GRADUATION

[descentinto]

[ There’s a spark in the darkness outside the dome, somewhere. The pale rainbow of some kind of bio-luminescent jellyfish. Then another. Then two more. Then ten more.

Within moments, the seafloor around you is illuminated by jellyfish, shining brighter than nature should allow, and you find your surroundings changed. Statues, piles of gold, paintings, all of them lie scattered around for as far as the eye can see in any direction. Just a disgusting amount of wealth.

The frosted glass box in front of all of you just… vanishes. And standing at a podium that doesn’t at all match the previous silhouette, you finally get to see The Professor, in all his slightly ghoulish glory.

Honestly? This might be exactly the kind of man you pictured he would be. ]

Allow me to introduce myself properly, boys and girls. I am Professor Gunnar Maelstrom, one of the five sitting members of the Faculty here at VILE. I suppose, one way or another, this is where it ends.

[ You’re getting close, gumshoes! Don’t give up! ]

Comments

[bolderfell]

[Hey so, does it sound like electric humming in here?]

[ladygeryon]

Acronym's little on the nose there, don't you think?

[descentinto]

Oh, you have no idea. It stands for Villains International League of Evil - or Valuable Imports, Luxurious Exports if you're talking about our cover company.

[nothingcanstop]

You are far too proud of that for your own good. BTW, keeping the title. Maelstrom sounds too cool for you.

[mouflon]

[ are you for fucking real ]

So was that on purpose from the start, or did you get halfway through the acronym and then decide, hey, I can make this even more stupid?

[bogwife]

VILE? Really?

[descentinto]

In fairness, I didn't choose the name.

[bogwife]

You did choose to run it though. Couldn't get a vote agreed upon to change it to something less on the nose?

[hardnosed]

[ yeah she's just drawing Rose's sword, everyone else can deal with nerd things like "conversation" and "figuring out what he wants" and shit ]

[fivestagegod]

God. Why do all of you look like this.

So just as a quick question, because you've felt the need to give me an existential crisis on top of everything else: are you puppeting our bodies around somewhere else, or are we the genuine article?

[nothingcanstop]

[ big mood! ]

[descentinto]

As tempted as I am to refuse to answer, I'll at least give you that you are all your original selves.

[fivestagegod]

What, exactly, do you get out of refusing to answer us now? Unless you're mad about the comment on your looks, in which case the fact that you look like every employer I've ever had is not my fault.

FINAL CHOICE...?

[descentinto]

Alright, all of you, let's get down to business.

[ He steeples his fingers, looking around the room. ]

I offer you a choice. While I have administrative privileges, you cannot kill me, so that option is off the table.

I give you this choice here and now: either you may join up with VILE, with or without a wipe of your mind, or you can all be returned home, with or without your memory of the last two months.

[fivestagegod]

[......]

How unanimous does this choice have to be.

[bolderfell]

And what's the catch.

[philoxenia]

[ ... she crosses her arms, if just to hide the fact that her hands are shaking. ]

This seems like a very clear-cut choice.

[bogwife]

...and what happens to the others after we make our choices? And with the facility?

[ladygeryon]

What I'm hearing is that we need to disable those privileges of yours.

[hardnosed]

[ yeah, she's not dignifying the choice itself with an answer, but: ]

While you have administrative privileges.

1/2 ???

[wickedskills]

[Just as strangely as it vanished, the frosted box around your Professor's desk returns. Something the man inside does not look to be entirely happy with, judging by the opaque figure.

But there's not much time to watch that, as a screen opens on the side of the box facing the group. Like a window, but releasing a burst of static before the visual settles in on...]

KSSSSSH-wow, admin privileges? You wouldn't mind if I just nabbed those away from you, just for a sec?

[A boy at a desktop?]

Hey everyone, Ghostworth here! Sorry, but I'm going to have to make this quick. Maelstrom wants you to make one choice, but while he's in digital time out, I've got a friend that would like to offer you some other options.

2/2

[wheremst]

[ The screen changes to... a woman you've never seen before. She's currently uh. It looks like she's hanging on a rope from the side of a lighthouse? But she smiles and waves. ]

Hey there, uh... survivors. So we've been talking to your friend with the good taste in font colors, and we've come up with a slightly different final choice for you.

Maelstrom's sort of right - if you kill him, the backup's still going to be around. But there's a couple other things you guys can do! Your first option is, well... it'll let Maelstrom get away, but using this system, Player can completely bankrupt VILE and tip off a government task force to their base's location. No satisfaction, but he'll never be able to hurt anyone ever again.

Option two is... well, courtesy of Red Text, you guys can kill him in the simulation and she'll keep his backup company in a computer back for the next... well, however long it takes to recruit and train a hacker better than Player. Which uh... isn't happening for at least ten to fifteen years, trust me. But we can't hold him here long enough for both.

OPTION ONE - 1/3

[wheremst]

Alright, let me just...

[ Apparently she has now finally reached the bottom of the lighthouse. ]

I'm gonna go ahead and hand things over to you, Player. Work your magic. And everyone in there?

[ She shoots you a smile. ]

See you on the other side.

2/3

[wickedskills]

Thanks, Carmen.

[There's sounds of furious typing on his side of things.]

With a push of this button, all of this finally comes to an end. Hope you all like your choice!

Because it's time to wake up.

[And he presses a key and disappears.]

3/3

[bathymetric]

[ The trial room blurs around you. The facility above, all the objects suspended in the water, it all slows down.

The water freezes, and it dissolves.

In a dark room below a lighthouse, 27 people wake up from a two-month nightmare. ]