[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/oCiKgIL.gif[/img] [img]https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/388387379339067393/389413531952480257/Denis.gif[/img][/center] Braden had been uncharacteristically quiet standing in the hallway of the patient’s quarters whilst Denis brandished his weapon of choice - multiple bombs scattered around the room with the detonator right in his control. He had left his puppets back in his room in his haste to check outside when Thomas’s announcement rang from the intercoms. It was rare that he would be without his precious puppets, yet here he was, standing amongst the crowd watching in horror as they became pawns in Thomas’s ever complicated game of chess with the mastermind. The Phoenix Project sounded like something out of a silly game, there was no possible way someone could get resurrected. What was stopping Thomas from simply not following through with his promise after everything was done? Turning to Denis, Braden began to speak. Whether if it was out of fear for his life, or to bring some sense into the spy’s head out of some misguided sense of good in his heart, he didn’t know. [color=82a327]“You’ll die too if you blow us up, you know that right? You know there are some people that believe in their ego more than Thomas’s plan, so why gamble your life away and not see your father again?”[/color] Jezebel looked over her shoulder. [color=#bd71e8]“Braden! When did you get here?”[/color] But she was totally ignored by the two men. [color=purple]”I know I not smart, but Thomas is.”[/color] Denis's arm stiffened. [color=purple]”If I die here, he just bring me back. He need us now. We need him.”[/color] Denis's thumb hovered over the detonator while Thomas and Davis continued to talk in the background. [color=purple]”No one need to die now.”[/color] [color=82a327]“You’ve seen the plans for the machine, correct? How do you know it really works? That it’ll bring your father back the same way he was before. Thomas is an infinite, he’s not god.”[/color] Denis grit his teeth. [color=purple]”I know I not smart... but Thomas is! He explain it to me but I not quite understand. He in phoenix project, it will work!”[/color] Was this progress? Braden wasn’t sure. [color=82a327]“Yes, Thomas is smart. I’d say that was hot if he was older.”[/color] Braden then cleared his throat, going off track. [color=82a327]“Thomas is a biomechanic. He can probably bring back your father, sure, but just the shell of his body would be there. How can Thomas promise that he would be anything like the father you know? Surely if Thomas was that smart, he would explain to his only ally how the project works.”[/color] [color=purple]”He did explain, I just no understand it all!”[/color] Denis lowered his arm and pointed at Braden. [color=purple]”How you know it no work? Where's your proof it no work?”[/color] He took a step forward. [color=purple]”We so close to stopping Davis, while you all cower and do exactly what he want! Killing and being killed! No hero do those things for a mad man. Thomas different! Thomas smart! Thomas do what you all scared to do. Thomas and me be heroes. We save everyone, we raise everyone who die.”[/color] Braden had no proof that it couldn’t work. He was banking on the idea that Thomas’s talent could only do so much to bring someone back to life. Was a person really a person if they did not have their memories? Who knew philosophy would be the topic that he’d use to try and survive. [color=82a327]“You kill us now, and Davis will bring in more infinites. We are expendable to him. So many of us have died, there are simultaneous games happening at once, but even if people survive they are shuffled to the next game only to be killed again! Davis does not give two fucks about us dying right now, he probably has the next twenty infinites on standby in the damn elevators right now ready to take our place in this game. We are not important, Denis, that’s why we are in this stupid game.”[/color] [color=purple]”But this only candidate's killing game.”[/color] Denis waved his finger at everyone standing in the hallway. [color=purple]”Someone here important to him. Someone need to be selected.”[/color] Again, he took another step forward. Everyone was stepping back or at least repositioning themselves, But Braden remained put. [color=purple]”He no want us all to die here. It set him back big.”[/color] [color=82a327]“You think you’re special because he used the term candidate? What is this, a fucked up recruitment? If Davis thought one of us was special, why risk them being killed in the killing game? If he thought one of us was special, he would not keep bringing people into this particular game and make it more challenging for us by prolonging the game like this.”[/color] Braden crossed his arms against his chest, feet pressed firmly to the ground as if he were trying to make a point in his argument. [color=82a327]“Denis, think about it. Thomas has the ‘key’ to reviving anyone according to you, right? What’s stopping Thomas and Davis from working together, make this into a game so even if this ‘special’ one dies, he can revive them with this piece of tech.”[/color] He sighed. [color=82a327]“Thomas hasn’t even tried to seem like he is one of us. He’s using you to keep us hostage during night of carnage, a night where if blood is shed for his plan, it could not be used to make him the blackened.”[/color] Denis did not fire back with a response immediately. The growing anger in his face also seemed to subside. After looking Braden up and down, Denis smiled.[color=purple]”You scared.”[/color] He nodded to himself, as if just confirming a successful experiment. [color=purple]”When my dad on trial, I not able to do anything. I could have pulled a gun on judge and escape, but I no confident in that. Dad found guilty, executed, forgotten.”[/color] He shrugged his shoulders. [color=purple]”I had no courage then. No courage to save innocent father. Too scared I would be killed. That change now. Now I have courage. I have faith in myself. I put myself here because I no want anyone else to die.”[/color] He lifted up the detonator. His thumb was no longer hovering over the button, but instead was curled around the rest of his fingers. [color=purple]“I no want to push button. I only do that if any of you run.”[/color] He lowered his arm back down and nodded again. [color=purple]“No need to fear. Have faith and it work. That what Thomas told me.”[/color] Denis turned around and walked back to where he was standing a few moments ago, leaving his back pointed at the people he was holding hostage. Braden could almost feel himself starting to laugh. He had been in this situation once before, just without the looming bomb threat. This had to be a trap, a spy could never leave his back wide open for an attack. What a shame, Denis was quite the cutie. Braden was the least capable of physical combat out of the group there - he was certain even Jezabel could kick his ass with the trinkets the trickster carried on her body. But the finger was off the trigger. [i]That[/i] was progress, but not the goal. Braden charged, empty fists curled into a ball, ready to land a strike on Denis’s head. Denis had his back turned to Braden, so of course he couldn't see if he was being attacked right away. But Braden's sudden sprint forward was something the spy's keen ears were able to pick up on. It was not unreasonable to think that Denis knew what a running man sounded like. So he looked over his shoulder just in time to see Braden tighten his fingers together and drop his fist on the back of his skull. The spy was quick to use his empty right hand to “brush” the attack off to the side, causing the swing to narrowly clip his shoulder. With the blow deflected, Denis swung his right leg behind his left to tun himself towards Braden. He used the momentum to attempt to power his left hand into Braden's chest. Denis didn't seem to be concerned about the detonator accidentally activating. He believed that he could be resurrected, after all. Braden could not let Denis’s left hand connect with his chest, worried that the detonator would go off if he touched it. He clumsily took a few steps back, falling over from the sudden momentum awkwardly on his buttocks. From the floor, Braden tried kicking out his feet in a desperate attempt to kick Denis’s shin so he could fall over as well. Denis must not have expected his opponent to go down so easily, because he just stood there as Braden fell to the floor and kicked at one of the spy's ankles. His stretched out stance gave him a lot of stability, but Braden was determined to bring the spy down. The kick was hard enough to make Denis lose his footing, and he fell onto one knee. It was painful, but the spy had withstood much worse. He reached out with his right hand to seize the ventriloquist's ankle. [color=#bd71e8]“Braden! Like... GHHAAAHHHHH!”[/color] Jezebel must have been afraid to hit her friend, because she removed her lattice-work gauntlet and threw it to Braden. With the two of them on the floor, Denis would perhaps not be able to reach for the device as easily. Braden kept flailing his lower legs, trying to make it difficult for the spy to grab hold of his ankle as he reached out to grab Jezabel’s tossed gauntlet. With his sitting position, it was near impossible for Braden to land a good, painful hit on Denis - not that he could do it even with all the cards in his favour anyway. He tried kicking his feet out, looking to distract Denis by aiming for his gut long enough for him to slip the gauntlet onto his right arm. It seemed to be working, but Denis was slowly rising to his feet , keeping his hands in front of Braden’s feet to shield his throat and chest from any hits. Unfortunately in his haste trying to wear the gauntlet, Braden had squeezed the button against his palm too soon. He could see the fist attached to the glove flying in the direction of the closest bomb to them, crushing the contraption under the extended fist and causing it to detonate beside them. Now that Denis was on his feet, the had just enough time to hug the detonator against his chest and brace for impact. Bits of plastic (and Braden) flew out from the explosion like shrapnel, and the spy was thrown against the adjacent wall with a loud thud. Had the bombs on the other wall blown up as well, Denis would likely have been dead. But as evident by all the blood, Braden was the only casualty at the moment. Denis slowly uncurled his arms and looked at where Braden use to be. He hung his head, staring at the floor as the infinites erupted into screams around him. [color=#bd71e8]“Uh! Wha, Gah!?”[/color] Jezebel was at a loss for words. Even in a place like this, with death being so commonplace, it was hard to grasp what had just happened. There had been a few deaths during the night of carnage, but this was the first one that had been inflicted on each other. But Braden’s death was not a vain one. He had kept Denis distracted long enough for the others to break into Davis’s room. What would they find once inside?