thearena | they won't ask you why; they'll just watch you die

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they won't ask you why; they'll just watch you die

Who| Chaud, Jet, and YOU
What| fresh meat fresh meat fresh meat fresh meat-
Where| Parking lot at first, then the roof and wherever else exploration may take them~
When| Week 3
Warnings/Notes| First thread is closed to Jet and Chaud alone, but feel free to respond to this post at any time if you want to run into them!

When had they been captured?

That was only one of many questions running through Chaud's mind as he was ushered onto a pedestal against his will. Who were these people leading him around? Where were his allies? Where was ProtoMan? The only thing he knew for certain was that he was being forced into some sort of fight to the death...yet they'd left him without any sort of means of defending himself. How did they expect him to fight? With his hands? In pajamas? And why did they want him to fight like this? Who - or what - were this 'other Tributes' he was going to be fighting against?

There was no time for any further questions as the pedestal opened out into a cramped-feeling parking garage. Chaud glanced around, looking for any signs of life - or someone familiar, that'd be nice. He hoped the scowl on his face and his tightened fists would be sufficient enough to show just how unhappy he was with this predicament...

...and would help him ignore how hard his heart was pounding in his chest.

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It was amazing how easily you could be led around when completely disoriented and confused. Nothing was making sense and everything was happening at once and suddenly he found himself changed and being told he's about to be in some battle royal to the death.

What the hell?

He'd call it some crazy dream if it weren't for how real it all felt. But if it were real, then what had happened to the others? They were supposed to be on their way to New York in a flying ship how did they suddenly get transported underground? Or was it just him? Were the others off risking their lives to fix the world while he was god knew where with god knows who?

There were too many questions and zero answers and it was just turning his confusion into anger and frustration. As the platform rose and stopped, leaving him in some suffocating parking garage, it occurred to him that he didn't have a thing on him, just his fists. He could work with that, but not if the other guys had guns.

He left that train of thought behind--deeming it a pointless worry until he knew a little more--and stepped off the platform and onto the chilly concrete floor.

He chose stealth and silence over speed, staying as quiet as he could as he made his way further into the mostly empty area. It wasn't until he spotted a familiar mix of black and white hair that he picked up speed. So he wasn't alone. Maybe that meant the others were around here too...although part of him hoped that wasn't the case.

"Chaud!"

The familiar voice calling to him was a godsend, even though it belonged to someone that Chaud wasn't exactly buddy-buddy with. There were worse people to run into, he supposed as he quickly turned to approach Jet. At least this was someone who wasn't going to try to kill him.

"So you're here, too," he commented as he drew close enough, while still frowning (of course). "Have you seen anyone else?" After all, if Jet was here then that probably meant the others were here somewhere, too...

In the meantime, he quietly noted the fact that Jet was unarmed and dressed the same as him while trying to ignore what that most likely meant.

Something twisted unpleasantly in his stomach with Chaud's question. "No, I was hoping you had." But still, surely the fact the two of them were there and the fact they hadn't been anywhere near each other last he remembered meant they weren't the only ones of their group there.

Of course that begged the question of whether Jaden and his flunkies could possibly be there as well. Hell, what if this was all orchestrated by the madman himself? more and more questions.

"I assume they gave you the whole 'battle to the death' crap they gave me. Tell me you can remember how we got here?" It wouldn't be the first time their memories had failed them, maybe he'd hit his head at some point and that was why he couldn't remember leaving Valhalla.

Chaud shared that same unpleasant feeling when Jet answered with a negative, but he tried to quickly remind himself that it didn't necessarily mean they were alone here. The only fact about it was that they hadn't found their allies yet. Their chances of finding them were in fact greater now that they'd found each other and confirmed they'd all been captured...or so Chaud was hoping, anyway.

"Unfortunately, I don't," the teen admitted, feeling a little more unpleasant due to how neither of them could remember the way they'd ended up here. "I doubt we'll have much of a chance to sit here and think about it, either." He gave a wary glance around them as he said that, but thankfully couldn't see anything immediately threatening. That didn't mean he wanted to stand here and talk for much longer, though...not when he still didn't know who their enemies were, exactly.

Jet nodded in agreement, taking his own wary glance around the area before settling his eyes back on his companion. "Yeah, we shouldn't hang around. There's an elevator just over there, we could see if it'll take us somewhere."

He pointed to the set of metal doors but didn't wait for a response before heading in that direction. It was their best bet right that moment. Their only other apparent option were the cars littered around the area and there was no guarantee they could get those started or that, even if they did, they could do anything with it.

If they were supposed to fight to the death, it was likely leaving the building wasn't much of an option.

An elevator? Chaud could see what the blond man was talking about, but...was it safe? Where would it even take them to?

No chance to ask either of those questions though before his companion already started heading off in that direction. Of course. Why wasn't he surprised? Chaud hurried after him, about to bring up his concerns before a quick visual check of the area made him suddenly wonder if there was even a need to. There...didn't seem to be any other way for them to get anywhere, huh. If there were stairwells, then the teen couldn't see them from here. There were cars around, but Chaud figured they either didn't run or were locked. It would be too easy if they weren't.

...It just didn't seem safe to him, putting themselves such a small, vulnerable space.

"Let's be careful about which floor we choose," he ended up muttering anyway, as he continued to follow Jet. "There could be something waiting for us once we get off." And there wouldn't be much they could do about that.

Jet pressed the only button available, the up arrow and was somewhat pleased to find the door opened quickly enough. Chaud was right, they didn't know what was waiting for them above, it could quite literally be anything. The door could open and they could be shot down right there and then, they'd have no way of guessing. But Jet knew one thing and that was that this area and it's cramped and confined feeling was making the flyer far too uncomfortable.

The door opened with a light ding that made Jet tense up in surprise. It was going to do that on every floor, wasn't it? Even better. The blond stepped into the small space and surveyed the number options. Only six floors, it wasn't too tall of a building, then. But just looking at the garage told them it was still large.

"Let's check if there's a roof access. Maybe we can get an idea of where we are from there." Plus maybe the chances of running into someone hostile would be less likely up there, there was no way of telling.

Oh, great. It had to ding loudly like that, didn't it? Chaud was feeling less and less sure about this elevator...but unfortunately, his comfort level didn't change the fact that they seemed to have no other way out right now. All they could do was try to be as careful as possible.

Chaud followed Jet into the elevator and gave a quiet nod of agreement in response to his idea. It sounded like the best move they could make at this point, although being able to get out on the roof would be a little forgiving of their captors, wouldn't it?

...Well, maybe not, if the only way off the roof was a six-story plummet to the ground...

Guess they would be finding out shortly. The teen went ahead and pushed the sixth floor button, then watched the elevator doors close shortly after. Now it was going to be a painfully anxious wait until they got that floor...

Considering all he'd seen since waking up on Moc'awa, Chaud was ready to expect just about anything to greet them when the doors would open again.

The elevator started it's ascent, the little light moving across the numbers over the door as it climbed. A thought crossed his mind regarding the sound the elevator made and he moved so his back was to the numbers and no part of him overlapped the door's opening.

He gestured to the corner opposite him. "Put your back to that wall and make sure you're hidden there, if someone's waiting to pump us full of holes, they'll have to get come in here to do it." And he was confident he could grab whatever guy tried anything and maybe actually give them a chance.

Assuming this wasn't all just some elaborate trick made to mess with their heads. That would certainly be more Jaden's style. Though this seemed pretty elaborate and off even for him.

Chaud didn't need to be told twice. He did just as Jet said, trying to stuff the thought that they were very trapped in here with the hope that this action of hiding would give them a small fighting chance. It really depended on how intelligent and well-armed their potential opponents were...

At least Jet seemed confident. That gave Chaud more of a reason to try to appear brave in return. After all, cowardice was just going to get him (or both of them) killed here, wasn't it?

Ding.

Their destination was reached; the elevator doors slid open to the sound of...something very dreadful and loud, almost like a roar. Chaud didn't dare move from his hiding spot, though, and only stared in the direction of the open elevator doors while trying to control his breathing. (At least he was pretty good at that.) A clap of thunder a moment later led him to conclude that what they were hearing right now was a violent storm outside, but that didn't mean they were safe inside...

So he gave Jet a quick look, to see what the other man would do first.

"What the hell...?"

Jet tensed at the sound and looked to Chaud. If there was anyone out there, there was no way they'd hear them over that racket. But no one was charging the door or taking shots at them either, so there was that. He took a steadying breath and pulled away from the wall to slowly take a peak outside the elevator.

There were definitely people....but they were definitely not trying to kill them. The whole place was dark with what was obviously a vicious storm over their heads--the raindrops hitting the skylights was so loud it sounded like rocks instead of water--but everything in the room was still.

A moment of indecision and he stepped out from the cover of the wall and straight through the elevator doors. Still nothing, no movement, only the roar from above. The blond moved to the closest figure to them and only once he was able to see it better did he realize what he was looking at.

"They're made of wax. It's fake...a display." Like an exhibit hall or a museum. The fact he could raise his voice like he had to just for Chaud to hear him and still there was no immediate reaction told him they got lucky for now.

Rather than immediately go dashing after Jet, Chaud stayed put until he heard his ally's voice. Only then did he come out of hiding, yet he still made sure to visually check his surroundings as he stepped into the room. After all, there could have been a threat that Jet had missed. The dark human-like figures gave him pause initially, but Jet's words and his own eyes (once he got close enough) told him that they were nothing to be threatened by.

Wax people, huh? This wasn't creepy at all, no, not in the slightest. It'd be a little less unsettling if it weren't for the terrible weather that darkened the room, save for frequent flashes of lightning; this atmosphere just screamed 'horror movie'. But that didn't mean that they were really going to come to life or anything...wax couldn't do that.

More importantly... "Let's look for the roof access," Chaud said, only as loud as he had to for Jet to hear him over the sound of the rain on the skylights. At least the loud weather would cover any other sounds they might make. Although where in the world would any roof access be from here...?

Jet nodded in response and stepped away from the eerie wax figure. He stepped further out onto the floor to get a better look around in the hopes of spotting any potential roof access. There might not be one at all, but if there was one it was likely to be shoved in some corner if it wasn't meant to be open to the public.

He glanced up at the skylights again, the thought that maybe a roof access in this weather wouldn't be the greatest option crossing his mind, but they had to try, his curiosity wouldn't let him walk away without at least checking.

"It'll probably be in some corner. Let's try that way." He chose a direction at random and started heading that way. It might save some time if they were to each take a side to check, but if what they were told was true and one of them ran into trouble, the other wouldn't likely be able to get there in time.

More like he wouldn't be able to forgive himself if he split off from Chaud and the kid got killed because of it.

A similar thought of 'splitting up would be more efficient' crossed Chaud's mind, but he, too, came to the same conclusion about it: it wasn't safe to do in this situation. It only would have been acceptable had there been more than two of them, or if they'd at least been armed - and neither of those things were obviously true right now. So the teen quickly and quietly continued to follow Jet closely, although he didn't stop trying to keep a look-out for anything dangerous.

On the bright side, Chaud didn't notice anything of the sort as the pair made their way to one of the corners of the room. On the down side, he couldn't see any roof access either. After looking around for a few more seconds with no luck, Chaud glanced in the direction of the nearest corner of the room while asking Jet, "Do you see anything?" If not, he figured they could move on in that other direction.

He really didn't want to spend a ridiculous amount of time walking the four corners of the room looking for something that might not even exist, but the bright side of going on this potential goose hunt was that they got a better idea of the scale of the place and just what was in it--or at least on this floor. The more they walked around the more convinced he was that this was a museum of some kind and a fairly large one too which explained why they hadn't run into anyone yet. Even if this was some elaborate trick and it was only their team there, a building this big meant they could easily go a long while before finally running into each other.

Chaud's question pulled his mind out of the land of what-if scenarios and back to what they were currently attempting.

"No. Let's check this next corner and if there's still nothing, we'll check the other side. If that falls through I guess we try another floor." Maybe the first one, as obvious as that would be, it was still an option. Or maybe they just worked their way down from the top and tried to find something useful that way.

All this uncertainty was putting him on-edge.

As they got closer, the dim lighting offered something different than the last corner they'd run into. There, tucked away, was a small staircase leading up, presumably to the roof.

It was hardly a success, but it was good enough to put a brief smile on Jet's face. "Perfect. Hopefully now we'll be able to learn something useful."

Long legs took the stairs quickly and with some effort, Jet shoved the door open and went through. Right into a face full of raging wind and cold stinging rain.

Oh good, there it was. And they didn't have to search too long for it. Chaud followed Jet up the stairs, only lagging behind a little bit - which was good for him, really, as it meant not getting immediately hit in the face with pounding rain.

...Somehow it hadn't fully occurred to him before that he'd have to go out in this; he'd been so focused on what they needed to do and the situation they were in. Now there was a little hesitation at the thought of walking out into a full-blown storm on a roof where the poor visibility could mean stumbling off the edge, but...but Chaud was still willing to try, anyway. He wanted - no, needed to know if they could find even a small clue as to where they'd been taken to. This was a chance worth taking.

So he stubbornly stepped out of the stairwell and into the wet mess of a thunderstorm, going slowly and planting his feet firmly on the ground in an attempt to steady himself against the surprisingly strong wind. "Let's stick close together!" he shouted to his companion over the wind, "Yell or pull on my arm if you find something!" He felt more confident raising his voice out here when he was pretty sure no sane person would be standing around in this weather...

"Got it!" It was ridiculous how bad this storm was, it felt like the wind was trying to lift them up and off the building and the rain seemed intent on leaving bruises in their wake with how hard it hit them. Hopefully they'd be able to spot something and then they could get back inside.

Jet squinted against the downpour and moved a little closer to where he could make out the edge, though he stayed well away from it. With limited visibility, they could easily find themselves falling off and without his cybernetics they'd just end up splattered on the ground. That wasn't exactly his idea of a way out.

But even from where he was he could tell there wasn't anything that he'd been hoping to spot. No skyscrapers towering around them making the concrete jungle he was familiar with, not even anything else that would place them in a specific city.

He turned back to Chaud and shook his head. "No luck, still no clue where we are."

Unfortunately, Chaud didn't have a better answer. "I don't have much of a clue myself," he shouted back, with a frown. But at least they narrowed the possibilities down a little bit. For instance, they didn't seem to be anywhere that either of them recognized...they weren't surrounded by buildings, so they were either in the middle of nowhere or in a place with short or similarly tall structures...and they were - assuming Kirk had been completely truthful about life on other worlds, as much as Chaud wasn't sure what to think about it - on an Earth-like planet that had normal weather. Probably still the same world, if he had to guess. (Unless he wanted to guess they'd been kidnapped by aliens, and...um, no. That was ridiculous. Of course they were still on the same planet.)

...True, those observations still left a lot of room for guessing, but at least it removed some locations from the huge list of possibilities.

Nevertheless... "I doubt we'll find anything else up here." And the weather was bad. They should head back now, dry off inside somehow and think of another plan--

But while Chaud was in the middle of thinking about that, a gust of wind that was even stronger than what was already bearing down on him came rushing forth without warning, throwing the teen off balance and causing him to fall. Luckily, he was able to throw at least one of his hands between him and the ground to try to catch himself as he landed, but he didn't expect his hand or body to hit one of the glass skylights.

...Which made an unpleasant cracking sound when he hit it. Oh...great.

He froze in place after landing, unsure whether he should move fast or slowly and carefully in order to not disturb the glass further. But he was certain that should it shatter and fall, he was going to fall with it. "Jet!" he called, as he continued to hurriedly debate the best course of action.

So now they were soaked and cold and still clueless. Still, there was peace of mind in checking at least, for lack of it in anything else. What were their options, then? Going to another floor, obviously, but do they do the obvious and try the front door? At least--assuming this was in fact a museum--there would likely be some kind of information listed there. No, maybe trying each floor would be better because, if their friends were there, that'd be the best way to get to them. He wasn't quite ready to accept yet that it might just be the two of them stuck there while the others were elsewhere.

His thoughts were derailed by a strong gust of wind that made him falter a step and made Chaud trip and fall. He didn't think much of it until he noticed where the teen had fallen.

Jet moved fast, hand shooting out to grab Chaud by the arm just as the sound of glass shattering filled the air and the extra weight sent the blond to his knees. But he didn't let go. "Chaud! Don't worry, I've got you. Hold on-"

Move fast - that was what he ultimately decided on in the midst of his panicked internal debate, but the moment he applied the great force he needed to push himself back up, the glass buckled under his hands. There was the frightening feeling of falling forward for a few moments before it stopped by his arm, thanks to Jet. But that didn't stop his fear nor did it put solid ground under his now-dangling feet.

With as much strength as he could muster, Chaud reached up with his free hand and tightly grabbed Jet's arm, the closest thing he could reach that wasn't sharp pieces of glass sticking out of the skylight frame. There was no longer as much concern about hiding his panic, which was now obvious on his face (under an angry expression, but there nonetheless). He could only think about how nice it would be to not fall a whole story and probably break a leg, thank you very much.

But there was only so much he could do when he was literally in Jet's hands right now. And that made it more frightening than it could have been - not because it was Jet, specifically, but because his own fate was beyond his control.

Jet's jaw clenched at the strain as he tried to keep Chaud safely in the middle and away from the sharp edges of the broken glass. He had to move carefully, he didn't want Chaud to get cut when they had no way of treating it, but to lift him straight out with limited leverage was difficult.

Jet braced himself on the concrete surrounding the broken skylight and carefully lifted Chaud up far enough to get his knees over a solid surface again. As soon as the teen was safe, Jet let him go and absently rubbed at his arm.

"You okay?"

"Y-yeah," Chaud managed to reply the moment Jet let him go, forcefully trying to hide his panic again now that the temporary crisis had passed. That could have ended far, far worse, and in this situation, getting hurt was not something that either of them could afford. Although...he wondered if essentially opening a window in a rainstorm would have any negative consequences here. For instance, someone just walking into the lower floor might assume the true cause of the broken skylight and want to investigate...

"The sooner we get off this roof, the better," Chaud added after that thought came to mind; he stood up - very carefully - in order to start heading toward the exit, and somehow he seemed even more grumpy in expression and voice than before. Despite his outward appearance, he was, in fact, very grateful for what Jet had done. Giving thanks was just never the first thing that came to mind in situations like this.

Luckily for Chaud, Jet's track record with please and thank yous wasn't that great either, so he didn't push it. Besides, if it had been him, he'd be pretty shaken by it and would need a moment to pull himself back together. Plus, Chaud was always grumpy, it wouldn't be fair to expect otherwise.

Instead he followed the teen to the door and back down the stairs to the top floor. The storm seemed louder than ever now that there was a hole in the roof and there was a chill born either from the wind or their sodden clothes or both that sent a few shivers through him.

"There's nothing on this floor to help us, let's try another. We need to find somewhere to dry off. Somewhere warmer than here."

Another consequence of going up on the roof presented itself the moment Chaud stepped out of the stairwell: the cold. More specifically, the cold that came with being indoors while soaking wet and wearing similarly soaked clothing. The boy couldn't help but shiver as well, as much as he didn't want to admit that he was being bothered by something as silly as temperature...

Maybe crossing his arms would help a bit. Or maybe it wouldn't, but whatever, he was going to do it anyway. (And continue to look grumpy for good measure.)

"The next floor down?" Chaud asked as he headed back to the elevator, at least remembering to keep an eye out for danger as he walked. He figured trying each lower floor at a time would be better than picking floors at random; that way they could also keep track of which ones they'd already visited.

"Yeah. We'll check each one till we get to the bottom. Try to stick to the shadows and out of sight; if there's other people here keen on killing us, it'd be better to avoid them until we can actually defend ourselves."

Jet wasn't a big fan of the 'keep quiet, keep hidden' tactic, but sometimes it was necessary. If it had just been him, he might have been less worried about it, but he had Chaud to watch out for too so it was just easier to avoid any potential conflict.

Once they'd returned to the elevator, he pressed the 5 button, making sure to keep them both away from the doors when they opened--just in case--before stepping in.

"Hm..." Translation: Roger that. Although Chaud felt in that moment that he didn't need to be told those things - staying out of sight when they were defenseless was common sense, wasn't it? - he could admit that a reminder wasn't exactly a bad thing. Plus, it was good to know that they were in agreement here.

...Not something he'd have imagined with Jet before now. Maybe he'd been a little wrong about the man.

As they stepped back into the elevator, Chaud put himself close to the wall again out of safety. They wouldn't have any convenient outside noise to cover them this time; being careful and quiet was even more important than before. He'd just leave the 'checking things out when the door opens' job to Jet once again. Better to let the one with more experience handle something like that.

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they won't ask you why; they'll just watch you die

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