Her arm hurt.

She couldn't feel her legs.

Her head throbbed.

'Make it stop.'

What had happened?

The hacker had broken into Rika's apartment. She vaguely remembered that.

But... then what?

She'd been frozen.

Like an idiot, she hadn't moved.

The hacker had been speaking, his voice eerily distorted. His shoes had crunched on the glass he'd broken. His eyes were creepy, blank and inhuman.

He'd approached her, trying to coach her to go with him.

Fight, flight, fawn, or freeze.

Those are the four basic human reactions to danger.

And, fool as she was, she was predisposed to 'freeze'.

It was like her muscles locked up. Like in some bad dream, unable to move as the monster approaches. She couldn't force her legs to work, her throat to scream for help.

She could only hope Seven made it in time. The hacker was talking about him now; even the mechanical quality of his voice couldn't hide the loathing dripping from his words.

And then Seven had rushed in.

She'd found herself in the hacker's arms, crying out for Seven's help.

He'd been alarmed, and she'd been so relieved.

Seven had seemed to know him, shock evident on his face as the hacker removed his mask.

And then the security system had gone off, its artificial voice beginning to count down.

Seven had panicked, yelling for the hacker (he'd called him 'Saeran'?) to run. To let go of her and leave before it killed them all.

His arms tight around her, the hacker had been indecisive.

He was indecisive for too long.

His arms had just released her when there was a deafening BOOM, a wave of heat, then nothing.

Her arm didn't hurt; her head's throbbing had slowed. She could hear sirens in the distance.

Blinking slowly, she could see a red-haired figure clutching another, their hair pink with blood, as though in a last-ditch attempt at protection.

As her eyes drifted shut, Seven's phone began to ring. When that call went unanswered, her phone began to ring. Barely visible on its shattered screen, V's pictured flashed.

[Missed Calls:] 1

[New Chat-room:] We can't hold the party.

GAME OVER

BAD END