And I'm telling you now

[polyturtle]

Who| Sigma, Don, and the Three Musketeers Terezi, Karkat and Cuthbert.
What| Sigma makes a decision regarding Don, and the results are not exactly good for him.
Where| Second floor.
When| Week 4
Warnings/Notes| Death and violence.

Just a few more finishing touches.

Not only had Don managed to make the trap, he managed, with the parts found from the cars, the theater, and various other places, to make a set of remotes for disabling it. Only he, and whoever he deemed to give the other remote to, would be able to disable it without risk to their health, once it was on.

Quietly, he turned on the water flow on the fountain and then pressed one makeshift clamp of wires onto the battery. Even then, there was a shock. Good. He snapped the other on, quickly stepping back before he really shocked himself and caused damage.

There. The emergency supplies were safe. He could hear the buzz as the web of wires around the vicinity also sprang to life, warning any who would try and stick their hands in for the food within.

Smiling, he put the remotes in his nightgown pockets.

Not bad at all.

Comments

hope this is okay to start?

[pythianjudgment]

It's about that time in the arena when supplies start to dwindle. Sponsor gifts are scarcer--the prices are going up. Tributes are forced to either deal with what they can get their hands on... or get creative.

As soon as they stumble across the fountain, Terezi gets to work. She Sees... supplies that they need. A trap--death by electrocution, if they don't dismantle it or disarm the trap first. A controller in a turtle's hand. Donatello. They can take him, she thinks. There's three of them: her, Karkat, and Cuthbert, and only one of him. No--two. But the other is older and not a fighter like the rest of them. He won't be an obstacle.

"Stay clear of the fence," she says to the other two, crouching low and out of sight. "Focus on the turtle. His human partner might give us trouble, but not a lot of it. The mechanism to disarm the fence is on the turtle, but he won't give it up without a fight. He's used to close combat, like me. Same kind of weapons. Take him down if you have to."

She outlines a few more instructions on how they should attack from different angles and such before setting the three of them loose on their unsuspecting prey.

the karkat ruse is a distaction

[sleeplessinalternia]

Karkat slips a mask down over his face and runs out, waving his good hand with the sickle around. "Hey, shellbeast!" he calls. "Your lusus is so wide that when he sits around your hive, he really sits around your hive! Your breath smells like offal! Have you been drinking from the load gaper again? How does it feel carrying your own bowl around? Because I could go for about a gallon of shellbeast stew right now!"

Hey, what better use for the guy with only one working arm than to distract the turtle so the other two can get the drop on him?

[tis_allgood]

Cuthbert tries so hard no to roll his eyes at Karkat and his distraction tactics, especially because his aren't that much better. He loads one of Karkat's stolen bouncy balls into his slingshot and launches it at the electric fence. Then again, further down, and a few more times sort of random.

He has to stop after four or five because they're starting to roll back toward him and he doesn't want to step on them and die stupid. Not that dying while picking up bouncy balls is smart but it's a small step up.

[futilecycle]

The incident with the Initiate had left Don Sigma's single ally in the Arena. In exchange for his alliance, the Doctor had assisted the other Tribute where he could- finding wires, contributing to his traps here and there- doing anything at all to pass the time while Howard hid away. Despite their past histories, Sigma and Don got on relatively well, though their interaction was often steeped in awkward silence.

And so it was troubling to Sigma that he could not identify what had signaled the sudden change in his own behavior. Just that morning Sigma had seen Don again, and rather than approaching him once more in silent cooperation, hate had festered in his soul, made him want to leap upon him and rend his limbs from his body as he had done Arenas ago. Even after Don had killed Kyle, such frothing anger (as opposed to anguish and an instinct to protect) was so uncharacteristic of himself that, appalled at what he had felt, he quickly turned away. Exchanging a brief congratulations for the culmination of their efforts, Sigma quietly excused himself.

He sat against the cover of a gutted display shelf some distance away, replacing the bandages beneath his jaw, attempting to distract himself. The only explanation the Doctor could come up with was that these masks were paying for his powers with his self-control, but so long as Howard survived in the Arena, Sigma could not abstain from them...

Then, he heard shouting from the direction he had come. Startled by the instigation, Sigma got to his knees and peeked across his hiding place- he does not call to Don, knowing he would be picked off first if he gave away his position. Instead, tearing his mask from the string on his back and abandoning the medicine he'd left sprawled across the floor, he places it over his face once more.

[polyturtle]

Don simply stared at Karkat, not impressed.

"You're not very good at this, are you."

That was when he heard something akin to a zzt. Several of them. The wire is wound enough that it would be difficult for anything particularly large to penetrate it, so every time something hit, he could hear it. Quietly, his eyes narrow, his feet slowly going into a defensive bend.

"Neither is your friend."

[pythianjudgment]

Terezi doesn't bother with insults and noise like the other two. That's what the other two are for.

She pulls on a new mask and tucks the end of her three section staff under one arm, holding the other two sections as she runs. She comes in low and fast from an angle that she hopes is unexpected.

She stops at melee range, dropping the end section of her staff from under her arm and giving it a few quick spins before snapping it up towards Don's head.

[sleeplessinalternia]

Yeah, this would be about the right time to use the butt of the sickle's handle to slide the mask, held on reserve on top of his head, down his face before charging directly at the shellbeast way faster than normal. Keep him looking at the suddenly hostile kid charging right at him and never mind the one creeping up behind him.

[tis_allgood]

Bert is just using the same few bouncy balls to pelt the fence. Every couple of hits he changes his trajectory and aims more for where his two partners in crime are advancing. He means to throw Don off, but may be more of a distraction to the trolls, which is why he isn't doing it too much. He does hope to break the electric fence, even if he still isn't sure what it does or why it's there.

[futilecycle]

Mask held against his face, Sigma sees what is about to come before it happens.

The first vision is surprisingly distant, like peering through water at a developing photograph. His ally whips around and dodges the strike, one, twice - but that is all that he can do. As Terezi's staff snaps up again, Sigma watches Don lose his footing, one foot having come to rest on a small, rubber ball. Sigma shudders, still hidden, and the next couple of blows come quickly - first from a staff, then a sickle. Now a broken mass of shattered bone and slashed green skin, Don is dead.

What comes after is clearer, as if he were watching it presently, though the Doctor finds himself unable to control his body. Against his will he rises from his hiding place - looking ahead, he recognizes that Don has not yet fallen, that he has slipped into another time. The Doctor breaks into a desperate sprint, Don's blocks coming in the order he expects. Then, before Don can make his fatal misstep, Sigma reaches out to push him away-

Unfortunately, Don sees him, first.

In his surprise, Sigma is unable to change direction in time, and with one powerful strike Donatello pushes him back in the direction he had come. His momentum is reversed and Sigma lands hard against his back, winded, but alive. Don is not so lucky: this distraction has cost him his life. The staff is upon his skull and there is nothing more that Sigma can do.

Frozen, in shock that the Tribute he had once hated so deeply would try and save his life (a Tribute he had dismembered!), Sigma pays no notice to the shadow still approaching him. When next he is aware, there is a long, silver blade curving into his chest, his heart - then agonizing, all-consuming pain, then nothing.

The mask is ripped from Sigma's face and he is already running. There is not even time to think - he knows that if he hesitates, Donatello will die. Donatello, who had given them both another chance in his bravery.

Sigma tears into the fight, faster and earlier than he had done before, arms outstretched to seize his partner. Before Don could start to push him away- before he had even begun to move!- Sigma sidestepped him, his back now to Terezi. With one defiant motion, Sigma put both hands against the turtle's plastron and shoved him away as hard as he could.

And then everything seemed to come to a stop. Sigma blinked; the blank confusion on his face would certainly be clear to Don.

He had acted entirely on instinct and had not considered his next move.

[polyturtle]

Don had easily rolled, going to dodge before the mask-infused trolls could get in the first strike. Of course, he didn't see the rubber ball rolling idly nearby, and had started to side-step in that direction to get into a better position. He could take them on--

--and then he saw Sigma. His eyes widened. Oh. What was he doing? He wasn't--but he was. He began to spin, raising his foot to step forward for the push.

Only to find himself flying backwards in an entirely different direction, right through the air. It was disorienting, and at first, he didn't even know where he was going, or why he'd been pushed. Only that he was flying away from Sigma, his eyes wide in surprise, as he landed shell-first very far away. Not because of the speed (well, no, he was a little shocked the older man had managed to do what he did. Michelangelo would have been impressed, at least.) But rather by the fact he had no expected Sigma to reverse his own attempt to save his life.

His life.

Oh.

Terezi was still right behind Dr. Klim.

"WATCH OUT-!"

[pythianjudgment]

The sudden interference from the older man isn't something that Terezi was expecting. If this was one of the timelines presented to her, she certainly hadn't paid it much attention. The turtle's dodge would have avoided her initial attack, but the man shoves Donatello further out of her range, just as was prepared to go after him again.

Irritation flares up in her chest. She doesn't appreciate this wrench in her works. In fact, it scares her a little that she hadn't Seen this coming. There's something strange about it, and in this sort of situation, strange is dangerous. There's only one thing to do.

The shove has left the man wide open, so Terezi snaps her weapon back to her and pivots on her heel. She hears Donatello shout, but it doesn't stop her from whipping her weapon around and aiming a sharp crack at human's ribs. If that doesn't put him down, she's more than willing to keep going. It's better than letting him throw her plans into chaos. It's better than having Karkat or Cuthbert die.

[sleeplessinalternia]

Karkat's thrown off by Sigma's interference as well, but he figures if Terezi's attacking him then he's the new target, so he pivots around and manages at least to land a blow, slicing a good way into the old human's arm.

[tis_allgood]

Cuthbert had been growing more lax with having Terezi's certainty on their side. But he can sense a plan going wrong as well as anyone and this plan has definitely gone too far over the edge of the cliff. Not that he was opposed to taking someone else out, but they may have just lost their advantage.

"Karkat, Terezi? I think it may be time to go."

[futilecycle]

It is already too late to make use of Don's warning. As the staff connects with Sigma's organic, atrophied ribs, there is an audible crack and Sigma bends about his stomach. He had not realized there was a pain worse than the eternal burn of a radiative bomb, but it was here, the dull and agonizing sensation of ruptured lungs and broken bones.

Before he can brace himself for another blow the sickle tears not through flesh, but grinds metal-against-metal, hooking into the titanium 'bones' of his cybernetic arm with a loud screech and ripping open false skin. Thick, white 'blood' spills from heavy fake muscle and without the means to clot, it drains from his arm and pools at his feet.

But beneath his shirt Sigma can feel his ribs bruise black and a winded gasp stands in for a scream. He raises his eyes to Don and tries to stretch the arm he had used to cradle his ribs towards him- a voiceless plea to run!

Gears whir beneath his ruined arm and he does his best to turn himself towards Terezi, trying to catch the staff's next blow in his machinelike claws but ultimately groping about the air in vain.

[polyturtle]

Oh...oh no...

Don had finally landed, and he can only stare, for a moment, as he realized what happened to Sigma. No. No, he was dying, and he'd be at the mercy of the trolls and--

Then he saw the look on Sigma's face, and he clenched his teeth. That was a face he really couldn't refuse, and he knew if he stayed, he'd be dead. Shaking his head quietly, he got back up onto his feet.

And promptly disappeared into the shadows, unseen and unheard.

[pythianjudgment]

Cuthbert's voice catches Terezi's attention just as she's throwing another swing of her staff. I think it may be time to go. Karkat has joined her in taking down Sigma, but she turns quickly to sniff out where Donatello was shoved off to.

Nothing. She doesn't smell anything but shadows and darkness, and a sort of paranoia creeps into her thoughts.

She spins back to make sure that the human--half-human?--is down for the count. Assured that he likely won't be getting up to attack them, Terezi calls to Karkat: "Let's go. There's nothing here anymore." There's no point in trying to grab the supplies without getting a hold of the remote. It would be too much of a risk, and she's pretty sure none of them have the experience to deal with high-voltage electronics.

The remote is still with Donatello, so they don't have any choice but to leave.

[sleeplessinalternia]

"Shit," Karkat says. He makes a face. "Well, that was a fucking bust." He eyes the supplies longingly, but he's not so stupid that he'll risk the electrical field to get them. "Do you think we should--" finish the job, he wants to say, because if they don't the old human male's got a pretty decent chance of dying slowly and painfully, but he doesn't want Donatello coming back. The shellbeast had fucking lost it a few arenas back and Karkat was not at all sure if he'd ever got it back.

"Never mind. Let's roll the fuck out before the shellbeast comes back."

[tis_allgood]

Bert takes out some of the rocks he'd picked up and loads one into the catcher of his slingshot. He intends to cover Karkat and Terezi's backs as they retreat. He has to be of some use in this endeavor after all.

"Don't hesitate, I have you both covered."

[futilecycle]

Sigma feels something snap beneath his neck - the last of Terezi's attacks shatters his collarbone and brings him to the ground. The cyborg goes limp, falling flat on his stomach against the cold tile, his strength exhausted. It took every ounce of his will to keep himself awake, but even in the face of certain death, Sigma would fight to his last breath. So consumed by pain, he was barely aware that the blows had stopped and his assailants had fled. Sigma weakly turned his head to find Cuthbert leaving, and while the boy had not fought, he feels betrayal from this stranger he admired nonetheless. At last his cybernetic vision winks out as it did when death approached and Sigma closed his other eye, a strangled moan escaping his lips, blood trickling from the corners of his mouth.

Each breath was agonizing. His cybernetic arms, programmed to feel every bit like a real human limb, seared with pain before the split wires and nerves drowned in cooling fluid and he lost awareness of them. Unable to move and barely able to draw breath, one disgusted, self-loathing thought crosses his mind: Why had he done that in the first place? Sigma grit his teeth and bitter tears welled up behind his eyelid. He had promised himself to protect Howard and only Howard, but had forgotten in his panic, his impulsion to save as many lives as he felt he could. Now should the boy lose these games, as was highly likely, he was certain to choose death than to fight one more time in the Arena. Blaming himself, Sigma shook, forced staccato breaths standing in for sobs. He would die here, having accomplished nothing.

Or had it been nothing?

Sigma opened his eye and turned his gaze in the direction Donatello had fled. He blinked to expel his tears and stared, praying Don had managed to escape to where the others could not find him. Sigma wondered what would become of his body without the Capitol's hovercrafts, if some garbage collecting contraption would arrive for him instead. Finally he wondered what Don would do if one did not, if he would leave him mangled here if he returned for his supplies. All he could do as his consciousness faded was to put his trust in the other Tribute.