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[Assistant]
Pawn Takes King
Murder World, now:Anachronism and Cullen Bloodstone have tumbled into a river, closely followed by the Atlantean Nara who was blasted in after them by Death Locket. Nara shouts up, warning her that she will find her. Watching Nara, Anachronism can't help but smile but knows that Cullen will whack him about the head if he sees. He turns to Cullen who did indeed see. He asks him to stop as he looks like an idiot. "Can't help it," replies Aiden. Cullen doesn't even want to know why he is grinning, pointing out that alpha monkey and his women have left them for dead. Them and his psychopath fish-girl.
Nara shouts that she will rip off Death Locket's bargain bin robot arm and beat her bloody with it. Then she will flay the flesh from her skinny bones with her finger nails. She pauses mid-rant and asks if they can hear something. She bends down and touches the water with her fingertips. She then asks them to grab hold of something... right now. A moment later a flash flood hits them hard and Nara adds that holding onto something won't actually do much good. As they lose their footing due to the powerful waves, Aiden thinks about how nobody ever told him a lot about girls. His dad was so busted up after his mum left, his thoughts on the subject were mostly angry and confusing. He's spent a lot of his life playing the round-bellied ginger-boy who likes to listen. Girls told him their troubles and treated him like the harmless pup he was. But not Nara. She treated him like scum from the start. She made a game out of it and tried to break him. He used to hate her guts, but now... well, everything's different.
Nara, being an Atlantean, braves the water with ease and grabs both Aiden and Cullen, hauling them to the Surface. She grins as she asks them not to drown. Aiden asks his friend if he's all right. He replies that he isn't, and can he stop smiling for the love of *&%*! Aiden replies that she saved them. She could have let them die down there but she didn't. Cullen reckons there's something lodged in his brain. He says that later on, assuming they survive, he'd very much like to help him knock it loose. "Whatever you want mate," replies Aiden, but he's thinking about Nara and how she saved them... saved him. She cares! A little at least.
Braddock Academy, before Murder World:Aiden and Cullen are wandering around the school along with several other pupils. Aiden tells Cullen that people think he should be excited or something. That he should feel lucky to have his body and half his mind replaced by this psychotic warlord. Cullen replies that they are idiots and he knows that. All they see is a steroid super hero makeover. Nobody ever sees the rest. Aiden admits that he can't do it, not all the time anyway. A couple of times a month before that was okay, but if they're right and he's changed permanently then it's not fair! Why should he have to deal with his bloodlust and his urges? It takes a lot not to give in to those urges. He apologizes to Cullen for ranting. He knows he understands.
Nara walks past and tells him she's heard that he's stuck like that now, all beefed up for good. She thanks goodness for small favors. Aiden slams his fist into the lockers behind her and asks if she ever stops talking &*%^@. Nara smiles back at him and replies that sometimes she does. Does he wanna see how that works? Aiden leans in a little and tells her she smells good. Unfortunately, their little moment is interrupted by Kid Briton who punches Aiden and asks what he's even thinking about. He can't have him molesting the girls like that. Just because he's finally grown into his little kilt doesn't mean that Nara's suddenly interested in geeks. Cullen asks if there's a girl in the school that he hasn't marked. Maybe he could make them a list. Brian laughs. He asks what the point would be with all of them so far out of their league.
Quadrant 4, now:Reptil is still suffering from being burned and he asks Hazmat and X-23 to go on ahead. He can chill for a while until her gets enough strength back to transform. Jenny tells him that there's no way they are leaving him alone... ever. He replies that they'll never make it to those supplies first with him hobbling along behind them. Besides, he heals way faster as a dinosaur. Jenny repeats her refusal. She says it's not worth it. When he needs to rest, they will rest. Otherwise, they should go. She turns to leave, but as she steps forward, her foot presses down on a switch which makes a 'klik' sound. Reptil hears it and looks over, only to see Hazmat being engulfed in a ball of smoke. Both Reptil and X-23 cough and Hazmat asks them to talk to her. What the hell was that? X-23 recovers, snikts her claws and replies, "Trigger scent." Hazmat seems unaware what she means but Reptil orders her to run. She sees X-23 leap towards them and soon gets the message.
Reptil attempts to transform into a pterosaur. He manages to grow wings and then grabs Hazmat just as X-23's claws slash at her. He takes her into the sky leaving X-23 on her knees. Arcade contacts Laura and tells her it took them long enough. He's wanted so badly to see if the stuff works and if she would chop anyone up, even her BFFF's. He explains that his trigger scent is a little crunchier than the original recipe. It was a tricky business mixing it up. It took him two whole weeks, but hey. It looks like he nailed it!
Quadrant 1 & 2 border:Nico, Chase and Cammi are walking through the snow. Cammi points the way and Chase is eager to get the supplies. Cammi, however, is a little more cautious. Chase asks what she means. This is why they walked their happy *&%# all the way there through the snow! Nico asks him to calm down and asks Cammi if she thinks it might be booby-trapped or something. Cammi replies that she's nobody's boss. If they want the prize then go run and get it. She's just saying that some prizes aren't worth winning. They can take whatever they want from that. She'll be watching the show from nearby.
Elsewhere, Nara emerges from the river first with Aiden and Cullen trailing behind. She tells them that she doesn't care how far south they think they are, they are not tucking tail and heading in the opposite direction. Cullen replies that she's a daft sea cow who wants to swim upstream to play out her fishy revenge plot. He reckons she should do it. He and Aiden will be heading south to the nearest safe zone before Arcade has a chance to poke them with another rusty pin. Nara asks what they will do once they're there. Cower under a rock? Where do they think Death Locket will come once she's finished with Brian and Katy?Cullen tells her that her stupidity knows no bounds. Aiden tries to defend her, but Cullen asks if she really thinks Katy's pet bot is to blame for her being stuck with them? Does she believe that Katy and Kid Moron are right now locked in battle with this dastardly cyborg assassin? He decides to analyze the situation. He asks who invited Death Locket to join their group? Who has spent every waking moment since befriending the cute little murder machine? And who, he adds, does she think is manipulative enough to always get her way? Nara gets the message. She grimaces and says that Katy did this. Aiden tells her that sometimes it's hard seeing what's right in front of you. Nara replies fine. They will go south, but on the way she wants to talk about what happens next.
Meanwhile, Reptil passes out whilst carrying Hazmat and crash lands on a beach in safe zone 3. Kid Briton, Apex and Death Locket find the downed Sentinel, or part of it at least, as they head to safe zone 2. Aiden thinks about Nara wanting to talk about what happens next. It's a good question. What is next? Rescue, escape? Do they wake up and it's all been a dream? He thinks not. This thing is playing itself out. They try to put it out of their heads but it's a fact. Some people like Katy have been gaming since day one. Others are just now figuring it out but it's Murder World that is winning. It's separating them into killers and cannon fodder, just like Arcade said it would. What's next? he wonders. More of the same is his guess.
Nara asks Aiden why he thinks Kid Briton always beats him up. "Because he's an arse," replies Aiden. Nara believes otherwise. She reckons his powers are confidence-based so he's a bully because feeling big makes him big and bad. But, Aiden's not the chubby little weakling anymore. He snaps tree trunks in two with his bare hands. She thinks Brian's not coming at him because it's easy. She thinks Brian is threatened by him. He could give Brian a good go if he tried and Brian knows it. Aiden replies that he doesn't like to fight, but Nara tells him that's rubbish. She followed him to the football pub last month and saw him fight. He looked alive for once... knuckles dripping with blood and a grin from ear to ear.
Aiden tells her that it wasn't him. It was the other guy. He does what he can but sometimes he takes over like that. Nara asks him to stop it, then. There is no 'him' she explains. He's not the Incredible Hulk. He hasn't transformed into some unspeakable monster that needs to be hidden away. She holds his chin and adds that he's more aggressive now. So what? What's so terrible about that? Cullen interjects and asks her to leave Aiden alone. She hasn't any idea what he goes through. Nara replies that it's true enough, but she knows what he wants and knows that he'd already have it if he wasn't afraid to reach out and take it.
The trio are then suddenly teleported to where the medical supplies box is sitting. Aiden sees the other half of their group approach and warns Nara that this is a trap set up by Arcade. He’s set it up this way, but she doesn't have to bite. Nara replies that sometimes you do have to bite. She shouts over to Apex and tells the 'duplicitous cowardly skank' to keep on coming. Cullen quips that in a shocking turn of events, fishy girl is yelling again. He tells Aiden that it looks like they won. They should leave her to this nonsense and find out what's in the box.
Aiden is more interested in what's about to happen. Apex, believing that Nara was talking to Rebecca, tells Nara that nobody got hurt. Death Locket just acted in her own best interests. Nara points her finger at Katy and says she was talking to her. Katy is impressed and tells Nara that for once in her life she's managed to figure something out. Actually, she adds, she reckons Bloodstone spelt it out for her. Brian tries to intervene and cool things down, but Nara responds by smashing him in the face, pointing out that he can fly and didn't come down to get her back. Brian lies on the floor with his nose bleeding. "How did she... that actually hurt," he cries.Nara asks Katy if this is really how she wants it. For her to be an opponent? Katy replies by asking if she thinks she is threatening her. "Please," she adds. "You were barely even worth the double cross." She asks Nara not to let herself believe she's figured out her game. She's still much smarter than her. Katy turns to Death Locket and asks her to be a doll and blast Nara and Anachronism out of her way. Rebecca replies that she doesn't like this but Katy orders her to shut her mouth and just do it. Rebecca bows her head and powers up. "Good girl," says Katy. "And hit them a bit harder this time." Nara tells her to bring it.
As Death Locket fires, a small explosion hits Rebecca and knocks them all off their feet. Cullen approaches carrying a really big gun and smiles, explaining that there are guns in the box, and all sorts of cakes, too. Aiden rushes to Rebecca, informing Cullen that it's not her fault. He might have killed her with that thing. Cullen nonchalantly replies that if he wanted to kill her he would have. It's not like he doesn't know how to use a bazooka. Aiden asks Rebecca if she's okay. She sits up and coughs, asking what happened. "Katy sucks. You paid the price," replies Cullen. He asks her to sit there and keep blasty hand where they can see it.
Meanwhile, Nara takes out her frustrations on Katy, first with a mighty smack across the face and then with a knee to the torso. She tells her she should kill her now and be done with it. Watching, Kid Briton gasps, "No." Katy asks him to come and help her. He tells Nara that she's done enough. She can leave her alone now. Nara tells Katy that Brian can't help her. If he tries she will just knock him down again. Her little puppet boy is all weak and pathetic now that she's clipped his strings. "I'm not weak," replies Brian. Nara grins and tells him that he is.
Not to be belittled, Brian flies at her with his energy sword extended. He slashes at her and Katy, bleeding from the nose, eggs him on. "Yes!" she cries. "Cut her again!" Aiden and Cullen both turn as they see how serious this has become. "Nara?" says Aiden. Brian tells Nara to take it back. She tells him that taking it back won't make it any less true... "You weak little puppet." Brian sees red and asks her if she wants to see weak. "I'll show you who's weak!" As he prepares to attack Nara, Aiden rushes in and decapitates Brian with one swipe of his spear. Watching, Arcade raises a glass and smiles. "Game on."


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[Assistant]
Rock Bottom
An exclusive estate. Strobe light fills the air. Guests are arriving. What compels these jaunty cretins to attend his birthday party? Arcade wonders aloud. They eat his food, quaff his drink, do their dirty business down in his playrooms. But they didn’t come all this way for hors d’oeuvres and goodie bags, no. They come for the gossip. Super villains love talking &%$/! But as the host, he has to work the room, make the rounds. It’s his party and he always misses out on the juiciest juice. But this year, Miss Coriander, he tells his lovely assistant and laughs, this year they are wired for sound! He’ll hear everything.
The work done, the woman behind him grabs a machete and tries to cleave him. Arcade simply steps aside and the attack misses him. Was that okay? Miss Coriander asks nervously. Arcade assures her that was perfect. She remarks he pays her an awful lot and obviously she doesn’t have much of a conscience, but…Why would he want her to try and kill him on his birthday?
Nostalgia, he tells her. It reminds him of an old friend. Beautiful girl. Hated him something fierce! Doesn’t matter. He urges her to keep it up. The night is still young. Now crack that curtain for him, it’s showtime!
Amidst booming noise and flashing light, Arcade strides among his guests and asks if they are ready to party. Are they ready for that boom boom boom? Are they ready for the no holds barred, down and dirty illegal in all fifty states celebration of this, his 29th year on the planet?
Batroc mutters he knew Arcade was a fool… but good God. Grin and bear it, Taskmaster tells him. The crab cakes are choice! Constrictor can’t believe they talked him into this.
Arcade begins to stammer when he hears some of the vicious remarks about him and begins to realize that his fellow despise him. When he turns in one direction, he hears some of the villains moan not to make eye contact.
Thunderball incredulously asks the rest of the Wrecking Crew if they come to this every year. He’s been here ten minutes and already wants to smack this fool. The others tell him to wait till he gets a load of the geek’s basement.
Taskmaster applauds the tiny quiches, while Constrictor muses whether it wouldn’t be almost as much fun set the place on fire. Batroc agrees laughing. Constrictor suggests they could roast the dweeb on a spit.
Arcade has had enough and smashes a bottle against Constrictor’s head. He immediately hits back, snarling he was joking. But now that he has an excuse, he wants to give him his present. Before he can attack, robot guards put him in a stasis sphere and take him out.
Arcade apologizes about the little kerfuffle, but thanks to the bugs hears the villains bitching about him not even having any superpowers, just a big ol’ trust fund in a bow tie.
He follows the sound of laughter and finds more villains in a home cinema, laughing about a film showing Captain America dressed as Santa, giving chase to Arcade with a candy cane . One of the villains laughs all the videos are like this. He gets punked over and over! Another agrees. He doesn’t think he’s beaten anyone.
Arcade interrupts that the value of a great game is not in the winning. It’s the playing! The journey! No disrespect, the second villain claims. They all get popped in the mouth by supes now and then. It’s just funny to watch, the first agrees.
Morons! Arcade mutters, as he leaves, missing the entire point. He hears them calling him a weird little dude. Hah, Murder World. S’like nobody ever taught him the definition of murder.
On the stairs, Arcade angrily swears that they don’t respect him. Holding a flame thrower, Miss Coriander is waiting for him upstairs and fires at an unprepared Arcade. Happy Birthday!
Days later in a hospital room:Arcade tells Miss Coriander not to apologize. It was his idea. She is still regretful. She didn’t want to hurt him. She asked him why before. He told her about his old friend, Miss Locke. She used to try to kill him on her birthday. But that was his idea too. He’s a crazy person. He obsesses over things. He’s obsessed with death and birthdays. Probably because he murdered his father on the day of his 21st. He called Arcade worthless. He was. His father said he didn’t deserve his inheritance. He didn’t. He knew he was right so he killed him and took everything away. He cheated. Maybe he asks the girls to kill him, so they can settle that score for his dad. Even things up. But he’ll never let that happen. He’s a coward and a cheat.
No way! Miss Coriander protests. He’s a bad man, sure. Evil even. But he plays fair. That’s totally the thing. He’s always fair.
Was it fair when he killed Miss Locke? he asks and remembers. The one time she came a little too close. Normally, he’d have off’ed Miss Coriander for the flamethrower. For doing exactly what he asked. He’s spent his whole adult life playing games. He talks about raising the stakes. About the purity of competition. Or gamesmanship. What a joke! He’s the sorest loser she’ll meet. Faced with the humiliation of losing, he either cheats or tries to justify it away with some nonsense like “winning isn’t the point.” Winning is everything. And fair? His games aren’t fair. Murder World isn’t fair. It’s always rigged in his favor. Every time! He’s just a chump. A big-mouthed ineffectual clown, routinely beaten with his own stacked deck. A superhero assassin who couldn’t kill a sidekick!
He wants to kill a sidekick? she asks and hands him another birthday present since the first one didn’t turn out so hot. It’s the one about the kids on the island. And it’s a first edition. She remembers him saying how much he liked reading that one when he was locked up.
She’s fired, he tells her. It’s not the book. He loves the book. He’s just done. No more Murder World. No more beautiful assistants. She’ll be fine. Take his island near Barbados as severance. Take the green helicopter, too. But what about him? she asks.
Central Bagalia, The Hole, Arcade’s bar, little more than a closed trash heap where he sits at the counter drinking, when Constrictor comes breaking in. Arcade doesn’t care about being robbed and tells him to help himself.
Angrily, Constrictor begins to strangle him, telling him he doesn’t get to be a smug little worm tonight. No disrespect tonight! Coughing, Arcade tells him he gets it. The party. He humiliated Constrictor.
Constrictor beats him down. He thinks he could humiliate him?! he shouts. He’s taking what is his, because he can. Because he wants to. And they both know Arcade couldn’t stop him if he tried. Aracde agrees. Do whatever he wants to.
Hitting him again, Constrictor asks if it sounds like he is asking permission! He could snap his pencil neck right now. Who would care? Arcade agrees. Constrictor kicks him, asking why he is so pathetic. It’s not even fun! Just show him where he is hiding Constrictor’s new money, so he can leave.
Arcade moans there’s a safe in the… downstairs, he corrects himself. Downstairs in the cellar. He shows him the trap door with the hidden switch. He really sucked all the fun out of this, Constrictor tells him. Sometimes fun will sneak up on you when you are not even looking, Arcade replies.
Constrictor presses the button and is smashed by a giant hammer Amused, Arcade remarks he didn’t even remember the old hammer was there… until now. He was in a dark place that night. The darkest. But Constrictor just knew how to show him the light. He laughs. If he weren’t all gooey and dying, he’d give him a big old hug.
Coriander Island (formerly Murder Island):Still not quite healed, Arcade visits Miss Coriander, who is lazing at the beach, remarking paradise agrees with her. She looks stunning. What happened to him? she exclaims. Rock bottom happened. He grins. Ain’t it grand? She thanks him for the island while raffling through her bag and she gets out a big gun. She warns him to back off a bit so she doesn’t have to kill him. No offense. None taken, Arcade laughs. Good call, actually, but he didn’t come here to kill her. He was reading the books she gave him and had a new idea, Thought maybe he could convince an old friend to make it happen….
Months later, Antarctica:Arcade shows her the new base. She gets to work.
What does he think? Miss Coriander asks the floating Arcade some time later. Love! he exclaims and asks how she did this. The hardest part was syncing up the security systems he designed. Took a minute, but as of yesterday they are online and totally untraceable. Not that. This! he demands. He gestures and a water fountain goes up. Well, he said he wanted super powers this time, so she got out cybernetics, magic stuff, gamma radiation, even got a line on some black market Stark tech. But then she got to thinking. He doesn’t care about power. Not like that. Murder World’s never been about beating up on super heroes. It’s about manipulations. Tricking people into playing his game. Turning him into Iron Man won’t help with that. Instead, she gave him more control. The place is built to his specs. It’s a mix of different things. Hard light projection, force fields, nanite-rich oxygen. The trick is it all runs directly though him. His suit. He has control of the environment and everything in it. So long as the battery is charged up, he could give Thor a run for his money. Down here he’s the superest of all super villains. But up top, he is still himself.
She’s really outdone herself, he admits. Hell, she’s outdone him. They did it together, she insists. He didn’t see it before, Arcade continues. How he let her all the way in. How he showed her the real him. He’s sorry, he announces and blasts energy at her.
It turns out she knows him a little too well. The attack has no effect. Yeah, she probably does. The computer is already searching available systems for his kids. She even rigged a secure teleporter setup to snatch them whenever he is ready. It’s a great idea. Sick and twisted in all the best ways. Gonna be a real gut punch to the supes. He might even win this time. But don’t fool himself. She is still out of his league. She teleports away. Good game, Arcade admits.


[User]
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[Assistant]
Game On – part 1 of 5
Murder World, Quadrant Two, a desert landscape:X-23 stares into the desert, musing that the first thing her brain does when she steps into a new room is calculate the most efficient way to murder everyone there. It’s an involuntary response. Like squinting your eyes in the bright sun. Their first day here, while Arcade was demonstrating the rules of his game, her subconscious mind was picking people off. She had the field narrowed down to five serious threats before he released them. How much of Hazmat’s radiation would it take to kill Darkhawk? Can a broken magical staff be forced through the soft palate of a teenage Captain Britain?
It never stops. She walks downwards finding scattered remains of a Sentinel. Her brain doesn’t care that she’s vowed never again to be used as a weapon. Or that some of these people are her friends.
She walks towards the Sentinel head, figuring that based on the angle of the wreckage they dropped out of the sky here. Bounced twice and rolled that way. Maximum velocity. They hit so hard. The free fall did all this to a Sentinel. How could Juston have survived it? Even if he did, all alone in the desert, how many days? No food, no water, no healing factor like her. That’s why they didn’t come earlier. The real reason. They knew he was already—
Stop it! Laura orders herself. She had to come and know for sure. They are heroes in training at Avengers Academy. They don’t leave teammates behind. She sniffs. Something smells wrong. She follows the smell downward under part of the Sentinel head where there is a crater. She figures it smells like peanut butter. She calls Juston’s name and is blasted against the wall by part of the Sentinel. A wrench falls down and she catches it, shouting if he is down here.
Oh hey, Juston greets her, crouching in part of the Sentinel’s head. Sorry about the booby trap. He just set it to motion detection blast so he can work. She can heal, X-23 shrugs. She is surprised he is alive and okay. He agrees about being alive. Not so sure about the ‘okay’ part. His best friend got his body ripped apart making sure he fell in a way that saved Juston’s life. After which his flesh and blood friends forgot he existed and left him alone in the desert for almost a week. He’s still trapped here in this super hero death match even though his robot’s dead and he doesn’t have any other powers. Oh, and odds are he’s paralyzed from the waist down. Peanut butter energy bar? he offers.
Quadrant two:Anachronism stares at the body of Kid Briton, whom he just killed. Angrily, Nara asks how they just let Katy and Death Locket run off. Cullen Bloodstone, who’s busy sewing up her back injury, reminds her that Aiden is catatonic after cutting off Brian’s head. Nara was preoccupied bleeding all over herself. And he, well, he didn’t care that much.
Nara winces and asks if he really knows what he is doing or is it just a cheap thrill poking at her cut? A Bloodstone who can’t field dress a wound isn’t likely to make it out of diapers, Cullen informs her. But he’d be more than happy to let her sew this scaly mess shut herself, if she can’t stop squirming.
Aidan speaks, announcing he didn’t mean to kill him. Didn’t even know he could. What will they do with him now? He’s already done the last thing that’ll ever need doing, Cullen reminds him. Aiden means they have to bury him or something. They can’t just leave him to rot in the sun. Nara interrupts his babbling. This wasn’t done in cold blood. He didn’t kill that git for sport. Kid Briton would have torn her to pieces if Aidan hadn’t stepped up. She opens her water helmet and tells Aidan he is a warrior. He finally embraced who he is and what this place is all about. A warrior never has to apologize for protecting what’s his. She kisses him. Cullen glares sullenly.
Some distance away, Runaways Chase and Nico and their new ally Cammi watch this scene. Weird, Cammi muses. They are standing over a headless corpse making out. And what’s even weirder is the little one is coming here.
Cammi aims her gun at Cullen (who is holding a bigger weapon). Cammi tells him to state his business. Cullen explains that one of them cut another’s head off over there. He’s sure they saw. Good guys won, and all that. But they did know the bloke. Doesn’t feel right leaving him out in the sun. Bit smelly, if nothing else. Loads of food in the cache they won. They’ll split it with them if they’ll help them put him in the ground.
Quadrant one:Apex runs like crazy through the snow, followed by Death Locket, who demands an explanation. Go away! Katy shouts at her. Just leave her alone! What happened before? Death Locket shouts. Brian’s dead. Cullen and those others said Katy was controlling her Deathlok stuff. That she tried her to get to kill Nara. She doesn’t understand any of this. Of course not. No one understands! Apex cries as she lands face first in the snow.
When she doesn’t move anymore, Death Locket runs to her side asking what’s wrong. Katy gets up but in her place there is a young man who looks a lot like her. Nothing’s wrong, love, he tells her. But he’s not Katy. His name is Tim.
Elsewhere, X-23 helps Juston fix the Sentinel. He explains they are looking for the primary power coupling which is just behind the left eye. Let him know when she’s got his face off and he’ll walk her through it. Okay, she agrees and gets to work.
In the desert, the kids have buried Kid Briton, his sword marking the burial site. Were they close? Nico asks Nara who reminds her that he tried to kill her earlier. Nico points out she’s been over there for a while. Relationships can be pretty complicated. She had a guy once who—
Nara tells her to stop. They are not bonding over lost love. That down there is a coward who decided to mess with her and got what he deserved!
He doesn’t like sports? Chase asks Aiden. Never really cared for chasing after a ball, is the reply Chase can’t believe it. How is he not a football god? He’s Scottish for one, comes the reply. Their football has different rules. He walks after Nara.
Cullen glares sullenly. Okay, she has to ask. He’s got that loner stink on him, same as her, Cammi remarks. He is a survivor. Cold blooded. Why invite three more mouths to share the food? Like he said… Cullen shrugs. Needed the help. Cammi points out he didn’t care enough about the kid in the ground. Cullen tells her she has no idea what he cares about.Who is it? Cammi asks. Axe Bro or Big Blue? When he is surprised she figures it’s Axe Bro - Good luck with that. She tells him to remember the only way out of here is all alone and straight through everyone else. The more attached you get—
What makes her think she can psychoanalyze a complete bloody stranger in all of12 seconds? Cullen demands. She spent three months running a high stakes con on a Badoon spice outpost. Once you’ve learned to read the inner eyelid twitches of homicidal lizard men, human facial expressions are about a subtle as jumbotron. She tells him not to worry. She won’t mention his other secret. The big ugly one he’s got cooped up behind his eyes. That’s just none of her business.
Stand back! Juston tells Laura as he gets the headless Sentinel to at least stand up and jump. He rides atop it. Laura joins him.
So she can’t go anywhere Reptile and Hazmat are right now? he asks. Not until the Trigger Scent wears off, she explains. She’d tear them apart. Her programming takes over. She makes the kill and wakes up covered in it.
Arcade really knows what he’s doing, Juston muses. He snatched her teammates away and switched her from tortured pacifist back into power player all in one fell swoop. He’s got everyone playing his game, just like he said.
Where are they going? she asks. He has one thing to do, he tells her. He isn’t the odds-on favorite like she. He’s got one thing keeps him going. He follows his scanner. After that whatever, the thing can run its course.
Ridiculously cold, Tim Bashir stammers as he and Death Locket enter a crater. Death Locket reminds him that he wandered off into the snow. He really didn’t, Tim retorts, Death Locket sees the Sentinel closing in, then it jumps. X-23 falls off.
Hearing the noise of the Sentinel’s weapons being fired alerts Nico, Chase, Cullen and Cammi. Tim and Death Locket run towards them. Death Locket screams for help. Too late, Juston shout and has the Sentinel fire at them again. Now it’s time to pay!
Nico manifests the Staff of One. On the Rocks! she orders and ice surrounds the Sentinel. Stay out of this, Juston orders and fires at her. Nico stumbles.
This causes an angry Chase to reveal that he is now Darkhawk, surprising Nico and Cammi as he flies upward to attack Juston.
Standing some distance away, X-23 muses she can see three different ways to kill everyone here. The fastest way would be pretty bloody and she might lose an arm. The cleanest way would mean waiting until they are all asleep. But at this point the easiest way to kill everyone would be to just keep out of their way.


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[Assistant]
Game On – part 2
Murder World, Quadrant 2:Juston’s Sentinel is fighting the new Darkhawk Chase.
Tim Bashir glumly thinks to himself that the whole mess is his fault. Well, Katy’s fault but what’s the bloody difference? When they were kids, the psychologists used to call him a “peacemaker” or, worse, “people pleaser.” They were convinced he has an irrational fear of confrontation. Of course he did. Have they met his sister? This mess here… vintage Katy. She thrives on conflict. She builds the bomb, lights the fuse and rides the wave of destruction all the way to a just for Katy happy ending. Usually an ending only she could have predicted. He’s spent half his life trying to put out his sister’s fires without letting on who set them.
Nico and Cammi try to calm Chase (and would like to know where he got the Darkhawk powers) while X-23 asks Juston to stop and think. This isn’t even the fight he wants. Juston orders her out of his way.
Death Locket fearfully begins to asks Tim if he can… Right, he realizes. He recalls that his reward was six years trapped in Katy’s head, watching helplessly as she scorched the Earth. He flies up and uses the technopathy power he shares with his sister Apex to shut down both Darkhawk and the Sentinel.
No, get up! Juston calls in despair. Tim falls down exhausted and Death Locket notes her cyborg half is shut down too. That was interesting, Cammi comments.
Lying next to his fallen Sentinel, Juston Seyfried demands somebody needs to go over and put a hole through that small British girl for him. What girl? Chase, the only one in earshot, asks. The girl who looked him in the eye and smiled, right before she smashed his best friend to pieces! Juston snarls. And shattered his spine! The same girl who just switched off every machine they got, including a Darkhawk, a Sentinel and a Deathlok. Chase points out that’s a dude.
Tim helps up Death Locket, telling her it’s nothing permanent, while Juston tells Chase to kill it before it kills them. Death Locket tells them they have it wrong. Katy’s the killer. This is her brother Tim. He’s a good person. Bullocks, Nara scoffs. She’s known Katy for two years. She doesn’t have any brother. Even if she did, how would one of them show up here? Anachronism adds. Nara announces he’s a figment of someone’s imagination. Arcade or Katy’s trick. Let’s split him open and find out which. X-23 gets between them, unsheathes her claws and warns Nara to back off.
Nico tells Cammi they should— Cammi interrupts her, remarking Electro kid EMPed her blaster.
Tim asks them no to fight on his account. Maybe killing him makes the most sense. Can he have a chance to explain himself first? They can tie him up, whatever. He’d just like a chance…
One hour later, evening:They sit around a fire and Tim tells his story. He and Katy are twins but not like a normal set. They’ve seen they are technopaths. They can control and manipulate machines but that’s not the odd part. They also share a body - female when Katy has it, male when he does. Until two years ago, they took turns at being. They’d switch back and forth every 24 hours.
Where do they go when they aren’t? Aidan asks. They don’t really go anywhere, Tim replies. You’re still in there watching, just not in control. Their parents paid Britain’s finest geneticists to build them superhuman babies. Instead they got them. Took their parents two years to realize they had separate personalities. They aren’t bad people, just ill-prepared for imperfection. So they kept them a secret. They were homeschooled by rotating tutors. They rarely got to leave the house and when they did they learned to give excuses for the other sibling’s absence.
Tim’s narration:Tim didn’t mind the seclusion so much but Katy hated being hidden away. She resented their parents’ shame. She really wanted a normal life like the one they saw on telly. And Katy isn’t quick to give up on what she wants. Tim watched through shared eyes as his sister terrorized the house staff, blew up their mother’s appliances and screamed curses at dad. Hating Tim for never doing the same.
Present:Nara shouts they went to school with Katy. They’d have noticed her turning into Tim. Death Locket orders her to shut up and let him talk.
Narration:One day, Katy stopped all her tantrums and explosions. It was as though she gave up on a normal life. Spent most of her time studying and practicing her power. They all thought Katy had gotten better.
A few months later, their father took Tim out for a dentist appointment. The last thing he remembers was playing the game where you try to hold your breath all across the bridge. He didn’t make it across. Katy caused the car accident. She spent all the tantrum-free time planning and practicing. Teaching herself how to suppress Tim. She told their parents that the crash must have ended him.
Present:Katy killed him? Cammi asks. More or less, Tim agrees.
Narration:Their parents finally got a normal child. Katy got a real life. Super hero boarding school. And he got to watch his own funeral through his sister’s crocodile tears.
Present:The others are clearly shocked and Death Locket hugs Tim.
Tim describes how he watched the night Katy nearly killed Juston, trying to steal his Sentinel. But he couldn’t stop it. Couldn’t call out a warning. He watched every time Katy puppeted Death Locket about and used her as a gun. But there was no helping her. He was powerless. Stuck. Lost. Until when they beat Katy at her own game. His sister had never felt quite so thoroughly beaten before that. She lost control and he regained some. He thanks them for that.
Later, the kids (without Tim and Death Locket) discuss matters. Juston points out, even if they believe Tim, how do they know he won’t switch back the second he falls asleep? The only thing crazier than letting him go is keeping him here.
Cullen points out they can’t let him go. Cammi remarks the smart way to deal with this is obvious, but she means…
Chase doesn’t like to be that guy but there’s only one way, right? Good dude or not— What’s wrong with him? Nico snaps. They are not killing him in cold blood because they are afraid if his sister! He’s a person! And he’s done nothing to them except trying to keep them from beating each other to death! X-23 agrees.
Cullen suggests a vote. Raise their hand if they think they should kill Tim. Juston, Nara and Chase raise their hands. He stays, Cullen announces.
Have they lost their minds? Chase shouts. This dude is like a timebomb sitting over there! He doesn’t care how cool he seems or how sad the story is. Big sis comes back and game over!
Where do they draw the line? Cammi asks. Strategically, he is spot on, but if they do this because it’s the smart play, what’s the difference between Katy and them?
This thing is on! Chase shouts. They’ve been trying really hard not to stoop to Arcade’s level, but people keep dying all the same. He doesn’t wanna kill anybody but it’s time to accept what’s up. Offense is the best defense! He turns into Darkhawk. If they can’t, he’ll be the bad guy.
Nico casts a spell. Get out!. Does he think this isn’t hard enough already? she screams. Does he think they need the dumbest person in the whole group taking matters into his own hands? They can’t trust him! They can’t count on him! They don’t need his protection. So take his impulsive hothead crap and his secret Darkhawk and go!
Cullen and Cammi decide they need 24 surveillance on Tim. Someone with biological powers. X-23 offers to take first watch but Nico wants it.
Some distance away, Tim is tied to a rock, though he has some freedom of movement. He is trying to teach Death Locket to use her cybernetics more effectively. Tim tells her to close her eyes and picture her left arm as a laser cannon. Don’t try to make it into a cannon. Just imagine that’s what it is. Now fire the cannon. It works, and Becky hugs him. The two of them are about to kiss when Nico announces that she drew first watch. Flustered, the two of them apologize. Nico tells them to go ahead. Just a couple more minutes though, okay? She walks some distance away and turns around to give them privacy.
That was mortifying, Death Locket remarks and suggests they try this again. She just lifts her arm and… then what? “Then you switch off your brain, love,” comes the voice of Katy, who then orders her to untie her.
Sometime later, Juston, lying a bit away from the others, wakes up to see Death Locket standing above him. What does she want? he asks. “She wants what I want,” Katy announces as she grabs him and snaps his neck.
Nico lies unconscious and Katy flies off with the Sentinel and Death Locket.
Tim wonders if he is his sister’s keeper. Is he responsible for the evil she does? And he finds he is. He knew how this would turn out. He’s always known. There’s only one way to stop his sister. But he’s too selfish. Too cowardly to say the words. All of these people will suffer, so he can live. Trapped behind the eyes of a monster.


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[Assistant]
Game On – part 3
Present:A horribly wounded Nico, her right leg broken, crawls though the snow, telling herself she isn’t dead yet. Dying, true, but not dead. She’s read a lot about this. If this were the end, she wouldn’t be able to feel the broken bone that’s sticking out of her right leg. Her fingers wouldn’t be throbbing like this. The snow wouldn’t be so cold it hurt. When people are about to go a calm settles over them. She is not calm. She’s pissed off! She’s pissed at Chase. At Arcade. At herself. But most of all she’s pissed at the Staff of One for being way the %&§$ over there!
She lies down exhausted. This isn’t dying. Everything will be okay. She can make it. She can survive this. She has magic powers!
She lies there bleeding, her left arm cut off at the wrist.
Quadrant 2, 12 hours ago:Nico woke up in a panic after Apex took her out. Now Katy is gone with Juston and Death Locket. She tries to wake the meditating X-23, who almost attacks her in instinctive response. Did she see it happen? Laura asks. Nico explains that Katy knocked her out. She woke up a few minutes ago, bloody and with a headache. If Katy’s back in control, she’s been outed. No reason to hide. This is as bad as it gets, right? Now she has a Deathlok, a Sentinel and Juston as hostage.
X-23 sniffs. Juston is not a hostage, she announces. He’s dead. She orders Nico to stay. She will try and get them back.
Cullen is the first of the others to wake up, asking how things went.
Katy has set down the Sentinel in snowy quadrant 1, complaining what he’s done to this beautiful machine. She blames herself for trying to nick it before it was ready. Smashed it all up.
Death Locket asks what she is planning. Planning to win, is the curt reply. Death Locket begs to be let go. She doesn’t like not being unable to move. Well, she doesn’t much like Tim using her body for a bump-and-rub snog session with a cyborg, Katy bitches. She doesn’t like raisins or beets or iceberg lettuce. And she absolutely hates it when all her secrets get broadcast to the other players in the middle of a bloody death match. Life is just full of ‘don’t likes’, isn’t it? She recommends Rebecca be happy she left her brain turned on this time.
So she’s just gonna kill everybody here? Death Locket asks. Use that Sentinel and her like guns? She asks Katy not to be a monster. She’s being realistic, Katy snaps. Far as she can tell, she’s the only one who is. Back home she does friendly better than anyone. She catches all the flies with honey and they love her for it. But this is a simpler game than that one. In a death match, all you have to do is survive.
She has the Sentinel throw Juston’s corpse away. Given the choice, she’ll take killing over dying, she remarks. Maybe that does make her a monster, but she’ll be the monster going home.
He knew it, Chase whispers, watching from the shadows. Psycho sister takes back over and now everyone’s hosed! He turns into Darkhawk and gets ready to attack. X-23 runs past him and orders him to stay put.
X-23 attacks Katy but isn’t fast enough. Apex uses the Sentinel to hold Laura down and then it stomps on her. Holy *&%$! Chase exclaims, so loud that Katy hears him.
Elsewhere, Cammi orders the group to shut up and announces this is Nico’s call. When Nara protests, she explains that none of them has any power set that can stack up well against a strategy-obsessed technopath with a couple different sizes of kill bots and two itchy trigger fingers. They are outgunned. They are outclassed. And yesterday they booted a cosmic level ally out of the camp for making what now seems like a very reasonable suggestion. The only real firepower they’ve got left belongs to their resident cosplayer of the dark arts. It’s Nico’s call because it’s gonna be Nico’s fight.
Right, Nico mumbles. She gets ready to say something when X-23 lands amongst them. A moment later, Apex, Death Locket and the Sentinel hang in the air above them.
The others try to take cover behind the safe with the food. Cullen finds Laura is barely alive.
Solar flare is Nico’s spell, followed by quicksand.
Cullen remarks they might last another five or six minutes, if they are lucky.
Nico casts Giant-Killer  and vines trap the Sentinel and Death Locket. Nico orders the others to run. They flee into the snow sector to get cover behind the trees. Cammi tells Nico they can’t outrun them. So if she has some kind of GTFO hoodoo, now’s the time to use it.
Nico tells her teleportation spells don’t work here. She’s tried. They find themselves trapped next to a ravine. Cool story, try again! Cammi suggests.
Nico complies: Safe House! She opens a doorway above the ravine which will take them to somewhere else within Murderworld. She figures previous spells didn’t work because she was trying to leave Murderworld. Cammi is the last to jump in.
Before Nico can follow, a blast sends her to the ground. Nico closes the doorway. That was a brave thing and a noble sacrifice, Katy commends her. Betrays a fundamental misunderstanding of strategy, but at least she gets to go out feeling good about herself.
That moment, Darkhawk closes in and lands. Relieved, Nico babbles this is the worst time for an apology because there’s this awful British %&$&* behind him who’s about to try and kill them but she’s so sorry she sent him away! Really, he was right and she’s just--
Darkhawk blasts her arm which is holding the Staff of One, cutting off her hand at the wrist. The hand and staff fall down the ravine. Guess she’s met her new toy, Apex gloats. Alien tech is quite a bit harder to operate. She wasn’t sure if she’d be able to control him or not. But, as always, practice makes perfect. Darkhawk kicks Nico down the ravine.
Present:Nico slowly, painfully crawls towards the staff, leaving a trail of blood. People like to tell you everyone dies alone. She always thought that was a poetic way of saying mortality is inevitable or death is scary. But she’s calm now. She can’t feel anything but the cold. This is the end. And right now it’s not the dying that keeps her dragging herself through the snow. It’s the alone.
She grabs the Staff of One and moans help, then sinks down, dead.


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[Assistant]
Game On – part 4
Quadrant 3:Humberto Lopez aka Reptil swims for his life, wondering what good his powers have ever been to him. They didn’t help him find his missing parents. They couldn’t make his girl love him back. Right this second, he’s being hunted. Great white sharks have him cornered and he turns into his dinosaur self, tearing one of them apart. They aren’t his nightmare. His nightmare is that he has only one friend left. She’s hurt bad and needs his help. And he has no idea how to save her.
Said friend, Jennifer Takeda aka Hazmat, is tanning on the beach without her containment suit. He calls her. She warns him to stay over there. Don’t think she hasn’t noticed him creeping closer every day. She knows he’s compelled to sneak a peek at her baking in her booty shorts. She puts on the containment suit.
Reptil denies he was peeking. No judgment, she tells him. His dino hormones want what they want. But he has to face facts. This girl is poison. What are they eating?
Humberto insists he wasn’t peeping. Yes, he was, she shoots back. It’s flattering and it’s fine and it’s normal. Now, what’s for lunch? He shows her the frying shark. Shark steak party! she shouts and begins to dance while singing Oontza oontza oontz. She stops. What is he doing right now? Nothing. What is he supposed to be doing? Reptil joins her dance.
Later they eat. She’d have to string together at least four filthy words to properly describe how amazing this tastes, Hazmat states. His trick is weeks of starvation, Reptil jokes. Seriously lowers the bar. While poking at a coconut, he remarks he got scrappy with some sharks today and swam away with lunch. The plan was to stay here until his burns healed up. They did. He’s all better. Doesn’t she think it’s about time they figure out a new plan? Sure, she replies, new plan: she’s gonna drink some coconut water and take a nap in the shade. After that, maybe a swim.
How much longer are they going to keep pretending, he begins. Pretending like what? she asks sharply. Look around. They have a beach and a sun and an ocean to swim in. Meanwhile, nobody has tried to kill them in over a week.
This can’t last! Humberto insists. She remembers where she is, Jennifer snaps. She’s a smart girl. She’s figured out the ending. Which is exactly why she doesn’t need him trying to make her feel bad about enjoying this. Right here. Right now! This is as good as it gets for them! Stop trying to talk to her about what happens next! She doesn’t care! She walks away adding, God knows blood and death will rain out of the sky any minute, whether they talk about it or not.
A booming noise and Cammi, Anachronism, Cullen Bloodstone, X-23 and Nara come falling out of the sky and they land in the sand. Reptile gets nervous. Cammi assures him they come in peace. That mousy British girl leveled up in a big way, stole all the robots and very nearly put them all out of their misery. Nico held her off and Hogwarted them out. She should have followed right behind them.
They were fighting together? Humberto asks. Cammi points out trust comes a lot easier when a Sentinel tries to stomp on your head.
X-23 wakes up and sniffs. Reptil and Hazmat prepare for the worst but Laura tells them the trigger scent wore off. Happily, Hazmat announces all that matters is she is not being uncoolly homicidal to them anymore and hugs Laura.
Sounds like they have been through hell, Reptil tells the others and Hazmat suggests they could use a palm tree nap followed by a swim. Turns out those are the next two things on their agenda. And they’ve got shark and coconuts.
Nara grabs Aiden’s arm to follow he. Cullen asks if he is the only one who finds the girl’s chipperness disconcerting. Reptil agrees. What’s wrong with Hazmat? Laura asks.
Reptil’s narration:Reptil explains he was jacked up pretty good when they got trigger-scented. Too hurt to transform but he couldn’t let Hazmat and X-23 kill each other, so he did it anyway. He flew Hazmat away. He found a safe place and passed out.
Hazmat sat with him for 13 days- he was burning up and unconscious for most of it but every time he woke up she was there. At first she’d scream at him for being weak. Then, after a few days, she got really quiet. She’d just hold his hand and stare off into space like she was waiting for something.
When he finally woke up for real, she had let go of his hand. He found her chilling on the beach, eating a coconut, She lazily greeted him and asked if he felt like a swim.End of narration
Reptil thinks she waited for something terrible to happen and after a while she couldn’t handle it anymore, so she just gave up. Happy all the time. Won’t do anything but dance and lie out in the sun. She refuses to talk about Murderworld or Arcade or anything real. But she isn’t even mean or sarcastic when she tells him to shut up. She just smiles at him and says she doesn’t care.
Cullen tells him to stop talking and asks Laura if he is dim. Because he thinks he just told them a story in which that silly girl started acting daft and as a result the two of them have been playing sandiest arse here at the beach. That’s a tale only told by a true idiot.
What’s his problem? Reptil snaps. He’s worried about their friend! Well, his friend had to cut off another bloke’s head to keep his girlfriend ticking, Cullen snaps back.
Cammi gets between them and explains they spent the last two weeks trying to keep each other alive. It didn’t go so well. They could have used a dinosaur and Daisy Duke Nuke’ em in the fight. The fight one of them might not have survived. So they hear his story and wonder who might still be alive if he were a different kind of friend.
Reptil stammers they didn’t know… how could they have known… It’s bloody Murderworld out there, Cullen spits. How could they not know?
Reptil explains Hazmat lost everything. He couldn’t leave her alone. What was he supposed to do?
Grab her by the shoulders and shake her! Cammi replies. Look her in the eye and remind her that it’s day 25 of this 30-day nightmare. And that what they are doing here isn’t just crazy and suicidal. It’s cowardly!
Hazmat interrupts, announcing they brought some shark on a stick. She tells Cammi maybe she is a coward. Or crazy. Or both. All she knows is she’s never getting out of here. She’s accepted that. Life sucks and then you die, right? Arcade can have her life, but he doesn’t get anything else. She’s over fighting for his amusement. So they can hate her all they want, but this coward is spending what’s left of her crap life doing beachy things and pretending to be normal! She walks off. Reptil follows.
Cammi passes the shark sticks on. She tells the others she knows they just got their asses handed to them but Nico’s saved her life twice now and she’s only got five days to return the favor. They can stay if they want. But she’s going back in. Laura and Cullen agree. Nara asks if she really thinks Nico might still be alive. Cammi doesn’t know but figures Nico deserves a shot. Besides, she’s been the normal girl who sits around waiting for the next awful thing. It sucks. Hard! She promised herself she’d never be that helpless again and she doesn’t break her promises. Also… she kinda hates the beach.
Hazmat is getting ready to go back swimming. Reptil tells her to stop. She retorts if he wants to leave then go. She’ll be fine. He insists they talk. Jennifer refuses and tells him to back off. She takes off her containment suit. Humberto tackles her. She tells him she’s burning him. He doesn’t care; he just wants her to listen. He shouts this isn’t her. She’s not laid-back and fun-loving. She complains and argues and fights with her teeth and fingernails until the other guy isn’t moving. She doesn’t know how to give up!
She tried it that way, okay? Hazmat shouts back. She tried being herself and it didn’t work. Arcade kicked her ass and she couldn’t stop him. She couldn’t even keep the team together.
He gets up and tells her Mettle deserves better. He sacrificed himself so she could keep on fighting. He died to save her. He loved her. Not some empty shell who lies in the sun pretending like she’s already dead.
He blew him up! she screams. He snapped his finger and her boyfriend exploded all over her! Mettle’s dead, she sobs.
20 minutes later a doubtful Reptil has joined the others. He figures they have a point. He doesn’t want to die with his eyes shut just because Hazmat has given up.
Hazmat joins them, sourly asking what’s the hold up. Let’s go die trying!


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[Assistant]
Game On – part 5
Apex floats in the air, controlling the Sentinel, Darkhawk Chase and Death Locket to set fire to the forest below her. She muses that no one’s the villain of their own story. That’s a thing she read once. The big idea being, she supposes, that people are so utterly self-righteous that they refuse to take responsibility for their evil doings.
Is she the villain of this story? Is Arcade? Is it the grown-up superheroes who’ve failed so miserably at keeping them safe?
Elsewhere, in a snowy ravine, Nico Minoru lies dead. Strange energies begin to emit from the Staff of One and engulf her. She is lifted up and begins to groan. Fully healed, her arm replaced, she flies upwards at superspeed, her face contorted with fury.
Who does she think is the villain? Katy muses. Who cares? Doesn’t matter. Murderworld isn’t a story. It’s a game. Arcade told them that much on day one. And games aren’t about heroes and villains. They’re about winners and losers.
Something smashes into the Sentinel at high-speed. Blow! Nico orders and part of the Sentinel explodes. Backdraft is her next spell as she turns towards the flames.
In his lair, Arcade returns from the bathroom, asking his robot what he missed. He is informed Nico is extinguishing Katy’s forest fire. Arcade laughs and points out she is collecting the fire. The robot remarks Nico has never been so brutal before. Nor so powerful. None of this seems to match her psychological profile.
Munching popcorn, Arcade explains Nico is not quite herself today. That’d be the blood magic doing its thing. Little Miss Goth has to give a blood sacrifice to access her witchy powers. Normally it’s just a few drops to access her staff. But when Apex pulled her delightful double cross, when she puppeteered Chase’s Darkhawk form and used him to cut off Nico’s arm, the girl bled out. She must have cast some sort of death rattle healing spell. But the sacrifice was massive. Half an arm and all that blood. It didn’t heal her. She’s been remade. Powered up. And from the look of things she’s been busted up into bidy black rage nuggets. This is gonna be delightful!
Funny, she thought she killed her already, Katy deadpans. No trouble though, they’ll just do it again!
Recycle! Nico blasts the robots. Katy turns to Death Locket but, before she can use her, Nico casts Thunderstruck and lightning hits Death Locket.
All right, Apex decides grimly and orders Chase. Darkhawk blasts Nico who falls.
Katy muses that earlier she was trying to decide whether or not she’d call herself a villain. Now, she’s obviously a bit selfish and she has the full intention to kill everyone here. But she also seems to be the only one playing by the rules. She can’t be the villain. Proper villains hate the rules. Maybe in Murderworld she is the hero!
She orders her servants to kill Nico, and make it permanent this time. Botsplode Nico orders for the Sentinel, followed by Dissassemble. Death Locket screams as her cyborg arms disassembles.
Gunshot. She points at Chase who falls, shot. What happened? he asks weakly, no longer under Katy’s control. Katy tells her to kill her friend and she’ll be out of toys. Defenseless. No? Coward.
Chase warns Nico Katy is forcing him. Counterstr—she begins. He fires at her and hits her.
Katy grabs the Staff of One and admits much a she loves winning it was fun having some competition for once. A weak Nico gets up to a crouch. Almost a shame it has to be over now, Katy gloats.
Blunt Force! Nico chants and hits Chase with her new arm, then orders the Staff of One to her side. It flies out of Katy’s hands. Well done, she admits. She wins. So now what? Nico slams the Staff of One to the ground, casting Dirtnap.
Apex screams as the ground swallows her and Death Locket up and the two are buried alive.
Chase comes to, asking Nico if she is okay. He’s himself again, he stammers. Is she… herself? Yeah, she’s herself, she replies. More or less. Her new arm still glows. Chase tries to apologize. He couldn’t stop it. Can they not do this now? Nico asks. Can they just sit here for a minute and pretend none of this is real? Sure, yeah. ‘Course, Chase replies.
Death Locket awakes in darkness, Katy is still unmoving. Instead of under the earth, they are in an underground machine room. Rebecca sees a small glowing triangle which turns out to be a window. She peers into the lit room. The first thing she sees is a kitchenette.
Arcade walks past, musing Katy was a real firecracker. He had her top in four of his five brackets. And she put up quite a fight. His flying robot unit agrees. But that’s Murder World for ya, Arcade continues. Gotta expect the unexpected.
Most of what Rebecca sees is a lab, where the corpses of those who have already died are stored. Where are they? she asks helplessly.


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[Assistant]
The Devil’s Greatest Trick
Watching the screens, Arcade is pleased with the pathos. It’s much more intense with teenagers. Pointing at himself in the mirror, he smugly announces he is an auteur.
His flying robot unit Locke warns him of a problem. Oh, for the love of P.T Barnum, Arcade shouts annoyed, what could be important enough to interrupt his creative process?
The robot shows him holographic images of several heroes about to attack. Oh, Arcade admits. It has made its point. He tells the robot it was supposed to deal with this itself. He’s given it the contestants’ body scans, voice prints, AI software that reconstructs their personalities - such as they are - flawlessly. Plus access to their entire passwords. What is so complex it needs his genius?
The robot asks for his authorization to display the trump card. It seems they may have reached the point. Disgusted, Arcade muses they’ve only been gone for a few weeks. His family forgot he existed for months! It’s the helicopter parenting nowadays, producing a generation of pampered, entitled narcissists who fancy themselves masters of their own little universe. That was meant to be ironically self-aware, he adds. He is sure it can handle this. What is it now? A mom? A teacher? The robot shows him.
In front of the Avengers Academy stands young Runaway Molly Hayes, shouting that bad guys stole her friends. She wants them back. She’s sick and tired of people telling her it’s okay because it’s not! She wants someone to do something right now or she’s gonna punch somebody! She berates the patient Hank Pym that he promised to watch out for them. Well, he is doing a really bad job!
Fellow Runaway Karolina Dean and her girlfriend Julie Power come running. Karolina reminds Molly they talked about this. Hank assures her it’s OK. The whole point of their visit is so he can make sure they are all okay.
Karolina explains that Chase and Nico left together. As in together. It makes sense they hooked up. They’d kissed before, but now it got real. They left a note saying they were going away for a bit to figure out what it was.
Molly shouts it’s a lie. Somebody took them! Karolina reminds her they text Molly all the time. But they won’t come home! she shouts. Chase wouldn’t leave Old Lace. She’s so, sad she barely eats!
Hank muses that the dinosaur Old Lace and Chase have a psychic bond, don’t they? Karolina agrees. She’s depressed like a dog if left back. But if Chase was in trouble she’d go to him. Molly suggests the bad guy put a mental blocking helmet on Chase and she can’t sense him anymore.
Karolina assures her she is not going to lose them. She can talk to them. Frustrated, Molly kicks the ground, shouting they are fake. She wants her real friends back. She wants everything back the way it was, she cries.
Julie sighs they never should have let her watch “Taken.” Pym tries to comfort Molly. He knows what it’s like when things change and everyone is moving on without you. But friends don’t stop caring just because their lives go in a different direction. But he did promise to look out for them so he will check this out. Molly thanks him. He’s her favorite Avenger. Don’t tell Wolverine.
The girls leave. Hank asks how long ago Nico and Chase left. About three weeks ago, right around Christmas, he is told.
Later, he discusses this with Tigra, pointing out they left at the same time as some of their students. Doesn’t that seem odd? Tigra points out the holidays can be tough on people who’ve lost family. And if they don’t get along with their family it’s almost worse. Hazmat’s parents were going to pull her out of school because they didn’t want her dating Mettle. She can’t blame them for running off together. Avengers Academy has changed since their full-time students graduated. But it’s not like they vanished into thin air. They either know where the kids are or why they left. Still, Hank wants to talk to their friends.
He addresses Finesse, who is training. Hank asks if she knows something as she is friends with Reptil and X-23. Was, she corrects him. Laura and she drifted apart. She refuses to go into the reason for that. She isn’t good about feelings, she points out.
Tigra remarks that she thought she and Reptil were close. Were, she repeats. She made it clear he was taking things too seriously and he finally accepted it. If they want further insights, ask White Tiger.
Tigra does just that. The girl replies she was home for the holidays when she got a text. Humberto had a line on finding his parents… something to do with other dimensions… magic. She offered to help, but he said it was personal. And she gets that.
Pym calls Wolverine, who remarks X-23 went walkabout. He used to do that himself before he opened this damn school. Pym asks if that doesn’t bother him, considering Laura is his adopted daughter. Wolverine replies she texts Jubilee whenever she is somewhere that has reception. She said something about a fight with a friend, wanting peace… he gets that.
As they speak, in the background is the usual Jean Grey School chaos, as the Bamfs steal Logan’s whiskey and Glob Herman leers at Transonic that her costume is really just being naked, right? A moment later, she attacks him.
And none of his students are missing? Pym asks. He wishes, Logan sighs. They keep adding more, like it ain’t like a lunatic asylum already. He did hear something about some of Captain Britain’s kids. Sounded like your basic truancy, though. ‘scuse him, he’s got to crack some skulls.
Pym next calls Captain Britain, who informs him that some Braddock Academy students did indeed abscond. The usual troublemakers.
Doesn’t it worry him, not knowing where they are? Hank asks. Oh, he’s afraid he knows exactly, Brian sighs. Have a look. He shows Hank screenshots from their social network pages. They delight in updating Fritter and Wastebook with their latest adventures.
Apex’s page shows them hanging out in a tub in the Playboy Mansion, much to the girls’ distaste. Other images show them making fun of the exhibits in a museum.
Always after they’ve moved on, of course, Brian adds. By the time he arrives, there’s just a dreadful mess he has to pay for.
Another image shows Kid Briton dressing up in Captain Britain’s original costume and the others laughing. Brian sourly explains this is from his house. It’s ridiculous! He enjoyed Ferris Bueller as much as anyone but it’s been three bloody weeks!
Hank asks Brian if he doesn’t find it suspicious that all these young superhumans are running away at the same time. Cap points out they haven’t really cut off communication. Union Jack and Peter Wisdom went on a pub crawl about the same time. Ended up introducing Karaoke to the Savage Land. Dragged themselves back a week later. There was no conspiracy. Just grown men acting like fools. Don’t they have security?
Hank explains that Hazmat knocked out their entire network before she left. Brian remarks his lot did the same but their more responsible students sorted it out soon after. Is there no one who left his place he could talk to? Looking at an image of Juston Seyfert, Hank replies it’s… complicated.
In the meantime, Tigra calls Mr. Seyfert, asking about Juston. Angrily, the man replies he wants them out of his son’s life. He never approved of him going there. He doesn’t have powers. He’s just a boy! He finally convinced Juston to come home, go back to school and keep the damn robot in a barn and he is not letting them change his mind.
Tigra promises that’s not what she wants. But some of their other students left around the same time. She just wants to make sure everything is okay. Mr. Seyfert replies Juston doesn’t know anything about that. He saw the radioactive girl fighting with her parents. He decided he didn’t want his family to be like that so he came home. He is in the yard right now, playing with his brother.
He is unaware that “Juston” is a life decoy model.
Mr. Seyfert warns Tigra that, if she contacts him again, he is going to get a restraining order.Tigra summarizes four of their students and five of Captain Britain’s are missing. All with explanations and regular contact. Nobody’s missing from the Jean Grey School, the Future Foundation or the Wakandan school. She just isn’t seeing a pattern.
Hank does. He doesn’t know Brian’s students but all of theirs are what he would term vulnerable. Some circumstances in their life created a plausible reason they’d leave.
Tigra asks does he really thinks someone could snatch eleven super-powered kids without leaving a trace. Hank is convinced there is always a trace. He’s taken data from a SHIELD observation satellite covering LA at the time, scanning for traces… unusual energy, that sort of thing. He sees teleportation energy on the map. A type he has never seen before. It occurred at the same time the students left. He broadens the search to see a lot of such events.
He calls Mariah Hill on the SHIELD heli-carrier. She explains it’s like a computer virus. Someone comes up with a new teleportation beam. Sells it to a bunch of guys. They know as soon as they start using it SHIELD starts working on a way to stop it. So it’s programmed not to function until a pre-arranged time. When zero hour comes, everyone goes crazy. They’ll get half a dozen bad guys zapped out of prison at one time.
The day he’s talking about, there was a ton of teleporting supervillains. In LA, Count Nefaria vanished from his cell. In London, Slaymaster suddenly wasn’t in solitary anymore.
Hank asks for the location of each of those cases and the names of whoever vanished. Sure, Mariah scoffs. How about their nuclear launch codes too? She can trust him… it’s not like he ever had a mental break-down or invented a mass-murdering killer robot or- oh wait! Just anyone who was an enhanced superhuman youth, Hank asks. Mariah refuses. Hank pleads their lives could be in danger. Then why aren’t the Avengers pulling all the stops to find them? she asks.
Hank explains he hopes it isn’t a real thing but, if it is and he doesn’t do something, he couldn’t live with himself. Hill gives him a tidbit that fits his criteria. A cyborg girl… Deathlock tech. But they know who took her. It’s a time travel thing. An attack from the future.
Back at the Academy, Tigra tells Hank he is making himself crazy. Has he found one shred of evidence the kids are in trouble? He is one of the smartest men on the planet. Doesn’t he think if there was something there, he would have seen it? He agrees but he has no proof they are not.
Finesse enters, telling Hank there is a phone call for him… by Mettle.
Soon, Hank and Tigra are at their destination. Hank scans the area to find nothing special. Does a rental car count? Tigra asks. Mettle leaves the car and greets them. Tigra hugs him and Hank asks if he is okay. Mettle explains Jenny didn’t want to come. Too paranoid they’ll make her go back to her parents. His parents are more tolerant. Even send him money. He can‘t really stay. Can they hurry up and scan him or whatever it is? He’s gotta go.
Hank finds everything matches. He is not a Skrull, though his skin is too dense to do a proper scan. He wishes Ken would come back and let him run some tests on more advanced machinery. Ken refuses. Jenny’s parents filed kidnapping charges. He’s not taking any risks. It’s nice to know, though, they are missed. Tigra tells him to take care and to tell them if they need anything.
As Ken drives away, Hank muses he and Molly don’t do well with change. Tigra announces she gets it. People come up with conspiracy theories to not have to face the truth that nobody’s really in charge. She suggests they head home.
Arcade watches all of this. He isn’t too thrilled they had to play the trumpcard already, but it had the desired effect. The kid’s skin hid his cybernetics nicely. Can he pick ‘em or what?
The robot Locke asks what the preferred end result is. To restore his reputation, Arcade reminds him. The robot points out to do that Arcade must reveal what happened. And that will instantly make him a total enemy of the world’s most powerful beings. The Avengers, the X-Men… coming after him all at once. It sees only two possibilities: That he is committing suicide by cape or that he is actually delusional enough to think he can get away with it.
He’s overlooked a third option, Arcade replies. One he likes to call: Shut your filthy robot mouth! He detonates the unit and activates a new one, Locke 2.0. Does it have any doubts he can continue to outsmart everyone on Earth? None whatsoever, he is told. Good, that’s the problem with sophisticated AI. Sometimes it develops unpleasant quirks. Occasionally, it can’t see what’s right in front of it. But really… So few can…


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[Assistant]
Boss Level: part 1
Cullen Bloodstone glumly observes his comrades and considers the situation. Four days ago, the seven of them set out into the woods. Their plan was to rescue Nico and defeat the evil and powerful Katy.
Three days ago, they got a bit turned around in the forest. Reptil sprouted wings and flew up to scout. He still hasn’t come back.
Two days ago, Cammi and Cullen sussed out that Arcade was moving the sun by walking for seven hours and turning circles.
This morning, Hazmat darted off into the tree, screaming her dead boyfriend’s name like a right nutter. X-23 went after her. They are still both gone.
And after three days of wandering the woods, they are back at the beach of Quadrant 3. Where they started. All for naught.
Skinny-dip, anyone? Nara asks. Cammi swears. They need a new plan. Nara gets close to Anachronism, asking if he is coming. There’s something she’s been wanting to show him. Maybe in a bit, he replies. Gonna try and help first. Idiots, Cullen mutters. His loss, Nara shrugs and jumps into the sea.
Cammi plods down, thinking the compass is useless. They can’t follow the sun. Arcade has kept a good two steps ahead of them all along but there has to be a way.
No, there doesn’t! Cullen snaps. Enough bloody planning! It’s done! Nico is gone! he shouts, and thanks to their incessant wandering so are Reptil, Hazmat and X-23! They are not about to outthink Arcade. Quite frankly, he is sick of hearing her try!
Anachronism tells him to ease up. She’s just-- He knows precisely what she’s just! Cillen snaps. Smartest person here has the wool so tightly around her eyes that her brain’s gone numb. Day 28! Time’s up!
Anachronism tells him to leave her alone. Has he managed to detach his head from Nara’s blowhole enough to notice the rest of them? Cullen mocks. Aiden warns him to shut his mouth. Make him, mate, Cullen mocks and hits him. Aiden hits back and Cullen bleeds. Worried, Nara returns asking what she missed. Nothing, Aiden replies. Nara leads him away.
So, Cammi tells Cullen. The only person she ever loved was a green-skinned death dealer named Drax. He stole her away from her drunk mom, kept her around for a minute, then abandoned her in space, so he could go murder some guy. And that’s the nicest thing anyone’s ever done for her. That’s her big secret. Now he can tell her his. Why would he? Cullen demands. Cammi points out the darkness behind his eyes is a lot closer to the surface. Might be a good idea to talk about it. So they won’t have to deal with it. Fair point, Cullen concedes.
Cullen’s narration:His father, Ulysses Bloodstone, lived more than ten thousand years. He spent most of those locked in mortal combat with monsters. All of that gave him a… unique perspective on time, and parenting. For Cullen’s tenth birthday, he decided it was time to take him on a proper hunt. They loaded up some packs, cleaned and loaded up some guns and then Ulysses pulled out the old mirror he kept in his trophy room. It really was an interdimensional portal. A gateway to the black realm of Klimtor.
It was his best birthday ever at first. He watched his father debrain a couple of small zimbumblers while Cullen put up the tent. He taught Cullen how to cut his way through the abdomen of a hungry greediblix. They cooked and ate its tongue for dinner. Then, when the soulbeasts came, Ulysses left him alone. He was supposed to fend for himself for the next few hours and cope. He was brought up right. He’d survive six hours in hell. But Ulysses got caught up back home, diedand Cullen’s night lasted two years.
Elsewhere:X-23 has followed Hazmat, who asks her if she sees what she sees. Please, tell her she sees him. Laura agrees she see Mettle standing over there. Hazmat runs to him. Please, be real! she pleads.
Ken? she asks carefully and touches his arm. Well, sure, in a matter of speaking, the empty shell of her dead boyfriend’s armored skin replies and releases gas. Trigger scent, Hazmat realizes horrified. X-23 immediately goes berserk and slashes her, while the Mettle robot sinks back into the ground.
Back at the beach, Cammi asks Cullen how long he was trapped in the other dimension. 27 months, supposedly. He only remembers the first six, really.
Cullen’s narration:He was found by his sister Elsa, who thought he was in boarding school all that time. She’d popped by the house to do her wash and nick some traps. Came around the corner, and there he was. Not sure how he got out. Must have wandered through an open rift and back through his dad’s mirror. He doesn’t recall what happened as he wasn’t quite himself.
His memory starts up later that day. After Elsa brought him down. He was lying in her arms, the house completely destroyed. What happened? he asks. You know, she shrugs, unspeakable evil run amok. Sorted out now though, isn’t it?
Later, Elsa brings him to the Braddock Academy, much to his displeasure. She explains that this school makes sense for him. The Bloodstone rings keep his darkness under wraps and makes him strong and tough like dad and her. She bets he’ll fit right in.End of narration
Cullen muses if he’d understood what would happen when he pulled off the ring-- Cammi interrupts as the trigger sent cloud moves toward them.
In Quadrant 4, Aiden unroots some trees, watched by Nara. Aiden glumly states Cullen is meant to be his best friend. He doesn’t know what his problem is and she won’t let him go find out. Seriously? Nara scoffs. They are all gonna die here. Cullen sees that, and on top of that he has to watch the two of them distract themselves, carrying on in front of him all day long. So what? Aiden asks. Why can’t Cullen be happy for him? Nara tells him Cullen has it bad for him. Aiden doesn’t believe that. Why does he think Cullen hates her so much? Nara points out. Pretty girl’s always the last to know, she teases him.
Suddenly, the gas envelops them as well… And a blood-crazy X-23 charges toward them.
At the beach, Cammi and Cullen find themselves enveloped as well, wondering what it is. If they are lucky, it’s just deadly poison gas, Cammi quips. And if they are unlucky? Cullen wonders. Run! Nara and Aiden shout as X-23 chases them. Nara falls and Aiden moves to defend her by hitting Laura with his axe. Cammi fires her gun at her. Keep it up… stop her! Cullen tells her grimly. Cammi replies she’s X-23. She can’t stop her. No, Cullen realizes, but he can. He takes off his Bloodstone ring and transforms into a soul monster…


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[Assistant]
Boss Level: part 2
Seeing Cullen having turned into a giant soul monster and attacking X-23, Nara figures there is something seriously wrong with her. She admires the strength and brutality. On any other day she’d be all about the show. But today she is not even watching, because Aiden is hurting and she wants it to stop. She swears, realizing she’s become a girlfriend.
Nara orders Aiden to snap out of it and tell them what happened to Cullen. He mutters he released it… He did it for them, Nara corrects him. He did it for Aiden. Now what can he do for Cullen? How can they get him back? Cammi figures it’s the Bloodstone ring that holds the monster back. Cullen pulled it off and must have dropped it in the sand.
X-23 has taken some wounds and realizes she doesn’t know how to kill the creature. Cullen attacks again. That moment, Nico and Chase (as Darkhawk) come from the air, attacking Cullen.
As Cammi, Anachronism and Nara desperately comb through the sand, Anachronism explains it’s called a Glartrox. They found an entry on it in one of Cullen’s dad’s cryptology books. An extra-dimensional parasite that bonds with a person’s soul. Feeding off their fear and anger. The more emotion it consumes the stronger it becomes… the more control it has over is host. This one seems pretty strong, Nara points out. Aiden continues that Cullen spent two years trapped alone in a nightmare realm with that monster eating his fear. If they are lucky, he’ll chew them in paste before laying his eggs in their souls.
Cammi tells them to stop. All they gotta do is find that Bloodstone ring. Then it’s sleepy time for “Mr. boogie badass,” Cullen’s his old self and their likelihood of violent death drops right back down to a comfortable Murder World 91%. Nara asks what if they can’t find the ring. There’s one other way, Aiden admits hesitantly. But they don’t have to worry about that, Cammi announces triumphantly and holds up the ring, ‘cuz Cammi rules treasure hunting! Now what? she asks.
Reptil lands next to her and his tail swats the ring out of her hand into the ocean. Unaware of what he has done, Reptil apologizes. They are fighting a big monster thing in the woods. Nara caresses Aiden’s face and tells him it’s all right. They go help hold him off. She’ll make herself useful for once and fetch that ring.
She jumps into the ocean. In the water, she berates herself for caring so much about a boy she knows she can’t keep. She remembers her childhood in Atlantis.
flashback to Nara’s past:Her mother trained her to fight and told her they are only pushing her because they love her. Growing up a child of the royal guards, she was taught to love Atlantis. That’s what she was taught. But what she learned was different.
Still a child, she was brought to King Namor, who announced that her parents revealed themselves as agents of the traitor Attuma and attempted to assassinate him. As she can see, referring to their corpses, they failed. He did not summon Nara to punish her for her parents’ treachery. These crimes are theirs alone. Nor is he asking her to forgive their death. She’s earned her contempt. Keep it. But he does hope she will accept a last gift from her king. A lesson to be learned from this mess. Trust in herself and no one else. She’ll be less often disappointed.
His guards ask what they are to do with Nara. Namor orders her exiled to the surface.
The Present:Diving deeper Nara realizes nothing good can come from the relationship. The smart thing would be— Bugger the smart thing! she swears. She loves him! She spies the earring ahead.
On the surface Aiden, Nico and Cammi can’t really do anything against the monster. Reptil attacks in his dinosaur form, to be swatted down. Black Magic. Straight up, Nico orders and black energy engulfs Cullen but doesn’t do much. That was her best shot, Nico states.
Aiden explains he is getting bigger and stronger by the minute. They have to end this before he gets tired of toying with them. How? Cammi demands. Aiden explains Glartox cannot survive in this dimension without their host. If they kill the host—Cullen, Cammi points out and refuses. Nara’s gonna find the ring. They have to buy her time. They are out of time, Aiden replies. If they let this go on he’ll slaughter everyone.
Cammi reminds him Cullen let the monster out to save Aiden’s life. And now he’s gone, Aiden replies. He’d do anything for Aiden, Cammi continues. And he is doing this for Cullen, Aiden replies. Cullen told him how to end it if things ever got out of control. He made him promise. He promised he’d put him out of his misery!
Cammi orders the others to distract the creature. Chase flies Aiden onto its back where he finds Cullen enmeshed with the monster. Aiden apologizes and raises his axe. That moment, Nara dives up and shouts at him to stop. She’s got it!
The demon turns toward Nara and Aiden falls off its back. Nara figures she is doing this to save him and, because she doesn’t want him to, turn as hard as she is.
Aiden shouts at Nara to run. It will take a lot more than Bloodstone’s imaginary friend to do her in, she replies. The creature grabs her in its claws and squeezes. Despite the pressure, Nara holds on and asks what to do with the ring. Touch the ring to his skin! Aiden shouts. Is that all? she asks, already breathing blood. She does so and the demon disappears into Cullen.
Cammi helps him up to. They turn around and see Aiden cradling a dead Nara. Aiden cries out in pain and rage.


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[Assistant]
Boss Level: part 3
Arcade’s lair:Your kids will surprise you, the villain muses. He always thought that was some silly crap parents tell themselves to justify ill-advised procreation. But, man, ain’t it the truth. When he set that clock for 30 days, he was hoping for a real high school splatter platter. Wanted kiddies skinning each other for pelts by the end of the first week. No dice, instead he got a slow burn. Big beefy hero hearts breaking with every death. Their finger nails bloody from clawing at the backside of the inevitable.
He likes to think those kids knew better. That they remembered something he’d forgotten. Great games aren’t won in the first half. No, they build gradually. The make you wait, cracking your knuckles to stop the itch as that precious momentum shifts back and forth. True classics always come down to the wire. It took every second of 29 days to break these kids. But there they are, broken. And what comes next, it’s gonna be well worth the wait.
In Murderworld, Anachronism, mad with grief over Nara, is about to hit Cullen Bloodstone with his axe. Cullen, who realizes he has lost Aiden, doesn’t budge, willing to at least give Aiden his death. After the blow, Aiden kicks him in the face.
Cammi trains her gun on him, ordering him to stop, berating everyone for their stupidity and most of all herself.
Reptil turns to the two Runaways, asking them they have to help. No, Nico refuses. Chase is surprised but follows her lead.
Angrily, Cammi blasts Aiden away. Reptil figures Nico predicted that Cammi had it. Chase, Nico orders. She sure? he asks. Yeah, she tells him and Reptil becomes suspicious a moment before Chase turns Darkhawk and blasts him.
Cammi helps Cullen up. She shouldn’t have stopped Aiden, he tells her. He deserved that. Sure he did, she tells him, unimpressed. Nico and Chase join them. They both know what has to be done, Nico tells Chase. She’ll do it. She grabs Cullen and flies out to the water. She figures she tried to be herself in here, tried to be compassionate. All that won her was a shallow grave. Lesson learned.
In the forest, Hazmat feels something is wrong. She is hurt, her suit damaged. Leaking radiation, she struggles to get help. As she finds a bleeding X-23, she realizes she’s screwed.
X-23 wakes up, realizing her prey is close. Immediately, she figures out the quickest ways to kill Hazmat. Wounded, Hazmat runs through the forest, thinking she’s always been a hater…
Elsewhere underground:From an airshaft, Death Locket spies on Arcade. She realizes something has changed. They’ve been watching Arcade for two days now. He is obsessed with his schedule and doesn’t deviate from his routine. By this time of night, he shouldn’t be watching the arena. He should be sixteen minutes into his 8:30 bath right now, sipping wine or sculpting a bubble foam beard. What’s got him so-- She sees the images of the other kids fighting each other and understands.
She crawls back into the shaft where Tim Bashir is waiting and fixing her cyborg arm. She explains he did it. Everybody’s fighting each other. If they don’t shut this thing down tonight, they are all gonna kill each other.
They share a moment of closeness and suddenly he turns into a disgusted Katy, who shoves Death Locket away. Had she known she’d have to put up with them snogging all day, she’d have taken her chances sweet-talking Arcade.
Tim takes over again, telling her to come off it. She is just as buggered as they are if he catches up. This plan is their only way out. Katy comes back remarking the ‘hack the system and shut it all down’ plan couldn’t’ possibly be pulled off without her. It took him the better part of a week to rebuild a simple blaster cannon. Or has he suddenly become a hundred times more powerful? she mocks.
They argue angrily until the fed-up Becka is moving away. She tells them she will create a diversion before their yelling gets them caught. If they could stop arguing long enough to watch the vent and get themselves ready, that would be awesome. Their little poppet has grown some bollocks, Katy admits.
Becka climbs down into a room full of caged animals. Very soon, Locke-2 informs Arcade some animals have gotten out of their pens. Impatient, Arcade tells him to deal with it.
From her hideout, Becka realizes the distraction wasn’t big enough. She grabs Kid Briton’s sword, looking for something suitably big and finds Kid Briton’s tank. Soon there is a crashing noise. Angrily, Arcade shouts at Locke-2 to deal with it.
Becka attacks the robot from behind, destroying it with the sword. The ensuing explosion tosses her against Darkhawk’s tank. She is in for a shock when inside the tank Chris Powell opens his eyes. Frightened, she screams loud enough for Arcade to hear.
Muttering angrily, he goes to investigate, allowing Katy to enter the room. She looks at Arcade’s screens. Agitated, Tim tells her Death Locket might need help. Katy rolls her eyes and orders him to calm down. It was her job to create a diversion. That scream sounded real, he points out. Yes, quite real, she agrees unimpressed. Something is wrong, he insists. Angrily, she reminds him what’s wrong is them being trapped in the basement with an invincible clown who gets off on killing kiddies and Tim won’t  shut up about his bloody robot waifu long enough for her to save all their lives! Now please sod off and let her work!
She enters Arcade’s command system when suddenly an image of him appears on the screens and tells her not to touch that dial. A moment later, the real Arcade comes in with a frightened Death Locket, commending Katy on getting in there. But the system requires voice and fingerprint verification for outgoing calls. Don’t you just love letting a girl think she’s won the race before you cut her little legs off?
He admits he doesn’t know how they managed it. Thought they’d been buried alive. But bra-vo. Katy turns into Tim. Arcade congratulates him on the new weapons arm he made for Death Locket. Did he cobble this out of scraps in his workshop? He pushes them onto a sofa. He should probably send them both back up to join the final reindeer games. But that death of theirs… there’s video. They can watch later. Thing. Of. Beauty! He’d kinda hate to retcon it. There’s time… that decision can wait. For now, let’s watch. He turns to the big screen where X-23 is about to eviscerate Hazmat.
Nico is trying to drown Cullen. Cammi is aiming her gun at Chase / Darkhawk and Anachronism raises his axe as Reptil charges at him.
Isn’t this something to see? Arcade asks entranced, when suddenly he is wacked from behind with a blunt object. Brilliant, Katy chuckles. Arcade admits his secret is out. Artificial superpowers don’t work so well down here. They were built for up top. He supposes he should have killed the old Darkhawk when he had the chance, he mutters, as Chris Powell stands above him, weapon raised.