Round Two Results: Twist The Nail
What is death? Is it the end of the book of life? Just the end of a chapter? Is it an interlude, or a coda? What happens to us after all is said and done? Why is it that we ask these sorts of questions? They are irrefutable proof that no matter what bizarre, magical, or supernatural creatures exist out there, none are as strange as humans. They pry and they search as if they know there is a missing link somewhere, floating just beyond their grasp. That hunger…gives them power.
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The sun burned.
James slowly opened his blurry eyes and was met with a burst of particularly bright sunlight. He moved as if to reach up and shield his face from the light, but his arm wouldn’t follow. He struggled a little bit, but to no avail. That’s when he looked down. Oh, how he wished he hadn’t looked down.
James was tied to the top of the observation tower.
He tried to remember the events of the past night, but that train of thought found it difficult to compete with his vertigo and throbbing head. Admittedly, that answered a few questions in and of itself. “Man, I knew I shouldn’t have gotten drunk.” His memories were too fuzzy to be of much use, but at this point he didn’t really care anymore. The fact of the matter was he was hanging hundreds of feet off the ground in a park in the middle of nowhere, with no one to call to for help and surrounded by a bunch of bloodthirsty maniacs. The day was starting out just great. That said, James tried to concentrate on slowing his breathing and calming himself down...panicking wasn’t going to get him anywhere.
After he had gathered his senses, he thought he should try looking around. He had been tied with some sort of strong cable and was hanging from the tower’s edge, free to dangle in the wind. His current vantage point offered him a view of the Ferris Wheel, but he supposed if he flailed enough he could probably spin around and catch a decent 135 degrees of viewable park. Indeed, when he looked out he thought he saw Kyle jumping down from the roof of a building, but he couldn’t be sure.
“Well”, he told himself with a deep breath, “at least now I’ll get a decent view of the competition”.
“…and they’ll get a pretty good view of you as well, no?”
James’ heart, which had just finished easing back into its proper place in his chest, immediately shot back up into his throat. That voice gave him the willies…it was the voice from the intercom. He strained his neck in an attempt to have a look at whoever it was that was speaking to him, but only managed to blind himself with the sun again.
“What do you want?”
The voice chuckled. “Oh, not much. I just want what everyone wants. The real question is…what do
they want? I still don’t really know. Sure, some of them have been sent here and others are here by happenstance, but that doesn’t really answer the question, now does it? I intend to find out. And so, you are the bait on my line, for I have fish to catch.”
James let out an exasperated sigh. “Oh great, just great…I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“I know, and that’s precisely why you are still alive…for now. It’s up to the contestants to decide for how much longer that is the case.” The man paused. “You do remember who won the last round, don’t you?”
James laughed a bitter laugh. “I feel like I’ve been hit by a Mack truck, so no, it feels like that happened
weeks ago. I haven't the slightest clue.” There was a long silence. After a few seconds, he realized that he would be unable to scratch his nose for a while. This was a problem. It perhaps was not the most important of things for him to be worrying about at the time, but at least it took his mind off the possibility of plummeting to his death, an absolutely invaluable quality.
After a time, the strange man spoke again. “Well then, since it seems we’re going to be waiting up here a while, perhaps I should explain to you what you missed…”
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The second time Sybrus carried a body to the observation tower, he had help. The two fell silent as they entered the tower's shadow. Even their steps seemed to soften.
The door creaked open, not really out of any theatrical purpose but just because it was kind of old and nobody had bothered to oil the hinges. The girl gave a smile at the two, probably the first time a combatant had ever witnessed a significant display of emotion from her. Sybrus however was understandably preoccupied with other matters such as Tok-Tok's safety and didn't fully appreciate the significance of the event.
"Hello, miss," said Hickles, as if it was completely ordinary to find a young girl out here on a deserted island in who-knew-what-time-or-location. What great manners though. Nobody else had even bothered to recognize her.
"Hi," she said, soft spoken in the way that NASCAR fans aren't. First words in public too. Sybrus should have fainted with shock but he took it all amazingly in stride. He sort of jerked his head towards the body. She nodded and took it from the two men.
She turned around and started to close the door with her foot, but then stopped and turned around.
"Thanks," she said, and the door closed.
{
Tok-Tok vs. Sybrus results in a
Sybrus victory.}
Sybrus turned around to find himself in the presence of yet another competitor. A blubbering, armored Jiefin was slowly making his way up the road behind him, presumably heading towards the tower. He didn’t look hurt, and there didn’t seem to be anything wrong, but yet he wailed and wailed like a professional Tongan mourner. Sybrus couldn’t make out much of what he was saying, but thought he caught something about ‘disgrace’ and ‘family’. The cyborg was unsure what to make of this, but decided that it was probably best that he remain unseen, particularly after having a good look at that armor. He looked around quickly for somewhere to hide.
Across the way there was a small sunglass kiosk. There didn’t seem to be much space inside, but he reasoned that it would suffice for the time being.
{
Kyle vs Jiefin results in a
Kyle victory.}
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A frozen smile stared up at the sky. The body that it belonged to was at the epicenter of some sort of debilitating rampage. The girl stood right at the edge with a curious look. There was a neat demarcation between the dead and the alive. She gingerly stepped across the line,
tsked lightly when she saw the woman, and picked her up. That second chance clearly hadn't done her any good.
{
Icekommander vs. Anesthesia results in an
Icekommander victory.}
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Elsewhere, some distance away, the Splotch came to after a few minutes of being knocked out by Cabera's great overwhelming mental assault earlier.
He reformed himself to a standing position, and looked around. He saw that Cabera's last body was lying down unconscious, while he was relatively unharmed, save for a major headache and vague memories of thinking a lot.
"Well, that's that then!" he said happily, raising his chest then smacking it with a fist. "I guess I win, whatever happened!"
"You barely did anything," replied Al. "However, you will be happy to know that beep Cabera will no longer be a problem, for I have dealt with him."
"Blah blah blah," said Harry, cocking his head left and right as he did. "If I fall unconscious in the middle of a fight and still end up winning, then that's not my problem, now is it?"
"Please note, Mister Smith, that it was through my –"
"Shut up, Al," interrupted the Splotch. "I'm gloating here. Let me gloat, will ya? And check up on where I'm supposed to be headed to claim the fruits of victory while you're at it."
“I would, Mr. Smith, but I’m afraid there is a problem. I just received an email from an untraceable proxy informing me that there is a young boy being held hostage on the top of the observation tower. His captor intends to drop him to his death if you and the competitor named “Kyle” are not there at 1900 hours.”
“Erm…I’m not a friggin’ private.”
“7:00 PM. Five minutes from now.”
The Splotch let out a sigh. “This day just keeps getting better and better, huh?”
{
The Splotch vs Cabera results in a
Splotch victory.}
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Cybrus’ awakening marked the second time that day someone had come to, only to find themselves unable to remember how they got where they were and with a throbbing headache. He remembered nothing of how had arrived at his current location, only an unidentified scent, which he presumed was some sort of sedative.
He turned his heavy head to see where he was, and found that he was sitting next to Jiefin, who seemed to be slowly coming to as well. Sybrus looked around, but couldn’t tell where he was, as the pounding in his head made it impossible to concentrate. All he knew was that it was dark. He staggered to his feet, something that would have been entirely impossible had he been fully human. Realizing this, he stuck his human arm out in search of something to prop himself up against, and found something very, very cold. It moved away from him.
“Where is this place, and how did I come to be here?
Oh God.
“…and so you see, my dangling friend, I am merely making things…interesting.”
*Parts of this update have been taken from contestant entries or contributed by LightFang