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Lumine was waiting for them in the auditorium, looking just as nonchalant as usual. The portraits of the deceased had been updated on their respective podiums. X gave an involuntary shudder. How could it come to this? Four of them were dead already, with another soon to be exposed.
"It's gotten out of hand too quickly, that's for sure."
X spun around to see Aero next to him, not realizing he had been voicing his thoughts out loud until now. The duo looked at each other.
"We don't have to kill each other." X finally said. "I don't know what we have to do but…"
"I know." Aero nodded. In a slightly darker voice she repeated, "I know."
The two then went to their podiums without another word.
"Welcome back, welcome back," Lumine greeted them. "A few short days simply are not enough, are they?"
No one answered as they took their places. Lumine seemed to be amused by their quiet natures so far.
It was time to change that.
"I do have to give a round of applause to today's Maverick." Lumine droned. "Only the second killing and you take out two others? Amazing stuff. Although I do feel like you could have taken on someone who had a bit more… muscular strength. Of the ones you could have found, you took the easy ones. Especially that seraph haired girl. Far too easy, that one."
"You piece of-!" Marino screeched as she prepared to bolt right from her podium to Lumine. She barely made it three steps before something shocked her. With a yelp, Marino backed away from the invisible barrier. Her astonishment came out in a muttered, "The fuck…?" before looking to Lumine for answers.
"Oh, have I never told you?" Lumine sneered. "The moment everyone is ready for our debates, an invisible barrier forms around your podium. It's to ensure everyone's safety, of course."
"The many are mightier than the few," Zero said in his usual grumble- this one containing a bit more bite than usual. It did not phase Lumine.
"Such as it were," the snake with a white aura bemused, "We've gotten off topic."
The lights around the auditorium dimmed slightly for dramatic effect.
"Two killings in one…" Lumine mused. "Let's see who our opportunistic Maverick is."
As before, Lumine gave a snap of their fingers and the lights in the room went out. A few moments of anxious heartbeats were allowed before a spotlight was turned on. This time, it was pointed at Spider.
Unlike Massimo, he did not bother to defend himself right away. Instead he gave a shrug, then folded his arms before looking down. It was a rather dramatic stance in its own right.
"You killed without me?" Dynamo asked first- giving a whine that invariably sounded fake. "But we made a suicide pact. Spit shaked on it and everything."
Spider gave a half shrug.
"Opportunity decided to ring for a different outcome, chum." he said. "It wouldn't have been much fun for you to begin with."
"But two girls in one."
"I know, I know. One for each of us. I know that's what disappoints you the most."
"Shut up!" Marino demanded. "How could you two talk so carelessly about them?! They were one of the few who wanted to make friends with everyone, no matter how callous they were!"
"I don't think they particularly care, Marino." Zero said. His eyes were closed and his arms were folded. When he opened his eyes, they immediately glared daggers in Spider's direction. In a cold voice he asked, "Who did you kill first?"
"And why her?" Marino demanded.
Lumine placed their hand on their chin. "Her?" they entertained, rather wickedly.
"Them." she corrected herself. "Why them ?"
Spider adjusted his fedora as he considered his words.
"You could almost say that Pallette was just in the wrong place at the right time." He glanced over at Marino without a hint of emotion. "Cinnamon was just in the way."
"You ass!" Marino hollered, slamming her fists into her podium.
"Marino, please, you need to stay level headed." Layer requested. "We still need to hear why he did it."
"Do we need any other reason?"
"Everyone deserves to share their side of the story." X said. He took a sorrowful glance at Spider. "Even if their reasons were simply 'because I was there.'"
"Smart boy." Spider nodded. "I knew there was a reason to like you, X."
X recoiled- clearly not enjoying the praise in this context.
"But it's true," Spider went on, "I didn't need to kill them. I could have gone after any of you. They were just the ones I happened upon first. It was pretty early when the knife of death was delivered, you know. As much as I didn't want to hurt anyone, so many of you were asleep still that it didn't even matter!"
Spider laughed. The only one who remotely joined him was Dynamo- who gave an approving smirk. Had there not been a barrier to keep them in place, Marino would have clawed both of their eyes out by now. Her fingers were buried so far into the palm of her hands that her palm was starting to bleed.
"Pallette was the first," Spider went on to say. "She had decided to take a morning dip. Since no one said we had to use the knife given when we're chosen to be Maverick, I decided to use the pool as the murder weapon instead. Let it be a lesson for you kids- don't ever get your hair or loose objects near the drain on an inground pool. Those suckers have some suction to them!"
"And what about Cinnamon?" Alia inquired. "You mention that she was 'in the way' at the time. Are you saying that you would have just killed Pallette, and Cinnamon was a… surprise?"
"In a manner of speaking," Spider agreed. "As I was leaving the pool, she stopped me at the door. A good Maverick would never leave behind a witness. Do you think?"
A growl emitted from Marino's lips- low and feral. At this point, although it was rather bad in its own right, everyone was starting to ignore her.
"So you left Pallette at the bottom of the pool, and Cinnamon just.. tossed in?" Layer asked.
"Exactly that."
"That leads to a question I have," Zero said. "It's about the way Pallette was in the pool. If you had her hair stuck in the drain, how would she had gotten back to the top?"
Spider shrugged. "Beats me. Girl had a bit more will in her than I thought."
"Lumine," Aero spoke up, looking toward the offending person, "You would know. Wouldn't you?"
"Of course." came the callous reply. "What kind of observer would I be if I didn't see every variable as it unfolded?"
Aero's expression darkened. In return, Lumine offered a smug grin.
"Listen close, lab rats," they then went on. "For a tale of willpower and desperation. Of altruism and inevitability. It's quite a doozy, if I do say so myself."
The morning started as it always did for the cheery Cinnamon. She took a shower that helped her forget the world for a moment. She put on her familiar, and very comfortable, white and blue dress that she adored ever so much. Then she set out to find the girls. Sharing her morning with the others was another distraction from their situation. With combined comradery and potential gossip, Cinnamon looked forward each morning with hope.
After leaving her room, Cinnamon thought to gather Marino first. Their rooms were only two doors apart. Cinnamon also knew that Marino would still be in her room at this point. However, little seraph hair decided not to. The whys would likely only belong to her- perhaps she thought she could get her most treasured friend last, or maybe she assumed Marino was still sleeping and didn't want to bother her. Regardless, Cinnamon went elsewhere to gather the girls.
That was how she happened upon the pool. She saw the moment Spider proposed that he and Pallette play a little game. She thought nothing of it as the two dipped underwater together. It was only when Spider came up and Pallette did not that Cinnamon realized something was wrong.
Her cry of outbreak was her own undoing.
Cinnamon was barely clinging to life when Spider disposed her in the pool. The knife he had used to kill her was still lodged within her ribs. The pain was immense. She could barely move as her lungs filled with blood. But her eyes still worked. They could see plain as day that Pallette needed help. So, as with all altruistic souls, Cinnamon fought against her pain to swim toward her friend.
Knowing there was a possibility that she could be saved brought hope to Pallette. Holding her breath was becoming impossible. She reached, both for the air she couldn't have and for Cinnamon, as her vision dimmed.
Cinnamon made it far enough down that she was within arm's reach of Pallette's entangled hair. With a wince and a silent yelp of pain, Cinnamon pulled out the knife from her own stomach. More red than blue filled the pool at that moment. Cinnamon had to see against her own blood to cut at Pallette's hair. It was the only way to free her friend at that point.
For what it was worth, she was successful. Cinnamon cut enough of Pallette's hair so that the latter could be free. However, it was still too late. Palette's body floated to the top of the water without a movement to be seen. In her own loss of consciousness, Cinnamon believed she had been successful. With that, nothing else mattered.
Her heroism had been for nothing, and everything.
The auditorium went silent as Lumine finished the recount.
"She… she tried to…" Marino whimpered. Her knees finally gave way, causing her to fall to the ground. Her look of disbelief bordered on full mental shut down.
Even Zero was frazzled at the revelation, letting out a mumbled, "Christ."
Spider had hidden himself in his fedora.
"Strong girl…" he muttered. His head slowly came up to look at Lumine. "Alright Lumine, guess you can electrocute me now, or whatever. We've exhausted this as far as it can go."
"Hmm… Whatever, you say?" Lumine mused. "I might just have to take you up on that offer."
Lumine snapped their fingers. At the command, a glass barrier started to rise around Spider. The gambler cocked an eyebrow, not truly questioning how this was already different than Massimo's execution. The glass reached far above Spider's height before finally stopping. Then something else started to rise up from the floor. An opaque liquid, its viscosity similar to syrup, started to pool around Spider's feet.
That was when they all heard it- an odd hissing sound and the faint smell of burning rubber.
"Shit!" Spider exclaimed as the liquid ate enough of his shoes to make skin contact. "It's acid!" Then a quick look to Lumine- his face mixed with bemusement and genuine terror. "Acid!?"
Lumine gave a careless shrug.
Once the substance was identified, more of it started to pool at Spider's feet. It was at mid-calf in moments. Acid even came raining down from the top of the glass barrier, speeding up the process that much faster. Barely a minute passed and the acid was a little above his knees.
Spider's initial shouts of 'shit's became reduced to agonized screams. He clawed for his life to get out of the barrier. His pounding and scratches were useless. The acid was barely above his waist before he could no longer stand. His screams echoed even when his head was no longer seen.
Lumine let down the barrier several minutes after Spider's garbled cries for help ceased. It was with surprising speed that the acid melted away as the barrier also receded back into the ground. The only thing that remained of Spider was a scrap of fabric from his fedora, and a section from a single finger.
"Hmm…" Lumine hummed. "Perhaps I overcorrected by a tad. Then again, so did he."
Lumine's laughter filled the otherwise deathly quiet auditorium in a chilling echo.
. . .
The next morning felt like a sick dream. Lumine's voice over the speakers only punctuated the hurt.
"Since our last Maverick took advantage of a new area, I've decided to give you lab rats even more room to explore. The third floor had been opened up. Enjoy it at your leisure… or not."
"Christ," Axl realized at breakfast, "We've only been here for a week."
Everyone who was already at the table shrunk at the reminder.
"There has to be a way for the rest of us to make peace." Iris said, tightly folding her fingers within each other. "We have to. It wouldn't take much… would it?"
No one knew how to answer.
"Guess with a new floor we should go inspect it like the others," Dynamo decided. "Anyone up to it?"
Several murmurs illustrated that there wasn't much interest.
"I might." Alia said. "I was never good at sitting still when there's a lot of stress around me."
"I'll go with you." Layer offered. "It would be safer if you… I-I mean, there's no reason why you wouldn't be safe! It's just that… that…"
"Don't worry Layer," Alia lightly laughed, putting a hand on her shoulder. "I know what you mean."
Layer let out a sigh of relief, then gave Alia a look of appreciation.
"Anyone else?" Alia asked the rest of the group. There still were not any other takers. It was about what Alia expected. "Alright then."
"You know," Dynamo spoke up, "It might be better if you two go together. You don't want to be caught dead like the other two."
Marino, who had been quiet up until this point, snapped her head up at him.
"Say that again." she threatened.
"I didn't say anything." Dynamo shrugged. "I'm just pointing out that if either Cinnamon or Pallette had made more of an effort to defend themselves, they might still be here now."
"That's it!" Marino snapped. Without any other warning, she launched herself across the table at Dynamo.