xp_logs | NM: SYWTBAS: The Dressing Rooms (Reply)

The hapless students and staff wake up, only to find themselves trapped, and at the mercy of an unknown and likely insane tormentor.

The old song was right; waking up is hard to do. The room was grey, mostly brushed metal, save for the thin white rug that they found themselves lying on. There was no way to tell how long they'd been out from the gas, or where they had been taken. It could be in a room next door to where they'd been ambushed just a few moments later, or days later in another country. There was a door on the one wall, although it had no handle or key holes. Above it, there was a steel speaker grill, inset into the wall. It looked like the inside of a vault, and offered no clues for anyone.

***

Amara stirred, blinking a couple of times as she pushed herself up into a sitting position. The feel of the carpet under her hands surprised her, and she looked down at the rug before glancing at the other people in the room. "Hey," she said, her voice louder than she realised in the box. "Are you guys okay?"

"What the hell?" came an answering groan from the other side of the room as Angel groggily forced herself up on her elbows. "I don't...what?" It was perhaps not the most intelligent thing that could have come out of her mouth but her head was still reeling. Still, she tried to get her brain working as she counted people – two others, that was it. "Meggan? You okay over there? And where are the others..."

Not being completely with it at first, Meggan thought the rug felt nice…at least until she remembered the gas and quickly opened her eyes. With her hand to her head for a moment, Meggan nodded in answer to Angel as she started to slowly sit up.

"Mmm…I think so." Hopefully, getting knocked out wouldn't happen often around here. Wherever here was, since it obviously wasn't where any of them had started out. "I don't see them anywhere—hope they're okay." It might not be a wise move to try to levitate and see what was going on right now. One should never get gassed and fly.

"It's just us, it looks like," Amara said with a shakey voice, pushing herself up so she could stand up. She was hoping that none of them were claustraphobic - being in such a small space with no way out was scary enough. Once she was on her feet and moving, she noticed they weren't the only ones in the room - there was another figure lying there, still stirring. She moved over to them, carefully kneeling by them and gently laying a hand on their shoulder. "Hello? Are you okay?" All she got was a groan for her trouble, it didn't seem like they were quite as conscious as the rest of them yet. "Do you two know this person?" She asked, glancing over to them. It was entirely possible they were with their group, and she just didn't know them.

Coming over to investigate, Angel shook off the effects - or tried, anyway - of whatever had knocked them out. "No, they're not from the school or from the town. Not that I can recall seeing, anyway." Together, she and Amara got the woman, who looked to be in her
mid-twenties, sitting up and moving slightly. "I think we need to see if we can get out of here."

"Definitely." Amara smiled at the woman, who was looking more than a little bit disoriented. Her name was Robin, as Amara discovered, and she knew about as much as they did about this. Which was... pretty much nothing. Amara tried to be reassuring, but she definitely was not enjoying being in a small space like this. But she was responsible for the other two girls, so she couldn't panic.

After a quick examination of the room - in particular the door, and speaker grill - Amara's shoulders slumped. "It's not looking good, guys. That door definitely isn't going to open, I'm not entirely sure if it's safe to try anything else." Her or Angel firing up could have disastrous results, the least of which was eating up all the oxygen in place.

Amara banged on the door a couple of times, then started to yell. "Hey, hello! Is anyone there?" It's pretty unlikely that anyone who is able to hear them will actually be willing to help them out, but Amara's not leaving that to chance.

***

Catseye shook herself like an animal as consciousness returned to her and rolled to her feet, confused. What had happened? She paced the room, looking for a way out. Lil and Callie were still on the rug, sleeping, and when the catgirl had circled the room and looked it over top to bottom, she put an arm on Lil's shoulder and and arm on Callie's and began to shake. "Wake up! Wake up! Help Catseye find where we are. We need to find out what happened. PointyEarsGirl! SillyDreamsWoman! Wake up!"

"Wha- Catseye, please stop shaking me." Callie rubbed her eyes and blinked several times as she propped herself up on her elbows. Her first thought as she surveyed her surroundings: Oh no, not again. At least no one appeared to be injured, and they had an adult with them. So hopefully everything would be fine. "Are you okay? Where are we? What happened?"

Lil groaned as she rolled onto her back, her eyes going from the ceiling to the two girls. "Fuck if I know," she said without thinking, then gave them an apologetic shrug for the language. "Not sure but it looks like the three of us all in one piece." She gave both girls a once over then stood and shook the cobwebs from her brain. Not the kind of wake-up she liked to experience, especially without any drinking involved the night before. "Hey, I don't know that ankle biter," Lil said when her gaze landed on the fourth figure on the other side of the room who was slowly coming back into the waking world. "They weren't with our group before, were they?" the taller blonde asked her charges - she'd be damned if she could remember all the students' names and faces.

"Nope, not a part of MutantGirl-and Boy-" she added, not wanting to leave Julian out- "Colony. Someone new. Maybe playing the game too and stuck here like us?" She started stalking around the room again. "Where is the rest of MutantGirlAndBoyColony?"

Well if everyone else was going to stand, Callie decided she should probably follow suite. "Nope, definitely not one of us," she stated matter-of-factly as she squinted at the unknown figure. "We should probably go see if they're hurt." She shot Lil a look, as if to suggest that the older, invulnerable woman should be the one to probably do so, and smiled hopefully.

Great. Where did she sign up to be the responsible one? That was supposed to be Jean-Paul's job on this little outing while she got to run around showing the students how raising hell was done. "Hey, kid," Lil called out, stepping toward the other figure. "You okay?" With the long hair, she couldn't make out of the teen was a boy or a girl. "You hurt or anything?" she asked, standing over them with one hand extended, the other curls in a tight fist at her side, ready to swing in case the stranger tried anything.

Bounding over, Catseye poked at the prone figure. "Wake up, wake up, NotColonyPerson!"

Callie managed to stay a safe distance away. It was probably better that way. After all they had no idea where they were, who this person was, or if they were dangerous or harmless. At least this way she would have time to react, not that it would do her any good. A room with a door but no way out. "Are we part of some philosophy experiment go awry you think," she asked no one in particular as she surveyed the room. "I feel like we're missing something."

Lil shot the purple haired girl a look telling her to back up as she hauled the boy - definitely a boy, not taking his eyes off her chest, the blonde noted - to his feet.

"You are some seriously tall chicks," he said, brushing the mess of long chestnut hair from his face when he finally looked up at the three of them. He couldn't have been more than fourteen, fifteen at the most and was most likely cutting school.

"And you are seriously lame," Lil returned, dropping his hand before wiping her palm on his leg. "You're not hurt, yeah?" He shook his head, eyes shifting between the trio.

"Great. Stay here," she ordered then made her way over to the door. No knob didn't mean shit to her and after a moment of trying to pry it open, pulled her arm back and directed a punch at its center. A dull thump was followed by a stream of vicious cursing as Lil cradled her hand to her stomach protectively. "Fuck! Goddammit. Fuckfuckfuck." She bit her lower lip and shook out her fingers as she looked at Callie and Cats. "Yeah, we ain't getting out that way."

Catseye had been standing guard to make sure that the NotColonyBoy stayed where Lil told him to, but now she walked over to the door and sniffed around it, also feeling with her claws, looking for some sort of hidden handle or keyhole. "Catseye wants out now, please. SillyDreamsWoman please stand by the door." She shifted to catform, leapt onto Lil's head, and stood with her hind paws on Lil's head and her front paws against the wall above the door, inspecting the speaker grille with her nose and her tail.

"Hey are you okay," Callie asked the young boy, as she approached him. Well he hadn't tried to attack them yet, and he looked scared. He was probably safe. "What's your name?"

"Why does it matter to you," the kid replied, looking Callie up and down before asking anyone who cared to answer him. "Who are you people and what's going on? Where are we?"

"You don't share your name, we're not sharing ours," Lil said, biting her tongue. Snapping at the kid wouldn't do them any good. Besides, she didn't look all that authoritative with a purple cat perched on her head. "What's going on and where we are we're trying to figure out so stand back and chill out. You got anything up there, Fuzzball?" she asked Catseye.

Catseye leapt off Lil's head and shifted back to girlform. "Nothing up there," she told Lil. "For speakers, not for crawling out of." She walked back over to the boy. "Catseye is Catseye and that is PointyEarsGirl and that is SillyDreamsWoman," she introduced, pointing to her companions. "Catseye will call you LongHairBoy."

"She will too," Callie said, stifling a giggle. "My name's Callie and that's Lil." She motioned toward where the blonde was standing. "And don't worry, we won't hurt you. We want to get out of here as much as you do."

Across the way, the Amazon sized woman continued to study the door and attempted once more to pull it off its hinges before giving up. "Looks like we're stuck in here for now." If the room started filling up with gas there would definitely be problems but there didn't seem to be any immediate danger. Lil sighed though she kept her eyes on the speaker, pondering if she could yank it off and find a hole big enough for Catseye to climb through despite the girl's instance it was not for crawling out of. The tall blonde settled against the wall, forming a solid barrier between her charges and the boy and gave a little shrug to no one in particular. "Time to wait, runts. There's a speaker so there's a reason for it. And hopefully we'll find out soon why we're here."

***

With a whimper, Yvette stirred, her long fingers flexing against the white rug and digging several holes into it - her gloves were gone. Then her eyes opened and she sat up, gasping slightly as a headache protested at the sudden shift. Looking around, she saw she wasn't alone at least - Inez and Mr. Beaubier were with her, lying on the rug as well. Relief flooded the small girl as she crawled over to Jean-Paul and pondered how to shake him awake without slicing him up. "Mr. Beaubier?" she quavered, trying to be as brave as she could but something about this awakening was horribly familiar.

Jean-Paul rolled onto his side with a groan, hauling himself up onto one elbow as his free hand went to his temple.

"I'm awake, Yvette." It wasn't much of a relief. What had...? "Are you all right?"

The last few moments before blackness had closed in filtered back into memory and the speedster was on his feet in an instant, heading to Inez's side to check her pulse and breathing. Aside from being unconscious, the older girl seemed fine. His gaze flicked over their prison as he waited for her to stir, exploring the upper corners and seams of the room. They had to be getting air from some source, but there were no vents in evidence.

"I'll see about getting up to the ceilings in a moment," he said quietly, "to see if there's a way out." He doubted it, but until a more immediate threat came along, taking thorough stock of the cell was the first order of business.

Inez sat up with a start, hands going to her head. "Fuckety fuck fuck!" she swore, scooting back rapidly to press her back against the wall. Slowly she looked out between her fingers, trying to assess her surroundings. "Where the fuck are we and what the fuck happened?" she growled through the intense headache that was pulsing in her skull.

"I do not know. They were turning on the vests and then..." Her voice faltered as Yvette had a brief flash of memory, excruciating pain and her gloves sliding off hands that were suddenly too small and human to wear them, a glimpse of pale, normal skin. She pushed it away. "Then there was the funny smell and everyone was falling asleep."

Inez grumbled, turning to punch the wall. The wall dented slightly, but didn't seem to give. Shaking her hand in frustration, the blonde turned to the others. "Okay, so. Is anyone else trying not to freak out here or is it just me? Tell me it's not just me. I can't be - wait, who are you?" Inez's voice took on a harsh tone as she noticed the fourth occupant of the room coming to their senses.

"Gary." The darkhaired guy said, shaking his head. "Ugh, I feel like hell. Where are we?"

"Not a clue." Jean-Paul was in the air in a moment, examining the seams between the walls and ceiling. No sign of air vents or a sprinkler system. "With any luck, however, we won't be staying here long."

Taking Inez and Jean-Paul's example, Yvette was scraping at the wall with her fingers. She left some scratches, but it was obviously going to be some time before she could actually make any kind of progress. The sound of claws on metal reverberated through the room and Yvette said a bad word in her native language under her breath. "Gary, are you being the mutant? Is there something you can be doing that might be to get us out of this place?"

***

The old song was right; waking up is hard to do. The room was grey, mostly brushed metal, save for the thin white rug that they found themselves lying on. There was no way to tell how long they'd been out from the gas, or where they had been taken. It could be in a room next door to where they'd been ambushed just a few moments later, or days later in another country. There was a door on the one wall, although it had no handle or key holes. Above it, there was a steel speaker grill, inset into the wall. It looked like the inside of a vault, and offered no clues for anyone.

Julian was the first to wake up, rubbing the spot on the back of his head that was causing him a great deal of pain. He quickly surveyed his surroundings and determined that he had no clue where he was. Instinctively, his hand went for his phone, which he quickly remembered surrendering to the attendant. Nearby, he spotted two others from Xavier's, Tatiana and Zanne and...'Who the heck is that guy? An older man in his forties, wearing a crumpled gray suit was laying face down near Zanne. Keller slowly rose to his hands and knees, carefully pushing himself up on shaking legs until he was standing.

After regaining his balance, Julian slowly made his way over to Tatiana. Kneeling down he placed his fingers along her neck, checking for a pulse. A small sigh escaped his lips as he discovered the strong heart beat. He rubbed the back of his head again- there would definitely be a bruise, at least- as he gently shook Tatiana's shoulder, "Hey, are you alright?"

"Nnngh." Tat pushed away the hand on her shoulder, her forearm coming up to cover her eyes. Somebody was talking, and she squinted. "... Julian?" She blinked once, then again before her fingers slid to her own head. "Okay, ow. What's going on?" She twisted, looking over to her left. "Zanne?"

"...'m fine." Zanne sat up slowly, coughing painfully as she did. Her lungs felt like they had been rubbed raw. "Anyone else in here?" she rasped as her gaze ran around the room, taking in the slick surfaces before returning to the kids. "Where are the others?"

"I don't know," Julian got up off the floor and started to walk around the room, inspecting the drab walls- finally stopping at the door. He inspected the seem, trying to use his telekinesis to pry it open- unsuccessfully. His head was pounding, "Ugh, this thing won't budge." He glanced at the grill next to the door, "Hello? Can anyone hear us?!" His own shouting was echoing in his head- "Ohhhh, bad idea," Julian muttered.

"Ugh...you got that right, kid." Arthur slowly pushed himself up from the floor with the groan of a much older man. "Who the hell are you assholes?" he checked to see if his wallet, keys, flask, ear plugs and cell phone were still in the right places...with the exception of the flask, they were not. A slight wince crossed his face as he looked them each over in turn, reaching inside his coat pocket and pulling out the flask that his captors had mercifully left behind. Each of his fellow prisoners was excessively attractive, "The hell? Did they get you chuckle-heads at a model's convention or something?" He took a pull from the silver flask.

"Chuckle-heads? Seriously?" Tat sat up, still on the floor as she squinted up at the guy. "Who're you?" Her lips pressed in a line as she looked over at Zanne. "This isn't how I imagined Laser Tag," she said sarcastically, stretching as she moved to get to her feet. "We'll find a way out."

"Hold on a second. What did you say?" Zanne eyed the man curiously. His words suggested that he knew something more than they did. The kids were remarkably together considering the situation, she reflected, which was something of a blessing. Being knocked out and locked up in a little stainless steel cell didn't exactly suggest good things, and the last thing they needed was a hysterical teenager on their hands.

Julian was still at the door, which was now glowing green at this point, trying to force his way past with his powers. It was no use, there wasn't even a small budge or wiggle to the massive piece of metal. Finally, when he couldn't take the pounding pain between his ears, Julian let go and fell against the door, turning as he did and knocking the back of his head once more. "DAMNIT!" he said as he slowly got up from the floor, holding the back of his head. "Okay...we're trapped...oh damn...ugh," he swayed slightly, but quickly regained his balance.

***

"Hello, hello! Is this thing on, Miss Locke? How hard would it be to put a little red light that comes up when it's on? Seriously, I've got enough hardware here to run the Taipei Stock Exchange, and no one thought about putting in a red light so the boss isn't talking to himself? Get that engineer in here and make some corrections. What? It is on? Ooh, Scooter, we're going to have a talk after this." The voice was almost manically chipper, his speech rapid and punctuated by asides. "Welcome to Murderworld, kids. Don't let the name fool you. It's not really a place that you go to get murdered. Murder implies someone else doing it to you. This is more were you go and happen to get killed. But Happen To Get Killed World doesn't really have the same ring to it, and I think Six Flags owns the copyright anyhow."

A little chuckle came over the speaker, and the man began to talk again. "So, who's up for a little fun? No, it's not really a choice, but it sounds more pleasant, doesn't it? Through those doors that are now opening are a series of challenges. There's a special prize for the winners, and for the losers, well, let's just say you won't need to get your parking validated once we're done. These rooms will be filled with poisonous gas in about three minutes, so I suggest you all get moving. And remember, when you see the cameras, smile!"