Zachary found himself questioning the quality of the facility he found himself in. Were they truly trapped inside a high-end building for the Infinites? If so, how could they have skimped out on quality bows? The one he was gifted yesterday was of superior quality in ever conceivable way. Well... considering who it was made by, that wasn't exactly surprising.
The archer gave a sigh before nocking an arrow and firing it at the target that sat on the other side of the dojo. He was, of course, looking at Mercy as he did so. "So, I will admit I don't know much about you." The arrow that had been fired landed dead-center of the bullseye. A fairly impressive shot, but nothing that proved to be difficult to Zach. When he wasn't under pressure, he could do this at an even greater distance if he wanted.
"Tell me about yourself. I mean, if you don't mind."
"Oh?" Mercy tilted her head in curiosity. "Well, ever since I was 5, I have always had an interest in the medical arts. I was usually that one 'lonely child that always kept to themselves at school.." she started to tell, hugging her bag. "I'd actually was more advanced than the school nurse, and only when I had patched up one of my classmates' broken limbs that my talent was known. Thus, my parents enrolled me into medical school when I was nine." The doctor then sighed in resignation. "But then with the overabundance of advanced studies and all kinda..ended up with my insomnia." Mercy told the archer, then seemingly perking up under her mask. "The burdens payed off however, as I, after graduation, was able to become one of the best doctors in my town. Diseases and ill alignments being my specialty."
"Is that so?"
Zachary turned to face the target he had nailed with an arrow. His lack of excitement might have suggested this was nothing new to him, almost like it was routine. Having grabbed a quiver and stocked it full of arrows, he was able to retrieve another one, nock it, and fire it into the same place as the last. It was often referred to as the "Robin Hood" achievement. He did this one extra time, and only then did he show any happiness at his shot.
Turning back to Mercy, his expression darkened a bit. "I hate the word 'talent.' It's such a cheap way of ignoring the hard work and effort people put into the things they love or just an excuse for those who can't be bothered to try. Infinites in particular... I'm speaking from my experiences from before I got the title of 'Infinite Archer', but many people like to act like I was given these skills instead of earning them. But like yourself, I am a product of time, effort, and ambition. I earned my place." There was a brief pause. "Err, I am sorry if that seemed to come out of nowhere. I'm still a wee bit tired, running on food and coffee at the moment and hearing about how you got here kinda reminded me that some people don't respect that."
The door to the dojo swung open violently, and one agitated carnage sister with chain guns mounted on her arms entered the room. She was still dripping with paint, and didn't look especially pleased to see any of the infinites present. “What is this shit?” She pointed at Mercy. “You don't have any firearms, and YOU!” Her finger moved over to Zachary. “My sister wasn't enough practice? Ass hole!?”
Before Mercy could reassure the archer. Geina barged into the dojo, earning a slight yelp from the doctor. "Uh, I d-dont mean any harm to you, n-nurse.." She told the carnage sister, slowly backing away.
Zachary seemed a lot calmer than Mercy, but it was probably simply due to irritation more than actual bravery. He slowly turned to face the Carnage Sister, bow in hand, but he was doubtful it would do very much were she to go berserk and attack. That being said, he still found it hard to not blatantly betray his annoyance at her arrival. "I very much dislike some savage machine insulting me all of the sudden. Can you go? I'd rather not deal with your kind more than I must."
Geina's eye lids made a click when they opened up all the way “Excuse me?” With two long steps, she was just a few inches away from Zachary's face. “The FUCK did you say to me?” If this was a real woman, the archer might have felt her warm breath beating against his face. Instead it seemed like her body was robbing the heat out of the air. Zachary could hear light static from Geina's interior speaker. “You wanna dance or somethin' punk!?” The carnage sister wasn't even taking note of Mercy's presence now.
"N-now now, there's no need to break one of the r-rules over this.." Mercy stuttered, standing up from her spot and walking over to the other two.
The Infinite Archer turned his head away from the Sister for a moment, but then, as if coming to a realization, turned it back towards her. "I'm very sorry, I had expected some bad breath to go with that horrible attitude of yours." It might be safe to say the sight of one of the causes for their imprisonment had set Zach off. Of course, he was acting as defiant as he was because of the "safety net" that was the rules. He would probably have bit his tongue and stayed quiet else-wise. Giving a strained smile to Mercy, he assured her. "The only one here at risk of breaking rules would be this savage machine. I wonder, do they get punished for being disobedient?"
“It would be interesting to see.” Geina said in a low growl. “Too bad you wouldn't be alive for it.” The carnage sister stepped past Zachary and looked down the archery range. She lifted her wrist at Zachary's target and started to spin one of her chain guns. “Guess we're stuck with each other until the night of carnage rolls around again. Or the rules change.” She looked at Zachary out of the corner of her eye. “And we ARE do for that.” A single bullet flew out of her revolving chambers, and struck the bulls eye. “Untill then, I guess we should find more, what did Willow call them? 'Constructive' ways to vent ourselves.”
Mercy silently sighed when Geina instead went to practice herself instead of causing a fight. "I didnt ask for this.." she mumbled to herself, holding her head in relief.
Zach couldn't help but feel happy Geina suggested such a thing. Perhaps because even if it did not mean he could escape, beating her in something at least meant he would have a win against her. "Would you care for a competition then?" he asked the Carnage Sister. "That is, assuming you aren't too big of a sore loser."
The doll looked away from the range. Even though the carnage sisters had some human features, it could be difficult to tell what type of emotions they were really feeling. Willow always looked proud as a peacock, Nariko perceptually depressed, and Alexandria was happy. For the most part this always captured their personalities. But if they were controlled by humans, they probably felt other emotions as well. And if they were sophisticated AI, there was a chance they could possess some form of emotion. Geina's face was still full of fury. But the infinites present got the impression she was genuinely interested.
“A competition huh?” Her gatling arm was still spinning when she turned to look at them. “And what type of contest would we have? You don't wanna pit that bow against my arms do you?” She looked at Mercy. “You gunna judge the show?”
"Umm, maybe...?"The doctor replied to the carnage sister, shrugging nervously.
"Are you frightened that this little bow might make you look bad?" He taunted, the grip on his bow tightening in anticipation. He wasn't sure exactly what kind of competition he wanted. Simply shooting targets would prove to be both pointless and boring. Perhaps something a bit more interesting to spice things up? He could not imagine this machine having terrible accuracy, what with it being designed to shoot, mostly.
Zachary took a minute to think, and then simply asked. "Do we have any ping-pong balls or something of similar size? I think shooting a small target out of the air would make for a decent game, don't you think? Of course if you've got a better idea, I'm all ears."
“Yea, I do, mister fancy pants.” The doll pointed at it's head. “How about we shoot shit off the top of each other's heads? I think that would make for a really interesting game.” She chuckled darkly. “We could use duct tape or something to hold them in place. Then the targets could actually move. And if one of us misses, we get to find out what happens when a rule gets broken.”
Perhaps angry at himself for not thinking of the idea himself, Zachary mouthed a word better left unsaid to himself. "Sounds good enough. Though I can't say I look forwards to being shot." he agreed. Hopefully this did not lead to him being killed, that would be... very unfortunate.
“Guess you should try not to move into my bullets then.” Geina spun around on her heel.
"Um.." Mercy started to say something, but instead cleared her throat and laughed, obviously fake. "Oh boy.." She said to no one, before going out of the dojo quickly to get a small canvas and paintbrush so she could keep score.
With her back to everyone, Geina spoke. “Alright, I'll go get the duct tape and targets. You park your ass here and practice.” With that, the doll disappeared in a puff of smoke. When it cleared out, Monokuma was standing in her place.
“You know.” he placed a paw on his chin. “I kinda get the feeling this is something I should be trying to stop.”
With a less intimidating foe standing before him, Zachary felt something vaguely akin to relief, if only for a second. He certainly would have preferred that puff of smoke to just disappear with nobody or nothing else inside of it, but then again, he'd also prefer not to be in this mess in the first place. Things did not always go as one wanted. But it mattered not. Letting the presence of this bear cause him too much irritation would benefit him in no way, so the Archer merely sighed at the doctor.
"You're certainly a bit too late to play the part of a responsible adu... err, bear...doctor...robot...I'll just go with forgettable mascot. Anyway, I don't think it matters too much at this point." Zachary simply stood there as he spoke to the bear, ignoring Geina's "order" to train. There was not enough time to set up a proper way to train for what they were about to do, and when it came to the act of shooting a bow, well, shooting at a stationary target was not going to improve the Infinite Archer's skill very much. He was as good to go as he was going to get. Unless for some reason Mercy suddenly wanted to volunteer, but that was unlikely, and Zach was not really keen on shooting at one of the others trapped in this game.
The bear giggled. “Oh this is far to interesting to just stop! But I very much consider myself a father first and mascot second.” He tipped his head. “Or was it doctor second and mascot third?” His head tipped the other way. “Or was it robot third and mascot forth?” Killgood shrugged. “Anyway, my children can be a handful at times, but I'm glad Geina isn't falling for you like my youngest!” Monokuma snorted and threw his hands into the air. “Boys like you are no good for my daughters!” He calmed himself down immediately. "And a mascot is only as good as the product he's pushing. So you might want to watch what you say about your representative."
"You seem to at least vaguely resemble somebody who loves their children." Zach smiled warmly. "But I assure you, you don't need to worry about them around me. Unless this plot is poorly written or there's some strange event I can't even currently fathom, I could not see myself approaching any of your daughters with any intent beyond something akin to last night. Not that I'm a racist, I wouldn't discriminate against robots. I mean, in ideal circumstances, perhaps I wouldn't mind befriending them." Putting a finger to his chin, he pondered aloud. "I wonder what those would be. I guess...if I wasn't in a death game. If I wasn't worried about something horrible happening. If they weren't accomplices. If they didn't have huge weapons that made it hard to approach them. If they weren't so quick to anger. If they didn't constantly attempt to intimidate me. If maybe they had kinder personalities. If maybe they weren't deathbots. If maybe I was even worried about finding someone to care for. And, of course, if they could even wear thigh-high socks properly." Having said that in one, huge breath, Zachary took a deep inhale and ended with. "So... I really think as a father bear you don't need to worry. I currently and for the foreseeable future, do not have any interest in your daughters beyond beating them in competitions. And I'd imagine I'm not acting in a way that would have them be interested in me." Thinking about it, Zach actually shuddered. "Hopefully. Anyways, are you here to watch us? Can you tell us what happens if one of your daughters decides to break a rule?"
All monokuma did in response through most of Zachary's explanation was nod along, occasionally taking notes on an unusually large clip board. “ Yes, I'm here to watch my daughter, the lovely nurse Geina, lift the spirits of a patient she is tasked to watch over.” Monokuma swallowed his clip board when he was done with it. “I actually haven't ever seen one of my daughters unjustifiably harm a patient. So I can't say for sure what will happen.”
Sortly after Dr. Killgood stopped speaking, Geina appeared in a puff of pink smoke. “I'd have been back sooner, but I found these wicked sick socks!” Geina raised one of her legs to show off her new socks. They were black with a white skull and cross bone pattern. They also went all the way up to her thighs. “Uhu? What are you doing here daddy?”
Monokuma looked back at Zachary, but was clearly talking to Geina. “You'd better hope this guy doesn't leave this death game and stops worrying about bad things happening. You'd better not put away your weapons, stop being quick to anger, or constantly trying to intimidate him. You'd also better not have a kinder personality, stop being a death bot, or that he suddenly finds someone worth caring for.” Monokuma threw his paws up in the air and roared. “Because I can see the lust in his eyes when you walk around with those thigh-high socks!”
Geina raised an eyebrow. “T-the fuck dad, they're just socks.”
It happened suddenly. There was no warning, no indicator to prepare for it.
A pure bloodlust unlike anything anybody had ever witnessed before overtook the room, no, the entire building. It was likely even those in other killing games had to take a brief pause to recover from the sudden, murderous air that struck. One that not even the mastermind could comprehend. Was this the end?
With the desire to end a life hanging so thick in the air, would the cause discriminate? Would everybody and everything be caught up in this pure rage? Victim or foe, did it matter? It did not feel like it. Even the smallest insect tucked away in the corner of the furthest room did not feel safe. Simply by existing in proximity did a living organism guarantee its death.
At least, that's what it felt like for a brief second after Geina said "they're just socks". And just as quickly as a potent wave of anger and despair hit everybody at once, it was also gone.
Zach look as calm as can be. "I've decided that should I win without breaking the rules, as I assume that just means I die, I'll also have you wear those socks for as long as I live. Of course I am willing to accept terms from you as well, so long as it doesn't include me dying."
Geina was momentarily shaken, but shook off whatever amount of dread might have taken hold of her circuits. "Oh, so we're going to make it a wager? Hell yea I've got terms! They're uh..." She trailed off in thought(?)
Okay, was habe ich verpasst? Mercy thought when she had noticed Monokuma was inside the dojo. She listened to the conversation between the other three in silence, as Geina had re-entered the dojo after her, wearing...pirate stockings? The plague doctor could tell the carnage sister would make a neat pirate, but that's ridiculous. She tried not to giggle as Dr. Killgood was ranting out at his daughter to not become, well, Alexandria #2., but alas, a giggle had slipped out of her mouth either way. "By the way Zachary, you're ridiculous." The doctor said, her tone changing to annoyed.
“Is something amusing, Mercy?” Monokuma seemed to have appeared beside Mercy. Not only had his position changed so drastically, but so had his attitude. He appeared to be completely unaffected by the murderous aura that permeated the room earlier. “Were you thinking of a funny joke? Or could it be that you're going to try and enjoy this more than I am?”
"Oh, a little bit of both really." Mercy told Killgood, the bear having moved over to stand next to her. "I meant, with Zachary's talent, he should be fine, but I just don't want things to turn into Arrrrmageddon." The doctor joked with a comical shrug. "Sorry, I couldnt help myself, but don;t make me walk the plank!" She tried not to laugh as she awaited the others' reactions.
Zach had to give a soft chuckle at the puns. Puns hit him right in the funny bone, typically. "High sea what you did there, and I liked it."
“Hey!” Geina turned to face Mercy. “It's punk, not pirate!”
Monokuma appeared behind Geina's leg. “Focus on what you want sweetie, we're growing our winter coats over here.”
“Ugh!” She looked back at Zachary. “Alright. How about if I win, you'll give me that silly bow?”
"I feel in this moment I cannot let this chance go, or else I might not get another one." Zach sighed. "Fine, I will give up the bow if I lose."
Not that it was possible, of course.
The nurse and doctor looked at each other. They seemed to freeze in place for several seconds before the bear started to giggle on his own. “So here's how this game works.” Monokuma stepped between the archer and carnage doll. “We're going to take a single ping pong ball and duct tape it to the top of your heads. You will then stand at either end of the dojo and wait for Mercy to count to three. On three, you will be required to break the ping-pong ball on your opponent’s head. The winner is the first one to break their opponents ping pong ball. Think of it as a modern William Tell, only this is a versus mode and one of you has chain guns.” Monokuma raised one of his paws into the air. “However, the game will end if either of you suffer an injury, and the hospital's regulations are of course still in effect. Any objections?”
"None whatsoever." Zachary answered.
He decided it would be best to grab a few more arrows before this game began, but after doing so was ready for the game to begin.
Mercy sighed as she sat cross-legged on the floor again and got her scoreboard ready. "Alright, everyone ready?" She asked, looking up from the canvas, a small paintbrush in hand.
“A score card?” Monokuma tipped his head. “You want to do this over several rounds?”
"Depends on what they think." Mercy replied to Killgood, refering to Zachary and Geina.
"Winning once or winning thrice, it does not matter to me."
“Then let's go best out of three, so that you can't say it was luck that kicked your ass!” The doll's body was trembling.
“In that case...” Monokuma and Mercy stuck the ping-pong balls on their respective partners and adhered them with duct tape. Geina needed to kneel so that her father could wrap the tape around her head, going over the top of the ping-pong ball and under her chin. The entire time Monokuma was grumbling something. After she was squared away, she ran to the far end of the dojo and turned around. Killgood just stepped off to the side and watched Mercy finish up. “Ready when you are!” The bear said in it's happy, sing-song voice.
"Almost done, Killgood." Mercy asured the bear, wraping tape around Zachary's head herself. "Aaaaand, finished!" She exclaimed, but before getting out of the way, the doctor moved her mask to the side, revealing half of her face. "And frankly, your still ridiculous." She told the archer, before she moved her mask back in place, and stepped out of the way.
With a small laugh, Zachary said "Thanks." and moved into position at one end of the room. Wasn't this whole situation ridiculous? Hopefully she meant it as a compliment. Well, even if she didn't, he would take it as one.
With the two competitors in their respective positions, Mercy simply counted to three to start the match.
“Gunna enjoy the shit out of this.” Geina walked towards Zachary at a leisurely pace. Her left hand was on her right shoulder, and she was lifting her entire right arm to take aim. The barrels on her arm were coming up to speed, filling the room with a dreadful whirring sound.
As Mercy began her countdown, Zachary's smile disappeared and was replaced with a serious, and somewhat bored look. As the doctor counted, he retrieved an arrow, performed a spinning flourish with it, and quickly nocked it and fired the arrow straight for the ping-pong ball resting atop Geina's head just as the round had started, ignoring the noise made by her gun pointed at him. Were Geina not to realize this and react quickly, the arrow undoubtedly would strike its target.
It seemed Zach was not going to mess around.
Being a doll with very limited expressions, it was difficult to tell exactly what was going through the robot's circuits. If it did have a human operator, their surprise might have been a justification for her not taking any immediate action against the incoming arrow. But with blinding speed, the doll's left hand flew off of her shoulder and opened up in front of the arrow. When the arrow struck her palm, it shattered the synthetic skin that covered her hand. The wound made Geina bleed out Hydraulic fluid like it was blood. While her hand was more or less in tact, it was clear to everyone that the robot had been damaged.
A rule had been violated.
“Oh my.” Monokuma's eyes where as white as snow.
Geina licked the “blood” that was trailing down her arm. “Looks like my target just got a lot larger!” Her prismatic eyes suddenly turned red.
"Oh God, Zachary what did you do?!" Mercy yelled at the archer, having lifted up her mask over her hat. Despite the obvious bags under her eyes, the plague doctor's expression can be clearly seen as a mix of scared and pissed off. She already knew that Zachary would be okay, but this was, again, ridiculous.
A mistake.
The Infinite Archer had gotten so caught up in thoughts about beating the machine in a competition that he had completely neglected the possibility that something like this would happen. Would arrogance lead to his demise? He still had something he needed to do, but he was certainly not optimistic about his chances against the Carnage Sister. After all, a bow with blunt arrows against a machine with a machine gun in a room with very minimal cover was, contrary to popular belief, a situation that favored the Sister. And even in the unlikely timeline where he came out the victor in this clash, would the other Sisters not simply finish the job?
How unlucky.
How unfair.
How... rather appropriate. Zachary began to think of what came next.
...He was going to die...?
...He was not going to see his family again...?
...How would he be remembered...? A man who messed up and was executed? It was possible later he would be remembered as a ********. Or at the very least, a liar. He at least hoped Jez could forgive him.
...
...
How cruel. He did not want to die. He did not deserve this... or, well, maybe he did. But it wasn't supposed to happen this way. He hadn't made up for what he did.
A mostly-blank expression. Not one of fear, but closer to irritation. He ignored Mercy for the time being.
"...That's a bit cheap." he complained, nocking another arrow. His words were then seemingly directed at Monokuma, but his attention was solely on the Sister. "You're going to allow this?"
If that was the case, then he had one more plan.
“C'mon dad! You let Alexandria turn the knight into a fuckin' shishkabob.”
Monokuma simply stood there in thought, a paw on his head. “Well.” Monokuma looked at Geina. “According to regulations, it says that violence against us is prohibited, but the attack was directed at the ping-pong ball, not you.”
“Uh?” Geina grunted.
Monokuma sighed. “As fun as it would be to watch Zachary get turned into Swiss cheese, the nurse staff should probably refrain from putting themselves directly in harm's way. The goal of the regulation is to prevent the patients from attacking us off hours. It's a killing game, not a slaughtering game!”
Geina's form was shaking. “This shit ain't fair!”
“Now.” Monokuma looked between the two of them. “I think this contest just got a lot less interesting. I'm not sure how we can properly enforce it now. Who's to say if a stray bullet or arrow was due to incorrect accuracy or an intentional faint dodge?” Killgood's face turned bright red. “You kids and your crazy games! You shouldn't be doing drugs or firing weapons at each other! You should be playing hop scotch, or videogames, or maybe Clue! Who are your parents!? Where are they!?”
“Seriously dad?” Geina groaned.
Zachary exhaled through his nose and lowered his bow, presumably relieved at Monokuma's decision. It was nice to know he was not going to die to something like that, but if he had, and that if ghosts were real, he'd be haunting the robot for time itself ceased. Or, at the very least, he would have ensured his second plan - that is, to shoot the ball off her head in spite - would have been accomplished.
In reaction to Monokuma's bit about the game, Zachary had to admit that he mysteriously did not want to partake in the competition anymore anyways. Unexpected, right?
Ignoring the bear and the Sister, he turned to Mercy. He wasn't able to even bother with a forced smile. "How long do you think it has been since we left the dining room?" he yawned. "I'm pretty tired."
"No clue. Maybe an hour or so?" The plague doctor replied, holding her head in weariness herself.
“Yea, you eat lunch and sleep on it!” Geina shouted. “I'da had your ass and you know it!” The doll walked backwards, still pointing at Zachary. “And I'm going to keep wearing these socks, BECAUSE I LIKE THEM!”
Monokuma didn't say anything. He looked very annoyed however.
"Huh...I could have sworn it was late at night. Was worried I broke a promise or something." he seemed to be purposefully ignoring the yelling from behind. The bags under the Archer's eyes seemed darker. He appeared spent. "I'm going to continue taking a tour of the area, but I won't make you continue to tag along if you don't want to."
"Uh, ill catch up later.." Mercy said, grabing her bag that she'd forgotten. "I just need some time to process this nonsense.."
"Understandable."
A single word was given to acknowledge her decision, and then Zachary quickly left the dojo before anything else insane could happen.
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