Robber Barons

[D/N]

(Kaitlyn Greene continued from Until All Our Yesterdays Are Lighted Fools...)

She waited and stared down at the buildings south of her and Alan. Hopefully they'd gotten here in time. And hopefully they'd picked the right spot.  If their tar get want the other way they were fucked.

And Kaitlyn really hoped that didn't happen because this was the greatest fucking idea in history and it'd be a real shame if it went down the crapper for reasons beyond their control. And because the two of them had damn near sprinted down here from the northeast shore where they'd spent the night once they'd heard the announcement so it'd be, like, a double shame to have wasted all that energy.

It was tough to tell with all the rocks and slopes and various trees and foliage around, but she was also pretty sure they were the only ones around right now. Which was both amazing and kinda sad, because didn't that really show what kind of different scale she (and Alan, sure) had to be on here?

Kaitlyn sat down on a rock and tipped the shield behind her, letting it slowly topple over onto the grass. She grunted in relief.

"Eh, no sign of her yet. We've got some time, it's still early."

She hoped.

"Guess we should figure out how we'll do this, find a spot or something."

Yeah. And while they'd wait, Kaitlyn would sit back and think about the night she'd just had and all that time she'd spent awake and staring at the stars. It would be wrong and pretty fucked up to call it a great night or anything. She knew that. She totally got that.

Maybe she'd just call it a live night. That worked. That sounded pretty damn accurate.

[Ruggahissy]

(I'm posting because inactivity would hit me in two days. Just wanna get in here. Can rearrange posting order later if needed)


((Caleb Diamond continued from Survival Strategy))

They were just outside the range zone now, at the location the map called "the slopes." Every few minutes Caleb had been mashing his hand into his face to try and wake himself up. He pulled a bottle of water and drank a little and that seemed to help more than anything else. It had only been on night without his sleep medication and already it was taking a toll. It was just yet another thing in an infinitely long list of things that made him totally unsuitable to survive in the "game" they'd been thrown into.

They were wading around in the tall grass, looking to see if over the next slope they might find Kimiko. He was still completely terrified of what talking to her would yield. Not that she was particularly physically threatening. It was, in Caleb's opinion, a much stupider fear. He slapped a label of "nervousness" on it and pushed it to the side.

The announcements said she'd be at the helipad, so with any luck she'd exit from the direction of the slopes and he could intercept her. He looked around for Maria. All things considered, she'd been a good sport about pretty much everything and must have had some degree of trust in him. On a different train of thought, he mused that it was weird that his opinion of her had improved lightyears over his first impression of her. I still wasn't great, but it was improved.

[D/N]

(semi-gming of Alan)

"So we find a spot," Alan said.

"Yeah, and then jump her when she walks by," she said.

"We're just supposed to hope she comes right by this particular spot?"

"...Ah."

"This is why you need me, Kait," he said.

"Why the hell do people call me that, anyway? I don't go around introducing myself as Kait. It's Kaitlyn. Maybe Katy. If I like you."

"We like each other, though? So fuckin' listen. We have to be flexible here."

She could be flexible. She had all sorts of ways to do this thing.

---------

The two of them scampered up a rocky path, kicking a few stones down as they went and briefly entertaining fantasies about starting some landslide, before they crouched in a bunch of overgrown grass and decided to keep an eye out from up here. They could see most of the way westward, and there were more than a few spots nearby that had enough foliage or hills to make a good ambush spot. Alan had thought he'd seen some movement south of them, where there wasn't much of a vantage point, but how likely was it that Kimiko would be heading that way after picking up her prize?

Right. So this was a good lookout place. And they had a real plan going now, just so long as they figured out who took which role in it. Who was the bait and who was the... ambush-person. Kaitlyn didn't know the right word for it. Either role was fine with her, really. Sure, it would be fun to use her tackling to take that unsuspecting girl down from behind, but there was just something about standing in front of the little sweet-gun-awarded little twit, facing her down that was just as appealing to her. And they had a secret weapon for that job in case there was any trigger-happiness going on. A secret shield-shaped weapon.

Stand in front of a killer? That idea was already putting the memory of standing under the stars and waiting for the announcements to shame. Because there'd be that same anticipation, that same question of this being it, but on a whole nother level.

Not that it hadn't already been pretty intense last night. Kaitlyn had been awake, she'd been zoning out, and then the question had hit her:

What if no one kills?

'Cause she hadn't. No one she'd met thus far had. And what if that was the case everywhere. What if they were like an hour away from all getting their collars blown because they'd turned out to be a bunch of hippies or something deep down inside, and she'd have to include herself in that list? And her heart had started fucking jackhammering. She'd told herself it was probably a bluff even if there'd been no deaths, the terrorists probably had too much invested in this shit to just give up; she'd told herself that she didn't think that had ever happened before and really, at least someone in their school was gonna snap and kill someone else. She'd even looked down to Alan and remembered what she was keeping secret in her bag from everyone.

And she'd cherished every second when she wasn't sure if she was on the brink of death or not. And she was fucking alive.

Now on this ridge, looking down, Kaitlyn took a second to remind herself of that one more time. And... dink. She was already done reminiscing and like only a few minutes had passed. Nothing else to do but wait for the target to stroll by.

They waited.








Holy mother of piss this was getting boring. Whose idea has this been anyway?

She had to pass the time somehow.

"I'm gonna make a protein bar sandwich."

It tasted better than it sounded, actually.

[Zetsu]

((Alan Banks shambling in from Until All Our Yesterdays Are Lighted Fools))

Wow, Katy. Yes, Katy, I'm fucking calling you that from now on, even though you don't know it yet since I'm only saying it in my head. Well. Anyways. Way to announce to the whole world you're making a fucking protein sandwich bar. Really smooth, really fucking smooth.

Shit. He wanted one now. How the fuck had it come to this? How had he sunk so low, so quickly? Despair and die, Alan, despair and die.

There wasn't much about this that felt good to Alan. Quick, let's go through them: it meant that a) he had his shit together, and b) his shit was doing good. Hell, that was pretty good. Very good, very good. Make Alan feel like the good guy, the baby-faced hero of whatever narrative he was putting together right now? Almost. You could very nearly say that Alan felt a little self-doubt in that moment. In his cause, his mission, his constant, pointed trolling. Did the notion that he was usually just an annoying ass cross his mind? Inconceivable! The horror! Keep reaching, you sod. Maybe someday you'll catch a star.

But what's a hero who can't stand a little moral ambiguity, eh? You think the hero's the one who tries to save everyone, who won't kill the villain to stop a shitfest, who can't get his hands dirty to keep the blood from getting all over the floor and holy fuck it's new carpet? Yeah, no points for guessing that Alan preferred Batman to Superman.

Huh. So Alan's already seeing himself as the Batman. How's that for delusions of grandeur. Grandeur, indeed. Well, you best buckle down, then, cuz things are gonna go melodramatic reeeallly soon. Ok. Listen. No, seriously, listen! Your bad guys are literally the shadow conspiracy and the sadist clowns rolled up all into one package, making kids kill each other because telling people that the human race was trash was apparently a damn fine narrative, and you're telling Alan he's the delusional one for embracing pulp? Yeah, you wish. Melodrama was his duty, and his bread and butter besides. Mad. They call him mad, huh? He broke their suspension of disbelief? Well, guess fucking what he'll do, then.

He'll show them. He'll show them all! Tonight.

Yeah, he'll show them, for sure. Any minute now.

[Deamon]

((Kimiko Kao continued from Bú-Tik))

She had delayed leaving the safety of the supply depot for as long as she could, it seemed like the smartest decision she could have made. There was a guarantee of safety in the danger zone that she didn't have anywhere else, as ironic as that was, entirely because she was the only person allowed in it. Her big internal debate had been deciding whether or not she wanted to go to the asylum or back the way she had come. In the end she had made the decision to backtrack because the chances of anyone from the gym following her to the slopes seemed low. Her hope was that everyone would assume that she planned to go the asylum.

The slopes themselves offered her good cover. Even though Kimiko didn't expect to encounter anyone who meant her harm, the encounter in the gym made it clear people were expecting violence from her, she still kept herself low and as concealed as possible. It made for slow going and every so often she nearly lost her footing as some of the rocky path fell away from her but it felt smarter and safer. She thought back to her attack on Bradley.

His refusal to leave her alone had led to the violence. She had no intention of killing anyone in the gym, not even him. But he kept picking and prodding at her until eventually she had retaliated. She wasn't proud of it but she had tried to leave peacefully. As she walked and scrambled she thought of Bradley. There was a chance she hadn't killed him. That only served to make her feel worse. With that in mind she was still ready to here her name read out again, just the same as it had been that morning.

Kimiko wondered how much time she had spent slowly working her way up the slopes. She was certain it felt longer than it actually was. Her perception of time being altered by the focus she was giving each foot placement. It was a distraction though and she was grateful for that, something to take her mind off everything. Kimiko adjusted how the nodachi was hanging over her shoulder, its presence still bothered her, but it was the best weapon she had.

[Ruggahissy]

Caleb stopped walking and frantically looked around. Maria wasn't with him. They must have wandered in different directions while he was lost in thought. He wasn't sure if it would be safe to call out to either her or Kimiko.

He had absolutely nothing as far as a weapon went. Caleb looked on the ground and found a somewhat sharp stick. He picked it up, thinking that if he had known this would all happen he'd have spent less time studying chemistry and more time on kung fu or something. Caleb held his breath and stood very still, trying to listen for any errant noises other than the occasional squawk of seagulls. There was some faint, distant rustling. Caleb lowered himself so as to be hidden by the grass and shrubs and slowly moved in the direction he'd heard the noise.

He imagined stumbling across someone from school covered head-to-toe in blood and viscera. That image morphed into a hungry squirrel scuttling around. Caleb wasn't sure what the probability of either being.

[D/N]

"Holy shit!"

Exclamation mark or not, she was whispering to Alan.

"Holy shit it's her. Eeeeeeee."

Kimiko Kao. Mute. Not deaf, she had to keep reminding herself. Short. God, Kaitlyn had met nothing but shrimps on this island so far, Alan excepted. Mostly friendly, not that they were friends or anything. And somehow THAT had come together to kill some other kid and win a sweet-ass gun for it? Bizarre.

Oh, and in a sunburst of perfect karma, one more thing. Heading right the fuck close to them. Ba-zam.

"Alright, see ya in a few."

She slid the shield along the grass to Alan and waited until he'd made the first move down the ridge before she started slinking through the foliage perpendicular to him. There was a copse of trees nearby, and if she could get there as Alan was hopefully drawing Kimiko to him they'd have the perfect setup. Alan distracts and Kaitlyn jumps and then Alan jumps to and then poor little Kimiko would have nothing to kill anyone else with.

They were fucking heros.

Huh. Bonus. She sure as shit hadn't been signing up for that.

It did make sense this way; Alan taking point. She guessed. Alan had that whole calm and collected, nice-guy thing going on. He could pull it off. He could keep her at ease. If Kaitlyn was the one bounding out to meet her, Kimiko might be more edgy. Might just book it and then the whole day would have been wasted. Not that they were enemies at school or anything, but still. Kaitlyn was a libertarian, Kimiko was... Daoist? Taoist? Toasty? Some weird Chinese thingy. And frankly, she kinda creeped Kaitlyn out with the whole not-talking thing. How the hell was someone mute but not deaf anyway? Didn't those two things go together? Would've been a lot easier.

[Zetsu]

Showtime.

Well um that's not to say he's treating this like it was no big deal. He was serious. Deadly serious-- okay, that was shitty. And it wasn't like they were gonna kill Kimiko here. Just, um. What's the phrase. Relieve her of her weapon. That's a nice euphemistic way of saying it. And, and, if things go ugly they might end up relieving her of her life too! So the joke actually kind of worked. Huzzah or something.

Um.

Yeah. Back to the task at hand. And he was gonna have a little fun with this, because well why not? Of course he was serious. That was his creed. No, seriously, it might not look like it, because there weren't very many things worth taking seriously, but Alan was going to play his part with, like, utmost commitment. And that meant hamming it up. That meant having fun with this. And that sinking feeling that they're being a bit morally ambiguous, that this was just a tad too antiheroic? Aw, hell yes. Bring on the thunder. Bring on the downpour. Give Alan a trenchcoat and a fedora and a five-o'clock shadow, he was born for this.

He stepped out, and everything felt wrong. Too much light, too much ground between them, and everything felt too casual and mundane. Kimiko was small. Alan was--well, he wasn't small, certainly, but for this he felt small. Well. Let's overcome that bit of awkwardness, shall we?

"Yo." Yeah. Way to go on the first impressions.

"Was wondering if you'd show up over here."

Open palms. Bend your knees. Let's keep everyone at ease for now. Kimiko was an unknown quantity, so you're gonna play cautious--

Cautious? Well, um, yeah. You don't know if she's the kind who stabs people at first sight-- Alan was pretty sure he could outrun her if she was-- or if she's killing out of fear or--cautious? Listen, I don't have time to be indulgent right now, I have to be pragmatic, and if you think about it antiheroes are total pragmatists so--what the hell is this shit? Can you walk the walk or not?

"You get one chance to prove you're not a player. Take your best kill weapon out and put it down, or you die. Not bluffing. My draw's faster than yours.  And if you ain't playing, you don't need it. If you'll take it out and put it down to the side, then we can talk."

Much better.

[Deamon]

This was bad.

Alan was a lot bigger than she was and had a massive shield. He had also been waiting for her, meaning he had time to plan how this whole encounter was going to play out. Kimiko found it curious then that if he had a gun like he said he did, he hadn't used it, or drawn it. It lined up with what she had been thinking, people so far didn't mean her harm. But they did expect her to harm them. The encounter reminded her of the one she had with Samuel, a stand-off where the other party expected her to drop her weapon. This time it was slightly different though as Alan knew she had killed Cristo, she assumed he didn't know about Bradley, and he wanted the weapon he knew she had. He wasn't giving her very good choices though.

Despite his threats Kimiko couldn't help but feel like something was off. If he had a gun why didn't he have it drawn? It didn't match up. Kimiko tilted her head as she considered him. He must have been expecting her to have a gun, that much was obvious, what was he going to do when he found out she didn't have one? Shoot her with Schrodinger's gun? The idea that there was something else going on was starting to take a much deeper rooting in the back of her mind but considering the options she had Kimiko thought it was be best to play along up to a point. Maybe, if she was lucky, he would give up and back off when he found out the nodachi was her reward. She had no intention of letting him know about the tantō.

Raising her left hand, palm out facing him, Kimiko slowly brought it across her body and tapped the nodachi hanging from her shoulder. She hoped the implication was clear. 'This is my weapon'. She did not however put it down. It stayed where it was, hanging from her shoulder. No danger to anyone and no way for her to quickly draw it.

Right now she wasn't a threat to him.

[D/N]

(skipping Rugga w. permission)

You can't actually tackle someone in roller derby. Yes, contact sport, but the contact zones were very clear, and as a blocker, Kaitlyn sure as shit had them committed to heart. Target the arms, hands, front, hips, thighs. Not the legs, back, head, or booty. More important to know were the body parts you could actually use to block. No hands, meaning no grabbing or tossing or hairpulling, or at least none that the ref could see. No kicking, no head-butting, no elbowing. You can hit the other girl with your shoulder, upper arm, torso, thighs, hips, or booty.

Yes, booty was in the official rule book, take that you half-fucked other sports.

So Kaitlyn might not be as much of an expert on the matter as she'd hoped to be. So she would have to improvise how she was going to do this. Against Kimiko the armed killer.

And that realization, come to while creeping to the inner treeline in what really wasn't a vast concealing forest, let Kaitlyn to ruminate for a moment on the fact that she hadn't the slightest fucking clue how she was going to pull this off.

Because she did know that. She wasn't dumb, she wasn't off her meds, not that she took any meds. No, Kaitlyn had a connection to the reality of this situation.

Now, about her feelings on that knowledge?

That was a better question to turn over in her head, but it only made a half-rotation before she pulled the plug and focused on Alan strolling up and making like a king.

Kaitlyn held her breath. Well, one in their favor. Alan had stopped Kimiko in about the best spot he could. And double the pleasure, the dumb little twit had been caught flatfooted. Okay, that wasn't fair. Kaitlyn'd never felt 'dumb' emanate from Kimiko given what she knew of her. But regardless, Kimiko had one of those Japanese katana sword thingos hanging over her shoulder, and nothing in her hands. The BKA gun must be stowed away safely in her pack.

Holy no duh yes. This would work and to the victor would go the spoils.

She gave Kimiko a few seconds to reply (hehehehehe) to Alan. He had some skills. But no, it didn't look like yesterday's reigning champ was about to just relinquish her stuff. Instead Kimiko was tapping her weapon. And she was only what, twenty feet up and to the left of where Kaitlyn was? Maybe she could just sneak up from behind without her even noticing.

Kaitlyn crept out of the treeline, and took a few quiet steps, crouched low. Which she could totally hear, because what the hell did she know about stealth? Grah. There was no way she was gonna be able to tiptoe through the daisies here.

OK then.

Kaitlyn broke into a full-on sprint.

"Yaaaig! Give us the weapons, ya fuckin' mutie freak!"

At the second-to-last moment Kaitlyn  had a flash of enough instinct -- given the potential of Kimiko having time to draw that sword and skewer Kaitlyn's face -- to go low on the tackle instead of high. She half-dove, half-slide tackled, and adrenaline surged through her like a jolt of coffee at 1 in the morning.

[Ruggahissy]

((Posting orders are for people not about to explode ))

Caleb heard someone shout out and when he heard it his blood turned to ice water.

"Mutie..."

A mute. Against the odds his plan had actually worked, but someone else had a similar plan. Caleb pulled the mask on and ran in the direction of the disturbance. His ankles became wrapped in long weeds and his toes halted by stray rocks a few times, resulting in some near misses with the ground. He managed to recover each time and kept going forward. The plants and shrubs lashed at him and marked his skin with faint red welts and shallow cuts.

He arrived to see Kaitlyn jump at Kimiko.

"Hey!" he bellowed.

[Deamon]

Kimiko felt like she heard it all at once. The emergence of the second attacker followed by whoever was on the ridge, giving her just enough of a warning to react. She turned and as a result only one of her legs caught a glancing blow from the second attacker, a girl she realised, sending her falling back onto the hard rocks, pain shooting up her back.

From her seated position Kimiko quickly kicked at the girls chest. They meant her harm and she couldn't give them the chance. Without thinking she scrambled to her feet and ran as fast as she could, sword still held tight in her hand, and her pack still over her shoulders. She didn't know who the person on the ridge was, but she hoped they didn't have a gun.

There was no plan for where she was going, Kimiko just knew she needed to get away.

((Kimiko Kao continued in The Lagniappe))

[Ruggahissy]

Caleb ran after her

((continued in The Lagniappe ))

[D/N]

"Aw, motherass!"

Okay, huh?

Seriously. How in the hell had that not worked? It was the absolute perfect plan. Sure, they hadn't planned for random cray guy literally jumping out of the reeds and screaming at them, but really, that should have just been a minor inconvenience at worst.

But noooo.

Kaitlyn tried to pivot forward after she hit the ground, only for kimiko's foot to hit her square in the nose. And it only took her a second to grab her nose, curse a few times, and blink away the stars and darkness, but by the time Alan was shaking her arm and helping her up, Kimiko and Guy were heading for the hills.

Damn it.

(Kaitlyn Greene and Alan Banks continued in Elapsam Semel Occasionem...)