War Week

[mockmods]

[A week has gone and past, as has the first of your number. The Researcher revealing himself, more or less, by punishing Patches, the Trusty, for pushing an unclear boundary.]

[And yet, routine seems to have returned. The Researcher makes morning and evening announcements as if nothing has happened. Meals are served in the dining hall. The copies of Oregon Trail in the computer lab now have a text-only mode for some reason? Penny has not been seen since Friday, and attempts to access the Security Room have been fruitless.]

[But overall, life in the Facility has remained unchanged. But the atmosphere is getting tenser - sooner or later something is going to break.]

Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday Thursday

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MOTIVE: Bread and Circuses

[mockmods]

"Everyone to the common area, please! Thank you!"

[Penny's announcement comes earlier in the day this time, just after breakfast. But she's looking just as chipper as yesterday, maybe more so, when everyone arrives in common room.]

"Salutations, everyone! Our team challenge went SENSATIONALLY yesterday, and I want to thank everyone for contributing the way they did."

[She scrolls through her phone a little, checking some notes.]

"I want to especially mention Mister Midoriya for stepping up and taking a leadership role on Team A, Mister Shiego for reaching across team boundaries, and- Misters King Rool and Spy for. Um. Being so creative with their pasta dish."

[Guys. Guys. Just. There wasn't even any pasta at the cooking stations. How.]

"Since everyone did so well, we're going to-"

If I may, Assistant.

"Mister Researcher-?"

[Penny looks up, a little confused, and slightly worried.]

"....Y-es? I mean. I don't see why not?"

Thank you.

[The Researcher's tones are the same as always, but one might reasonably suspect that he is not actually thankful at all, if one were sufficiently paranoid.]

The Assistant is... largely correct, regarding your performance on the challenge. And I have deliberated, and decided that as a result, some modifications should be made to Rule 7 on a temporary trial basis.

[Penny actually perks up a little, at that.]

TEAM B. You performed in a- satisfactory manner. I believe a small reward is in order.

[And one of the walls of the common room lights up, revealing itself as a display screen, showcasing a basket of food.]

If any member of Team B enacts Rule 7 before the end of the week, they will receive a free lifetime supply of groceries. Am I not generous?

"MISTER RESEARCHER THAT'S- wait, what."

TEAM A, your performance was relatively lacking. I believe incentive to improve in the future is needed.

[The screen blinks, switching from the cornucopia of groceries to- a collage of photos, from Team A's collective childhoods or general pasts. None of them are flattering, and most are frankly embarassing moments, the kind you forget about until you're awake in bed at 2am five years later.]

If no one on Team A enacts Rule 7 by the end of the week, these photos will be broadcast or otherwise distributed across your home worlds. That is all.

[The screens go blank, clicking back to normal white wall, and the loudspeakers grow dark. Penny shifts a little uncomfortably.]

"There's- um. ...I was going to host a movie night in the media room this evening. If. If anyone wanted to come... There will be popcorn and drinks."

[aragona]

[Sonia stands with her arms crossed, unsure of whether lifetime groceries is even considered a prize for her. At least she's not threatened with slander...if hundreds of years hasn't passed already.

But whatever, she shrugs. This doesn't bother her.]

[boxtrot]

[Spy takes a puff of his cigarette, deliberating.]

Well.

[He looks over to K. Rool.]

At least you didn't completely screw me.

[If even a pixel of a photo of himself from before his mercenary life were to show up, he would've killed every damn person in this place.]

[in4apounding]

[Just. Glances between Spy and K. Rool.]

[Sort of scoots over and whispers-]

There are condoms at the very back of the supply closet if you and Mister King Rool need them.

[boxtrot]

[There is a brief moment- sadly, very brief- where Spy has yet to actually register Penny's statement. And then the words hit him like a fucking truck. Spy makes a surprised choking noise like a dying fish and nearly swallows his cigarette.] I- you- what? With him? ME??? [He looks back to K. Rool, and for a moment the look of absolute horror falls off his face and he. Almost looks like he's considering it? But then he shakes his head-] No, no. Thank you for the- ah- information- but no. I won't be needing that.

[mightdoriya]

[Despite feeling like he didn't really do a whole lot in the grand scheme of things, Izuku feels a small bit of pride over being acknowledged. Though it seems it didn't make much difference, given...what's happening here. He's not at all surprised that the Researcher stepped in to change rules around again, and he's about to say something in light of that...but then photos for Team A are displayed and... Izuku stares at the picture of him when he was a child, sitting prone in the middle of the floor at preschool. To anyone unaware of what's even going on in the photo, it literally just looks like him as a child sitting there with an expression on his face that's largely blank and unreadable. All of the other children around him are sneering or laughing. All of a sudden, there's one too many variables for him to point out here.] What kind of information are you supposed to gather from an experiment where you're just short of demanding that we try to kill each other? [He doesn't say force because, really...the incentives here are shaky at best, at least in a few areas.] Also...how did you get those pictures? [At this point, Izuku is nearly certain someone with a Quirk is behind this. Being able to fabricate photographs that shouldn't exist from real, actual events that happened...unless the others claim theirs to be doctored or untrue in any way, it pretty much confirms that their memories have been looked over.]

[mockmods]

You have all begun forming new bonds in your time here, correct? I wish to test the limit of those bonds.

[See, totally legit and within the boundaries of the experiment as they were first described to you, sort of.]

And the temporal scooping technology used to collect you all is hardly limited to gathering physical items or beings. It is also a perfectly serviceable window into any given point within your personal timelines.

[mightdoriya]

[Izuku grits his teeth, his hands balled into tight fists at his sides.] So you resort to blackmail and bribery. [It's not even a question, it's just a statement of fact. Izuku can't say that the incentives are useless, exactly...not when he doesn't know the lives of his peers.] Temporal scooping technology? What is that supposed to mean?

[scratchitti]

Oh bullshit.

[Hi Neku]

Oh, so no one jumped straight to killing to escape. Hell, people helped each other across teams today. So now you're gonna try and bait us into fighting instead?

Also, this experiment sucks, I haven't seen even one control group.

[mockmods]

Precisely. It should prove most informative.

And my scientific methods are flawless, Partner.

[doppelanger]

[ There is one problem with this as a motivator for Helena, and it's one that everyone has probably grasped by now, which is that her sense of what is shameful is very specific and this ain't it. She looks for her face in the collage. There's a little girl with brown hair and chocolate ringing her mouth, and the same girl, slightly older, with bleached blonde hair, pressing two barbie dolls together. Her expression doesn't change in the slightest. ]

Already you are so bored. [ wow who could she possibly be addressing ] Come to movie night. Eat popcorn, forget science devils.

[mockmods]

I do not experience boredom.

The study is progressing within expected parameters.

[in4apounding]

Um- yes. Please- come tonight, it. It should be fun.

[She just wanted everyone to make friends, why this.]

[windowsexplorer]

[For a moment Meredith seems not only unperturbed, but excited by the photo of a couple of people in labcoats carefully assembling what looks like a human-sized doll. It's nearly featureless, not something that would pass as a human ever, certainly not recognizable as anyone here, but her reaction clarifies.]

Oh, that's me, isn't it? That's--

[But then she freezes.

Maybe it's because the arm they're attaching appears to just be on a ball joint, with no electronics or other mechanism like you'd expect a robot to have.]

[in4apounding]

[Just gonna. Sidle on over here, carefully.]

[This day is not going how she imagined.]

Mer- Miss Meredith? Are you okay?

[clandestineideals]

[ His childhood doesn't look particularly noteworthy. If anyone is attentive enough, however, they'll likely notice that in at least most of them, people are sneaking glances at Shinso but not speaking to him, their actions and conversations seemingly conspiratorial in nature. Even if the pictures are just stills.

There are a few in which he is speaking to a few people at his desk, but it appears to be normal conversations and those are hard to discern what there is to be embarrassed or ashamed about, if anything. And yet, there's no reaction. ]

I see someone's grasping for straws in order to have some bloodshed. That was a surprise.

[ So the true purpose of the exercise (obvious to him as ever) is outlined in those short moments. He looks and sounds unimpressed, indicative of some sarcasm seeping into his words some. ]

[mockmods]

Grasping at straws implies this was not always an intended escalation.

If you really wish, I can progress ahead of schedule and offer incentives with much higher stakes.

[hyaku]

....you're encouraging us to kill each other, Robot-san?

[That's underhanded, but not surprising.]

[mockmods]

That is correct, 100%. Consider it a test of the bonds you've formed in your time here.

[biolence]

[That sure is a photo of Rosa Diaz, crying. The sight of which has her clenching her fists and gritting her teeth.]

I'll murder someone right here and now if it means nobody I know sees that photo.

[aragona]

[Relatable.]

[deathroadtocanada]

It's not that bad... is it?

[She has no idea who she's talking to.]

[in4apounding]

Please do not.

[windowsexplorer]

Please do not!

[great robot minds think alike I guess?]

[maxout]

[The fact that the picture is even showing Electro is kinda something you have to figure out by process of elimination. The very human looking kid with brown hair and blue eyes doesn't... really look anything like the guy standing here now.

It's a picture of Max Dillon, maybe twelve or thirteen, getting laughed at by a girl. And her group of friends. Looks like an attempt at asking someone out gone wrong.

...Electro has his arms crossed, looking decidedly uninterested.]

Don't even know what the hell I'm supposed to be looking at here.