(Ant is indeed now uncuffed)

The equipment in the corner beeps approvingly and appears to shut down. The group stands in silence in respect of Bishop and Persephone. A little while later they hear the familiar hum of an engine as a large black Armoured Personnel Character (APC) pulls up outside. The backdoor of the APC lowers into a ramp and the most handsome, yet middle-aged, man you have ever seen before emerges.

Clad in military gear it perfectly accentuates his muscles and the sleekness of his body as he moves strangely towards you, both graceful and masculine at the same time. He pauses for a moment to survey the scene. Behind him in the APC a woman types away on a computer built into the console.

He grabs a radio strapped to the front of his tactical vest he raises it to his perfect lips and speaks.

"It's Pigeon...we've got six survivors, bringing them in." he said to the radio before smiling a warm smile that instantly sets everyone at ease.

"It's over, you guys will be safe now, please come with me." he gestures to the APC.

---

"Yeah, I offered to give them back to Bishop, but he never took them from me." said Dry. "Must've not felt like he needed them."



"You can relax." said Dry numbly. "I'm pretty sure if I tried something, either of Vii or Penta could stop me before I actually carried anything out. As for the bracelet, if you're offering, I'll take it."



"I'm not sure what you're implying here..." said Dry distracted, almost lethargically. "... I can't claim to be a hero or a saint, but I haven't killed anyone. Maybe I could've done more if I learned what this game was all about... sooner. I guess I only have myself to blame for that. But every action I took, I took with the intention of getting everyone here out. Alive. If you feel different, this might be the last time we see each other again. Your last chance to get answers."

Dry turned to board the APC. Before he got to the ramp to board, he turned around. "Oh yeah-- while we're on our journey back, there's one last question that needs answering. The tenth man. Who was he? Who killed him and why? Queen, you can fill us in on the way back."

As he climbed the ramp to the APC, he turned to the man in fatigues. "Pigeon, did you say your name was? That sounds like it could've been a codename we came up with at the beginning of this... whatever this was." He pointed at Persephone and Bishop. "Can I count on you to make sure their bodies are... I dunno, handled with some respect? Maybe sent to their next of kin, if they have 'em? There are three more in the main building in... worse shape..."

Dry then entered the APC, intending to sit down and strap himself in. He tried to think of anything else but what had happened. He felt very tired. And very old.

(Darn timezones, I missed all the good points to make replies > <)

"I'm sorry, but before I get into an unknown vehicle, under the supervision of an unknown group of people, I'd like to know who you are, where you're planning to take us, that sort of thing." Ant stated, staying where he was while massaging his stiff arms and sore wrists.

"And Dry, what are you planning to do with those two sets of documents?" He also asked of the other participant.

"Err, Pigeon, if you don't mind me asking.... How long have it been since we were kidnapped? I mean, we lost track of time. Heck, we don't know what today's date is!" D asked the stranger.

D then ran up to Dry's side. She pulled up one of Dry's hands. Then she took out Persephone's bracelet out of her pockets, and placed it on Dry's hand. She then curled Dry's fingers around the bracelet to make sure he can hold onto the bracelet.

"I'm sure this will be a haunting reminder of a broken promise you made to her, whether you made the promise or not. It's the only thing left of Persephone. Please don't lose it, okay?" D quietly mustered as best as she could, knowing how much Persephone means to him.

"Oh for god's sake, Sharpe, get in the damn helicopter and ask your questions on the way," Vii groaned. "I'd think anything would be better than staying here and freezing or starving to death."

---

The computer in the corner beeped once more as everyones bracelets detached simultaneously.

Pigeon raised an eyebrow at the group's bickering. His immaculate yet inquisitive gaze taking in everything.



Pigeon flashed a dazzling smile "Yeah...codenames are funny that way Mr Gormann, please rest for now," he said as Dry sat down and the woman on the computer immediately turned around to examine his health.

Hearing Ant's queries about their organisation, Pigeon spun majestically to face him.

"Please Mr Sharpe rest assured we are here to help. We're with the SOIS, an organisation dedicated to tracking and dealing with radical and dangerous terrorist groups such as those commonly known as " Zero". We've been looking for all of you for some time. Its been about 2 months since you all disappeared from your homes."

---

"TWO MONTHS?!" D yelped upon hearing what Pigeon just said. "Oh man... Mom and Dad must be worried sick about me. I... I have to go see them! To let them know that I'm doing okay."

Slowly, Penta approaches the helicopter - or "Sarah", it doesn't matter anymore for her. Her instinct tells her to be prepared for it being a trap, although she knows that being unlikely.
"So we're found in the middle of an icy desert by a pigeon... After being kidnaped by individuals with paranormal powers. It's almost like some kind of bizarre myth or fairytale... Just that fairytales normally do not involve burning people and armless, legless knights in uniforms. Probably because it would scare the children to death. And... Miss Caldwell... If it helps you, we could stay in touch as well as possible after this being over. Your in my head, after all."
She touches the estimated spot were the morphogenetic uplink device has been implanted with her right hand.

Alison nodded at Sarah. "Of course, I will keep in touch with you even after what had happened."

She then looks down at her wrist. Her bracelet was lying on the ground below her. The bracelet was a heavy reminder that she was a prisoner... A prisoner in the game she was forced to play. Now that the bracelet was off her wrist....

"I'm free. Free like a butterfly." D muttered. "This feeling that I'm sensing right now.... It must have been 26 years since I felt that feeling. That feeling when my father and I were rescued from the cave that we were trapped in....."

"That incident... Has it something to do with you being an Esper, Miss Caldwell?", Penta asks, recalling what she found out about SSF's Esper project during the Nonary Game.

"If you mean the cave-in incident that happened to me when I was 10 years old, then yeah, it's a true story." Alison said. "I'm sure Mr. Sharpe already knows my story, because I talked about it when he asked me how I became an Esper one day. Except my version of the story only includes myself and my father. It's just that I don't have a twin sister."

"Speaking of which...." Alison turns to her old colleague. "Mr. Sharpe, are you coming?"

Remembering that there are others who haven't come into the APC yet, Alison called out. "Danny Demaine? Mrs. Demaine? You two coming?"

"Don't have to ask me twice."

Vii climbed into an empty seat. "So as long as we have time to kill, why were you here, Penta?"

---

The woman in the back of APC (NOT A HELICOPTER) moves around each of them one-by-one examining them to ensure they are in good health. As she moves out the way of the computer screen at the back, everyone can see a face on it.

---

Queen quietly joins the others. She answers Dry.

Like Michael Adams and Thomas Ridley, the Tenth man was an esper with no ostensible relation to SSF who was brought here to play the game as a player.

His name was Harold Muntch.

I think it might be contextually obvious what happened to him at this point, but in the interest of letting dogs lie, I won't say.

Seeing no real alternative, Ant got in the back of the truck with the others. "I suppose I have more important things to worry about than being tricked by SOIS at the very end. Like Zero, who even now is still a threat. Vii, were you aware that killing his host did very little towards putting a stop to his despicable scheming?"

"So, Pigeon, since you found us because of the signal we sent out...... Can you tell us where in the world exactly are we? Also, how did you know we all disappeared? Did our family and friends alerted you about our disappearances?" Alison asked Pigeon, before going over to take a vacant seat.

Before she even took her seat, she turns towards Pigeon. "One more thing. What does SOIS stands for, anyway?"

Once she have taken her seat, she looks off into the distance, thinking about something. It's difficult to figure out what she is thinking about, unless there is a person who can read her mind.

"So I've been told." Vii removed his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose speaking loudly enough to be heard over the roar of the helicopter blades in the background "Even if it is true, 'very little' is still a hell of a lot better than 'nothing,' and at the very least it probably saved everyone here.

"Anyway, it looks like the A.I. has something to say."

---

"The point is, everyone here is acting as if this is all over. But it's not. From my point of view, it's just the beginning. This 'Zero' stands in the way of everything the Morphogenetic Field represents for humanity. I... cannot abide by such a thing."

Pigeon sighed as he finished looking at the bodies in the back, looking over Bishop. "Damien's gonna be heartbroken at this..." he muttered to himself as he shook his head, his beautiful locks flowing gently in the breeze.

Returning to the others in the APC (decidedly NOT a helicopter) he slammed a button on the side, causing the ramp to withdraw shutting them in. Pigeon banged twice on the roof and in response the group could feel the vehicle start to move.

"Right...well I suppose it's time to answer your questions," he said with a broad smile that displayed a perfect set of teeth.



"A fair question! SOIS stands for the Special Office of Internal Security, as for how we knew about you," Pigeon leaned casually against the wall in a pose befitting of the finest male models "Let's just say you aren't the only ones with 'gifts'," he added with a wink. "In all honesty, we've been keeping an eye on you with THAT," he added pointing to the face of the JUDGE on the screen.

"Many years ago, there was an incident very much like this one. Found a bunch of bodies in the desert and one deranged AI that had been based on a survivor in a bunker not far from the bodies. This was the first Nonary game we heard about. After that, copycats began to spring up. Once the papers caught on about this twisted game, other people began to use them for their own ends. A commonality between these games is that a trend developed where they would create and utilise artificial intelligences to run their games." Bishop shrugged "They served a purpose I suppose but SOIS caught on to this. We knew with the number of 'Zeros' out there increasing that finding them would be difficult as they often had a substantial amount of power with which to organise these games in secret. As such SOIS programmed an A.I. themselves...put it on the internet as bait to catch a Zero."

The JUDGE winked at them at this point.

"Now we didn't have full control over it but the software contains a backdoor that allowed us to determine a rough location in Antarctica, gave us an audio feed and make things slightly more difficult for Zero." Pigeon extended a hand "The insistence on puzzles, most of which were randomly generated being a start. The software just wouldn't work without it." A look of remorse crossed his face "However I am sorry it took so long to get to you, Zero was working with mercenaries who were meant to pick you up instead of us. They gave us some resistance which we had to deal with first." Pigeon's anguish was the most tragic and beautiful thing as a single sparkling tear crested gently down his cheek before softly falling onto the metal floor.

---

"So, you're saying that we're not the only one with 'gifts'? Figures." Alison remarked. "In fact, I know there are espers out there. It's just that...."

She trailed off at the last sentence, looking very troubled. It was clear to her companions exactly what she didn't want to talk about.

"However, there's one thing I'd like to know.... You sounds like you knew so much about the Nonary Games. There's no way that you could know all this stuff unless.... Unless.... Unless you went through a similar situation like we did? By 'similar situation', I meant you were kidnapped and forced to play one of those Nonary Games." Alison said, as she readjusted her glasses.

Pigeon gave Alison a knowing smile but shook his head and ignored her.

"Though Mr Sharpe has a point about the potential for Zero to have escaped...that's why we're doing this."

The JUDGE laughed from the screen at the back of the vehicle. As everyone turned to look they saw the woman operating the computer was wearing a breathing aid.

Behind them Pigeon, wearing his own breathing aid now, pushed a button on the wall of the vehicle and gas began to hiss out from grates in the floor.

"We're going to need to take you all in for a bit of questioning, sleep tight." he said watching as all the participants passed out in their chairs.

End


(Nonary Game is now over, endings are being worked on, a postgame thread where anyone is welcome to post in will be made available)

---

Bishop woke with a start and gasped for air as the adrenaline shot he had taken finally kicked in. Using what little strength he had, he threw himself forward out of his chair onto the cold metal floor and his loose bracelet clattered off of his wrist. Grasping for it he launched the accursed accessory across the hall. His throat hurt, every part of him felt numbed as he wondered how long he had been out but it didn't really matter.

He had survived.

"Heh...never been the best at riddles, seems like that...came through at just the right time." he croaked as he managed to push himself to his feet.

He looked at the area around him. A lone corpse was slumped over in the chair, almost appearing to be sleeping. That was the one hope that Bishop held in his heart as he walked over to her. "She's just sleeping", he told himself. "She has to be..."

The blood in Bishop's veins ran cold the moment he touched her skin. His heartbeat seemed to stop and it seemed that for a moment, there was nothing but silence in the world. Nothing except for the sound of his tears hitting the concrete floor as he felt nothing but despair.

Bishop pulled Persephone in close (or as close as he could considering the size of her chest) and sobbed. In a universe of infinite timelines, why couldn't he just see a single one where he could be happy? Where Persephone could be alive?

Feeling hollow, Bishop became dimly aware of the faint sound of an approaching engine. Picking up Persephone, he shuffled over towards the open hanger door and squinted out into the blizzard. A vehicle was coming, he couldn't make much of it out in the distance. Collapsing to his knees Bishop clenched his fists as he clutched Persephone to himself.

"I won't forgive her. I'll NEVER forgive her."


End...or Beginning?

---