What's that crashing sound that follows us around?

[exceptionalcrook]

WHO: Anyone, Duke
WHAT: Reactions to the executions/talking about next steps
WHERE: The dorms
WHEN: During/immediately following the executions
WARNINGS: Discussions of frickin' executions

[For people in the dorms to react to current events. Feel free to post your own starter!]

Comments

[sociallychallenged]

Hank's up at the fifth floor, staring at the happy aftermath of the executions with a grim expression. He might not have been at the meeting itself, but he was out during it. That's suspicious enough. He figures it's best if he leaves his job soon. That job that he so loved, that gave him purpose. Here it's twisted. And now, it's just too close to certain death.

Figured she'd try to go out like Joan of fucking Arc, he finds himself thinking bitterly as Marie dies. As she cries out for a revolution of, what, a building full of people? Out of a city.

Usually he's coming up with plans, he has dozens. But this time he's just got a piece of paper out, and in his own handwriting he's tendering his resignation from the Dualis Police Department.

Following the injuries recently sustained by my domestic partner, I find that I should focus my energies on his recovery. It's not as simple a process for androids as one might suspect-

He grimaces to himself, leaning forward on the couch, elbows on his knees.

"Do you know how they fuckin' found those fucking assholes?" He says, bitterly, angry at their stupidity, upset they went and got themselves killed. "Their masks. They found them, because of their dumbass masks. Turns out they were told to target them. Heard it at the station not long after they picked them up." He doesn't look up from his paper, he just looks angry.

[fuckregularpeople]

Jane watches, taking in every detail of the executions. She needs to -- whatever they're up against she needs to know, for the good of the other sixty-four. For Kay. So she watches the broadcast, her fist resting against her chin as tears gather in her eyes. She doesn't notice when they begin to fall, which is sometime around the first death. She just keeps blinking to keep her eyes clear, and breathes deeply, audibly, when it's over.

Once it's over she stands up slowly, breathing deeply, shutting her eyes. Her outline blurs.

Hammerhead punches the television set, shattering the screen and parts of the plastic frame.

"Stupid motherfuckers!" she spits, kicking at the toppled electronic frame. It shatters into smaller pieces, which doesn't seem to satisfy her. "FUCK it! It's good they're dead!"

[sociallychallenged]

He doesn't think it's good they're dead. He does, however, know better than to say that out loud in the dorms. And he is angry that thanks to all of the Heart's helpful shit, they're actually at an enormous disadvantage. Enhanced monitoring. A way to shut down the power grid closed off.

"I don't know what they expected when they decided to dress up like fucking Death Eaters."

He sits back scowling, tablet on his lap. That haggard fact just reeking of all the disapproval he can fucking muster. Stinking of it. "God I'm glad Heather didn't see this." Heather as she was, anyway. "Little girl shouldn't have to go through that once, very well twice."

[fuckregularpeople]

"Fuck them," Hammerhead growls, pacing across the room like a tiger in a cage. "Idiots were too fucking stupid to act like fucking human beings. Fuckin' shitheads had nothing to offer us."

Her outline blurs again and Jane's body twists in on itself, contorting into a curled-up ball. Sylvia glances up at him through dark, dark eyes.

L͛͊o̜̞͎̣̔́͛̚o̖͍̼̰̭k ͐̊̃ͩa͈̗̱t ̝͉͎͚̠̹͇͊ͩͤͦͩͭ̋t̻̖̦̲͉haͤ̐ͧ̈́̄̚t, s̱̰̬̙̋̅̾̊ad̟͔̖̒̆̐ ̒͋̒̓̔̋lí̥̫͐tt̼̫̦̖̹̻̻͑͆̀̿ͨ͐̚l̲̼͚̹͕̘e sp͋ͪḛ̟͎̭ͨ̓͊ͭc͓̩̪̦̪̜̱͂̃̓ͮ͑ͦ̚i̮̱͚̙̘͈̭m̘̯̓ͦe͈̭̫n̊̉̽̈ͩs ͆̔f͈̟͉͔̮̀ͯ́̏̿o̝͍̖̫̦ͯͨ̽̋̈́r̫͒ ̇ͅȇͭ͂ͪxt̮̙̳ͥ͛̋e̜͈ͫͬrͯ̄ͩ̑ͤ͒m̹̖͎ͩ̈ͩi̽̑ň̈̎ͥ̽͋̒ḁ̮̜̘̖ṯ̳̞̾ͣ̉i̭̮̲ͦ͆̏̇ͅo̅̈̍n͆ͨ̈́̿̚.̝̋

Again her form blurs and Jane is in the driver's seat again, breathing deep. She turns to look at Hank curiously. "Who's Heather? Your daughter?"

[sociallychallenged]

Oh Jesus she is really stressed. And scared? He's taking a wild stab in the dark.

First, answer the question reasonably, even if he hackles internally. "No uh... she was a girl who lived in the building until a couple of months ago. Spunky but sweet. Came from a life on the run. She had a memory that got stuffed in my head. A cult burned a cop at the stake, they made her watch when she was little. About the same age my son was." He does admit that much. "The woman that died told her not to look as she was suffering and I just... I'm glad she doesn't have to relive that."

At least as an original. Right now, she might be able to handle it. She's programmed to be glad it happened.

"Sounds like everyone in there is pretty angry at the moment. I am too." They got themselves killed. And because of them, they're all a little closer to death.

[fuckregularpeople]

Stressed and scared are usually a safe gamble when it comes to Jane et al. She's taking control, though, doing her job. She's the primary, she keeps control of what's going on as much as she can.

So Heather was just a girl Hank took care of, a girl the same age as his son -- she nods, she can understand that. That was good of him to do, and she was glad this Heather had avoided seeing these sights.

"Everyone in here's about ready to explode," she admits. Then she pauses. "What was your son's name?"

[sociallychallenged]

Well, when she'd seen the disaster. A teenager here. A barista who, like the Hangman's Daughter, got stripped of her chance at normalcy. This place is fucking horrible to everyone.

"...Cole."

He says, quietly. "His name was Cole. And I live in fucking fear I'm gonna look out in one of these crowds and-" see his face. He swallows thickly. It's not just too much to say where they're being monitored, it's too much to feel.

"God I want some fucking whiskey. I hate these assholes. Hold on, I'm gonna go to my room and get a fucking bottle."

[fuckregularpeople]

Jane pauses, the other personalities held back at the moment. She looks up at him, frowning. "Fuck. Hank, I'm sorry."

She leans over, elbows resting on her knees. "Share some with me, will ya? This is bullshit."

[sociallychallenged]

"Yeah, no problem."

He leaves, and when he returns it's with a bottle of whiskey and an alert Doberman in tow, because everyone around her is acting off. He sits beside of her and doesn't even offer a glass. He just uncaps the bottle, takes a swig, and hands it off. Whiskey is self sterilizing, it's fine.

Maggie sits between them on the floor, staring at the screen before cocking her head.

[notspartacus]

Markus watched from the back wall, frown intense, arms crossed, calm but tense, ready for something to happen. He's not overly familiar with the organization the government is making an example of, but he knows these are not the actions of a civilized society. These are not the actions of a people who will listen to reason, who will respect requests of peace if they are implored, or who will stand down from non-violent demonstrations.

The Head wanted a war, and its servants would only respond to violence. It was their way. They would have to respond in kind.

"Then we don't wear masks." He moved toward the sofa, moving his hands to his sides. "But we have to do something. Have you been here long? What can you tell me?"

[sociallychallenged]

Something has been left out of conversation with Connor, and with Hank having avoided most of the Heart's attempts to gather people? He's been distracted.

But then there's fucking Markus, and he's torn from a visceral gut reaction to what he's seeing on the screen to an actually verbalized, "What the fuck?" that he can't keep from spilling out of his godforsaken mouth.

Right.

He shifts to look back at the TV. Winces hard, and attempts the clumsiest reach.

The room is bugged. Whole dorm is bugged. Be careful.

[notspartacus]

The communication takes Markus by surprise, but only momentarily. He parses the data, Hank's thoughts, slowly. They're strange, like old or unused code, and does his best to replicate the encoding process when he responds so as not to overload Hank's mind.

The Head wants a war. It knows what the people it's collected are capable of. It's expecting one. Our only hope for surprise is to make sure it doesn't know which direction it's coming from. And he adds after a pause, allowing Hank time to process what he'd said, Connor mentioned you. Hello, Detective. It's good to know we're on the same side.

[sociallychallenged]

Hank drums his fingers on the sheet, thinking.

I won't be a Detective any more for long. I couldn't stay in a job before that would do this to people. I can't now. I just gotta work out the right excuse. And he smears his hand down his face.

We'll lose any war. We have to reprogram the clones. Or worse, turn them off. I don't want to do that. But maybe we have to get to the head first. They can be turned off for a while without dying. It happened during the blackout.

That's right, isn't it? Even if the power went out, the clones survived. The ones that weren't shut down had aggression programming driving them. But, right, the Heart fucked over their chance to shut the power down.

The Head is scared. He killed them because they hurt him. We have the clone of their tech guy, though. He knows what they knew. We just have to take away the Head's influence.

[notspartacus]

Marcus shakes his head, taking a seat across from Hank and leaning forward, meeting the older man's eyes with his miss-matched parts.

We won't lose any war, Detective Anderson. Only the one in which we don't take his army first. He smirks before continuing. Like you said, the clones have to be reprogrammed. This isn't their fight, it's his. He's linked in to every network, television, and most buildings in the city, but he doesn't have hands if we take them. They deserve their freedom. If we make them see themselves for the puppets they are, they'll join us. I know it.

[sociallychallenged]

Wow, he forgot the eyes didn't match. Not until this moment. Hank's are pale blue and at the moment, angry and world-weary. He tries to hold on, though. Maybe it's being in the presence of someone that had managed to accomplish some impossible shit. That's what I hope. And the angle he's wanted.

When he's not using them, they live like people. They eat, drink, fall in love, get married. They tell shitty jokes. They tease you over your fucking crushes. They skin their knees on sidewalks.

They can have rich, full lives away from the Head. He's sure of it.

Head's not linked into Rick's Bar. The owner is a dog-thing. He knows what's a double and what's not. He keeps a safe space downstairs. Has a board with notes. I've been putting things there.

I think it's a little trickier than deviating. I think we gotta force a change. He'll kills people as bad with them as he did on TV. They rip people apart. That's what he has in mind for all of us already

[notspartacus]

Deviating is forcing a change, Detective Anderson. It's not a change you can see unless you're the one it's happening to, but it's very real, and it's not easy. I don't expect it to be.

He nods, though. It's not something we'll accomplish alone, and not everyone has the luxury of wireless connectivity. Do you trust Rick?

[sociallychallenged]

There are some people working on it. Techs. We also have psychics, and gods. Not kidding. Actual gods. But their range is limited. I need to know why he makes the limits.
They're very specific.

But he just nods to show, yeah. He can trust Rick.

"Do you want to meet my dog? She's also Connor's dog." It seems like a quaint thing to ask out loud in the presence of horrors, but it's relevant. She's also been able to tell for the most part, even if he can't always tell if her dislike is because someone's off-putting or something else. And his expression says it's for more than a casual introduction.

[mrsarcastic003]

Tim watches the broadcast--of course he does. He can't miss it any more than anyone else can. He wishes he could say that he's surprised by this outcome, but he isn't. Even if he'd been the type to trust government, Jason's 'reprogramming' would have destroyed any trace of it.

And he definitely didn't start off with any measure of trust.

He doesn't react outwardly as the broadcast finishes, but he watches the entire thing without turning away. He wants to really see what the Head is capable of with citizens that vex it. It's brutal. Horrifying. And while the Head might have intended it as a deterrent to future dissidents, the only thing it makes Tim want to be is more cautious.

He glances over at Hank. "Masks do tend to have the effect of drawing fire." He shakes his head a little. "Of course, when you're in a hypervigilant police state, they're not nearly as much protection as they might otherwise be."

[sociallychallenged]

"Hey there, kid. Hell of a show, right?" He scoots over to give Tim a little more room.

"So um..." He stalls, turns the TV up a little, and hopes to god that Tim can sort out what he's thinking without him having to get too specific.

"So I always thought that the fucking Heart was a bunch of showboating assholes. I figured it'd put everyone in danger. Especially when they didn't care who they were asking along. But uh... turns out the Head likes his own performances, huh? Wanted everyone out on the street to see 'em. Did the same for the 'Dualis Days' week.

"Everyone outside, at quick access. You'd think a thing that's spent its whole life studying viruses would know what happens in a crowd. Last time I saw a bunch of people-" androids "-together, they spread a big flaw just by touching."

And saying the words, 'Wake up'.

His eyes slide over to Tim. A big public event, and the Head would have someone outside. Send a virus with a liberating code through them fast enough? They just need enough people working on a virus... you know. After they get that fucking code.

[mrsarcastic003]

Hank's mention of viruses and crowds brings a vivid picture to mind of what might happen if the virus they'd used for the execution were released into the general public. It's not like Tim hasn't seen first hand how awful it can be when a plague spreads quickly through a population. But using the word 'flaw' to describe it interrupts that happy train of thoughts, and he turns toward Hank, a slightly quizzical expression on his face. 'Flaw' isn't a word people generally use to describe an illness or its symptoms. 'Flaws' are usually in design or... programming.

Hm.

Interesting.

He makes a noise of agreement. "You're right. Bugs do tend to travel fairly quickly in crowds. Lots of times people wouldn't even know they were infected until it was too late. Especially in the large crowds these theatrical types seem to favor. What a shame it would be, if something like that were to happen here. But I'm sure they've probably taken precautions."

The security is probably unreal. Not that that's a deterrent, but it would definitely be a challenge.

[sociallychallenged]

"Yeah, let's hope that he can keep keeping us safe. And not get distracted with his weak points."

Now, Hank is pretty sure he knows where they are. He's thought about it. He's just not figured it out yet. He needs help for that.

He takes the tablet he was writing on and flips to another page. In the corner he writes:

ZOO
PARK
HERE

And underlines 'here' a few times.

There's something under each of those, he's sure of it. He's guessed for a long time that the Head himself wouldn't be in the temple. He had to be somewhere else. The most suspicious points for that right now are those locations that never move. Especially the park, after what Arkady noticed.

Nothing he can talk about a few times.

He tears off that bit of paper and gives it to Tim. There's nothing too implicating in that.

[mrsarcastic003]

Tim nods and takes the slip of paper, glancing at it casually before folding it in half and tucking it into a pocket. "Well, I'm sure that with the Heart put down, it will all be sunshine and lollipops from now on. Isn't that what this whole public execution thing is for? To show us all how very safe we are?"

If they're lucky--not a guarantee--the Head might actually think they've all been sufficiently cowed by the display. Maybe they'll get a little breathing room. If they're careful.

[sociallychallenged]

"Yeah, he's keeping us pretty safe from these complete fucking morons."

Tragically dead ones, yes. All passed in horrifying ways. But he's still so angry that he put them at that kind of risk. That they called them out there, knowing that consequences could be them ripped apart. That things could be as bad as this, and never let any one of them make an informed decision.

They could have saved themselves. But at least now they've proven every warning that he's learned is true. The Head can control people. The Head still has the disease and can use it as a 'delete all' button. The Head can thoroughly bind their abilities.

[mrsarcastic003]

"Yes. I'm sure we're all very grateful."

He doesn't sounds grateful. He sounds a little sick, but at least the words are the right ones. He gives Hank a slight smile.

"Of course I'm glad that we're all safe, but I have to admit that the manner in which our safety was assured might be deemed 'overkill.'"

[sociallychallenged]

"Yeah... well, he just told us a lot with his overkill." Honestly if the Heart had just told them all this in the beginning, they might not have died to it.

"He's developed a way to accelerate the virus. I don't know how." He's not a medical expert, but that was WAY faster than the memories. "He can control people." Just like Hank had warned with the chips. He can and would use people's abilities against each other. "And people here can suppress abilities with the same tattoos that can grant them. So if someone needed turning off?"

They could do that without the head's interference. They could figure out how to do the tattoos and take them away.

"Isn't he pretty damn brilliant."