[IC] Cold Front: Antarctica (Completed)

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Survived: 3/5 (Ana, April, Niels)
Murdered: 1/5 (Reno)
Lynched: 1/5 (Lauren)

[ButtsnBalls]

_{Partially cloudy, -58°C/-72°F outside}

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It had been twenty hours since Dr. Sarah van der Meer disappeared, and two hours since someone found Jerry Hsu dead, strangled in his own office. The weather outside was relatively calm, though patches of clouds were conjoining in the night sky and the winds were picking up speed. The base itself was running smoothly; fuel was plenty, indoor heating was comfortable, and all the scientific apparatuses worked the way their users wanted them to be. However, none of the five remaining occupants were at ease. They gathered in the cafeteria, glancing at the projector that played Jerry Hsu's last message.

"Look, Van der Meer's gone for eighteen hours." The figure of Jerry in the video addressed his webcam. He was still wearing his winter coat and knit cap, likely just arrived inside. "I know she's creepy, observing us like lab rats, but we suppose to keep in touch every day cycle, right? Social well-being and all that. I searched everywhere for her, main buildings, bunkers, astro and weather labs, nothing."

"I'm worried, look, there's something Van der Meer and I discussed." Jerry paused for a second, drinking from his bottle of vitamin water. Then he took off his cap and wiped away a thin layer of sweat from underneath. "The committee's worried that there's a, uh, trouble individual among us. Van der Meer saw the psych report before the committee took it with them on the last plane out. Name's redacted, but she's pretty sure this person is with us, and likely very dangerous."

"Hopefully I'm just overreacting here. If I'm not, then we have to find this problematic individual, and remove them before any harm is done. Let's meet and talk about it in...two hours or so." Jerry brought his watch into view and set it two hours from then. He took off his puffy coat and readjusted the webcam to focus on his face. "Got to watch our backs, but we can't stay awake all the time; have to power down most of the base during night cycles, or we'll run out of fuel before relief comes."

"I'm going upload this video to the base net right now, in case something happens to me." Jerry looked uncertain in the video. He leaned back, revealing that he was sitting in the executive chair of his office. He took his trademark pink fidget spinner from the table and gave it a couple of spins. "Well, ok, wait, who is it?"

Jerry Hsu suddenly glanced back and leaned out of view. There were sounds of door opening, and then, the video stopped.

[Red7VII]

"Creepy," Reno said, the first to break the silence within the group as he sat at one of the cafeteria tables. It was unsettling seeing dead men talk. When the video finished, he pulled out a cigarette and stuck it in his mouth before looking at everyone. If someone voiced disapproval, they could shove it where the sun don't shine. A man was dead and no one knew who did it. He fumbled around his pockets for his zippo and, once he gripped it, torched the cig.

"So ol' boy's sayin' we got some sorta psycho livin' among us." he reiterated, inhaling the smoke through his mouth and exhaling out his nostrils. "Y'know I heard some fumblin' last night. I even went up to check on it. Person I looked in on wasn't in their room, though." His eyes shifted over to Marine Biologist. "What was you up to last night anyway, April?"

[Zoey Boey]

Lauren C. Watson

Lauren nervously ran her fingers through her brown hair and down her face. Sitting at the cafeteria table, her knee was bouncing up and down as she tapped her heel against the tiled floor. The mechanical engineer was clearly very tense. She wanted to grieve over the loss of Jerry, but it was clear from te atmosphere of the entire base that there wasn't time. Not yet, anyway. For Jerry was evidently murdered. "God help us..."

The brunette whispered under her breath. Gripped in her right hand was a steaming cup instant-coffee, and when the video ended she dropped her gaze and made eye contact with herself in it's dark, murky reflection. The woman staring back at her from her coffee was, apparently, the only person she could trust.

Lauren had seen the body during the commotion, and she couldn't get the sight of Jerry like that out of her head.

Looking up from her coffee, she listened fully to what Reno was saying, and the normally innocuous question had a weighty, terrible implication. She grimaced and looked away, and her gaze fell onto Niels. Trying to break the almost immediate tension in the conversation, she tried to say something positive. What came out was a feeble, desperate, evidencelss claim of Niels' innocence. Somehow, saying Niels wasn't a murderer meant April must be good, too.

"Niels was...I saw you yesterday evening, right Niels? We talked for a little bit. You went into your room to bed down for the night. You weren't..." The murderer. That's what Lauren stopped herself from saying. Because that still was impossible. Despite all the evidence, it seemed impossible that they were in this situation.

[Duthguy]

Niels Timmermans

Niesl still couldn't believe it both van der Meer and Hsu were dead, all because the committee allowed a psychopath to go somewhere desolated and known to be stressful. "Niels was...I saw you yesterday evening, right Niels? We talked for a little bit. You went into your room to bed down for the night. You weren't..." "Yeah, We talked for a bit." He stared at Reno, he understood the man's suspicion and while it was hypocritical to accuse him without evidence while also angry at him for the same thing he still decided to speak his mind. "In fact I think the custodian would have the easiest time out of all us when it comes to hiding van der Meer's body and sneaking around to kill people."

[Red7VII]

"Shee-yit" Reno said with a southern drawl, disappointed with the accusation. "If you think I did it, you're either insane or paranoid. Or just tryin' to cover your own tracks." It's safe to say that they were all a bit paranoid at this point, but Niels seemed moreso than the rest, currently. He ran his fingers through his own hair as he looked down at the table before him. "I gotta admit, though, I may be in the same boat."

He looked over to Lauren. "And it's a little naive of you to think ol' Neils ain't the psycho just cuz the two o' ya had a talk. There's a lotta hours in the night."

He took another puff of his cigarette and then looked to April again, who seemed to be unusually timid. "Penny for your thoughts?"

[NorthernKraken]

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April had seen death before.

Her grandmother, calm and still after years of sickness and torment. Her mum hadn’t wanted her to see, had told her to wait in the Costa coffee downstairs and help Mattie keep an eye on Leo and Hannah.

She hadn’t.

Morbid curiosity mixed with disbelief, and she’d ducked away when Mattie was distracted by one of the twins’ infamous scuffles. Her canvas pumps had squeaked as she walked, mostly unnoticed by the busy hospital staff, those that did assuming she belonged. To this day, the smell of disinfectant took her back there – peering through the crack in the door, hospital staff in pressed and starched uniforms unplugging and wheeling away the machines that had been hooked into her granny for months at that point, so long April could hardly remember what she looked like without them.

Gone were the tubes and the wires now though, the machine that had been her heart, and the one that had been her lungs wheeled away, chords wrapped around a leg, ready to keep somebody else’s Granny Jane alive. When April’s eyes finally fell upon the figure lying in the bed, it was as if a screen had been pulled away, and suddenly, she saw her granny for what she’d been all along.

She’d looked so unbearably small, all alone in that bed, and April couldn’t think of anything better to do than cry.

She hadn’t cried when she saw Jerry. Face bloated and pale, fingers slack in the arms of his chair, pink fidget spinner, abandoned, lying on the floor where it’d fallen. She hadn’t cried, because all she’d wanted was to run to the bathroom down the hall and heave her guts up.

April had seen death before, but never like this.

Death had been old and peaceful, not young and violent. Death left smiling pictures of your loved one before they’d gotten too old and sick to smile, not videos with terrified colleagues and ominous warnings. Death lived in churches. Crematoriums. Hospitals. Not the cafeteria, played out on the flickering projector that just months before had displayed the orientation speech.

April let the conversation wash over her. In her head, Jerry was laughing, watching their expressions as he switched on the disco lights for the first time. Then he was glassy eyed and cold. Then he was alive again. Scared for his life. The realisation that he knew he was going to die hit her. Christ. What had that been like?

She chewed on her bottom lip. It was dry, scabbed over from repeating that same habit far too many times. It was useless to try and resolve the three images she had of Jerry, at least whilst all three were so horrifically fresh. Instead, she got to her feet, walked over to where Jerry’s laptop was plugged into the projector. Closed the lid.

She turned to the others, specifically to Reno, consternation in her eyes, “I was in the lab,” she said, irritation dripping of her words because it was easier than the terror that wanted to be there instead,“I had some sequences I forgot to start, and I couldn’t sleep. So no.” her eyes hardened, it was an expression she was far more used to wearing when facing down aging academics who didn’t even know what eDNA was never mind why it was so important to her work, “I didn’t kill Jerry. In fact, I find your eagerness to place the blame elsewhere quite telling.” And that was mean. She had to stick to her guns though. After all, no one else was going to stick to them for her.

“The important thing though,” she moved away from Jerry’s laptop. Just touching it had felt wrong, she didn’t want to be near it anymore. She stopped when she reached the other end of the table where they’d all sat, rested a hand on her hip, trying to make herself bigger than she knew she was, “Is finding Dr. Van der Meer.” It felt wrong not using the woman’s full title, so she made sure she always did, “she can tell us who it is for sure, without our having to play at detective.”

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[Liv]

Ana Costa

Ana only listened at first as everyone went and back forth regarding the identity of the killer, although when April spoke up, she decided to give her two cents.

"No offense, but if she hasn't turned up yet, then I doubt she's alive, much less able to tell us who's responsible for this...mess. The idea is a little far-fetched, don't you think?"

The young woman leaned back on the chair, crossing her arms out in front of her. "We need to find out who did this before somebody else turns up dead. We can't waste our time trying to find Dr. Van der Meer when she could very likely be-well, you know what I mean."

[ButtsnBalls]

_{Light snow, -60°C/-76°F outside}

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Day two began with a shocker, literally.

When the start of generators signaled another day cycle, STAB once again powered itself up. Heat and light resumed outside of residential quarters, and as the occupants began their day, they were disrupted by a loud bang. Something had gone haywire in the generator bunker. Looking outside, falling snow was obstructing the night sky, dimming starlight and making the base grounds a foreboding place. Although the main building continued functioning without a hitch, everyone soon rushed to the bunker.

Reno Valentine was slouched inside, dead. Judging by the opened locks and some of his personal equipment lying around, Reno was likely conducting one of his routine checks. A machine near him looked badly damaged, and Reno had the misfortune of touching it when a fatal electrical discharge took place. This machine was one of the back up control devices Jerry Hsu had installed two weeks ago, and no one besides Jerry himself had done anything with it. However, an attached warning label showed it could be easily tempered; anyone in STAB could do it.

As the four remaining occupants gathered around Reno's dead body, their body language difficult to read under their thick winter clothing, suspicion flowed freely among them like the dry heating system in the bunker. A coincidence seemed to be very unlikely now; Reno had checked and cleaned the very same location many times before, and it would be difficult to imagine that he suffered such as accident immediately after Jerry's death. As for the dead man himself, there was nothing malicious about him. Reno had no weapons, no out of place tools and nothing of secret on him; just a regular, scared custodian at the wrong place and time.

[Duthguy]

Niels Timmermans

When he came across Reno's body Niels's first thought was that his death was a coincidence and he felt guilty for accusing him of being a murderer. He quickly realized though that it was way to coincidental to be an accident. Since there was no one around yet he decided to leave the body and let someone "find" it to decrease the odds of being suspected.

He rushed back to his room and broke into his supply of chocolate to calm down a little. As soon as he felt better he realized who the killer was, Lauren. After all Reno accused her which must have made her angry. Sure she talked to Niels the night of Hsuh's death but there was plenty of time for her to strike before and afterwards. He couldn't believe that she used him to provide herself an alibi but he also knew he couldn't reveal he was on to her just yet.

[Zoey Boey]

Lauren C. Watson

Lauren was the second one on the seen, looking to see what the issue is with the generator. She was in her room, idly messing around with a spare heater to cool her thoughts, when the power flickered. Concern creased her brow and the young woman took a moment to put everything back together and then went to investigate. She briefly caught sight of Niels heading back into his room.

A short walk later, she peered around the corner. "Hello?" She called out meekly. She yelped when she saw the second- or possibly third- casualty of this apparent battle. "Jesus!"

"Oh, Lord." As other people joined her in the room, Lauren was clearly uncomfortable in the room and instead chose to hover outside. She was quiet. The identity of the killer was yet to be revealed. It felt like the person who did it wasn't in this very room, that it wasn't one of them. That there was some shadowy, nefarious outsider stalking them. But that wasn't the case. It was one of them.

"I don't know. He didn't kill anybody. That's what I thought- what I knew." She said quietly. "But I guess it doesn't matter anymore."

[Liv]

Ana Costa

The moment Ana came across Reno's body, she uttered a curse word in her native tongue. They were being picked off one by one, and the thought of it alone was enough to maker her sick to her stomach. After a moment or so she realized that it wasn't just nerves, and she rushed outside with barely enough time before staining the snow with the contents from breakfast. Ana shuddered from the cold, and the fact that she had an empty stomach again due to her own body punishing her.

"Fucking hell..."

Ana gathered herself before deciding to head back inside. She passed Lauren but didn't say anything to her; her mind was far too preoccupied trying to determine how they were going to catch the person responsible for everything without losing anyone else, herself included.

[Duthguy]

Niels Timmermans

If he was completely honest Niels would have preferred too just stay in his room for the rest of the day, but he knew that not only would it be impossible it would make him seem suspicious. So roughly ten minutes after finding Reno's body he walked out the door. He took the second fasted route from his room to where he found the body and noticed both Lauren and April there.

Seeing the marine biologist briefly made him doubt that Reno suspected the technician. No, he was certain Lauren was the one he checked upon and didn't find in her room, that meant she had to be the killer because otherwise maybe everyone else was on it. While keeping one eye on the 30 year old woman he pretended to notice Reno's body and his best to look and act shocked. "What happened here?!"

[NorthernKraken]

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Glassy eyes stared up at April, singed fingertips stiff and curled upwards.

Reno.

A chill crept across her skin in spite of the thick layers of insulation she wore. Lauren was freaking out. Ana had thrown up the second she’d laid eyes on Re- on the body. It was hard to smell much with the biting wind crashing through the open door, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t imagine it. Ana had been right yesterday - they had to do something.

She looked up at Niels arrival, forcing her eyes away from the body. His question was almost snatched up by the cold. The other two were falling to pieces. April had to step up.

“Reno’s dead.” she sounded cold, she realised. Maybe a second too late. She turned to Ana, “You were right, yesterday. We need to figure out who’s doing this, before… before this happens again.” cold sweat pricked the curve of her back, the top of her brow, the back if her neck. She carefully studied the faces of the others. Lauren was a wreck. She didn’t trust Ana, but if the steaming pile of sick outside was anything to go off, she was genuinely surprised. That left…

“Niels. Would you mind letting us know why it took you so long to get here? Everybody else ran over as soon as we heard the bang.”

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[Duthguy]

Niels Timmermans

“Niels. Would you mind letting us know why it took you so long to get here? Everybody else ran over as soon as we heard the bang.”

Crap, he hadn't thought about that his whole reason to arrive after the others was to make sure they wouldn't mistake him for the killer just because he found the body after all. Luckily there was an easy though far from perfect explanation. "After yesterday I was scared and decided to stay safely in my room until I was sure I wouldn't catch the killer in the act and became their next victim if they were out murdering again."

[ButtsnBalls]

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Their suspicion was proven correct.

Lauren Watson, under scrutiny from the others, began to crack. She could no longer hide her own nervousness, and as she was questioned, could no longer provide valid explanations for her behaviors. When Ana, April and Niels finally investigated Lauren's quarters, they found the tools necessary to temper with the generator, with several tools outside of their containers and appeared to have been used very recently. In addition, Lauren had a piece of paper detailing Reno's routines, and notes on the other occupants as well.

As if that wasn't incriminating (and disturbing) enough, there's further evidence of murder pointing to Lauren. In her workshop were multiple wires, all of them being cut to the right length for garrotes. Upon closer examination, one wire was clearly scraped from heavy use recently. In a partially hidden drawer was the black box for STAB's snow tractor. Lauren had been trying to destroy it, but the black box had sufficient records remained from its last drive. Apparently, Lauren drove Dr. Van der Meer two dozen kilometers into the frozen wasteland, then left her out there to die.

Furthermore, a taser was in Lauren's possession. Potential weapons like this was prohibited in STAB. How Lauren got one with her was anyone's guess. What mattered was that she wasn't able to reach it in time to use it. Instead, Lauren found herself cornered by her three accusers, her fate at their mercy.

[Zoey Boey]

Lauren C. Watson

"Someone's framing me. This all wrong. You don't actually believe..." Lauren was clearly panicking, her breathing was heavy, sweat was glistening her face and tears were welling her eyes. She had attempted to grasp at the taser, but it was snatched out of reach.

"It wasn't me. It wasn't me." She repeated to herself, backing up into the corner. The woman's gaze flicked from each member of the facility, from Ana, to April, to Niels. How could she get out of this? Was it possible? Why wouldn't they just let her...what didn't they understand? She was trying...

"Oh, Jesus. Oh, Lord." She whispered nervously to herself. The engineer looked like she was going to explode.

"I'd never do anything to hurt you all. Never. You just don't understand, you're all good people. I'm helpful. I'm helpful, I really am. Just...I need...you to listen to me. It doesn't matter anymore. It doesn't- why are you all looking at me like that!?" Her voice rose into a shriek, her hands clenching into fists and her face twisting into confusion, anger, and horror all at once.

[NorthernKraken]

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April grasped the taser, holding it in sweaty hands, well out of Lauren’s reach as she stared the woman down. Lauren, with her quiet, nervous air. Lauren, who’d faded into the background so well April hadn’t been able to believe she could do something like this until well after Niels and Ana had been secure in their assertions.

How could she have been so foolish, so trusting?

The answer to that one was easy, settled in her gut before she’d even had chance to ask the question. Lauren had been scared, they all had, but Lauren had been scared. Fear was an easy emotion to trust, it seemed.

That hadn’t changed. April took in the sight of their teammate, cowering in the corner of her quarters, babbling on. She realised she wasn’t mad at her. No. If anything she felt sorry for Lauren. She remembered the video. Jerry telling them that the organisers had known Lauren was unstable. That she wasn’t fit to be out here, alone, for months on end. It was enough to drive anyone to extremes.

She realised she’d been pointing the snatched taser at Lauren, and she lowered it, slowly, as she addressed her, “None of us want to hurt you Lauren,” April said, careful to keep her voice low and soothing, “but we can’t just let you go, you know that, right?” she bit her lip. Where did they go from here? “Just tell us why you did it Lauren. What happened?”

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[Zoey Boey]

Lauren C. Watson

Lauren was wide-eyed as April lowered the tazer. Can't let her go? Can't let her go? That made no sense to Lauren. Why would she want to be let go? She mad woman glanced around at the other two in her room. Niels, Ana. April. Why did they have to intervene? Didn't they want Lauren's help?

"I don't want to hurt you, either. I just need you to- I just need you to trust me! Trust me! Give me that tazer, April. Everything is going to be fine. You wouldn't understand, you can't understand. It doesn't matter anymore." She was speaking with violent intensity.

"Please, Jesus. Please!" She shouted again, lurching towards April, her hands clawing towards the tazer.

[NorthernKraken]

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Lauren could not get her hands on that tazer.

April's worn canvas pumps skidded on vinyl floor. Slipped out from under her. Lauren's fingertips, long and cool, grazed her elbow as she stumbled backwards, hit the ground. It was hard. She gasped at the shock of it, vision whited out as a deep ache curled up through her tailbone, ricocheted through her vertebra. Jesus fucking-

No time. She raised the weapon. The yellow plastic handle was slick with sweat, almost slipped out of her hands as she aimed, pulled the trigger-

April closed her eyes as an electric crackling filled the room.

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[Zoey Boey]

Lauren C. Watson

The nodes struck into Lauren's chest, penetrating the thin t-shirt and through her skin. Her mouth formed into an O and she fell onto of April fully, sliding off of her and landing partially on the ground, convulsing uncontrollably. Lauren had modified the taser to be incredibly more lethal than a regular taser. These thoughts ran through her head briefly before the pain overcame her and there were few thoughts at all, except pleading with God. It didn't matter anymore.

"Uah-" She articlated numbly. Lauren was laying on her side, slightly curled into the fetal position, her face one of surpise and confusion. Even if April wanted too, the taser could not be turned off. It was a one way trip.

"Tccha." A few loong ments later, the taser burned out and crackled to a halt. Lauren rolled onto her back and stared past the ceiling, blinking slowly. Her heart had come to a stop, succumbing to cardiac arrest, the overload of amps causing electrical interference with the vital organ. She tried to inhale, but nothing happened. Confusion gave way to darkness as Lauren lost consciousness, her eyes fluttering shut. One last spasm of her shoulder and the murderer sighed, slowly exhaling her last breathe into the air of the STAB facility. "Hhhhh...."

That was it. Nothing else.