Hexagon: Survival Game

Ray awakens in a room all by himself. He looks straight ahead at a bright blue light. "Where the heck is this?" He says, sitting up. "Oh man, am I...ah, I'm dead! I can't believe this! Two-Timing Machine!"

Suddenly a loud mechanical sound echoes through the room, as well as all of the rooms, even the collective handicaps containment room. "Players, you are now a part of the Hexagon survival games. Standby for a Hexagon drone. The drones will provide you with Decascanners and instructions," says a deep robotic voice.

[ATTN: Open]

Gospel sat in the Handicap Containment room, waiting silently for the games to begin. Another trial for her to endure. Just a trial. As long as she thought of it that way, she was calm, but the moment she thought of the killing...

Gospel took a shuddering breath. She only had to survive. She had done it twice before, she could do it again. She couldn't afford to think of the victims who hadn't been so lucky.

The computer spoke now, announcing the beginning of the Hexagon Survival Games. She closed her eyes, relishing the peace for as long as she could. Not much longer, now.

[Attn: Azrael, Open]

The drones drop down into the Player rooms, arming every player with a Decascanner. It then charges them and backs away. "The Hexagon Survival Games will now begin. Players go now to locate your Handicaps. You have five minutes to find the one directly linked to your Decascanner then form a Pact. Failure will result in immediate elimination and disintegration."

"Oh, happy day," Ray says with spite in his voice, rushing off as a hole opens in his wall for him to run through. However he suddenly drops through an opening in the floor, hollering down the slide until he's reached the Handicap Containment Room. He then gets up and sees the ocean of Handicaps before him. "Wha- I have to find ONE PERSON in all this within 5 minutes?!" He then growls and runs into the crowd, his Decascanner beeping more rapidly the closer he gets.

[ATTN: Azrael]

Gospel had stood as she saw another man approach. He seemed dark, almost forbidding, and Gospel almost instinctively flinched back as he came up to her and started talking. "Partners indeed," she said as they quickly formed the pact. She looked up into his face, seeing the eyes of a man who had seen many battles. Her decascanner only confirmed what she had already guessed.

I'm not sure whether that's a blessing or a curse.

Still, he managed a small laugh out of her as he addressed her name. "No, I wouldn't say that," she said, giving a small, rare smile. "Not nearly so dramatic, at least." She didn't want to try to get too attached, though, so she forced herself to calm down. "And you are Azrael, then?" she asked hesitantly. The decascanner listed off another name as well - she wasn't sure which one was really his.

[Attn: Open]

Ray finally finds that the watches is beeping fastest when pointed at a girl who was standing alone against the wall with her hands behind her head. He then rushes over to her. Thirty seconds on the clock. "Quick, the pact!"

The girl holds up her own Decascanner and grabs Ray by the wrist, swiping the two of them together. "There, happy?"

"Happy?"

"You look like the type to think this is really just a game. Well it's not. People die here...and honestly I don't see you being any different than my last seven partners."

Ultimately the clock times out. Five players are unfortunately destroyed then and there, having been unable to find their partners. "Oh man," Ray says.

[ATTN: Azrael]

Gospel's smile turned almost empty at his words. "You'd be right," she said, glancing at those around her. Many of them would not make it back, and the thought made her shudder. She played with her decascanner absently, trying to keep from losing it as she looked at the faces she might never see again. The motion was almost hypnotic.

She blinked as Azrael spoke again. "Ready as I'll ever be," she said, with a short, dry laugh.

[Attn: Open]

"Great, you found me, now let's go," the girl says, turning and walking off towards an elevator door.

"Wait WHAT?! Hold up! What's you're name, what-"

"It's Thirteen and if we stay in here too long, we'll end up like those poor chumps. Moving along now. We have to get to the next tower over. It's the virtual reality tower where the game is held. We go there and the basic goal is to reach the top. Once you're at the top..."

"You win?"

"...Something like that...let's go." Thirteen then guides Ray to the door which leads to the bridge between the two towers.

[ATTN: Azrael]

"No," Gospel said. "We have to head to the next tower now. That's where the 'game' takes place." She cringed at the word. "Anyway, if we make it to the top of the tower, we 'win' the 'game.'" She started walking for the bridge between the towers, taking the lead. She knew he would follow, like all the others, letting her lead him to what was likely his own death.

[ATTN: Azrael]

Gospel didn't look back. "Nothing good," she said in reply as they approached the bridge. "You ascend floors by fighting and solving puzzles. Failing to follow Hexagon's rules means 'immediate termination.'"

[Attn: Open]

Shortly ahead of Azrael and Gospel, Thirteen is explaining Hexagon's twisted game to Ray.

"I'm in charge of telling you what that thing on your wrist is. It's called a Decascanner as you already know. Ever read Green Lantern as a kid?"

"Uh...no but I saw a cartoon. Dude with some space-age magic ring. Let him fly and make solid constructs out of light and whatnot."

"Yep. Similar concept here. They don't let you fly and won't protect you from being hit by a truck but you can make a number of simple constructs with them. Also, they have a number of other features. I'll let you determine those. But the main was is forming a seal. Seals allow my own decascanner to access superhuman abilities that I can use for up to 30 minutes freely. The way to form a seal varies between Handicaps."

"So how do I form a seal with you? Swipe them together like before?"

"Not exactly..."

"Then how."

"Just...get through the game without needing me, all right?"

"WHAT?!"

[ATTN: Azrael]

"Soulless indeed," she said. "It's got to keep it's great mind in shape somehow," she added bitterly. She cleared her throat. "Anyway, that thing you have on your wrist is your Decascanner. Yours gives you a stopwatch, minicomputer, et cetera. It's also projects a weapon for you to use in combat. If it breaks, Hexagon kills you on the spot. Mine can be used to form a seal - it gives me access to a special ability for about half an hour."

[ATTN: Azrael]

Gospel suppressed a smile. "Well," she said, managing a serious tone, "I have what is called a 'Low Level Perception Filter' in my Decascanner. It means we can move unnoticed for a short time."

Gospel couldn't keep the amusement out of her voice now - this moment, every time, was the only highlight of the Hexagon games for her. "The process to form the seal is different for every single Decascanner," she explained. "So Hexagon has to pull ideas from pretty much everywhere in it's databases. Activating mine involves... well, have you ever heard of a dance called the Time Warp?"

[ATTN: Azrael]

Gospel threw up her hands in mock surrender. She hid her grin poorly. "Not at all. Hexagon has a weird sense of humor, it seems." She had always found it awkward herself, that her subtle Seal ability had been paired with such a flamboyant activation. Perhaps it had been intentional, to deter her from using it often. It certainly made it harder to sneak around places without planning. "You don't have to sing along, at least. Just go through the motions."

[ATTN: Azrael]

"Anyway, it's alright, I suppose," she continued. "It's embarrassing, sure, but the good thing is the Seal starts kicking in about halfway through." They had reached the bridge by now, and Gospel stopped suddenly. She was struck, in that instant, by a gripping, uncontrollable terror. She couldn't cross over to that h*ll again. Her breath quickened, and she reached for her Decascanner, gripping it so tight her knuckles went white.

[ATTN: Azrael]

Gospel tensed, stepping forward away from Azrael's hand. What did he know? Fighter though he was, he had no clue what was ahead of him, no idea of the terror, the false hope that was always maddeningly destroyed. He hadn't seen the people and their endless possibilities gone to dust.

Gospel brushed her thumb across the face of her Decascanner. She had to remain in control. She took a breath, and turned back to him with a false smile. "Of course," she said. "I have no doubt in your capabilities," she finished, entirely honest. She turned back around, and took that hateful step out onto the bridge. "Shall we, then?" she asked, startlingly calm now that her panic had passed.