Not Your Scheduled Programming

[Aura]

((SP1: Lukas Graves- Start))

Lukas Graves was on SOTF-TV.

No matter how many times that thought went through his mind, it still pissed him off.  This was a show that he hated with all the passion he could muster.  It was an utter waste of space on the airwaves, as well as an utter waste of humanity.  Despite all of his seething hatred for it, he was now an unwilling participant.

His scarlet bandanna was currently being worn as a neckerchief, as he figured that it was the best way to wear it without looking like he was proud to be a part of his team.  To him, it was a badge of dishonor, and he bemoaned the fact that it had to be worn at all times until the game reached its end.

Still frustrated, he wandered into an old-fashioned diner.  To be honest, it didn't look half-bad.  That would probably change once a few people had died there, of course, but he figured that he would take what he could get for now.  He pulled up a chair and sat at one of the tables in the lonely dining area, putting his daypack at his side.  He was now well and truly alone, with the exception of his "teammates" that were wandering around.  He was stuck in a worst-case scenario, and there was no way he could think of to express his frustration.

As he let his eyes wander around, he spotted a camera.  He was reminded of the producers.  They were watching him all the time.  Through their cameras, they could see his every move.  With their microphones, they could hear everything he said.

Lukas smirked.  He knew a way that he could get under their skin.  If they wanted to kidnap him, they were going to have to put up with his attitude.

He was going to make them regret putting one of the SOTF fandom's biggest enemies into their game.

Lukas stood up and addressed the camera directly.  "Hey, you!  Yeah, I'm talking to you.  The producers, the fans, everyone.  You guys really don't know who I am, do you?"  His cocky smile began to return.  "Well, since ou guys aren't in the know, I'll let you in on some info."

"I'm Lukas Graves, although you guys might know me better as GraveKeeper.  Y'know, that guy that most of you have banned from your forums.  The guy that vote-stuffed that Best Mentor poll so that Susan Crawford would win.  Don't forget my favorite, the time I called in to an SOTF podcast and played an audio splice of Jared Clayton on the toilet.  I've been trolling you guys for years, and you get the bright idea to put me on your show?"

His smile turned to a grin.  "Well I'm gonna let you in on a little secret.  I'm not playing.  Not a chance in hell.  Why would I become a gladiator for a show that I hate more than anything?  Nope, I think I'm just gonna hang around here, not killing anyone."  He chuckled a little.  "How does it feel to know that even though I'm in your game, I can still troll you?  I bet it really sucks, doesn't it?"

Lukas sat back in his chair and leaned back, resting the back of the chair against a booth.  He held out his hands and made a proclamation to the camera, and by extension, everyone watching, in a mocking, condescending tone.

"Enjoy the show!"

[Espi]

((Riley Parker's story continues from Opening Act))

Okay so in retrospect the dramatic 'walk out the door with a cool oneliner' thing was pretty awkward when it was actually you saying it, 'cause then the task of actually walking around came up. And god fucking damn it was it cold. Wherever they were, it wasn't fucking New Mexico anymore, that was for sure. Fun times.

Luckily wandering around underdressed in the freezing cold was a good way to A: Make Riley hurry and B: Give her time to think. She wanted to find a warm place, first of all, so she didn't die of hypothermia which would be horribly anticlimactic. As for actually, you know, winning the damn thing, which was her goal, there were three options. Escape was almost definitely out; that was too risky and she didn't have enough understanding of the tech involved to figure the shit out.

So that left a traditional win: by the 10 kills or by being the last solo or teammate standing. She had no clue who was on her team, so if she ended up with a moron she'd have to carry them to the end and that wouldn't be as easy as going solo. So the 10 kills was looking appealing to her; obviously killing was gross, but she'd seen enough of it on the show (which she was on, surreally enough) and if she targeted people she hated or something it might not be as bad, right? She needed to try though, because Riley didn't want to die, for goddamned sure.

Not to mention, the other time they'd done a 10-kill victory someone actually did it. It was possible, so why not aim big? Even if she failed, which she wouldn't, she'd be the talk of the world. That'd be pretty awesome.

So when Riley found the restaurants, she figured it was a totally valid place to check out. Places with promises of food were likely to attract people, and that would be good for her. She had a knife, which wasn't great but lots of people had worse, and knives had better utility. So it wasn't bad, and if she was smart she could still gut someone. The idea was strange; seriously considering murdering someone? Who did she hate enough to murder?

It took roughly ten or twenty minutes before she saw someone. As she walked into the diner, of all the people in the world and on the island Lukas Graves was sitting there at a table with a shit-eating grin. She moved towards him, knife held outward, heart pounding. He didn't look armed. "Hey, hand over your bag. I'm armed, and I'm not afraid to use this." Simple, short and sweet, got her point across.

Pun intended.

[Aura]

Lukas's smile dropped when he noticed his new visitor.  Of all people, he had to have Riley Parker show up.  Not only that, but she was attempting to rob him at knifepoint. Lukas hopped out of his chair and picked his daypack off the ground.  Riley may have been an insufferably huge fan of SOTF, but that didn't mean that he couldn't try to reason with her.

"Whoa there, Riley."  He said, one hand on his daypack.  "I knew you were a sheep, but I didn't think that you'd actually start trying to kill people just because some assholes in suits told you to."  He grimaced at her.  "Are you seriously gonna tell me that a bunch of dicks kidnapped you, and you're just gonna play along with all their little games?  Is that the way you wanna do things?"

Lukas was never the best negotiator, but he figured that if he couldn't talk Riley down, the least he could do was stall her long enough for an escape route to reveal itself.

[Pippi]

IS3: LUCIA DEL PIRLO-START

There was a gun in Lucia’s hand.

She wasn’t entirely certain what it was doing there. She had woken up, groggy, but with an acute sense that something was horribly wrong. As the light had returned to her eyes and the memories had filtered back into her head, Lucia had taken a look around her surroundings. White, sterile, clean. She had enough time to identify the room she was in as a bathroom of all places before the memories returned.

The first thing Lucia remembered was her screaming. She, and everyone else secured tightly to chairs in front of an audience, had been placed in SOTF. Chances were, only a few of them would be coming back out.

Lucia had begun to cry then, silent tears that she hardly noticed running down her face. What now? What could she do? What the hell could she do? She couldn’t run. Couldn’t fight. She could hide, but not forever, and the cynical part of her was screaming out that teams would break and crack and divide.

The rest of her had been less cynical, however, and the thought of teams had stemmed the flow of tears for a moment. Maybe there would be some solstice in her team-mates. Maybe they would be able to help her. On top of that, there was the bandanna. Putting that on was her first priority. The outlook was bleak, but above all else, Lucia wanted to live.

The bandanna was white, with the silhouette of a shark on the front. Anyone else with that emblem was safe, they were friendly. Lucia had tied the bandanna around her left arm, and had been about to close her bag, when something else had caught her eye.

She guessed that was how the gun came to be in her hands, but there was no point in it remaining there now, was there? There was nobody else in the room with her, nothing in the immediate vicinity to hurt her. And yet, Lucia kept hold of the gun, staring at it, hoping it would tell her the answers, of what she was supposed to do now.

A voice beyond the walls of the bathroom broke Lucia from her trance, her eyes wide and terrified, darting about in search of the voice’s owner. Had somebody decided to play immediately? Had they spotted her? Were they, right now, standing outside of the door, ready to riddle her with bullets, gut her like a fish?

Lucia felt sick to her stomach, but with legs shaking and heart pounding, she managed to stand up, gun in her trembling right hand. She edged closer to the door. The words might as well have been a foreign language; Lucia couldn’t think straight enough to let her mind digest them.

The voice eventually stopped. There was no sound of movement, but Lucia still held her breath. It didn’t seem like this person had seen her, but that didn’t mean they were friendly. Anyone could be out there, with any number of plans in their head.

A few seconds later, Lucia heard the sound of a door opening, and her grasp on the gun tightened. She stood there, frozen, hoping that somebody would tell her what she needed to do.

Qualcuno per favour... aiuto...

[Espi]

Riley could tell he was trying to egg her on, make her lose her cool. It might've worked, but Riley didn't give a shit about Lukas' opinion, so anything he said was water off a duck's back.

She shrugged. "There's no getting out of this. One guy isn't going to stop such a popular show by himself. You're wasting time protesting, especially since you don't have much time left in the first place. And to top it off, you're doomed if you don't try, so you're throwing away your life to make a point nobody cares for either way."

Riley chuckled. "I may be a sheep, but when the chips are down, I'll be a live sheep, and you'll just be a dead hipster." Riley twirled the knife in her hand, taking care not to accidentally drop it like a doofus.

She moved suddenly and with intent, slashing the blade towards Lukas' face. She didn't really intent to kill him, just catch him off guard and take advantage of distracting him to nab his shit. Whatever worked.

[MurderWeasel]

((Enter Austin White))

"You're both going to be dead morons," said Austin, rather loudly.

As he stepped around a corner, he said this. He was holding a remote loosely in his right right hand. He'd walked through the area calmly, after waking up in a different restaurant across the way. There he had grabbed the remote from behind the bar. It was small and silver, covered in buttons. It fit neatly into his palm.

In his bag was a cast-iron skillet from the kitchen. His sleeves were rolled up. He had called out to Riley and Lukas and had left his phrase off midway because it demanded attention. They were rather involved with each other. The noise had drawn him. It had started seconds ago, and now Riley was on the attack.

He wondered if she would kill Lukas. He considered killing her.

He had to talk loudly. They might not hear him otherwise.

Austin had woken up and he had examined his bag's contents. He wore the bandanna tied around his head. It had taken some time to get right. The scorpion was at the front. He had sat through the entire briefing paying only half attention. He had still been shaking off the fuzziness of the gas. He had said it was fine, when they came to his door. His parents had not been home. He had asked the men if he could leave a note. They told him no. They would leave a message for his parents.

His spyglass was in his pocket. It would be of use later. All he needed now was the remote. All he needed was attention.

[Aura]

Lukas' attempts at talking Riley down didn't seem to be working.  In fact, from his perspective, it seemed as though he was only making Riley want to hurt him more.  His suspicions were confirmed when Riley lunged at him with a knife.  He jumped back to avoid having a second smile carved into his face, and his mask of calmness disappeared into one of utter shock.

"The fuck's wrong with you?"  He yelled at her.  He still held his pack at his side, clutching it tight.  Whatever weapon he had in there, there was no way he could let Riley get hold of it, especially in her current enraged state.

A new voice appeared amidst the chaos, and its owner made himself known rather quickly.  The guy's headband was different from Lukas's, but if the guy had any interest in calming down a fight, Lukas really didn't care which of the so-called teams he was a part of.  He called out to the new guy.  "Hey!  How about a little help?"

Even though he had addressed the new guy, Lukas kept his eyes focused on Riley, anticipating another attack.  He knew that he was more agile than Riley, but he also knew that he couldn't keep dodging her forever, especially in an enclosed space like this.

[Pippi]

The voices still resonated from the other room. Loud, angry sounding voices, their identities still unknown, obscured by the fog in Lucia’s mind and the wall dividing her from them. The worst part was that the fog was fading, that some of her concentration was returning. She could hear the words that the people outside were saying.

‘Dead’. That was the word being repeated. One of the voices had called the other a ‘dead hipster’, and then what had sounded like a third voice had called them both ‘dead morons’. It didn’t take a genius to work out that threats were being slung about. Lucia’s mind flickered briefly back to home. Giuseppe and her father would sometimes play football in the garden, and sometimes, when Giuseppe inadvertently hurt him, her father would say ‘Oh, you are dead, sunshine’. A joke, a friendly little taunt, the same word being used there as it was right now.

The implications couldn’t have been more different, though. This was SOTF, and Lucia was right in the middle of it. Her classmates had weapons, and her classmates would kill to stay alive; there wouldn’t have been 65 seasons of this thing if they wouldn’t.

Lucia closed her eyes, leaning her head backwards against the bathroom wall, tears flowing down her face. Outside, the fighting and arguing raged on. Yelling. The sound of furniture moving. And here Lucia was, crying inside a bathroom, doing nothing. But again, that question that had been plaguing her since she had woken up was rearing its head; what could she do? What was she supposed to do? Blinking in a vain attempt to disperse the tears, Lucia looked down at the handgun, feeling warm and clammy in her hands.

She couldn’t stop them from fighting with her strength alone, what little she had. But with a gun in her hands, she carried some actual authority, some means of stopping the noise and from anyone from getting killed in the first hour of this twisted ‘game’. She had to step out there, and do... something. She took a deep breath. Then another. Hurriedly she gathered her bag onto her back; there was a large chance she’d have to run for it in the next minute or so. Her left hand was pressed against the bathroom door, her right gripping the Jericho. Was the safety on? Were there bullets in the chamber? She didn’t know. Instinct told her she had to do something, right now.

The bathroom door slammed open, Lucia’s fear causing her to use much more force than necessary. Her eyes flitted between the three people in front of her. Austin. Riley. Lukas. They were fighting, they had weapons, glinting in the light, they were moving, moving towards her maybe, and

Instinct took over again, and a gunshot rang out in the crowded diner.

[Espi]

Riley heard Austin call out and that pretty much screwed everything up.

She instantly glanced over, terrified he was armed, and that split second of distraction, combined with Lukas’ admittedly-effective dodging, she missed with her knife. She recovered her balance quickly and prepared to make another move.

Gunshots rang out, and she screamed, involuntarily, and raised her arms protectively over her head. She hadn’t seen Lucia, and had no clue where the bullets had come from. She whipped around and spotted Lucia, and immediately she realized she was hopelessly outmatched. 3 other people and at least one with a gun was not something Riley could contend with.

Wait. What the fuck was she even doing? This was not what she’d ever thought she’d do on SOTF; immediately going bonkers and trying to stab people? Not only was that kind of dumb, but it put her in the bad position of being an early killer if she succeeded and a danger if she failed. That was not good either way.

She was getting g caught up, swept away in the moment and the situation, and she wasn’t thinking. Riley was rushing, getting anxious and overreacting for no reason. This wasn’t the cool, confident girl in the condos, this was a wackjob.

Riley whipped around and bolted, snatching up her bag from outside the front door and leaving the diner as quickly as possible.

((Riley Parker’s story continues in Summer Bitch Versus Cherry Boy))

[MurderWeasel]

Lukas and Riley were both stupid. So was the new girl. This was good to know. To continue their quarrel, they had ignored a potential threat. Lukas asked for help. Austin made no move to help.

Then Lucia opened fire. Austin stood very still. Riley fled. The report echoed through the room. If anyone was nearby, they would have heard. He wondered if they might come running. He wondered if they would encounter Riley. He wondered if she would have more luck, or if she would be dead by morning. Any other option would surprise him.

He pointed the remote control at the new girl. She was Lucia, from school. She came from Europe. His lips curled into a grin. She was very tall.

"Let's not do anything we can't take back, Lucia," he said. He took a few steps to reposition. He could watch both easily, as well as the doors. "We don't need this to go bad. We should all calm down. Riley's gone."

Riley was not yet dead. That was a project for later. Perhaps it was a job for someone else. Austin's gaze flicked around the room.

Would Lucia be able to calm enough to listen?

[Aura]

Lukas should've been happy that Riley had stopped trying to slice through his face, and to be honest, he was pretty happy about that.

It was just kind of hard to be fully grateful when the reason Riley stopped was because someone had just fired a gun into the room.

Lukas instinctively ducked out of sight behind a table.  The situation was getting way to intense for him.  Riley had booked it out of there, but the weird guy who had just stood by while Riley was attacking was still hanging around, not to mention whoever was shooting a gun inside the diner in the first place.  At this point, Lukas figured that it was in his best interests to get the hell out of the diner before things inevitably blew up again.

Lukas left his crouching position and accelerated into a full-blown sprint as he ran out of the Diner.  He could find another place to mess with the game, but he couldn't exactly replace anything that might get shot off if he hung around there any longer.

((Lukas Graves continued in A New Morning))

[Pippi]

One bullet. That had been all it had taken to set a spark off within the diner. Riley had screamed, and for a brief moment Lucia was certain she had hit the other girl. Her vision locked on to Riley, but it seemed she was unhurt. There was no blood, no damage done, Lucia’s bullet having nestled somewhere in the far wall.

Lucia stood where she was, still holding the gun in two shaking hands, staring across the diner with wide, fear-filled eyes. When Riley had run for the exit, she had tracked her movements with the gun, but no second shot had come. Same with Lukas. Her eyes had locked onto his body, her gun had been aimed at him, and yet she did nothing. For a second, Lucia remained where she was, shaking, staring at the open door, wondering what to do now. She had cleared the argument, right? She could leave in safety, couldn’t she?

Then Austin had spoken, and now the gun was pointed straight at him, Lucia’s gaze piercing him instead. At any other time, she would have been able to recall something about him, something about what he’d been like at school, but not right now. Not when he was still a threat, and especially not whilst he had a weapon in his hand.

Lucia’s eyes flashed between Austin’s face, so calm, as if this happened every day, to the object in his hand. It was small, silver, certainly not a gun. What was it? It had to be something pretty potent if Austin was willing to face the barrel of a gun with it. The fighting had stopped, but Lucia felt just as terrified about Austin’s weapon as she had been when listening to Riley and Lukas.

“D-dr-drop it...” Lucia stumbled over her words, pointing her gun at Austin’s hand for a split second, before returning it to its prior position, shakily aimed at his chest.

“Drop th-that first. If n-not, I w-will shoot.”

[MurderWeasel]

Lukas left too. Lucia started stammering threats. Her hands looked to be shaking as much as her words. She was not calming down. She was not attempting to keep things from going bad. It fell to Austin to deal with her. There was a spiderwebbed crack in the plaster of the wall where her first bullet had hit. It was nowhere near where Riley or Lukas had stood. His left knee was twitching under his pants. He could feel his heartbeat.

"This remote lets me blow one person's collar," Austin said. "I don't want to use it on you, Lucia."

He took a deep breath. His eyes did not move from her face.

"Think you can kill me faster than I can push a button? Try me. Otherwise, you stand down and we can talk."

Lucia had fired earlier. She had missed by a wide margin. There had been no good reason for her to shoot. There had been no firm deterrent to prevent her from shooting. The situation had been overly busy. Few variables remained now. What this meant for both of their futures remained to be seen.

[Pippi]

Lucia kept the gun trained on Austin’s torso as well as she could, listening to him speak. He was calm. Very calm. How? How could he remain so calm in a situation like this? The answer soon seemed to reveal itself. There was only one way you could stay calm in a bad situation; having complete knowledge that you were in total control.

Lucia’s hands continued to shake, her heart continued to pound against her chest. Just one finger would be all it took to end a life. Lucia’s or Austin’s, depending on who was quicker. Lucia’s wild eyes flitted between Austin’s face and the remote control, studying them both as best as her terrified mind could. It was small, the remote. Did it have room for every student in Davison on it? How could he tell which button was directed to her collar?

What if he was bluffing?

What if he wasn’t?

If she fired now, she could hit Austin anywhere. His neck, his arms, his heart. She could miss entirely. His finger would be over her button the entire time.

That was the deciding factor, and slowly, as cautiously as she could manage, Lucia lowered her gun until it pointed at the floor. She had no idea what Austin wanted to talk about. All she wanted to do was get out of here. But playing it safe and steady was by and large the best course of action.

“Y-you... you too.”

Lucia nodded at the remote control, movements jerky and abrupt.

“P-put it down... f-first...”

[MurderWeasel]

"Gladly."

Austin smiled. He lowered his hand. Lucia was stupid. This was good to know. She gave him no reason to back down. She held no cards. He undertook this action out of the goodness of his heart.

"I don't want to fight. This is scary, Lucia," he said. "When I woke up, I wasn't sure what was going to happen. I thought..."

He sniffled. The room they were in had tables and chairs in it. It had been a restaurant. Austin's knee stopped twitching. Without turning his eyes from Lucia, he pulled a chair from the table he stood near. He lowered himself into it. The remote made a sound as he laid it on the table. It was a tap sound. his eyes remained focused on her. The remote was a few inches from his fingers. It would be easy to pick up.

"What were they even doing?" he said. He sniffled again. "I came in and—Jesus, what's wrong with them?"