[open] Six Feet Under in the Penalty Box

[jonesiseverywhere]

Who| Casey and YOU and murderers what go boo
What| Murderworld!
Where| Murderworld!!!
When| Log covers Day 1 and day 2 of the event
Warnings/Notes| Lots of open prompts, if you want to do something closed just note it in the subject line or let me know!

A.
Having a first aid kit was turning out to be a pretty good way of getting around. The people who for-absolute-sure weren't murderers saw his med stuff and let him through. Or sometimes he'd have to slap some healing gel or a bandage on a cut or hand over some stomach medicine or something, but he wasn't getting messed with as far as the victims went. It kinda made sense, actually. Casey'd seen enough doctors in the rink that he wouldn't mess with them either.

He figures he should save as much stuff as he can for the hero-types around here, but he hasn't actually met one that needs help yet. But it's also getting kind of late...

B.
"Ah, this is just like when aliens -but you know, like...bad aliens!- took over my city. This ain't nothin' I've never seen before."

It's kind of hard to tell who he's talking too, though it's definitely not himself. The acoustics are just weird around the Industrial Zone, that's all. After all, who watching wouldn't need some reassurance about crossing a skinny beam of rusty metal across a dark pit? The fact that Casey doesn't really want to do that at all but has no other way to get through the area? Has nothing to do with it.

At all.

C.
OK so you can't drive a truck through a tundra, even with snow tires. Apparently, the cold just shuts down the engine after a while. Getting stuck in a snowbank doesn't help either. One might have made the other worse, in fact.

He's not going to be able to get out of here without a car or a buddy, and he's out of nutrient pack. Hopefully someone with food or something comes through soon...

D. Wildcard! Forget it pals, this is Murderworld.

Comments

b.

[mylawn]

76 has been stalking certain zombie ghosts through the industrial district, still sort of deciding whether or not he's going to see if the lack of no-kill rule extends to fellow Legionnaires. Probably not, but this is likely the best chance he'll get, so here he is.

Something else gets his attention first, however, and it's definitely not Reaper (or, it is, he guesses, but not the right Reaper). Despite his current mission, he thinks he'd feel a little remiss if he left a kid by himself in the middle of a murder arena. Old habits, and all.

For someone of his size, his approach is surprisingly silent, giving Casey plenty of opportunity to be startled when he lands hard nearby, apparently having jumped off some kind of catwalk.

"Bad aliens?"

[jonesiseverywhere]

It's actually pretty impressive how fast Casey is on the draw with those hockey sticks, all things considered. He spins around and takes a battle-stance with a speed that only comes with a LOT of practice. And yet...it's just the old dude with the grate on his face. Whatever. In fact, why not lean on his hockey stick to show just how "whatever" it is.

This is a great distraction from the thought of getting shredded by rusty metal too. Win-win.

"Oh. Yeah, Earth was invaded by these little brain-squids called the Kraang. Tried to take over New York and mutate everyone into slaves but me and my pals kicked 'em out."

Even if he was only on scavenging duty for most of it. But 76 doesn't need to know that.

[mylawn]

Rest assured, 76 is maybe a little impressed by that--or would be, if they weren't trapped in a murder game and all of his thoughts weren't currently occupied by the fact that Reaper was in the death arena with them.

"Uh-huh."

Despite himself, he falls into step with Casey (or, motions for him to start walking), visor scanning for any other signs of movement while knowing full well that Reyes doesn't show up on it unless he's solid. He perhaps looks more confident than he actually feels.

"Did they throw you into a death arena?"

[jonesiseverywhere]

"Nah, that was the evil ninja clan...and it was more like a death race. " By contrast, talking about it is making Casey feel as confident as he looks. What's he got to worry about? He's been here before.

...He still doesn't want to go across any beams over any pits, so he follows 76 without complaining. Yet. "What about you? Been in one of these before?"

[mylawn]

76 would probably have more to say about evil ninja clans if he wasn't accustomed to a certain degree of ninja bullshit himself.

He still hasn't decided that Casey isn't a liability, alien death race experience nonwithstanding, but there is still a part of him that doesn't want to leave a kid alone in this kind of place, not when they don't know what might be lurking.

"Not exactly," he replies, attention clearly elsewhere. "But you fight as long as I have, you see things that are pretty close."

[jonesiseverywhere]

"Know exactly what you mean, dude." It doesn't even occur to Casey that 76 might not believe that he knows what he means. They're both heroes, after all. Heroes fight crazy stuff all the time.

"...Whatcha lookin' for?" The monsters around here tended to clang and creek loud enough that everyone can hear them coming. This guy must be after something specific. Maybe there's a fight to get into around here.

[mylawn]

He grunts, sort of implying that no, Casey probably doesn't know exactly what he means. "Yeah?"

If 76 sounds skeptical, that's because he is. Still, there's preoccupation in his voice, like he's distracted, something Casey picks up on when he asks what the soldier is looking for.

"Way out, maybe."

Or maybe, a zombie ghost.

[jonesiseverywhere]

"Totally. Don't wanna brag but, I'm kind of a big deal. Ninja clan wars, two alien invasions, shootouts in space, giant mutant rat infestations...kinda seen it all at this point, solider dude."

He says that with the easy confidence of a teenager who's escaped every scrape he's ever been in unharmed.

"You mean outta here?" His gestures sort of encompass the whole Industrial area. "'Cause we can go the way I came in. I can probably remember it."

[mylawn]

Are you ready for another grunt, Casey? Because that’s what you’re getting.

76 is finding this to be a bit too much talking for his taste, and he turns his attention back to their surroundings, still half-expecting to be jumped at any given moment. He gives Casey a sidelong glance.

“I meant out of the arena.”

He’s pretty sure he can find his way out of this zone. What he’s really looking for is a means of actual escape.

[jonesiseverywhere]

The silence must mean he's impressed, right?

"Try straight though Arcade's dumb face. That's how The Reaper's gonna get out of here."

He's also pretty sure it's the only way out. Crazies who build giant murder arenas don't usually build them with back doors.

[mylawn]

Definitely. Definitely impressed. Not. This time, the roll of his eyes is practically audible.

"Quit calling yourself that."

It's really dumb!!!

[jonesiseverywhere]

"What, why? Just 'cause another dude is trying to take that name for himself? 'Cause I had it first and I'm not giving it up."

So there.

[mylawn]

"I don't care what he calls himself."

Maybe he cares a little bit.

"It sounds stupid on him, too."

[jonesiseverywhere]

...That is totally not how an old hardened solider talks. That's more like a 7-year-old who's friend got the toy he wanted. Casey can't help the snort of laughter.

"What happened, did he pull your hair and pass you mean notes during calculus?"

[mylawn]

"He tried to kill me."

Deadpan. Incredibly serious. Sort of the story, but missing a lot of details. It goes much, much deeper.

"Almost managed it."

[jonesiseverywhere]

OK, yeah, Casey's been there. It's not the kind of thing to exactly make you buddy-buddy.

"Well, other Reaper's already got busted once so he's on the Legion's radar, right? Once we're outta here, he's pretty much under wraps."

Listen to that confidence. "Still doesn't mean I gotta change my name."

[mylawn]

“It’s not going to stop him.”

Reaper is both tenacious and unhinged, and 76 knows more than anyone that it’s a dangerous combination. He can only hope that there’s enough of Gabriel Reyes left to have some sense about things. Keep him from doing something exceedingly stupid.

Maybe that’s putting a little too much faith in him.

“Is that what you went by back home?”

[jonesiseverywhere]

"He's still just some guy with smoke powers. I mean, he caught me off guard when I first met him but we can take him now."

Going toe-to-toe with the Shredder already makes everything else seem like cake in comparison. And besides, he's never met anyone who couldn't be defeated in SOME way.

"Nah, I picked it to be a superhero. At home, I'm Casey Jones the vigilante."

[mylawn]

“Uh-huh.”

It’s a little hard for 76 to think of Reaper as ‘just some guy with smoke powers’, given their history, and he doesn’t exactly trust him to kowtow to the Legion—nor does he trust the Legion to be able to properly handle him. Only time will tell, he supposes, but 76 isn’t fond of waiting around. Murderworld might be his chance to deal with Reaper for good, now that the ‘no kill’ rule is lifted, though he imagines the UP still won’t be fond of Legionnaire offing another.

He’ll have to bait Reaper into attacking, make it self-defense. But that’s neither here nor there, nor does it solve the problem of getting out of the arena.

“Fighting aliens, right?”

[jonesiseverywhere]

"What, you don't believe me? Dude, I've taken on aliens, ninja assassins, mutants, criminal scum, ghosts, dream beavers...Probably a buncha stuff I'm forgetting."

Casey's taken to playing with his hockey stick as they walk. Balancing it on his fingers, flipping it around his shoulder, spinning it on his palm...He's bored. It seems like there's no end to this section.

"Everyone's gotta weakness and once we figure his out, moppin' the floor with him'll be cake."

[mylawn]

Those are all very nice thoughts, of course, but 76 is something of a pessimist in this department. It might have something to do with the fact that deep down in his crusty soul, he just wants to bring Gabriel back, no matter how much of an impossibility it seems to be. He knows he’ll try in spite of himself, and he won’t be at all surprised when it gets them both killed.

But that’s neither here nor there. What’s more pressing is the fact that this has turned into a veritable stroll, when the should be exercising significantly more caution than this.

“We should get out of the open.”

C.

[notwithoutafight]

Videl has never hated anything as much as she hates the tundra zone right now.

Oh, being stabbed in the back (figuratively and sort of literally) by members of the U. P. Council was pretty high up there, along with the knowledge that some gross bad guys must have stripped off her clothes while she was captured and unconscious in order to dress her up in this drab survivalist gear. Being beaten to near to death back home and then actually dying later pissed her off too. But none of that held a candle to being stuck in her metal skin in a frozen wasteland.

Which is what she's grumbling about as she crests a hill and spots the snowbank Casey's truck now finds itself in. The biting cold is forgotten for the moment as Videl rushes down the hill towards him.

"Oh, thank God!" she exclaims as when she's within speaking distance. "If I had to climb one more hill without any signs of life in this crappy place, I was going to scream."

Videl is so grateful just to see another living thing that she hasn't considered that her appearance might actually be kind of terrifying right now. Without the inhibitor in her henshin watch, Videl can't control her metal skin, a layer of vibranium replacing every inch of normal skin on her body.

[jonesiseverywhere]

Casey's met too many weirdos who turned out to be cool to react to Videl with much in the way of suspicion. And also he might freeze to death and she's a sign of life. Yeah, last time he got caught in a frozen tundra he had a thermal suit and pals, so he can hope this is one of those two things down.

He can still look surprised at her appearance, though. She's not like any robot he's ever seen, and he's seen a lot of them, but, hey, that's what she has to be, right?

"So, like...if someone stuck their tongue on you, would they get stuck?" He doesn't seem to see how terrible an icebreaker that is, and it's mostly motivated by genuine curiosity. Yeah, everything's going to be fine now. Don't robots work better in the cold anyway?