Holding the ring was hard, really hard. The agriculture was resisting, resisting a lot. Every time Kayla tried to bring the ring in close enough to start choking him, it started getting out of control. It was unlike anything she’d ever experienced, and that was scary. Henry was staring at her as she did it, holding half of an agriculture in his massive hands. Meanwhile, the monster itself was just clawing it its neck. Kayla’s hold was obviously causing it some serious distress even if she couldn’t finish the thing.

The hold, though, was tiring even when she wasn’t trying to choke him. She would have to end this quickly, if she was to win this fight.

Suddenly, Henry roared, and swung the agricultural corpse at the sickly one. The noise startled Kayla so much that she let go of the ring completely, letting the agriculture fall to the ground. It didn’t have much time to recover, though, as the assault corpse hit it, knocking it over. Kayla, seeing her chance to get superiority back, shot a wave of invisible magic at the fallen zappy.

However, her foe was quick. Right after she launched the wave, it pointed its own hand at her, and shot a blast of its own. The two arcane projectiles collided, but rather than stopping each other, Kayla’s attack suddenly became vibrant, red, and very visible, and it didn’t stop moving. The electric attack was devoured completely by the red cloud, which continued straight on, and covered the upper half of the monster. A terrible scream sounded for a second, before fading away rapidly. The glowing cloud lingered for a few moments, before fading to invisible again.

The sight of the zombie’s remains were horrifying. The entire top half of the body was black char, and thinner than any being, living or dead, had any right to be. Kayla suddenly felt a wave of nausea, and her consciousness faded rapidly. She fell backwards, and suddenly felt everything vanish.

The Foreman stood upward, lowering his rifle. He approached the edge of the rooftop and scanned the area, beholding the work of the Zoners. All the Aggressors surrounding the perimeter – dead. The two large ones overseeing the group – also dead. All at the hands of a bunch of otherworldly visitors. Not bad. But a shame some of them... disappeared, from the looks of it. He turned his head towards Miriam and approached her. He set his rifle aside and extended his hand.

Miriam looked down at the extended had, unsure of what to do or how to the react to the strangely familiar gesture. She looked back up to the Foreman's face, and then back down to the hand and slowly and carefully extended it. She had never really interacted with Denizens in her time here, rather than just enjoy being capable of moving around and bully aggressors if she felt like it. But after that, she hadn't really interacted with any of the beings that traversed this zone. Her hand clasped onto his, and seeing that there was no pain in doing so, held on a little more firmly and shook.

After their hands separated, the Foreman turned and leaped off the building, landing on a dumpster just below and then descending to the street. Miriam followed suit with her usual smoke-transformation business. The two crossed the way, turning to see Henry gorging himself on the body of one of the large Aggressors. Standing near him was Bobby, watching in both intrigue and disgust. He turned and raised a hand to Miriam as she walked on by.

The Foreman knelt down and grabbed the legs of one of the dead Aggressors, dragging it along as ascended the steps of the workshop entrance and pushed the doors aside, Miriam following suit. He and Miriam looked around the main room. Tables, desks, shelves, and racks littered the area, stocked to the brim with armaments and ammunition. Around the walls were supposed crafting stations and heavy machinery, all for the making of such weapons. The Foreman dragged the dead Aggressor across the room, towards what looked like a furnace in the back. He opened the grate and lifted the Aggressor, tossing him inside. He shut the grate, pulling a lever on the side. Nothing happened right away, but it could clearly be surmised that he was burning the body for… fuel, supposedly.

The Foreman turned to Miriam and made a gesture with his hands extended towards the array of weapons around the room. Almost as if he was indicating she take whatever she liked. Miriam turned as the Foreman proceeded towards one of the other machines in the room. And that’s when Eli decided to speak up.

"Hey. Miriam. Can you hold up a sec?"

Miriam was in a daze, still a little shocked at the sentience that the beings here seemed to be displaying, now that she began to notice it. She didn't care too much for the weapons. She couldn't use them too much herself. The only one who would care would've been Henry, who was too busy gorging himself to care at the moment. She lazily responded, not really in the mood to think up a snarky response. "Uh, yeah. What do you need?"

"Can you head up the stairs to the second floor? There's something I'd like you to do."

Miriam didn't say anything, rather she just passed by the weapons and up to the second floor, as she was told. The room she came upon was mostly vacant, save for a few tables and shelves stocked with spare parts and miscellaneous items. A row of windows gave view to the waterfront in the distance, letting a good deal of light in.

"The blank wall over at the far end. Walk up to it and hold your hand on it for a bit."

"Wait, why should I do that?"

“One of the Surveyors is going to open it up as a Nexus portal and she needs someone on the other side to make that happen."

"I swear to god Eli..." she said, walking towards and extending her hand to the wall. “You need to tell us this shit beforehand." She finished, touching the wall. A moment of contact, and the wall began to ripple outwards from her hand. The wall began to shift from its crimson array of bricks to dark, foggy void. Miriam grew a confused look on her face as directly across from her, on the other side of the now-translucent wall, a figure appeared, with their arm extended and touching same spot of the wall as her. As the ripples began to die down, the figure came into better view. A woman, standing at Miriam’s height. Shoulder-length, curled, white-blond hair. Pale skin. Piercing blue eyes, coupled with an array of icy veins overlapping most of her face.

She smiled some, waving to Miriam with her free hand before the wall abruptly shined white and receded to its original form. Miriam detached her hand from the wall and backed away. “Is that it?” She said aloud.

”Yeah, you’re good. Now this building is accessible from the Nexus. Should be useful if any of you ever need a weapon.”

Miriam nodded at the thought of weapons. Maybe she wouldn’t be needing any of them anytime soon, but the others? They might like the idea.

”Alright folks. Good job. Think it’s time I pull the rest of you out of there.”

With Eli’s last announcement, the rest of the Zoners felt darkness wash over their vision as they were expunged from the red city.



Eli shut down the neural comm as he stood up, watching the last few Zoners rise from their seats. He smiled and called out, “Like monkeys shot into space!” He walked around and past the console with the container of water bottles tucked under his arm, waving everyone in the room towards him. “All in folks, c’mon.” He said aloud. They gathered around him, some of them taking up his offer for some water. He managed to finally finish off the container.

“Alright.” Eli said, with everyone grouped up, “Good work, people. Great for the inaugural run. Some of you didn’t make it out so well, but that’s perfectly fine.” He paused for a moment and continued, “Uh, Miriam helped set up a new Nexus portal in Zone 1 where our Denizen friend is, let’s call him, uh…. the Foreman. I guess. You’ve got a building stocked with weapons there if you want to try those out next time you’re in. Your reward for helping the guy out.”

He paused and looked around for a moment, before he continued, “I know this has been an… interesting first day, but you guys have made yourselves out to be a reliable team. Whatever happens in the future of this operation, you’re my go-to guys. I’ve got a couple hundred other Zoners to break in, but that’ll be a gradual process. You’ve all earned yourselves a break for the rest of the night, so head upstairs, grab a bite to eat in the cafeteria, whatever. Service bots will whip you up whatever, if they’ve got the right supplies in storage. You can put in a request for anything that’s not there.”

He finished off with, “Now, uh, I got a few things to wrap up myself before I end ops for tonight. You all just head up and do whatever – you need me, I’ll be here.” He turned away from the group and returned to the console as they dispersed.

For a first day? This wasn’t bad.

Wasn’t bad at all.

---

Henry rubbed his head and stumbled out of his seat, generally unhappy with the headache. However, the hunger that drove him before seemed to have waned into nonexistence. Which was definitely a good thing. He stumbled a bit, but managed to steady himself on a desk. Henry didn't have too many friends and it seemed like most of them were much older than him. Enough so as to that he might've been a bit of a nuisance.

He wasn't hungry, or tired really. He was just... Meh. He would probably end up helping Eli out with whatever. And that was fine by him.

Miriam wheeled herself slowly away, a bit groggy but otherwise okay. She didn't suffer the same ailments as the other zoners, rather she felt just fine. Probably because she was on morphine fairly regularly at this point. She would've wheeled away to turn in for the night, to re-enter the zone and enjoy her time while it lasted, but she remembered something from the zone that gnawed at her curiosity too much for her to forget about.

"Eli," she said suddenly. "What... Who was that?" She questioned. Henry cocked his head to the side inquisitively. "When I touched the wall someone waved to me. Looked like my opposite or something. White hair, blue veins..." She explained. "I've never seen that before."

Henry looked to Eli with an equally curious expression. He had heard him talk to some woman, with whispers of site B, whatever that was. Were these people...

"You had my curiosity. Now you have my attention."

Kayla felt like she was going to sleep very quickly for a few seconds, but then she was suddenly rapidly being brought back into the world. Except.. she wasn’t on the reddish stone that made up the streets of the city anymore. She was sitting in a very comfortable chair, and a good third of her vision was clear again. So she didn’t have the mask on anymore, good. At least people could see her face now. Kayla looked down.

Kayla was in the dress she wore in REM sleep for some reason, and a few of the other people in the room were staring at her. Kayla’s face heated up so fast it looked like someone put a mask on, and she fervently tried to get her suit back to being the uniform everyone else was wearing. It flipped around between all of the colors in her panic, and she couldn’t remember what the number hers had had was, but eventually she settled for the red 128. Hopefully nobody noticed the multicolored blur that accompanied her changing styles. Normally in this situation, she would want to talk to as many people as possible so she could get to know them, but right now, she just hoped nobody would notice her.

---

Cat's out of the bag.

"That was Molly." Eli said to Henry and Miriam, "My girlfriend."

Henry's jaw dropped and Miriam seemed genuinely confused. "Wait a minute, how come the only person who knows who that is, does get to-" Henry began, only for Miriam to overshadow him. "Shut the hell up Henry... Eli, you have a girlfriend? Your girlfriend is a ZONER?"

"One of the first three, actually." Eli replied, "She's on the surveillance team with Hector and Kenneth."

"Woah woah woah," Miriam said. "Who are Hector and Kenneth?" She said. "Like, Henry seems to know whats going on but I dont. Start from the beginning please."

"Molly, Hector, and Kenneth are the first three Zoners in existence. They got their links when we first fired up the Nexus Projector and discovered the Zones. Molly's linked to Zone 1, Hector's got 2, and Ken's in 3."

"Well why arent they here with us then?" Miriam questioned. "Why arent they helping us out instead of just waving?"

"They are helping." Eli said with a bit of a lower tone, "They're... full-time Zoners. They keep tabs on everything that happens in each Zone. Something big pops up, they tell me about it, and then I send you folks in for the kill."

Miriam shook her head and wheeled off. Henry seemed genuinely upset. "Next time," he said, pointing to Eli, "...next time you contact her, let me talk. I have a lot of questions."

"You have questions, you can ask me." Eli retorted. He peered over Henry's shoulder, over where the one girl - Kayla - was.

And her little wardrobe malfunction.

"You just go do whatever." Henry said, passing Henry. "I've gotta take care of something."

No uniform violations allowed here.

---

@Empour

Nigel doesn't remember much after resting against the edge, except that he was there waiting for his claw to grow back. It didn't. But at the very least, He regained control of his wings, even if they ached. Suddenly, as Nigel tried to get up, He felt a small amount of grogginess and... Disconnection. Then his vision went to black and then to white.

When Nigel regained consciousness, he was in his physical, human form. He also felt extremely nauseous. Is this a side-effect of these god-awful chairs? Nigel thought, squirming uncomfortably. Quickly after pushing out of his chair, The man controlling the Nexus came over and handed him a bottle of water before scurrying off towards the over Zoners. Well deserv- Ugh... Processed... Nigel thought with a look of disgust clear across his face. He reluctantly swallowed a mouthful before walking out of the door and back up into the Cafeteria, before the rest of the group. He didn't want to mingle with his "Team mates".

Nigel wanted to write about the nexus in his Journal. Honestly, the nexus was revolutionary to him, even though he'd never admit it. After reaching the Cafeteria, Nigel populated the least crowded table and pulled out his journal, the only thing that made it with him to this jail-barrack hybrid of a building.

When opening the leather bound Journal, Nigel flicked past pages of writing and sketches from his previous "dreams" and, after around 100 pages, found a fresh page. After taking a simple, ball point pen secured to the spine of the book, He neatly titled the page "The nexus and red city" and he started to write about Zone 1's atmosphere and landscape, about the Aggressors and Denizens and finally, about the comparisons between his form in his dreams and in the nexus.

Finally on the opposite page, He began to sketch out an aggressor. Specifically, the slender one that got away.

@ScarlettWaters16 @Twisted Fate

Bobby came to feeling almost exactly like he had gone out drinking, failed to pick up, and came home to pass out in his chair. Churning unease in his stomach, and an ache behind his eyes like the physical sensation of a mosquito's whine. Nearby, most of the other Zoners were already up and moving, while Henry, Miriam and a guy he didn't know were just waking up now, having left the Zone the same time he did. A few of the others looked paler and less steady on their feet than Bobby felt. Maybe they'd had rougher exits from the Red City than he did; or then again, since a lot of them were kids, maybe the weren't as practised at conquering a hangover as he was.

Bobby stood, stretched extensively, and took a bottle of water when it was offered to him. He drank conservatively, not sure how his stomach would handle it, and made his way out of the dream dungeon when he was dismissed with the others. The nausea was passing and Bobby was actually fairly hungry - but he felt like he ought to make sure his team-mates from the City were okay, given that one had vanished altogether and the other had voluntarily clocked out with a serious looking leg wound. He knew he could recognise Jazz, as he'd met her earlier that morning in the cafeteria. He had to hope that Jared looked relatively similar to his Nexus form - maybe a blonde, blue-eyed guy? Probably not transparent. He eventually picked Jazz out from the crowd, and approached her.

"Hey there," he said, patting her on the shoulder. "Thanks for your help with Heavy back there." He smiled, quite charmingly now that he didn't have horns and a mouth full of giant chompers. "Feelin' better now?" After a moment, he added, "Any idea who Twinkle is out here?"

---

@Jabking
Nora, meanwhile, had no particular desire to spend time bonding with her fellow Zoners - she'd left the subterranean chamber as soon as it seemed to be acceptable for her to do so. Half-empty bottle of water still in hand, the blonde made her way back up the various stairs to the cafeteria. There were a fair number of people milling around up here - most of the non-volunteers from this morning seemed to be cluttering up the place, and a few of her peers from below had made it up ahead of her by using the elevators. She milled about uncertainly before filling a small plate with unattended sandwich meat and sitting down to eat it one piece at a time, rolling it into little cylinders before popping each one into her mouth.

When she became bored of this, she abandoned the plate of miscellaneous salamis and looked around for something to interest her. A few tables over, there was a young man with shaggy dark hair writing or drawing in a notebook - which was somewhat peculiar, since as far as she knew they had all been abducted in the night in their jim-jams. Nora herself was fortunate to have kept her lucky bone, which had been in the breast pocket of her pyjama shirt. It was now safely tucked away in the pocket of her scrubs pants, where she could fiddle with it whenever she wanted.

Nora approached the man with the notebook, bending her tall form to look over his shoulder at what he was drawing. Was that a picture of the Ram? With her usual disregard for personal space, she spoke from only a few inches away from him, one hand on the back of his chair, the other in her pocket. "Which one are you?" She knew he wasn't one of the group of three that had tracked the Ram-helmeted Aggressor, but she hadn't paid much attention to the Zoners who must have gone on the other mission. "I don't recognise you from the brutal defeat."

Jazz Berdeen

Jazz smiles weakly up at Bobby. "Ey Bobby," she says quietly. "I'm doing better. I'm just glad that wounds don't transfer from the Zone to real life. Though I'm not sure that this is real life anymore." She grins at him. "My wound will be gone when I go back into the Zones though." He asks about Jared and she looks around, looking for the blue eyed guy that was with Bobby in the Zone. "I really don't know where-" Suddenly she sees the familiar face shape of the young man from the Zone. "Oh. He's over there. By the way, do you know what his real name is? I never heard it. And I don't think I'll be calling him Twinkle, like you are."

She smiles at Bobby and walks over to Jared, approaching him cautiously since it seems like he is kind of angry. She looks at him closely and sort of recognizes him from the Zone. "Hi..." she says quietly. "Are you the guy that was with us in the Zone?" She knows that the question sounds weird, but she does not really recognize anyone with their regularly form. "I'm the bird woman? If you remember me..." She smiles softly at him.

@Stairdweller
@Twisted Fate

---

Ursula's expedited breathing and guzzling of water helped to calm her ragged nerves. She still felt as if she had just been passed through a blender on the puree setting, every nerve in her body frazzled, frayed and burnt out in that order. The sound of a hot meal, or any meal for that matter, sounded like being allowed through St. Peter's gate on its own. With beaten determination, she bustled off to the eatery. Cafeteria. She wasn't in the correct mindset to be remembering anything except how to move her mouth and shuffle her feet, and once she reached the cafeteria, received some food and sat down, she was thankful that at least those functions were still intact. Ursula couldn't tear her mind from the terrible beating they received from the Ram. They were doing so well, Nora, Malcolm and herself.

She sighed, rolling her shoulder in its socket as she felt her muscles pulling, tight with tension. She must have been all clenched up when she was in the Nexus Projector. Picking up the spoon that came with her tray, she scooped up a spoonful of... what had she even grabbed? Some sort of meat... soup? Regardless, she scooped up a spoonful of meaty broth and munched it down, mumbling to herself. "Seriously whatdafugguugu-" Gulping hard, she removed her glasses and placed them at her side, before rubbing at the bridge of her nose. "Chili. Duh. Thank god it ain't Mystery Meat."

There she sat, alone. The calm, cold environment of the complex wasn't all that bad now that she was over the initial panic. The purpose didn't seem overly malicious, and they were being catered for well enough. Her family's wellbeing was still a major concern though. One that needed to be tended to before she would be able to cooperate again in this crazy project. That involved getting some answers. She spooned the last of her chili into her mouth, wiped with a napkin and donned her cracked glasses once more before dumping her tray with the other used trays and moving off towards where she last saw the ringleader, Elias.

She found him in short-order and made no delays in laying her concerns bare. Her voice was soft and passive, but concerned. "Mr. Eli, sir. Had a question burnin' me up for a little while and I'm feeling that after what just happened, I'm owed a bit of an answer," She took a short breath and continued. "When you said earlier that our families were being 'taken care of', what'd you mean by that?"

@SepticGentleman

@ScarlettWaters16 @GingerBoi123 @UrbanEvolution

Jared was pissed. He was also quite content with that, having a silent vent against the wall with nobody disturbing him. Of course, it didn't last for long as he heard someone speak behind him. He turned around to see an obviously athletic teenager, offering to teach him some fighting techniques.
"I mean, yeah man!" Jared said enthusiastically. "I reckon I've got some in-zone training lined up with that Miriam chick - as soon as I get around to asking her - but you obviously look like you know what you're talking about." He grasped the guys shoulder briefly in a offer of friendship.
"Just let me know whenever you want to get down to anything, it's not like there's much else to do around here." He laughed and moved away slightly. "Yeah, I'll catch you later man, thanks again for your offer - you're literally a lifesaver."

He moved a couple of steps away, scanning the room for anyone that looked like they might have cancer. He was interrupted again, however.
"Hi... Are you the guy that was with us in the Zone? I'm the bird woman, if you remember me..."
She seemed almost uncomfortable talking to him, but she was definitely recognizable. He would have noticed her as the bird woman even if she hadn't said anything, though he did think to himself that she looked a hell of a lot more attractive in real life without any of the feathers.
"Yeah." He said, extending his hand. "If you mean Twinkle, that's me. Not my real name obviously, but it'll do for now." He grinned apologetically. "No offence intended, I just... I don't know. Guess I just don't really want to get too attached to anyone, if there's a chance we're all going to die here."
He scanned the room again quickly, not spotting anyone with obvious signs of cancer.
"Hey," He said abruptly. "You wouldn't happen to have seen anyone who looked, like, really ill around here by any chance?"

"Great!" Malcolm replied to Jared, who seemed just as keen. "Just, uhhh, let me know when you want to get started!" Malcolm said. With that, Jared and himself parted ways. Malcolm quickly realised he'd have to eat something, especially after his... removal of what was left in his stomach anyway. Malcolm got to the elevator and made his way to the cafeteria. The food looked all right, not slop or anything but neither was it a kings feast. Oh well... Malcolm happily grabbed a bowlful of chilli and set his sights on a table. Then the word Ram hit his ears like a dump truck. He turned to whoever mentioned and swiftly made his way over. "Hi..." Malcolm said, greeting the two (@Stairdweller&@Jabking). "I overheard something about a Ram Aggressor? I'm Malcolm, the guy with the gloves. Were you two there as well?" He asked. Malcolm quickly gazed at the guy's notebook and peered over. "Cool." He mentioned, but as he leant over, a bit of chilli slipped out of his bowl, splattering the table. Some of the tomato juice went over the notebook page, nothing major but a real distraction on the page. This was not good... "Shit!" Malcolm exclaimed. "I'm so sorry man, I'll uhhh, get some tissue?" He asked apologetically.

Suddenly, Ellie was walking towards her, directly towards her. It was like nothing ever got in his way, as though everything just KNEW he was coming and got out of the way hours beforehand. He was standing over her in an instant, far faster than he had been walking.

“What do you think you’re wearing?” He called out as he approached. Not in a blaring, authoritative way, but… well, stern but fair. He stood before Kayla and awaited an answer.

To Kayla, though, it may as well have been as though he was demanding it at gunpoint. She struggled to answer the looming form and sank back into her seat a little.

“My, uh, my uniform...” she let out, softly. Hopefully she could get out of this alive.

“No, that’s…” He paused for a moment. “A… Miz, Miza- look, I can’t remember the name, the point is... that’s not what I had set up in all your personal bathrooms. I’m sorry if you prefer what you’ve got on now but, you have got to change into one of the ones I gave you. Wanna know why?”

Kayla’s lack of response was taken for an affirmative.

“All these uniforms are made out of the same synthetic fibers.” Eli responded, “They’ve all got physical signatures recognized on my personal network, which the service bots operate on. So they normally won’t recognize anyone not wearing one. And given the sensitive nature of this, uh, operation? They will take drastic action if it happens repeatedly. So far it looks like you managed to confuse their sensors, but please. For both your sake and mine, go change. Okay?”

Once again, Kayla didn’t respond. Eli would normally have waited for a response, but at that moment, someone called for him. He did a double-take and turned back to Kayla. “I mean it.” He said, nodding, and finally turning away, leaving her all by her lonesome.

It was probably too quiet to hear, but Kayla mumbled out as he walked away, “But I can’t take it off...”
The suit couldn’t be taken off by normal means, which is why it was so important that it cleaned itself, and her while it was at it. The only part of her body that Kayla had to wash when she bathed was her head and her hands. She would have to figure out how to get the robots to not beat her up somehow..

Kayla’s panic was fading, and for once in what felt like ages she let herself relax. Everyone around her were in good discussion, and she wasn’t going to be kicked out of the.. club? There was no reason to be scared. At all. She would just have to talk to the ruler of the robots and get them to not beat her up. That’s all.

She looked around. There were lots of people, but nobody seemed to want to talk to her. Who should she talk to?

---

“If you were under the impression we killed them, you’re wrong.” Eli said to Ursula, “Somniatis has cells of agents working around the clock keeping your families isolated and doped on amnesiacs on a mediated basis. They’re none the wiser that you’re gone and they won’t realize how long it’s been when you get back.”

Ursula's lip curled, confusion washing over her features in a wave, "So you're saying... You've doped them? Like, hardcore coma doping?" Her hand went to her forehead and she shook in disbelief, "Is... Is that even legal? Is that- no, that doesn't matter. All I need to know is if they are okay. Will I be able to see them?"

"Yes." Eli responded, "They are fine. We know their medical records and we're careful with the dosages."

"But," she reached out, gripping his arm and pulling weakly, "Will I be able to see them? Just to ease my worries?"

"Not until we're done here."

For a moment her eyes widen, before she dons a look akin to a hurt kitten. She nods, sullen expression dropping to the floor. "Y-yeah. Okay. Not until we're done. Just as long as you say they are alright."

"They are. Trust me."

Ursula’s detached her hand from Eli’s arm. He passed by her, returning to the console.

---

Henry, for the mean time, was content on just watching Eli work, or annoying him as he did so. He, for a long time, had kept a little sketchbook on one of the desks not too far away that Eli had gotten for him when he asked. He sat there, sketching out Eli's tall frame as he worked with the console, taking extra care to work on the slum he had begun to develop.

"So Eli," Henry began, looking up from his paper and pencil to his older friend. "I was thinking..."

"That's dangerous."

Henry, not breaking at all, despite Eli's snipe, continued talking. "I was thinking, I've been here for a while, I did a pretty good job in the zone I think... Do you think you could get me a float hat?l

There was a pause.

"Like the kind with the little corks attached to strings all the way arou-" Henry explained, only for Eli to raise his hand. "I know what you're talking about Henry. Why would you want that?"

Henry was silent for a moment, pondering his response before shooting up to a standing position and his sketchbook and pencil tumbling off his lap. "Keeping up moral of course!" He very nearly yelled. "Comedic relief, to keep everyone in the fighting spirit!"

There was another pause.

"Henry, fuck off."

Henry laughed and sat back down, collected his stuff to continue his sketch.

---

"Command, take me to my room. My name is Miriam Grant."

The robot made some perfect and curt response that Miriam didn't listen to, and began pushing her wheelchair forward. She wasn't feeling particularly well anymore. She would need to lie down for a little bit. Definitely. Cancer, from what she'd experienced, was a horrid thing. It wasnt the illness itself, she could deal with feeling sick, it was the treatment, and drugs, and general pain it was. She still, after many years of fighting, felt confined in her own skin. Her stubborn soul was not content with this body but would hold on until it either had the power to change that or get punted out.

As she was wheeled down the hall she heard someone ask another about whether or not they'd seen someone who was seriously ill. She ground her teeth and cast a look in the voice's direction. And it was... Twinkletoes. Fucking...

"Stop."

She suddenly came to a complete stop. She wanted to see if there was anything she needed to hear.

---

@Twisted Fate

@GingerBoi123
@Stairdweller

---

Downtrodden and worn out, Ursula's only thought now was on getting into that cold steel torture rack of a bed and waiting for the sweet release of sleep. She ambled away from Eli, lump rising within her throat as she distanced herself from the Nexus Projectors and the cafeteria. She nudged past some of the other Zoners, all looking as tired and beaten down as she was. Weakly, she spared a wave at those that she woke up with, Malcolm and Nora. She could talk with them a bit later, for now all she would be able to do is babble. They were occupied enough as it is, socializing with the others, Ursula would more than have her chance later if Eli's statement was to be believed.

On the subject of her room, Ursula could recall only following the green line upon the floor. A green line which, when looked at in reverse, seemed like it would branch out to all the other rooms. A nudge of her palm adjusted her glasses, the cracked mosaic lenses now helping her to search for a sign or a map. Maybe they had some sort of directory around here. "Big ol' government complex, and they can't even have some kind of information kiosk. Maybe some of those little fold-out map-pamphlets." Ursula let out a sighing laugh. Maybe she spoke a bit too loud, as the whirring of rotors dopplered over to stop behind her. A quick turn on her heel revealed the glowering faceplate of a service drone. Its visor flashed as it identified her uniform and lifted its head. Its faceplate betrayed no emotion as it spoke, "I am Service Drone #54, your robotic assistance unit within the complex."

Ursula flared her nostrils as she exhaled sharply. The damn bots can sneak now. Wonderful. She spoke in a stammer, "Uh, hi... #54. I'm Ursula?" More a question than a statement, as if she were just as unsure as this android before her. She cautiously extended her hand in greeting, but the drone had a sudden interjection. "I heard a sound of distress. What seems to be the problem. Ursula." The tones and inflections were unnervingly artificial, unusually cheerful. Her name sounded like it was tacked on to the sentence like a tail to a paper donkey. She adjusted her glasses, pushing on the bridge of her nose. "I uh... how do I get back to my room?"

The drone immediately turned and advanced down the cold, green-lined corridor. "Please follow me to your private quarters." It said, voice fading with the distance it was quickly covering. Ursula had to jump into a power-walk to keep up. It was a short trip, some stairs and more than a few corners before they reached the slightly familiar room. The drone stood next to the door as it scanned her and opened accordingly, beeping in the affirmative. "You have reached your destination." The drone chirped, before nodding and leaving in just as much a rush as it came. Ursula was left slightly out of breath and puzzled as she shuffled into her room, the door shutting tight behind her. Quick movements and flicks of her limbs got her uniform off quick enough, permeated with sweat as they were. She left them where they fell upon the floor, no time for folding and organizing when you're about to collapse. The cold steel torture rack parallel was true even now, as her bare skin touched both the steel beneath the minuscule mattress and the itchy sheets above her. She didn't even bother taking her glasses off as she slipped into a coma-like slumber.

---

@Stairdweller @GingerBoi123
Nigel nearly jumped as a random question was fired his way and, quickly after the near heart attack, he slammed his journal shut. Turning around, he saw this fairly sized women with bright blonde hair stand in front of him, waiting for a response. "Do you mind? I was busy... And what do you mean by 'which one' or 'defeat'?" Nigel said in an irritated tone, backed up with a scowling expression.

"No, I didn't mind, the chair-backs in this cafeteria are just the right height for leaning." Her tone was completely serious, even slightly friendly, indicating that she had completely missed the connotation of the phrase 'do you mind.' "What I meant by 'which one' was I don't recognize you from the Red City. I was wondering which one you were, in the Zone. What you looked like. For example, I was the cyborg with one extra-long metal arm and mismatched eyes? By 'defeat' I was referring to when I and two other Zoners were brutally killed by the Ram, the screaming Aggressor with the ram helmet and exploding feet - I thought that was the one you were drawing."

Before Nigel could even answer the clueless, lost cause of a Zoner, A small splatter of Tomato Juice hit his Journal, causing his heart to drop for the second time in 5 minutes. Shit!" A male voice exclaimed. "I'm so sorry man, I'll uhhh, get some tissue?" Nigel turned, anger and all, towards the source of the voice. A macho looking man looked back at him. "How dare you" Nigel Barked venomously. "this Journal is priceless... It was worth more than your petty exsistance!" He continued in absolute rage.

Woah... That was... uncalled for. "Hey, I said I'm sorry." Malcolm replied, "Is that... necessary?" Malcolm asked the clearly self-absorbing guy.

"Yes, that was necessary" Nigel replied, still angry, "You and you sloppy, careless demeanour nearly ruined something incredible." There was a moments pause which gave Nigel the opportunity to calm down a bit. "But of course, It's natural for your primitive mind to want to destroy something better than yourself... So in future, please reframe from acting by instinct alone" Nigel commented in a snide tone.

That was it, time to put this impetuous prick in his place. No matter who he was. Malcolm set his bowl down on the table and pushed Nigel. "Want to start something!?" Malcolm yelled. "I'll tell you something, you think you can talk the talk, but you're all bark and no bite." Malcolm said, spitefully. "Now put 'em up and prove you're a man!" He challenged as he swung both fists up into a fighting pose.

Nora stepped away from the chair. "I don't have any particular opinion on the worthiness of Malcolm versus that notebook. I'm not actually interested in your fighting." She reached into her scrubs pocket and removed a metal spork. One of the tines was slightly bent. "I would really prefer to have a civilized conversation," she said neutrally.

Nigel responded to the mans challenge by putting his hands close to his face, but he did so in a more relaxed way. Nigel never backed down from a challenge, especially from a commoner. He also took careful precautions with the women next to him who was also ready to defend herself. Hopefully, he wouldn't die to a simple piece of cutlery.

Nigel decided to take the lead by attacking the man with an agile, unpredictable jab aimed at the man's nose. As a wise hunter once said,'He who hesitate, is Lunch' Nigel thought, trying to justify his cheap shot.

Malcolm was taken aback and leant backwards, ignoring Nora's words, while at the same time bringing his arms into a block. By dragging out the time it took his opponent to make contact, it gave Malcolm the opportunity to block the punch. Malcolm took a couple of steps back from the recoil (damn, he punched fast.) However Malcolm had managed to make some distance and create more opportunities. Malcolm decided to wait for the right time. The perfect moment. He planned to take this punk out in one punch.

Nora sighed and slipped the spork back into her pocket. Apparently neither of the boys wanted to listen to reason. This, however, presented no actual problem for the blonde; she just turned on her heel and sat down in the next chair over from the confrontation, so Malcolm was facing her but the other guy had his back to her. She then furtively swiped the notebook that had started all the fuss and began nonchalantly flipping through the pages.

Nigel quickly retracted his jab and stepped towards his opponent, giving him no time to think (Not that it would help the Neanderthal). He quickly attempted to swing around the opponent's block with a left punch which had equal speed to his initial jab. Hopefully he wouldn't be lucky enough to block or dodge that.

Hmph, all attack. Time to bust this guy up. A simple hook from Nigel allowed Malcolm to duck. His opponent's gut was completely open, so Malcolm capitalised on the opportunity. Malcolm attacked with a right hook, doubling Nigel over, which Malcolm responded by snapping his right quickly back in place and used a left cross to the head, placing Nigel on the floor. Not quite the one punch knock-out he hoped for but it'll do. That's when cold clamps trapped both of his wrists and Nigel's. "DESIST! DESIST!" Metallic voices repeated as two service bots wrestled for control over the two zoners. They were both escorted back to their rooms. The doors unmovable for the night as it was time for rest. At least that's all they could do anymore.

Nora watched the Service Bot takedown with a sort of detached interest, making a note of how quickly they responded to put a stop to physical violence. This seemed like it could he useful information in the future - although it would help if she could see a few more examples to come to a conclusion. Maybe she could find a way to instigate another fight without actually becoming involved?

With both of the fighters dragged away to their quarters, Nora mentally declared herself the winner. No surprise there, really. She flipped through the journal a little more before pocketing it and eventually wandering back to her room for the night.

---

@ScarlettWaters16
Bobby was satisfied that the two early-exit Zoners were apparently fine; Jazz seemed a bit tired and upset, while Twinkle was busy chasing down the emaciated cancer patient.

"Look, let me know if you need anything, okay?" he said, trying to come across as fatherly. "I'm gonna head off, but none of us have real far to get away to. My last name's Smith, if you need to find me."

The cafeteria was moderately crowded when he got there, though he missed the fight by a few minutes. He quickly ate a bowl of chilli and another of salad, then headed back to his room to do some callisthenics before bed.

---

Miriam shook her head. He didn't look like he had anything to say anymore. That was fine. "Keep going, I'm tired." Miriam said. The robot complied, and promptly wheeled her off to her designated spot of rest, and assisted her in her bathing and nightly routine before bed. It was much faster with the robot, which was nice. But she couldn't help but feel like she was at risk of being shocked to death the whole time. She wasn't scared of course. It would've just been prolonging the inevitable.

When she shut her eyes for the night and reopened them in the zone she appeared back where she had disappeared from the Nexus, in the Foreman's building. Time for some exploring.

---

Henry stretched his arms and scratched the back of his head, a wide yawn rising from his throat. He set his pencil and paper down and closed his notepad. "Well, I'm gonna hit the hay Eli," he announced, standing up from the chair he was in and walking over to the operator. "I'll alert the media." was the curt response. Henry said nothing, rather he placed his sketch of Eli on his desk next to him. "Get some sleep, would you? You look like shit." he said, before turning around and walking out of the room. Henry had been here for a while now, it wasn't hard for him to navigate the halls and corridors of the facility. Hell, he'd probably be able to do it with his eyes closed by now.

When he got to his room, he has sketches pinned up everywhere, and a huge drawing of himself in the Zone on one wall that looked relatively accurate in size made of several sheets of paper. It was gargantuan. Writings were on the wall and it was a general mess, but a few books were left in the corner, that he had asked Eli to get for him. Snacks and, he was hoping for a mini fridge at some point. He waddled over to his book shelf and quickly changed, then brushed his teeth, looking forward to the power trip he was soon to receive. He loved to sleep, ever since it started happening.

When he fell asleep he came back upon the corpse of a large beast, with several smaller scavengers around it. They turned their various heads to see the gargantuan, nearly three story tall monster that had suddenly just materialized before them. The creature's scarlet red eyes, which left a trail like that of the creatures that bled in from zone two, beat it's chest with one of it's arms and released an indomitable cry, it's jaw lighting up in an orange, then blue flame, which powered forward like a jet-stream onto the unfortunate creatures in it's path, lighting them and the surrounding forest itself with an orange and red flame.

Nobody talked to her. Nobody. At. All.

Kayla was upset. Really upset. Not only had she had to see the most disgusting ashy bleh at her own hands, been told the service robots would beat her up on sight, and told she had to go around naked, but now nobody would talk to her either. This was turning out to be an awful day. Even though she had essentially been lying down most of the day, she was exhausted. Really exhausted. So exhausted she wanted to go to sleep, turn her suit to warmclean mode, and nothing else.

She made her way over to the doorway, and suddenly saw the service robots fly towards her- or, well, past her. They started screaming something about hating something, and came out of a cloud of limbs tightly hugging two struggling male people. They completely ignored her. The robots. And the people. Both of them. And the people behind them.

Why was everyone ignoring her?

Oh well. She would go to bed, go to sleep, and try to think of how to get everyone to like her the next day.

Now, the room she was supposed to be in, it was supposed to be up the next floor..

Wait. All the rooms looked exactly the same. Which one was the one she came in from?

Kayla looked around. If she remembered correctly, she followed the color to the elevator from the left and around a corner, so..

Kayla eventually found herself facing one of the doors, which yet again, refused to notice her until she was jumping in the air waving her arms. Once it opened, she saw that the inside was exactly as she remembered, down to the perfectly made bed she left. Relief flooded through her, she was finally back and able to sleep. It took her much longer than she had expected to find the room, but she was finally back. Finally. Kayla mentally poked at her suit to go into warmclean mode, and slipped into the bed.

Sleep quickly overcame her as the lights flicked off automatically.