WEEK FOUR: REMOVAL

[retellers]

WEEK FOUR: REMOVAL (30 remain) Time to wake up, participants of the Realm. At 8am, everyone will receive a message on their PHS. Please go to the northern town by 9am. Even if the participants ignore the message (or are sleeping in, shame on them), as 9am approaches they will fall victim to a compulsion to head to the specified location. Three Leaders, Wolf, Rabbit, and Fox, are already present, Vezda with them. Rabbit speaks. "I'm so sorry. Please come forward." Once they finish speaking, an alert goes off from a PHS in the crowd—specifically, Taako's. Their PHS displays a simple message. You have ̶been select͘ed͞to remove Bucky Barnes. Regardless of their will, they will feel compelled to walk towards the scene. No other participant will be able to interfere; should they try, a barrier blocks their way.

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Comments

[uhhhmagic]

[He laughs? He gives him a really loud, sharp bark of laughter at that, but it’s hard to tell if it’s a pity laugh or like, a real one. I mean, it’s an execution! You can’t not give him the laugh.]

That’s fuckin’ fair, ain’t it?

[But then nods and it’s probably time for cool jokes to stop, huh? Taako fiddles with the gun for a second. He. Does not know how this thing works. Pull trigger, magic missile comes out? That’s kinda the general premise, right? That’s definitely all that’s involved.]

I guess, we should, um. Do a countdown.

[ . . . ]

. . . Three.

[frostythehitman]

[ A countdown, huh? Well. Makes sense, he supposes. He's never done a shootout like this before. Somehow, getting shot at is much scarier when you have time to prepare for it.

But, well. He takes a deep breath and nods, wrapping his hand around his own gun. He thinks about what the hell he's going to do with it. Leave it, don't fire at all? ]

Two.

[ Aim at Taako? No, he doesn't deserve that any more than Vezda himself does. ]

One.

[ ...He makes his choice. ]

[uhhhmagic]

[Taako isn’t exactly all that jazzed to be aiming a gun at a completely innocent guy either. He’s not out here claiming to be a good guy, or even a guy who doesn’t have blood on his hands, but this one seems to cross a line.

Right?

Still. You do what you have to do.]

One!

[Guns are very loud. Especially old timey ones. There’s a loud pop


and Taako is on the ground.]

[frostythehitman]

[ And so is Vezda, falling to the ground with the force of the gunshot he aimed at his own head. ]

[uhhhmagic]

[Taako looks up, between his hands, from where he just ducked. His finger isn’t even on the trigger. Hell, he pretty much instantly fumbled and dropped the gun. There was only one pop, right?]

Um— Holy fuck?

[Okay, he’ll at least sit up on the ground. Fuck!]

Vezda? Oh shit— Are you dead? Holy shit!

[frostythehitman]

[ There's a low groaning sound where Vezda rolls over slowly, helplessly, hand pressed to the side of his head. ]

Jesus fuck!

[ He slowly pushes himself up to a seated position. He pulls his hand away--no blood. No puncture wound at all, in fact, just some reddishness on his skin around the area.

Vezda looks around him and spots--well, yes, the gun that he dropped once he took the shot, but also, the spent cartridge from the bullet. He picks it up between his fingers. ]

Those fuckers. I get one shot, and it's a blank?

[ He never stood a chance in this duel at all. Of course not. Because it's not a duel, it's an execution.

He huffs a wet, bitter laugh. ]

[uhhhmagic]

You cannot be friggin’ serious.

[That’s. More towards the sky than anything. Fuck you, Assholes in charge?

Anyway. Well, he’s hyperventilating a bit. So that’s okay and cool and stuff! He’ll actually scramble up, fuck this 20 paces bullshit. Shoving his gun in his belt (he’s definitely in cowboy get-up, I’m really sorry to say it) and hustle over there.]

What—- do we do?

[You can’t ask the guy who’s supposed to die that, Taako! Also, the barrier doesn’t seem to be coming down.

Hm.]

[frostythehitman]

[ Vezda glances at the barrier and--shit, Taako's right. The barrier is still up. Something still needs to happen.

But...well, he'd kind of resigned himself to death here. Knowing now that he had a blank, it gives him some hope, and an idea. ]

...Give me your gun.

[uhhhmagic]

[He stops to look at the barrier - at the crowd - for a second. Geez there’s a lot of people watching. A lot of faces out there, huh? He did always think he deserved to be famous, but this is not a great stage.

He shuffles, tugging on the end of his braid.]

No, I can—- I can do it, if you don’t want to have to do it yourself— I can do it.

[But he’s holding it out? He won’t resist if Bucky takes it.]

[frostythehitman]

Oh for--just give it.

[ He swipes the gun out of Taako's hand as if he's suddenly impatient. Which, he supposes he kind of is. He has an idea, he has hope, and he doesn't want to waffle any longer on it, lest the suspense of finding out if it works or not do him in first. ]

No one's getting shot here, got it?

[ He stumbles to his feet, head still hurting, and immediately whips around, now opposite the barrier, and aims at the ground about 20 feet away.

Then, in rapid succession--blam! blam! blam! blam! blam! blam!--before every pull of the trigger only yields a quiet click. The firing has kicked up plenty of dust over where Vezda emptied the gun out, but...so far he's alive.

And the gun is empty.

He can't help but break into a grin as the relief swells in his chest.

Fuck yeah.

He turns back to face Taako. ]

See? Looks like nobody had to die today after all.

[uhhhmagic]

[He jumps when the gun goes off - because. Well. Bucky was either going to shoot himself or maybe take the gun and shoot him and now they have? No bullets?]

I—- Are you sure that’s how this works?

[If Bucky looks so relieved, then,]

[frostythehitman]

It's not like there's any bullets left for either of us to die by.

[ While Vezda's relaxing, though, he doesn't notice that the dust cloud is shifting. There's some kind of movement in there, although it's unclear what exactly it is, until

A bullet seems to have rebounded, almost like it's got some kind of targeting system locked onto him. It pierces him right through the back.

Then another. And another. And another. And--

Actually, this one misses and goes through Taako's hat.

And then one final bullet piercing through his back, leaving him with gory, bloody pockmarks all over. He chokes a little, almost too in shock to feel the pain, before finally tipping over. It feels painfully slow, the fall to his knees and the collapse onto the ground, so cruel and bitterly ironic that it almost feels like a joke.

Vezda Bucky Barnes is dead. ]

[uhhhmagic]

[He shrieks? Sorry his hat just got shot off he’s pretty sure he’s just died too.]

[Taako’s hat is dead.]

[retellers]

[ Once Vezda is dead, the barriers blocking everyone go down. Wolf retrieves his corpse, before they and the other Leaders depart.

You're all free to leave now! Hurray!

Later in the day, everyone will receive an alert for the NOVA CHECK app. Looks like weekly rankings are up! Furthermore, the Leaders will be responding to requests at the Planetarium again. ]