards the Muttation.

This was going to hurt Ayla more than it hurt the muttation but...it had to be done.

ATTACK The Muttation +1 For Knife (Treating Like Baton) +2 For Attack
SOe87LT51d10+3

It wasn't the cleanest attack but the knife found its mark and sank into the muttation's throat.1d10+3

[Seth Judkins]

A thick purplish fluid splattered out of Seth's neck and onto the floor. But he kept his eyes locked on Ayla, seemingly unfazed. He crawled unnaturally fast towards Ayla and gripped her leg, digging his jagged nails into her skin, but still looking at her with a gaze that was almost pleading her...

[Agni Sparks]

Gasping in horror as the muttation slithered across the ground toward Ayla, Agni was spurred to action as its grotesque fingers gripped her leg tightly.

"What kind'f twisted game 're you playin', Lombard?!" The District 11 victor stepped forward to hack at Seth, looking to get it away from Ayla before it could attack.

Attack the Muttation with Axe (Going off the 3rd HGRPG rules, axes do 2 damage with no attack mod.)

obWLMXNn1d10+2

The blade dug into Seth's shoulder with a sharp crack as it cleaved through bone. 

"Helluva way to restart the body count, Sparks." He thought, yanking the axe out of Seth's shoulder.1d10+2

[Ayla Farrow]

Ayla just watched as Millie pleaded with her to keep her gun on Vester. Ayla held out her arm defiantly, pointing the gun at Vester. She was sobbing so vehemently that he arm was shaking and trembling. She knew the right thing would be to try to help Millie take down the Seth muttation... but she just couldn't. It was too hard.

Just then, Agni came in wielding an axe, that he slashed through Seth's body with ease. Ayla sobbed. She had to remember that that was not Seth... she had already grieved his death a year ago.

"Thank you," she whispered to Agni "I couldn't have done that. I just couldn't"

Her voice shaking, she kept her eyes locked on Vester. "What's your next move, Lombard? It looks like you're a little outnumbered."

[Seth Judkins]

Seth's grip loosened on Ayla's leg as the axe sliced through his collar and into his torso. Seth rolled onto his back, convulsing at Ayla's ankles, spewing more purple fluid. With his remaining functioning limb, Seth tore away his tattered shirt to reveal a device chained to his chest that resembled the one him and Ayla had discovered in the tower.

Hack 9 to disarm. A score of 5 or less detonates the bomb.
Or sacrifice self and only you take damage.
A timer on the bomb prevents you from escaping the blast radius before detonation.

Anyone can hack or sacrifice themselves, but I'd like for Ayla to decide what should be done so that each victor gets their moment to make a tough decision.

[Vester Lombard]

"I'm afraid you've spoken too soon, Ms. Farrow," Vester cackled.

"What will the girl from District 5 do next?" he said, imitating Caesar Flickerman's announcer voice. "Will she redeem herself after forcing the love of her life to sacrifice himself for her? Or will she make her friends take the hit for her once again?"

[Ayla Farrow]

Ayla considered her options, fuming with rage at Lombard. She had a decent chance, but was it worth it? What would Seth do?

"Millie-" she shouted "If you survive this war, please go the home the capitol provided me after I won last year. You'll find an elderly woman named Erica there. She was important to Seth and she is very important to me. Although she was healthy for must of her life, she took a nasty turn for the worst after some peacekeepers attacked her just because she was friends with me. She's been living with me and needs a caregiver. Please Millie... Take care of her... For me ... And for Seth."

Seth's deep blue eyes flashed through her brain and she knew what she had to do she grabbed Muttation Seth's Armand dragged him to Vester. "If I'm going down, you're going down with me!" When she was right next to Vester, she detonated the bomb - just as Seth had done to save her nearly a year ago to the day.

-fade to fiery orange-

[Millie Cartwright]

It took an instant to comprehend what was about to happen but when it clicked it hit her like a ton of bricks.

"AYLA, NO!" Millie screamed but as soon as the words escaped her mouth the brilliant orange glow had already begun to creep its way from the device on Seth's as time seemed to slow to a crawl.

The adrenaline pumping through her veins commanded her to feet to move even though her eyes were glued on what was about to happen. She threw herself behind the short wall that used to run around the perimeter of the eating area outside the cafe.

A wave of heat shot over her head as she forced her eyes shut.

[Agni Sparks]

The moment Ayla knelt beside the hideous remains of her friend's body, Agni found himself backing away.

"S'not good, Lookin' like her head ain't in the game."

"If you survive this war, please go..."

Her shouts were lost to Agni's ears as he spun to sprint toward the crumbling halls they entered from. A roar of flame flashed across the room; its impact flinging the young man to the floor.

"What happened?!" The prone victor looked up to see the shaken peacekeeper from upstairs crouching nervously a few meters away. "Where's the Game Maker?!"

"Seems t' me that..." Agni coughed through a cloud of dust. "...arrestin' Mr. Lombard is goin' to require a mop."

[Peacekeeper]

Following the blast PK-31 came sprinting through the hallway, coming to a sudden stop at the sight of Vester and Ayla collapsed on the ground in the wreckage of what was once the common room.

PK-31 nodded and said, “Nice work, victors. I’ll take care of this mess. It may be the last thing I do as a Peacekeeper if the rebels take the Capitol.”

[Vester Lombard]

Vester’s smoldering body lay still on the Common Area floor. His black jacket was shredded, and a pool of blood was forming around him.

Yet from the quiet common room came a slow, wheezing laugh.

“There is no rebellion,” Vester laughed, choking on his own blood. “You saw Jaden die, Millie… There is no airstrike coming... I let the tributes out of the Training Center… and into... the arena…”

He hacked and spewed blood. Though his life was quickly fading he knew he had finally created a game no one could ever forget.

“So concludes… the 4th Annual Hunger Games,” Vester coughed. “I hope you enjoyed the show.”

[Peacekeeper]

PK-31 walks across the room and kneels down where Vester lay. He cuffed Vester’s wrists together.

“Vester Lombard you’re under arrest. You better hope you die here or you’re going to the firing squad for this, you son of a bitch.”

As PK-31 stood up he spoke into his radio, “I have Lombard in custody. He’s in bad shape.”

Then he turned to face the victors. “You better take Ms. Farrow and go. There’s warrants out for all of the escaped tributes and believe me the Capitol plans to get you for association. There’s a hovercraft parked outside the Loading Dock. Get out of here before I change my mind.”

Continued in the Loading Docks...