[Dangan] Free Association: Part One. Day 6: "Graduation Day"

[PointMaid]

Nice try. We have you surrounded. You're getting out of here in a bodybag or in cuffs.

...Which is probably a bluff. But it's hopefully distracting enough to > rush Lindsey with the bayonet. I mean, she does have that bulletproof vest so hopefully it's not suicidal.

[Florien]

[10]: Runner Five rushes past Lindsey, who dodges expertly.

Mmhm. But you'll be just as dead either way, so it's not worth it, is it? I get out of here, I just get sent somewhere else and do the same. You get out of here, what's outside for you?

Lindsey fires the single bullet. [7], [4]. +2 In Lindsey's favor now, as Runner Five is shot in the back. The bulletproof vest blocks it, but the punch knocks Five to the ground.

I'll tell you. It doesn't matter, because you don't get out of here.

[PointMaid]

...Five grunts winces.

...At least that last bullet is spent.

[PointMaid]

* Grunts and winces

Nice try yet again, Lindsey

[Florien]

Eh. It's not like you'll survive long. I know there's a sniper outside. I step out that door alone, I get shot. I step out that door with a hostage?... Well, we'll see how that goes soon.

Lindsey tries to kick the shotgun away from Runner Five. [4] Vs. [5]. Runner Five keeps a grip on the weapon.

[PointMaid]

...Yeah, not gonna be a hostage. Move it. Don't try anything funny this time.

Five tries to > Get up and make sure Lindsey knows she means business with the bayonet. If Lindsey doesn't start out of the building to where the sniper is... or makes a move against Five... gut him.

[Florien]

[9]: Five manages to roll back, and have the sharp end pointed at Lindsey.

Now, let's be reasonable. You going to shoot me with that, or you going to charge me with that? Because I don't think you can do the former, and the latter didn't work out so great for you last time. Maybe you should just give up and die, like the twenty five who came before you, and the thirty more before that, because I'm not letting you win this one.

So Five tries attacking.

[7], [5]. Lindsey dodges back, towards the open warehouse door. They're not out yet, but they're getting closer. 0-0 combat wise.

[PointMaid]

> Okay... Charge!

[Florien]

[4], [3]. Lindsey takes another step back, avoiding the next swipe. +1 to Runner Five.

I'm telling you, even I don't know the extent of the network. You kill me, all of The Associates will be after you, and I don't even know HOW many of us there are! Sure, you took on four of us, did pretty well. But you can't take us all! Back off, maybe you'll live. Keep this up, maybe you won't.

[PointMaid]

Associates? Look, I know you are a freaking serial killer. That's all I need to know. Besides, I've done pretty well so far. I don't scare easily after being chased by... well, I doubt you'd last long being chased by a hundred zombies.

> Charge!

[Florien]

Oh, sure, serial killer. Not an expert blackmailer, not an expert at setting bait out and roping people into elaborate schemes. You focus on the irrelevant part.

[4], [1]: Lindsey is so focused on complaining that they actually get stabbed in the gut by the bayonet. +4 to Runner Five...

ThhhhhhhhhhHHHHHhhKKKOWWWW. FUCK YOU.

As Lindsey grabs for the fire extinguisher by the door that they'd secretly unlocked the previous round, and swings it at Runner Five...

[2], [9]. The swing misses, however.

[PointMaid]

> Charge!

[Florien]

[1]. Runner Five trips and falls, inches from the finish line.

HA! YOU FUCKED UP! YOU ALWAYS WERE A FALIURE! YOU LOST YOUR DOCTOR FRIEND, AND NOW YOU'RE GOING TO BE THE INSTRUMENT OF MY ESCAPE!! YOU HAVE ACHIEVED NOTHING! NOTHING!

Lindsey swings the heavy fire extinguisher...

[10].

And loses their grip. It flies off and hits the back wall of the warehouse with a hollow clang...

Runner Five gets to her feet before Lindsey can do a thing about it.

...Hey, remember what I said about wounded or cornered animals or whatever?

[6], [2]. +8 for Runner Five. Lindsey is stabbed through the chest. The shotgun somehow unjams and fires, to add insult to injury. As they fall out of the warehouse, Kaikoku fires, seeing a non-runner five person leaving the warehouse, and Lindsey falls to the ground, half in the building, half out of the building, and mostly all over the place, as the sniper bullet impacts their head. It's a gruesome scene.

...Fuck.

That's the last transmission the Spymaster sends over your comms. It's not shouted. It's just defeated sounding.

The Feds finally arrive on the scene about ten minutes later, late to the action. The police around the apartment building are arrested, as are the ones inside. Everyone is taken into custody, and brought to the evacuation center outside the nine blocks.

What are you all going to do, now that this is resolved?

[Kennifer]

D1D W3 W1N
1S TH3R3 4NOTH3R TW1ST TO 4LL OF TH1S CONN3R13 OR C4N W3 GO HOM3

[PointMaid]

Five is just... standing there trying to compose herself after all that adrenaline.

Just... wow. ...I'm going to need a beer. Or a curly-wurly bar. I bet there are plenty of chocolate bars here.
You get him, Feds! The Catkin killer, delivered!

[Subparman]

Talk about a rollercoaster ride, eh? All thanks to Boss here that we got out in one piece. SHSL Sniper Kaikoku winks at the nickname for Runner Five, although he kind of cringes at the thought of the rest of the agents who, er... aren't quite half the people they used to be. ... Let's hope we won't be needing to see any more of those showdowns today, though.

[Kennifer]

1 SHOULD GO F1ND SOM3 M3D1C4L 4TT3NT1ON NOW THOUGH
1 SM3LL 4 LOT OF W1NT3RGR33N T34L BLOOD COM1NG FROM MY 1NJURY 4ND TH4TS NOT GOOD >:[

[PointMaid]

Ow... yeah...

[Subparman]

...Cue surprised Pikachu face as he realises the worst injury he's sustained from this was possible alcohol poisoning.

...Scratch that "one piece", bit then.

[The Map Maker]

"Damn, Is it really over? I could barely even process what just happened."

[Florien]

Everyone receives proper medical attention, and is interviewed at the federal post, in a random gymnasium.

Some explanation later, the whole elaborate plot, completely unbelievable though it is, is corroborated with the other survivors.

...We need counterintelligence on this. Whatever this is, it's big.

In time, Tripford begins to recover from the events that transpired. News gets out about the "Spymaster" incident. Agencies are put on alert to look for this reoccurring somewhere, and it leaks to the press. It makes international headlines. No one has any idea what country would do this, but naturally, blame falls on whichever power of the day is causing the most problems. Despite everything, no one seems able to find the elusive "Spymaster", nor the supposed "Rest of The Associates" that Lindsey mentioned.

Without Seko to support the Clearday regime and keep the populace in check, the Feds raid the TCPD station, only to find Chief Clearday dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Most of the department is arrested, and those that aren't are discharged. "The Tripford Incident" is such a black mark on their records that not even other police departments will hire them, lest they risk a public uprising. Conspiracies swirl around Clearday's death of course, but that was inevitable. Elections resume in Tripford, and within only one cycle, people start taking the mayor not being the chief of police running a dictatorship for granted. New powers rise in Tripford, but they're another story.

Peter Romero's body is never recovered, mostly because it's in too many pieces. Not that anyone cares, no one liked him much anyway. Even the bartender admitted he rarely paid his tab. He had no family nor friends to speak of. The last memory of his existence is a spoiled egg-salad sandwich in the break room at the construction site, which never contained any bodies.

The Man In Green's name is never found out. As far as can be told, he just appeared one day and started running the Pawnshop. No identity nor documented proof of his existence other than the body can be found. The only person who supposedly knew his name was his boyfriend, who died in a civil war reenactment accident. Who he was may forever be a mystery.

Strickland Semiconductors International is investigated, briefly, for their close association with several events. Nothing comes of it, other than a minor temporary dip in the stock price. But public suspicion of the place does increase slightly.

The Survivors receive a great deal of press coverage and donations from an adoring public. Also a lot of hate mail for "killing cops", but it's largely drowned out by the public banding together to pay for the newly minted celebrities medical treatment and the constant praise. Everyone who wasn't dead makes a full recovery. After giving only a few interviews, however, there's rumors of assassination plots and such things. The survivors are brought into witness protection, and effectively disappear, out of the Spymaster's presumably still extant reach.

The Chief Medical Examiner, McCastle, has to fill out an autopsy report for every single victim of these events. It'll take weeks at least to finish all those forms, and without the CSI team able to help, due to being in prison or fired, it takes even longer to get the full reports made. Naturally, everyone in the office is annoyed at the drudgery, though mostly glad to not be intimidated by Clearday's Cops whenever they didn't comply with orders to forge reports.

Some day, a movie will be made about the events that transpired in Tripford over that one week. Possibly several. But for now, (relative) peace reigns. For a time.

END OF FREE ASSOCIATION 1.