Survivor: the Initiative Episode 6

SURVIVOR: the Initiative Episode 6
Blindside

Day 16

TEAM JOYCE

None of them were willing to do what it took. None of them. Oliver Osnick, Steel Spider, looked at his teammates, sleeping in their little shelter, all except Nocturne. Even Derwyddon was in there sleeping, after all the time he’d spent away from the men’s shelter, now he was suddenly hanging around this one. Ever since he got this new sense of purpose, Derwyddon had been different. It was like he didn’t understand Oliver anymore. Oliver didn’t know how to relate to him anymore, even though he’d been so close to him for a while there. He had thought that Derwyddon understood him, like Spider-Man did, like he once thought Dr. Octopus had.
Oliver remembered the psychiatrists talking to him about the conditions he had developed. Bipolar, generalized anxiety, and histrionic personality disorders. He remembered the shrink trying to explain to Oliver that he suffered from “a pervasive pattern of excessive emotionality and attention seeking”. They’d heavily medicated him and tried putting him in counseling. Oliver had faked his way through it, had gotten off the meds, and had gone out on his own. And as the Steel Spider, he’d actually done some good in the world, taking down all the criminals he’d gotten his hands on. Sure, he’d been a bit excessive, but how else would they learn their lessons? How else?
Oliver remembered the day the Thunderbolts had come after him, had taken his arm, and had thrown him in jail. After that, he’d sat in prison for months before he had decided to join up with the Initiative. At least he could do some good there, and he was sure he could find ways around the rules. He’d already started cheeking his meds, and he could feel his true self coming back day by day.
As Oliver turned away from the fire, he was shocked to see Nocturne standing there. Where had she come from? She had barely been at camp during his stay there the last few days. And he hadn’t heard her approach. Her voice had a strange throaty lilt when she spoke. “I feel your pain.”
Oliver scoffed. “I didn’t even know you could talk, lady, but mind your own business.”
Nocturne reached a hand forward and Oliver felt a wave of calm pass over him. Where had that come from? He hadn’t felt calm in months, not even on the meds. A fresh wave of panic washed over him at even experiencing the calm and he shouted at Nocturne. “No! What are you doing to me? No!”
Nocturne looked up in shock and surprise as his shouts woke the others in the camp. Nocturne turned and flew quickly away into the skies, and Oliver scampered off into the woods on his extended metal legs; he couldn’t face the others, not right now.

TEAM HAMMOND

“How’d you learn how to do it?” Biohazard looked up at Voletta Todd, Ion, with incredulity. She knew he couldn’t believe what he’d just seen. Sometimes she couldn’t believe it herself.
“Trial and error. I’m a trained scientist. That’s the method we use for everything. You work at it until you figure it out.”
Biohazard frowned. “But I saw what that accident changed you into. A big ole pile of energy. How do you go from that back to human form?”
Voletta moved herself back inside her containment suit. It was easy to move the ionic energy that made up her substance, but putting herself into the containment suit at least helped her feel human. Well, a bit more human anyway. “It’s nearly impossible, Fletcher, I’ll be honest. I can only do it for a few seconds at a time, and with extreme stress and pressure to my brain and body, unless I have the aid of extreme cold.”
Biohazard blew out a gust of breath from his cheeks. “So let me get this straight. Some weird biological accident turned you into some sort of, what did you call it, sentient energy. And you can’t turn back into a human lady unless you nearly kill yourself by focusing on changing yourself. But even then, you can only stay human for a few seconds. Unless you are really cold. So why don’t you just live in the cold or something?”
Voletta lowered her head. “The human form can not exist long in cold. I would die were I to stay as cold as I need to. And I only maintain super powers in my energy form.”
Biohazard looked at Voletta with pity, and she did her best to ignore the humiliation. The scientist in her truly wanted to help this boy. “How old were you when the accident happened?”
“I was in my mid-30s.”
Biohazard smiled now. “When you are human, you are kind of a babe.” Then he sobered again. “I was still a teenager. I’m just barely 18 now, and I’ve lived the last few years in a government research facility, where they tried to help me over and over again. They can’t get rid of my Biohazard powers. But they can’t teach me how to control them either. It’s like I’m just stuck or something. Like my life path is already decided for me.”
Voletta looked at Biohazard, thinking things through. “Tell me everything you know about the accident that first changed you into Biohazard.”
“My dad, he was a bad guy. He got arrested by some young super heroes, the New Warriors. I was mad and I wanted revenge, so I went to my dad’s warehouse and I grabbed a high-tech gun, but it kind of blew up in my face, and that’s what changed me.”
“Where is this gun now?”
Biohazard sighed. “Destroyed. The whole lab was destroyed. Dr. Todd, I’ve—when I went crazy, people died. Because of me.”
Voletta grew annoyed. “I’m trying to help you, Fletcher, but I don’t want to hear about your guilts. You must learn to look forward from here. Now tell me everything you know about this gun, where it came from, and everything you learned at Project: PEGASUS when they studied you.”

Day 17

TEAM JOYCE
Lemar Hoskins, Battle Star, tossed his triangular shield up into the air and caught it again. He loved this shield. Nothing like the famous shield of Captain America, of course. More like Cap’s original one, back in the early days of World War II. Lemar loved what this shield symbolized, what it reminded him of. The American Dream, as seen by Captain America himself. And wielded by Lemar Hoskins, a black man. He worked every day to do the shield proud.
Lemar had not always been so proud of himself. He’d been a high school dropout, an utter embarrassment to his family. He tried making it as a costumed wrestler, after he’d had his strength augmented at the risk of extreme physical deformities, and instead had turned to a life of crime. Somehow, fate had given him an extra chance, and he’d enrolled with the government as the Bucky to his buddy John Walker’s Captain America, during the time when Steve Rogers had retired. Lemar remembered how embarrassed he’d been to learn that a “buck” was a racist slur against blacks, and he’d quickly changed his name to Battle Star.
Lemar turned to see Derwyddon looking at him. “What brings you over here, old man?”
Derwyddon seemed to look past Lemar. “Tell me your true motivations, Battle Star. Why have you enrolled in the Initiative?”
Lemar couldn’t figure the old man out. He’d been a recluse, then a self-appointed leader, now he was suddenly, on day 17, asking about motivations? But Lemar had nothing to hide. “I’m here to be a hero. Plain and simple.”
Derwyddon’s eyes suddenly focused on Lemar. “The words you spoke to Free Spirit last night, before you voted her out, ring true for you as well. Not everyone shares your motivations and ideals.”
Lemar pulled his mask up over his face. “What about you, then? Why are you here?”
“I’m here to effect change from the ground up.”
Lemar snorted. “Oh yeah? And how you gonna do that?”
Derwyddon looked to the ground. “The gods haven’t told me that part yet.”

“What are your true motivations for entering the Initiative, Sandstorm?” Derwyddon looked at Sandstorm, who had been busy using his sandy form, his “grit armor” as Derwyddon had heard him call it, to bolster the fallen side of their new shelter. One side had caved in on them the night before during a heavy rainstorm and Sandstorm had volunteered to use his powers to fix it.
Sandstorm sounded annoyed. “What kind of question is that? You’ve been on my tribe for over two weeks now and you’ve barely spoken to me before.”
“I was just curious, that is all.”
Sandstorm stepped away from the shelter. “Just curious. Sure. Listen, Derwyddon, I have no reason to trust you, and no reason to give you personal information.”
Derwyddon nodded. “I think that is all I needed to know, then.”
Minutes later in the woods, Derwyddon crossed his legs beneath him, closed his eyes, and meditated. He tried to find that balance within himself. He’d been spending more time with the members of his tribe for the past few days, trying to ferret out the individual among them who had the skewed motivations. More than any of the others, there was one among them who did not belong. He now believed that individual to be Sandstorm. Now his challenge would be finding a way to use this knowledge for his own benefit.

TEAM HAMMOND
Fletcher Traynor, Biohazard, automatically grew annoyed when he saw Number Nine leaping on MAULER’s back in the lake. Water splashed around them and they dove under the water in an embrace, wetting Number Nine’s long blonde hair and MAULER’s thick orange beard. Valkyrie sat next to Fletcher, looking over at him. She laughed out loud when she saw the sneer on his face.
“Not a big fan of public displays of affection, then?”
“I just don’t get what she sees in him, I guess. Beautiful girl like that, and an ugly old dude like him.”
Valkyrie laughed again. “And you think she should be more interested in you?”
Fletcher felt an acidic tremor pass through him and he fought back the anger. “Well, sure, why not? She’s closer to my age, isn’t she?”
Valkyrie stopped teasing and suddenly looked very serious. “Number Nine is a complicated girl, Fletcher. She’s been programmed to be the way she is. Don’t fault her for doing what she was designed to do.”
Fletcher got up and walked away, not wanting to test his fate. As he moved into the woods, the acidic surge passed through him again and this time he gave in, allowing the monster to take over him once more. He felled a tree in his frustration, then devoured it with his form, reducing it to ash and debris before he felt better.

Samantha Parrington, Valkyrie, looked at the man standing before her. There had been a time in her life where she would have refused to see a man as an equal simply because he was a man. After all, men had been keeping woman suppressed for centuries, shouldn’t females have a turn at the top? But she had a more mature mindset now. She knew that men weren’t her betters, but she didn’t have to think of herself as better than them either. She didn’t know how MAULER felt about things, so she’d try to reserve judgment.
MAULER stood there in his armor with the helmet removed. The helmet, which he held in one of his arms, could definitely use some redesigns in Valkyrie’s opinion, but she supposed MAULER’s unorthodox look put his foes at ease before he attacked them; it likely only helped him in his day job as a mercenary.
MAULER finally answered her question. “Yer right, lassie, it is probably wise ta talk things over before the tribal council.”
Samantha didn’t want any blindsides if they happened to lose immunity. Though there were three women to two men, she didn’t know where Number Nine’s loyalties lay anymore, so she’d asked MAULER to talk strategy with her. “Our vote against Gomi was simple; he was a weak competitor and he wanted to be gone regardless.”
MAULER looked thoughtful. “So what do ye recommend this time? Yer old tribe has the numbers.”
“Believe me or not, I’m basing this suggestion entirely on worth to the tribe at this point, though we can be sure we are planning on individual immunity competitions soon. The way I see it, Ion, you, and I are really pulling our weight in this tribe, and Number Nine is a close ally to both of us.”
MAULER smiled. “So ye think Biohazard ought ta be the next ta go, eh?”
Valkyrie nodded, a soft smile on her face, and wondered how much malice this man was hiding behind that grin. And she wondered if he knew how much malice lay behind hers.

DAY 18
IMMUNITY CHALLENGE

Jasper Sitwell gathered the two teams of five before him and had them stand on their tribal mats. He announced to the opposite teams that Gomi and Free Spirit had been voted out at the previous tribal council. No one seemed particularly surprised or concerned about these vote-offs.
Jasper announced that this would be the final team competition, and informed the others that the following day, after one more of them was voted out, that the two tribes would be merging into one. The tribes seemed confused that Jasper was announcing this in advance, but he enjoyed seeing their brains work as the contestants tried to process this new information.
Jasper explained the new immunity challenge. Each contestant would wear a Virtual Reality helmet, where their minds would be uploaded into an interactive training environment. There, in an environment that seemed entirely real, the teams, under the instruction of their appointed leaders, would have to rescue as many civilians as they could in under five minutes from a complex burning building. There were fifteen V-R civilians in each V-R building, and if both teams rescued all 15, then the team to do it the fastest would win immunity. At Jasper’s command, the two teams put on their helmets and, after a bit more instruction, the challenge began.
For Team Hammond, Valkyrie started calling the shots. Though she could find absolutely nothing for Biohazard to do with his acidic powers, to either combat the flames or to help civilians, Valkyrie quickly orchestrated the others into a somewhat effective combat unit. Ion used her ionic fields to lift civilians to safety without getting burned; Number Nine darted through the flames, impervious to injury, to find the wounded, and MAULER and Valkyrie focused on keeping the structure upright and putting the fire out. At the end of the five minutes, 11 civilians had been saved.
For Team Joyce, Battle Star claimed command of the team again and immediately instructed Derwyddon to ask the flames to extinguish. Derwyddon did so, and the flames went out in a flash, leaving only hot wood and smoke remains to deal with. With Sandstorm providing support from any wreckages, Steel Spider (on his metal legs), Nocturne (with her wings), and Battle Star (using his super strength) evacuated all 15 civilians in four minutes.
Jasper declared Team Joyce the winners, and instructed Team Hammond to meet him at tribal council that night.

TRIBAL COUNCIL

Biohazard, MAULER, Ion, Number Nine, and Valkyrie took their seats in front of Jasper at the Tribal Council fire that evening, and Jasper immediately jumped into questioning them.
“Ion, how have things been going at your new camp over the past three days?”
Ion answered, without hesitation, in her wispy of a voice. “It has been nice to form new relationships, and to get to know our male competitors. This game has a way of keeping us all on our toes. Well, those of us who have toes.”
Jasper felt a chill. Had Ion just cracked a joke? “Number Nine, your team performed rather poorly in today’s challenge, leaving four civilians ‘dead’ within the five minute time frame.”
Number Nine’s eyes brimmed with tears. “We did our best! We sacrificed life and limb to try to help those poor pretend people, especially my brave and strong MAULER in his powerful suit!” She smiled up at MAULER and Jasper watched Valkyrie roll her eyes in disgust even as MAULER’s cheeks turned a bit pink.
“Biohazard, how does a tribe like this, moving into the merge tomorrow, decide who to vote out?”
Biohazard looked forward, struggling not to betray his own vote. “We just have to do what is best for each of us now. We aren’t a tribe anymore after tonight, so we have to vote the way that suits us best. Someone will be surprised tonight.” Jasper saw MAULER look at Biohazard and narrow his eyes.
“Let’s get to the votes.”
The first vote was for Biohazard. This was from MAULER, who was getting rid of the weakest link on the team and voting along with the rest of his tribe.
The second vote was for Biohazard. This was from Number Nine, who was voting as MAULER expected her to, and Valkyrie, too, she guessed.
The third vote was for Number Nine. This vote was from Valkyrie, who, learning she was moving into the merge, decided to get rid of her least trustworthy ally, worried that Number Nine would flip over to the boys as soon as the merge took place.
The fourth vote was for Number Nine. This vote was from Ion, who had been annoyed for days by Number Nine, and was voting along with Valkyrie and agreed with the threat Number Nine posed.
The fifth vote was for Number Nine. This was from Biohazard, who was clued in to the vote by Valkyrie, and who wanted Number Nine gone for being stupid enough to flirt with MAULER.
As Jasper read the votes, he noted that this was the first real blindside of the game thus far. MAULER looked appalled as Jasper announced Number Nine would be leaving the game, and Number Nine herself broke down in hysterical sobs. She refused to get up from the bench, crying about how this couldn’t be and couldn’t they just let her stay for a while longer, that she’d be better, that she’d work harder and make everyone happy. Jasper finally extinguished her torch, but still she wouldn’t leave. Valkyrie and MAULER tried convincing Number Nine to get up, but she finally, after several minutes of crying heavily, fell forward and began convulsing in a seizure. Number Nine was removed from the game by medical professionals while her worried former teammates looked on.

Thank you for your participation in this series! Big things to come! I know I keep saying that, but you’ll finally start to see what I mean next episode. We move into individual competitions starting in Episode 7. And immunity challenges get brutally hard. Each episode from here forward will have a guest star coming in who will be challenging our remaining contestants and pushing them to the edge of their limits. If these characters are going to be heroes, they have a lot to learn about themselves yet! Keep in mind that all characters voted out from here forward will become members of our jury. Lots of subplots are brewing, and lots of conflicts are heating up! Also, note that only three girls remain out of nine contestants!
Due to random determination, Valkyrie gets immunity next episode, so you can vote out anyone else. This last vote was the closest one yet; almost everyone received votes, and it was a really close match between three contestants, with Number Nine only losing, in the end, by one vote. Make sure to vote to keep your favorites in!

The remaining contestants:
Battle Star (Lemar Hoskins)
Biohazard (Fletcher Traynor)
Derwyddon
Ion (Voletta Todd)
MAULER (Brendan Doyle)
Nocturne (Angela Cairn)
Sandstorm (Tony Trainer)
Steel Spider (Oliver Osnick)
Valkyrie (Samantha Parrington)—immunity