The fifth challenge ended with a perturbed public and an equally furious group of Brand leaders. They expected the united front of participants to try something during the challenge, but it still came as a surprise to everyone. Not even Priya knew how they would have handled it.
Right after they were transported to the arena, Vivar used the C.T.D internal network to transmit a message, which was then relayed to their partners. At first, they thought it was a plan concocted by the knight, but after seeing how simple and easy to follow it was, all of them guessed that Savan probably thought it.
Each smiled when they realized it and felt a bit of pride for the clopy, as their solution was so banal, that nobody would have thought it would work. After Alvara, who was acting as the caretaker for the round, asked if any volunteers wanted to be first, all of the patients moved at the same time. They lifted their right foot and slowly put it down so they could time it perfectly. Annoyed at their cheekiness, Alvara wanted to restart, but her colleagues ( mostly because the public demanded it) thought it would be interesting to let all participate at the same time.
What they didn’t count on was for them to keep a tab on each of their scores, so that in the end all of them had the same amount of points. It was lower than what Serviceman managed to get, but technically all of them got second place, which meant that each was allowed to choose what they wanted to have installed into them.
Priya could not keep her laughter in at the display of defiance but remembered to play it off as if she was amused at a child trying to act tough in front of a lion. At least, while she was inside the den. Still, this enforced Samuel’s and Robert's insistence that they send Priya some ideas on how her challenge could become even more dangerous than before.
As for their rewards, Savan went with a pair of artificial eyes, which had a vast array of options they always wanted to try. And they did by ogling everyone else, which felt like a small invasion of their private place. Angie voluntarily took the blow, especially knowing what her fate was, and picked the cosmetic part, which allowed a metallic body to retract its chest area into the waist. Marc, same as usual. Syna opted for something similar to what Sovereign and Vivar had, a right arm that had a hidden ranged weapon, while Chirani chose the left one.
With each new step, they came closer to reaching their masked goal.
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Just before they had to enter the cubes, each activated another device, and out of all of them, one signalled the start of the fourth round already. This annoyed the CEOs even more, but Priya tried to calm them down by lying about her plan to “make them understand the difference between us and them.”
At the site of the next arena, the same choice was given, and the same move was made by them. Except for Angie, who was slower by a second when they put their feet down. Afterwards, she tried to mimic simple cluelessness and said that she-” started on the wrong foot, my bad guys.”
She tried to keep it light, but Savan and the others found it impossible to not feel concerned about her situation. They went first, Angie second and Serviceman third, and the game was a simple one- dodging falling rocks inside a cave, except that some of them had the weight of real boulders and they had to rely on either theirs or the C.T.Ds enhanced parts to distinguish between the rocks.
Savan’s group fared much better in their teamwork than before, and they almost got the top score, even if the terrain tried multiple times to sweep them off their feet. It was clear though, that this round was more dangerous than their previous contest, and they knew that they overcame it so easily because multiple people worked in tandem on it, keeping an eye on each other. “ But what about Angie?”, they thought, scared for her safety.
The miner started right after them, and while a bit surprising, it was alleviating for the group to see her doing so well. Each of her moves was precisely done to avoid the spot where a boulder would fall, and with the help of her pickaxe, she could crush the troublesome ones. And if any flying pebbles might come her way, the back shield would activate automatically and defend her from the projectiles. That was until a trap from the terrain stuck right under a falling boulder.
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She tried to untangle herself from the metallic chains, and then she tried to smash them with her weapon, but the chains were tougher than expected. As a last resort, she tried to prepare for a massive swing and obliterate the falling object, but just as she tried to pivot and swing the pickaxe, another trap rose from the ground, tripping her left foot and stopping her twirl.
Her team looked in shock as she first became surrounded by small debris and a canvas of dust and ground for a second, then everything in front of their eyes was cut. The second they blinked, the boulder instantly took Angie’s place where they last saw her. Another moment later, the arena loudly proclaimed that she was eliminated. Cause- Death of the patient.
Savan, Marc, and Syna were hit immensely by it. Ever since she let them know that, while her body was dying, the possibility of her being transferred into Ingress gave them hope. “ It couldn’t happen to her”, crossed their minds so often. Marc swiftly changed from confusion and sadness to wrath and revenge, as he never expected Priya to betray them this way.
Or so it appeared until the C.T.Ds received a message from Ingress. A short message from Angie, instructing them on what they should do - “don't despair.”
Vivar had only a vague feeling of what everything pointed towards, so he pretended to use his consolation routine-” Patients, please remember the words Angie said to you during the party- Do not despair! Follow her words and please try not to lose yourselves.”
Marc was almost close to attacking the knight, as his rage made him lose any sense of rational thinking. "What is this bastard saying? Did he also know? Is this still part of his and Priya's plans?" but at the last second, Savan’s hand grabbed him and stopped him. He wanted to yank free with force, but then he saw how the clopy tried very hard to contain a smile. “ Are you insane?! How could you smil..”, he asked lividly, but afterwards stopped and asked himself some questions: "when would she have said it and why?" It then dawned on him the meanings behind the message and collected his cool. Though, he still felt embarrassed that it took him so long to realize the truth.
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Up in their rooms, the CEOs were somewhat pleased by the result but still felt cheated about how everything turned out.
-“ Only one died, and ironically it was yours, Priya and the rest are still a group. And took first place as well. Another round like this and the competition is screwed for next year”, commented Robert displeased. His remarks were soon covered by others, each complaining about how this might mean a drop in sales, and how it will affect each of their images. Ratings plummeting was another worry for them. The ruckus soon overcame the entire room and only shouting and annoying comments could be heard until a loud boom from Priya made them shift their attention to her.
-” Good, now that you’re looking at me, as you should be, I have a proposal!”
-” What do you mean you have a proposal, you were eliminated. Any real changes can only be made by me, Milla, or Samuel!”
-” True, but hear me out. What do you say if I’m not eliminated?”
The proposal was outlandish enough to mute all of them, followed by confusion and some of them asking if she spent too much time on the virtual plan. “ Elaborate. If you want to replace your patient, you know that it’s not allowed.”
-” Yes, that is exactly what I’m planning, but with a surprise that would change the course of the race. In place of my dead patient, I would go into the Playground and represent my Brand”. Once more, she managed in a few words to shock them in ways never felt in years. A few were once again asking themselves if she lost her sanity, while another part was pondering what that would entail for the race. And their forecasts.
Until Samuel, taking centre stage with his violent boisterous laughs, took no time in applauding her- “ Amazing, amazing!!”, he yelled like a happy child. “ Incredible, incredible”, he added right afterwards. “ You are right, this would be a surprise that would surpass anything done in the race in over 100 years and will probably not be topped in 100 more!”
He immediately gave his approval and bullied the others to do the same. The only ones somewhat opposed to it were Alvara and Robert, who either out of jealousy, suspicion, or a combination of both, didn’t want to go with Priya’s plan. Still, the “majority” ruled in their case, so the announcement was made soon enough to the public.
A great scene was prepared, and once again, Robert was obligated to use his showmanship to declare the new changes for the competition. -''...Most of all, we love to entertain you workers, so one of us decided to do that directly. Beloved viewers, with no further ado, let me present the new fourth patient- CEO Priya!”