FINAL TRIAL

[bathymetric]

Alright, that's enough snooping around for one day. There's a door in the underground tunnels that lets out beyond the vault door, just use that to get to the elevator. One of you has a damn staff keycard now, might as well just have you use it, since apparently I'm down both of my Assistants. The code is 020594.

[ As you head in and punch in the code, the elevator rises up to meet you one last time. And one last time, you take the ride down into the depths, evidence in hand. Something stirs in you - hope? Dread? It's hard to feel nothing at a time like this, don't you think? Even if it's just being really angry at The Professor.

When you reach the bottom, the dome is the same but you find the setup itself changed wildly. There's no sign at all of the original podiums or where they were, just a number of sleek new ones and a box of frosted glass. It stands out in stark contrast to the inky blackness of the sea outside. The lights don't reach out of the dome at all, and within the dome they illuminate the silhouette of a man, sitting at a desk, hands folded in front of him.

The Professor is here. You hope. Do you have any choice but to believe he's here? ]

Take your places, boys and girls. It's not what I think any of us anticipated, but it's time for your final trial. There are several questions I expect you to be able to answer, the largest being, well... tell me where you are and what you're doing here. Though I suspect first you'll want to talk over your... evidence.

[ Welcome to your final trial. ]

Comments

[bathymetric]

The consequences for failing a trial remain the same as ever, Doctor Birkin.

[hardnosed]

What are you two talking about?

[fivestagegod]

[Hm.

It'll take him a moment to try to sort through exactly how much he likes the odds on that.]

I think they're too close to it. Besides, if all the rules are still in place, that means the accomplice doesn't benefit. Either way, not sure how much I like any of the odds on the table here.

[ANYWAY, because that was a totally fine and normal exchange that he would really prefer to move on from, ]

I meant it when I said they're stupid, simple things. Criminal potential, how much loyalty they can breed. Stuff like that. Technically things that are informed by our personalities, but I don't know how much they'd stick around in the event of a wipe. Certainly stuff that can be recreated without too much stress, you're welcome to look the list over if you want.

[bolderfell]

...If we ask you about that little exchange with the Professor, are you just going to say we need to concentrate on figuring out how to not die?

[fivestagegod]

You're welcome to ask, I won't guarantee you'll like the answers.

[bolderfell]

I'm used to that. So what was that all about, Birkin?

[fivestagegod]

He's been offering me employmwent if I win this little game of his. I asked him a question at the start of this little thing, about whether that offer is still good if he wins. He told me it was, and as such I haven't really felt like being too helpful.

I've been telling you guys this the whole time: We're all the same, and what he's doing makes sense to me. This is how we get promotions in the Umbrella Corporation, so it's not like I've had a huge argument with this sort of thing. Unfortunately, you guys actually got decent at this somewhere along the line, and I'm not willing to go down with whatever sinking ship he's standing on. Hate me for it if you want, it's justified. I'm just here for whatever outcome leads to me not dying, and I don't care who I get that outcome alongside.

[bolderfell]

...Yeah. You're the most consistent of all of us.

[Anyway.]

So is that why you didn't want us talking about Angel? Thought you'd try a little obstruction yourself?

[fivestagegod]

He wins if we don't solve.

He hasn't set up some grand prisoner's dilemma where one of us can screw over the whole. I was just told that if I want a victory condition then I'd obstruct.

[bolderfell]

Yeah, yeah, I get it. I just want to know what we were on the right track about so we can move forward with it.

[hardnosed]

He's got a contingency for when we kill you right here, right now, then.

[fivestagegod]

I wouldn't recommend that, just because I wouldn't know one way or another. I doubt it would be satisfying, though. I haven't been helping him in any other way, so it's not like I've been actively selling you out this whole time.

[hardnosed]

I don't care what you recommend. I wouldn't care if you'd been helping him this whole time. But I know you don't want to die, and I can promise you this: I'll take you with me.

That's not a threat or a negotiation. It is what it is.

[mouflon]

...You know, you have a lot of nerve, pulling this after that whole oh, if this is just a job to you thing last week.

[ ha ha, she's pissed ]

But whatever. If there's nothing important you need to fess up to, I don't care if you're helpful or not. Just stay out of our way if you decide you are going to throw your lot in with that bastard, and we'll decide what to do with you later.

[fivestagegod]

It's nothing personal on my end. I do whatever it pleases me to do, and "not being dead" is what pleases me right now.

That said, I do think you're entirely too close to solving whatever it is we're here to solve, so it's not like I benefit from aiding him any. Honestly, he didn't even give me much of a way to, outside of obstructing you guys a bit. Like I said to Jasper, it's not like I've been selling you all out this whole time or anything.

[mouflon]

I'm sure. But you can't be surprised by what I'm saying either, can you? You know enough about the kind of work I'm involved in. If some guy I was working with decided he liked what the enemy was paying better, what kind of response do you think I'd give him?

[ What she's saying is that he should count himself lucky that she didn't immediately shoot him. ]

Still, that doesn't shock me. If he gave you a better idea, you could just turn around and give us the answer if you decided you didn't like what he was selling after all.

[bathymetric]

[ A nod from the silhouette. ]

I cannot say it is the choice I had hoped you would make, but... I respect your decision on the matter nonetheless.

[fivestagegod]

Hey, maybe we'll all get out of here not horribly dead and I'll take you up on it anyway. No promises on that, though, they all really want one of those mace things to end up in your face.

[nothingcanstop]

How dead are who going to end up?

[fivestagegod]

The rest of you.

[nothingcanstop]

[ ... ]

William...

[ There's a moment wherein she looks at him, and it's raw and hurt. Where she can't talk.

That moment passes when she looks down and closes her eyes. ]

...Whatever keeps you from not dying. That's how it works, isn't it?

[fivestagegod]

...Yeah. Exactly.

[nothingcanstop]

The things we talked about before. About our situation here. You still weren't lying to me?

[fivestagegod]

[Oh for god's sake - ]

If I don't agree to doing this now, you're just going to keep making that goddamn face at me, aren't you.

No, I wasn't.

[nothingcanstop]

...Look. I'm an idiot, alright? You knew that.

[ She exhales. ]

Okay. Okay, then. If you're not going to obstruct anymore, then- then what do you think of all this?