we’re ready to make you one of us.

[headandhand]

WHO: Open to all Dualizens
WHAT: When Roboclones Attack
WHERE: Anywhere in the city!
WHEN: The night of Oct. 19
WARNINGS: Please use these if applicable! And if you happen to end up dead by roboclone, please fill out the death form!

It’s an ordinary night in Dualis, until it suddenly becomes a very dark and stormy night in Dualis. There hasn’t been a single day of unpleasant weather since any of you arrived, but soon after the sun begins to sink behind the city’s skyscrapers and the neon lights intensify for the night, storm clouds begin to gather overhead and unleash a cacophony of thunder, a deluge of rain, and brilliant spikes of lightning arcing across the sky.

It’s a violent storm, to be sure, but surely severe weather is no challenge in such a technologically advanced city as Dualis, right? As long as you stay indoors, you can keep safe and dry until the storm passes.

Except … less than an hour after the storm begins, the power all across the city goes completely out. All buildings are dark except for the illumination cast by lightning across brick and steel and glass. All electronics - including phones - are dead, all biometric locks are disabled, and no attempts to call, text, or reach the internet or the network succeed. Eerily, the streets are silent and empty.

Under normal circumstances, such a widespread blackout would merely be odd and inconvenient, but tonight, circumstances are anything but normal. About half an hour after the blackout begins, something approaches you, wherever you are. In the dark, you’ll be able to make out that its shape is humanoid, but maybe its motions are jerky and mechanical. As it draws closer and you get a better look, by candlelight or flashlight or flash of lightning, you recognize the face staring back at you.

That face is your own.

The face, like the rest of the body, is likely some degree of incomplete, an incongruous jigsaw of metal and flesh, but it’s definitely yours. And this machine doppelganger’s mission is soon made apparent as it launches a targeted attack on you:

It’s here to kill you.

After nearly four hours, the storm subsides and the power is restored and the city falls back into its normal rhythm. Will you survive until then?

May the odds be ever in your favor, friends.

Comments

Arkady | OTA

[hellofishies]

A. Blackout

Maybe she should have stayed inside. It's the logical thing to do with rain beating down outside. Logical is never quite the choice that Arkady makes though. No, especially not when something feels so off. Wrong. Frustratingly unclear. There's something twisting inside that tugs at her, whispering for her to at least go look. Maybe it's her own morbid curiosity. Nothing else quite like this has occurred since her arrival. That's something to make note of. Something to see.

It's those thoughts, that curiosity, that drive her to the roof of the dorms during this storm. Her eyes glow a bright white as she steps outside, creating a forcefield around herself to keep the rain off. Sometimes it's nice to be a freak. There's a crash of thunder and not long after the lights go off. No. Everything seems to go off.

A scream escapes her mouth and she quickly puts her hands over her mouth to try to muffle it. She's not embarrassed. Definitely not. She just...doesn't want to startle anyone else that might be around. That's completely it. 100% that.

"Fuck," that she means to say as she notices that her involuntary, definitely not scared, response had let her shield down. Now she's wet. Dripping wet and up on a rooftop with no idea what's going on. "Fuck this." Her eyes go from purple to glowing white orbs as she pulls her shield back up. Time to see if anyone was around to hear that. And to teleport off the roof to see what's going on. Nothing good probably.

B.My Own Worst Enemy

Using doors is for people who can't just teleport. Arkady rarely uses doors. To get off the roof she just teleports down and then starts walking from there in the rain. White eyes glowing to keep the water off of her, at least for now. If this foreboding feeling wasn't twisting inside her gut she would keep the shield off. Rain is fun to dance in sometimes. It's not a time for dancing. That's clear. As she walks through the dark streets she can hear something behind her. She spins around quickly on her bare-feet to look directly at --

herself? Not quite herself. The face is. Almost perfect. The torso is too. It even has the matching jacket with the barbie doll heads hanging from their hair. But the feet. The feet are metal, twisted, and incomplete. Incomplete. That describes a lot of this thing. An incomplete attempt at making her.

"Stop." She puts a hand up and uses her telekinesis to push it away. It's not much force, enough to cause it to fall on the ground but not enough to destroy it. That's when she makes a dumb decision. The decision to see if it's sentient. If there's anything there. She locks minds with it and then stumbles to the ground herself as pain hits her like a sledgehammer. It's sudden. Sudden unexpected pain is always the worst. Her nose starts to bleed and she retreats back into her own mind. But now she's stuck, distracted and on the ground, which isn't a great place to be when a killer robot wants to ...well, kill you.

C. Other

If you want anything else or to encounter her fighting other robots beyond her own copy, pick C! She's going to be stupid enough to try to connect telepathically with other ones too because experimenting is what cool kids do.

Blackout

[chaosvessel]

Since his arrival, Vincent hadn't spent much time in their shared room. He could be found just about all the time on the roof, tending Boku, but also watching the city, how it shifted, how parts stayed the same. Thus far, he hadn't been able to discern a pattern, but having something to focus on kept his mind from wandering, kept him from Sleeping, from returning to his nightmares.

Something about this night, though, some sort of unseen tension in the air, had him on edge even before the thunder lightning pierced the sky, the thunder shook the very framework of the dorms, and rain poured in fog-thick sheets, drenching him from head to toe. He was busying about securing the Chocobo pen when Arkady arrived on the roof and he stared through the rain, moved to her side in an instant when she screamed, reaching out a hand to her bare, dripping shoulder.

"Arkady. What's wrong?"

[hellofishies]

The touch was unexpected but not unwelcome. Often touch was the thing she missed the most about being back home. All of the FreakAngels had known each other since they were kids and they were used to being around one another. That meant they were used to the quirks each one had and most of them never minded Arkady leaning on them or reaching for a hand to hold. A lot of them probably wouldn't admit it, but she was pretty sure they needed it too sometimes. Bunch of messed up kids, that was what they still were.

She blinked herself back from her quick little jaunt down memory lane and turned her head to face Vincent with a gentle smile. He was an odd one. Broken in his own way just like a lot of the people here. It made her wonder what kind of information this Head could really be getting from a bunch of mixed up people.

"I'm sorry." The hint of embarrassment slipped through her voice. "Everything went dark and it surprised me. And now I'm wet." She scrunched her entire face up in annoyance at that annoyance. "What do you think is happening?"

[chaosvessel]

"A storm." It was the obvious answer, though it didn't explain the sudden power outage...everywhere. Even through the torrent, he could see across the city sectors going dark. It gave him a sinking sensation of foreboding in the pit of his stomach, and he moved his cloak around her shoulders, pulling her close. She'd been shivering in the wet, after all, and his cloak was made for traveling, thick, it kept out some of the rain.

"I don't remember it storming before."

[hellofishies]

"Neither do I. But we haven't been here long." So maybe this had happened before? She supposed they'd have to ask other people to know for certain.

"The power shouldn't go out." Not like this. Not in a place like this. That just seemed out of place. Everything seemed so advanced and it changed, surely that meant a storm couldn't cause the power to go out. Unless it was done on purpose or because of something else. But what would the something be? She really should have been looking more. This was all her fault again.

She balled her hands up into tiny little fists and looked out into the dark city.

"Don't tell anyone that I screamed, okay?" She moved a finger to her mouth in a hush motion and forced a very strained smile. "Our secret!"

[chaosvessel]

He didn't know much about power grids, he'd never needed to in the Turks, but she was right. He'd seen systematic power failure before, and it was never so widespread, or complete, unless it was deliberate. That could only mean something was coming...but what?

Her swell of pride caught him off guard, though and he looked over to her, brow furrowed slightly in concern. "Are you worried what others would think?"

[hellofishies]

"Oh, no!" Yes. Maybe. A tiny bit. It was very unusual for her to be embarrassed by anything. So much in her life had ended up being vaguely humiliating that she'd had to learn to just go with it. Somehow that was easier when it was around the people she knew though. Here it was different. Here she didn't know anyone and it felt harder.

"It was just silly of me to be so surprised."

[chaosvessel]

"So was I." It was only that his concern over what had caused it superceded being startled by the sudden power loss. And then something occurred to him. "...there was no lightning strike prior..."

A movement through the rain on the streets below, off in the distance, caught his attention and he leaned, trying to get a better look. Many were milling about, confused by the sudden darkness, but there was something...

"Cover. The darkness is cover. Get inside." And he pressed an arm against her back, urging her toward the stairwell leading from the roof.

[hellofishies]

"Hey!" This should be something she was used to. This was what people always did wit her. They always pushed her inside or shooed her off to go take cover. Keep safe. Out of the way. Nobody ever thought that she could take care of herself. It was silly and left her frustrated. The only people that never did that were Luke and Mark and that was only because they knew better. They knew to be afraid of her. The others were afraid of her too, just in a different way. A worse way she sometimes thought.

"I can help if something comes." She knew that probably wasn't that believable. After all she'd just gotten scared of a sudden power outage and she was frail enough that she looked like she might break if the wind blew too hard. Then there was her flighty nature and how spaced out she seemed sometimes. Maybe she did give off the impression of someone that needed to be protected.

But she listened to him and headed inside to the stairwell and then waited for him to come too. "What do you think is coming?"

[chaosvessel]

He nodded off-handedly at her, not stopping until they were safely in the stairwell and the door was shut behind them. He was sure she could help, somehow, but without knowing what was coming.

"I don't know. There is a lot of movement on the ground, but it's difficult to see in the rain." He stops, though, looking down at her. "You mentioned...looking before."

[hellofishies]

"Yes. I can look at a lot of things. So can you." She lightly bops his nose and looks into his eyes. "But probably not like me. I can leave my body and look at places from above. Or go to other places." And sometimes she could see the future. That required her to really look though and really try. Neither of which she had done here yet. She also hadn't tried astral projecting nearly as much as she should have been here.

"I was going to try up there but then..." The power went out and she was interrupted.

[chaosvessel]

"Not the way you do," he nodded, mirroring her words. He'd never heard of astral projection or anything quite like what she was describing, but if it could give them an advantage on whatever was coming...he felt a pang of guilt at the idea of using her.

He nodded. "Can you try from inside?"

[hellofishies]

"Maybe. I can try! But..." she looked down and then up at him. "I won't be here anymore. I leave myself." Which meant he'd have to watch her. Usually that was why she chose to do it when nobody else was around. That way nobody could hurt her while she's out.

B

[punchpunchkisskiss]

"Hey, you overgrown wind-up toy!"

Finn isn't particularly aware of what's going on with Arkady, but after a lengthy fencing match with his own robot double he's sure it's nothing good. Fortunately he was out on the street when the blackout happened, and an empty toy store nearby provided the perfect tool for the job: A well made plastic sword thing enough that it didn't break when he whacked robots with it. Okay, maybe a little less than perfect. But it was enough to distract the thing currently closing in on Arkady.

"Playtime's over," he shouts as he leaps off of a trash bin and dents his sword on the robot's head.

[hellofishies]

Distracting is exactly what Finn manages to do. The creepy robo-duplicate turns it's attention from Arkady to the boy shouting and starts to it's new mission: eliminate him. It does give Arkady a moment to try to recover from the sudden pounding in her head. What a mistake to make. Mistakes seem to be her specialty. It's the specialty of all the FreakAngels but she's starting to think she's especially good at just making mistakes.

"Fix things." The words come out strained as she makes her eyes glow again to try to stop her own nose from bleeding. Meanwhile her duplicate speaks itself with a jagged and electronic sounding voice.

"I'm not a toy but we can keep playing!" It's clearly trying to mimic the childish quality Arkady's voice occasionally holds, which is just disturbing. Or at least it's actually disturbing to Arkady herself.

[punchpunchkisskiss]

"Uhhhhh," he demurs, eyeing the blemish on his plastic blade. It had survived his last fight mostly by virtue of the same weapon being weilded by his double.

"Well, en garde, then!" He runs at the thing again, sword raised. At least he has the advantage of being armed.

[hellofishies]

Well, at least the robot isn't armed and doesn't have powers. But it does have robot durability and strength. Plus the unfair advantage of being a robot unafraid to throw all of it's weight into a punch at the boy brandishing a plastic blade. Luckily for him Arkady's double is as petite as Arkady is, a waifish robot was better than a hulking monstrosity of a robot, right?

[ ooc: sorry for the drop off, I had a lot of school things i had to deal with and lost some tags/brain to do things. if you'd rather just assume the rest of this lmk. sorry again! ]

[punchpunchkisskiss]

His strike may have roughly the impact of a clumsy fly, but he's quick and relentless and not afraid to take hits from someone ten times stronger than they ought to be. He hits at the robot again and again, ignoring blows that will certainly bruise. The sword, on the other hand, isn't nearly so sturdy. After a few blows it starts to bend backwards.

[ooc | no worries! ]

[hellofishies]

It takes another few seconds for Arkady to recover and stand back up. She's a bit unsteady and mostly annoyed at the blood that had come from her nose.

"That was mean." She says it loud and forcefully directed at the other her. Maybe it's a bit weird to tell a robot that's clearly trying to replace you that they're being mean. But it sorta makes her feel better and that's all that matters.

"Hey! Stupid toaster, leave him alone!" Her eyes go white again and she puts a hand out and snaps. With that the robot's legs explode from the knee down in a telekinetic blast. She makes sure to focus enough to keep metal from zooming at the boy and instead pieces just fall to the ground along with the robot itself. It's a bit less than what she had wanted, ideally the entire thing would have gone boom, but it's a bit more sturdy than a human would be. She's made humans go apart, but never robots. That's new territory there.

Unfortunately, no longer having legs to stand with doesn't stop it from continuing to crawl towards Arkady, now refocusing it's attention on the person it wants to take out.

[punchpunchkisskiss]

Finn is about to tell Arkady that she should make a run for it when the legs explode. He jumps back with a yelp and stares for a moment at the crawling wreck.

"Shmowzow," he says to himself. "Girl's got awesome powers. Hey girl, you have awesome powers!"

He runs to place himself between the two women and, with the robot now on the smaller side, gives her a solid football kick.

[hellofishies]

The kick causes the robot to sputter and sparks start flying.

"Oh no!" Arkady frowns as she watches the robot, hoping that it doesn't explode massively or something horrible like that. She's pretty sure she could shield herself but not so sure if she could shield someone else too. Not right now. She feels so tired right now. Luckily, it doesn't explode. There's some more sparks and the robot tries to lunge forward again at Finn, but the kick plus it's of limbs seems to actually have ended its' terrible reign.

In a heap it falls with a hand reaching for Finn. Still sending out sparks here and there, but no longer active. Hopefully.

[punchpunchkisskiss]

Finn jumps back as the sad device reaches for him, then steps forward to give it another kick for good measure. If he thought it was going to explode it certainly didn't scare him at all.

"Yeah," he tells the thing as though he won an argument rather than a fight. "That's what you get."

Now he turns to the living human he's gone to all this trouble to defend.

"Are you okay?"

[hellofishies]

"It shouldn't be what it gets. It shouldn't be me." There's a hint of unease in her voice at that. It's rare for her to be a bit shaken but Arkady actually is by this weird mechanical her. There's something clearly disturbing about it, even more so with the fact that it doesn't seem finished. Which means they could just try again. Whoever they were.

She blinks at him and then reaches up to wipe away the dried blood that had come from her nose. "Yes." It takes a second for her to work up a smile but she manages something. "Thank you! You shouldn't have risked getting hurt though."

[punchpunchkisskiss]

He scratches awkwardly at the back of his neck, his smile sheepish. He didn't mean to draw that connection between this woman and the evil robot replicant, but what can you do?

"Ah, don't worry about it. That's what heroes do." He tosses his wrecked sword onto the robot. He'll need a new weapon.

[hellofishies]

"You are a hero," she smiles as bright as she can manage right now (which really isn't that impressive). "But you should be more careful for yourself. Someone shouldn't get hurt for me." At least not in her opinion. As far as she knows she can't really die, unless that's different here, so it seems silly for someone to risk themselves for her.

"I owe you a sword now!"