night six - kill log

[judgejudy]

Who: Adam Parrish and Franziska Von Karma
When: The sixth night
Where: The operating theatre

[ No matter what you may have been doing, the deep sleep of the enforced curfew will eventually overtake you at 2AM. It's not clear just how much time has passed, but when you wake, you're certainly not in your room. You're in a room that you've never seen before, and the drowsiness of whatever keeps you asleep is still making you sluggish as it fades away. The only thing familiar here is that about half a landing up, you'll see an overhead door that might be familiar.

However, this might not be as important as how Judy's voice suddenly speaks up. ]

All of the arrangements have been made, and databanks are recording. You may begin, Mr. Parrish. You'll find your requested tool next to the subject.

[ A tool? If you look around for what that might mean, it might be obvious.

On a surgical tray right next to you, you'll see a security baton. It looks like it has a button that can be pressed. ]

Comments

[karmas]

[Franziska doesn't immediately realize something is wrong when she wakes up. For all her bluster, she's not used to being in dangerous situations herself. She went to sleep knowing that there was a chance, perhaps a good chance, something would happen to her tonight, but she's still groggy and tired even as she realizes slowly she's not sleeping on a comfortable bed anymore.

She scrambles for the whip she always keeps by her side first, before she even looks up to see who is there in the room. But once she finds it isn't there, she looks up, gives a glare at Adam, and then tries to scramble for anything nearby her that she can use. She'll grasp at the security baton, but she's likely too late to get to it.]

You'll regret this!

[antietam]

[ Adam, meanwhile, is alert the second he awakens. He hops up and is on the defensive like a scared animal but there's no one around him. Except Franziska. She's out cold still and he has a few precious seconds to consider his situation.

It's not hard to tell what he has to do. Is he against it? Not particularly. He's done this before, ended the life of a bad person who killed one of his friends for the greater good. The stakes are perhaps less high now but her evils are greater. She's the worst possible person in his mind and finally he can do something about it. He can do it for Lara and Luke.

So he goes for the baton and examines it, presses the button, and then considers his strategy. She's woken up by the time he's circling around her, looking for a good striking point, and he steps back enough that she can't reach him. ]

Will I? It seems like you should be the one regretting what you've done. [ He's quick to move behind her, clearly not limited in his movements like she is, and aims his first strike for the back of her head. ]

[karmas]

[She screams when he strikes her with the security baton, stumbling just as she tries to get to her feet; instead, she falls to the ground. She's shaking in rage, indignant at her treatment, but she doesn't look fearful. She looks at him like he's scum; he's just another of the ones who have tried to stop her before. That's the thing - she may not be as talented, but she knows she's stronger than her father, stronger than her brother. She won't abandon her pride even in defeat. She sneers at him.]

Are you ready to die tomorrow, Adam Parrish? You were so transparent at the trial; pathetic. You were wise to try and silence me, but alas, I've already discussed you with a few others.

[This isn't remotely true, but she says it with confidence - she's a prosecutor, after all. She's used to trying to put fear into her witnesses.]

[antietam]

[ It does affect him. He's used to being look at like he's nothing, having horrible words thrown at him, but it never makes it easier. He's not immune to it. But this time he has the power—for the first time in his life he's powerful. (And he thinks idly that he's been made to do someone's dirty work, but who cares if this is what he's been wanting to do anyway?)

She just makes him angrier. He has so much anger that's not just at her or this place but she's going to get the brunt of it because no matter what, he's doing the right thing. ]

Do you think I care? [ He does care or he wouldn't be so angry. And he believes her because he's had someone come to him and tell him that people are already suspecting him. Suspecting him because he'd defended Luke—defended a boy his age from getting horribly executed. And they want to kill him for that. He presses the button on the baton and it electrifies it, then finally gets closer to her. She doesn't seem to be a threat anymore.

He slams it down toward her knees, trying to disable her first, to make her suffer. ] Do you even feel bad for what you did? You killed two innocent people. Or is that what you usually do as a prosecutor?

[karmas]

[She doesn't scream this time, gritting her jaw as she takes the hit. She doesn't think she'll make it out alive, but she does want to do something to stop this. She won't let him defeat her.]

Innocent? Whether he killed Charles and Rayfa or not, he knew who did. As did you. And yet neither of you spoke up to name those people. You're accomplices to those murders.

Lara Croft is unfortunate. She truly wasn't involved. Then again, I only voted for her, you know, because of your defense of Luke Castellan. In your efforts to save the life of someone you knew was caught up in all of this you helped kill her. Well done.

[She means it to be cruel, and to hurt, but also she means it to anger him. She lies still, but as soon as he comes anywhere within range, she reaches out with her nails to claw and scratch at his leg.]

[antietam]

[ She succeeds in angering him and also scratching at his leg, both cutting deep. He hisses and pulls his leg back. ]

She wouldn't have voted for at all if it weren't for you! You and your stupid list of people you picked out of a hat. I didn't think anyone would listen to you run your mouth but somehow there are still people here who think you're not crazy. That's why you're more of a danger than the staff. I'm doing everyone a favor.

[ This has all obviously been built up, things he's been thinking about saying to her since the execution. When he strikes again, he goes for her shoulders in retaliation for the scratch. But he's clearly frantic now and he closes his eyes once he brings the baton down again toward her head. ]

[karmas]

[Well, it's hard to avoid screaming when she's struck in the head with a baton. She can't scratch anymore, but instead collapses to the ground entirely, breathing harshly but motionless.

She can't summon the strength to reply, but all she can think is, At least I was right. She feels no sympathy toward him at all.]

[antietam]

[ When she goes quiet after the screaming, he knows it's almost done. He hardly feels the burning of the scratch right now but he knows it's going to be painful later and he's going to need to treat it before anyone sees.

In the end, it's hard for him to cause pain like this because he knows what it feels like and so he decides it's been enough suffering. He keeps his eyes closed as he continuously brings the baton down against her head, harder each time and certainly more than necessary to actually kill her. She doesn't deserve that much mercy, after all. ]