\(set: $ending to "")
\(set: $secret to "")
\(set: $alive to "")
\(set: $secretmission to false)
\(set: $jimevidence to false)
\(set: $sueevidence to false)
\(set: $ruthless to false)
\(set: $honorable to false)
GREETINGS, CITIZEN. YOUR FRIEND THE COMPUTER HAS SENT YOU A MESSAGE.
THE NOTIFICATION BLINKS AT YOU IN A NONTHREATENING BUT OFFICIAL WAY, IN THE STARK BLACK THAT DENOTES YOUR CLEARANCE LEVEL ALLOWS YOU TO READ IT.
(if: $death1 is true)[YOU HAVE ALREADY DIED ONCE IGNORING YOUR FRIEND THE COMPUTER'S MESSAGE. YOU HAVE WASTED ONE OF YOUR PRECIOUS CLONES AND SHOULD NOT DELAY READING YOUR FRIEND THE COMPUTER'S MESSAGE ANY FURTHER.]
[[Check the terminal for the message. | A SECRET ASSIGNMENT]]
[[Go back to sleep. | DEATH 1]]
You shrug off your sedative induced haze and stumble over to read the message. The Infrared Communal Terminals are not the newest, most functional or even cleanest, and you take a second to swipe at some spare algae cracker crumbs to be able to read the orders from YOUR FRIEND THE COMPUTER.
TO LOYAL AND TRUSTWORTHY CITIZEN I-33-425662:
YOUR BRAVERY AND INITIATIVE IN REPORTING YOUR BUNKMATE I-33-456541 FOR THE WRETCHED AND UNPARDONABLE CRIME OF SUPPORTING COMMUNISM HAS BEEN RECOGNIZED. YOUR FRIEND THE COMPUTER HAS SEEN FIT TO REWARD YOU WITH EVEN MORE RESPONSIBILITY AND A SIGNIFICANT INCREASE IN DANGER IN YOUR DAY-TO-DAY LIFE. YOU HAVE ALSO BEEN SUPPLIED WITH PERMISSION TO CONSUME ONE (1) REAL APPLE EVERY WEEK. PLEASE REPORT TO YOUR NEW RED CLEARANCE SUPERVISOR IN SECTOR B10 FOR YOUR FIRST MISSION. TELL NOBODY WHERE YOU ARE GOING OR WHAT YOU ARE DOING.
YOU MAY ALSO ASSIGN FOR YOURSELF ONE (1) NAME, TO BE NO LONGER THAN SEVEN LETTERS LONG.
What a boon! Not only do you get a real apple, but you can even have a real name! Two things you never would have been able to get if you stayed a lowly Infrared drone your entire life. You do wonder about whether you'll see an increase in your pay, or maybe a decrease in the thought suppressing supplements you're required to take every day. But before you get too lost in daydreaming, you remember that you'll have to enter in a name before the application window closes and one would be assigned to you. You'd hate to be like poor BART223.
[[Strap on your shiny new red jumpsuit and head to Sector B10, chewing your Real Appleā¢ along the way, and think about what you'd want your name to be. -> RED CLEARANCE: START]]IGNORING THE DIRECTIVES OF YOUR FRIEND THE COMPUTER IS TREASON. TREASON IS PUNISHABLE BY DEATH. TROUBLESHOOTERS HAVE BEEN DISPATCHED TO YOUR LOCATION AND WILL BE EXECUTING YOU SHORTLY.
YOU HAVE DIED.
[[Wait for your memories to be uploaded to your clone ->INFRARED CLEARANCE: START]]
(set: $death1 to true)
(set: $deaths to $deaths + 1)
[[INFRARED CLEARANCE: START]]
(set: $name to "")
(set: $death1 to false)
\(set: $death2 to false)
\(set: $death3 to false)
\(set: $death4 to false)
\(set: $deaths to 0)(set: $name to (prompt: "What is your name?"))
(set: $clearance to "Red")
$name has a nice ring to it, you think. You sound it out to yourself as you scan your shiny RED ID card at various gates and venture down the shiny red halls you never could have walked down as an INFRARED.
Your Supervisor, another RED citizen with a stern look on his face, looks up as you walk in and gives you a very clear once-over.
"You're the shiny, right? Uh..." he makes a big show of looking through his tablet for your name, even though it appeared in big bold black letters on your badge the moment you decided on it.
"$name! That's it, I knew that all along. Says here you got promoted for rooting out a Communist in your bunk. Seems even the infradrones aren't safe from infiltration, eh? That's why we all need to be vigilant!"
Ah, 541. It was only a week ago that you'd had him dragged off by some stony faced Troubleshooters. Accusations of being pro-Communist are among the most serious a Trusted Citizen can make about another, but they're also one of the easiest to get away with lying about.
...Did you?
[[Hell yeah, I lied. | Ruthless]]
[[Of course not! I would never! | Honorable]]
(set: $ruthless to true) If you hadn't done it to him, he would have done it to you. There's nothing Your Friend The Computer wants to see more than initiative from those who hope to climb the ranks and get a taste of real food every now and then, and there's nothing it fears more than Communism. It was an easy enough choice to make...besides, your bunkmate had a bad clone template anyway. If the Troubleshooters heard him snore, they'd understand why you did it.
(You've proved your Ruthlessness.)
[[Stop reminiscing and pay attention to your Supervisor. | Assignment]]"Communists!" Your Supervisor says again, smacking his tablet with the back of his hand for emphasis, "We all know that's the real enemy we need to band together against. Our Friend The Computer's been working tirelessly to end their reign of tyranny, but it needs our help to make sure all its Trusted Citizens stay Trusted! And because you proved yourself, you've been brought onboard! Those commies will know the full might of the Red Army, am I right?!"
He eyes your uniform, seemingly pleased with your clean and presentable bearing, before continuing.
"This assignment I'm about to give you is of the utmost importance to our national security. Entire sectors could depend on your success or failure."
\(if: $honorable is true)[(Honorable) Honestly, this feels like a job you're nowhere near ready to accept yet. "But I've only been RED for about five minutes. Shouldn't this be assigned to literally anyone with more experience than me?" You start to say, but he continues as if you hadn't said anything.]
\
\(if: $ruthless is true)[(Ruthless) It's not hard to see what your Supervisor expects from you. "I'm always ready to show Our Friend The Computer my devotion to the cause. A painful death to all commies, mutants, and members of secret societies!" you thunder, and he nods in agreement before continuing.]
"$name! Report to the armory ASAP for your special-issued experimental weapon you'll be testing in the field, and then go to the 30-1 Barracks. Your mission is to group up with your team--Sue50 and Jim-Prime--and find evidence of the subversive activities of INFRARED citizens there, and determine whether those activities are because they're a Communist, mutant, or belong to a secret society!"
He waits for you to leave his office before he resumes watching whatever it is on his tablet he'd closed before you came in. Probably communist interrogation tutorials, given all the slapping sounds.
[[Wind through the red corridors to try to find the armory. | An orange corridor]]There are literally no signs posted anywhere as to what goes where; you suppose that RED citizens are assumed to know their own area well enough to navigate it easily, and perhaps if you'd been promoted on another day you would have had the chance to get an orientation. But, time is of the essence, and you fear how it would look to Your Friend The Computer if it took too long to get to the armory to gear up for your first assignment.
You happen across a corridor painted bright orange, instead of the stark RED you've already become accustomed to as the areas your clearance level is able to go. You're not (yet) ORANGE, so it's forbidden to you...but you're pretty sure those are the doors to the armory at the far end, where it meets with another red corridor.
You could risk cutting through the orange corridor to get to where you need to go...but trespassing is treason, and treason is punishable by death.
\(if: $death1 is true and $death2 is true)[Besides, you've already died twice today. Kind of accident-prone, aren't you?]
\(else-if: $death1 is true or $death2 is true)[Besides, you've already died once today, which means you've only really got 5 clones left before your template is wiped.]
On the other hand, it's already taken you a little too long to get to where you need to go, and you're still not sure how to navigate the corridors to find the armory even with it in view.
[[Cut through the orange corridor. | Death 2]]
[[Stick to the red brick road. | The Armory]]You look both ways down the corridor you're in, take a deep breath, and run for it. The only thing louder than your footsteps is your pounding heart, but you close the distance quickly and almost uneventfully. You're ten meters there...seven...four...!
And, as luck would have it, some random RED citizen chooses this moment to step outside the armory into the corridor beyond, armed with a brand new shiny red laser gun. You could not be in a more wrong place at a more wrong time, you realize as he reflexively fires at you in surprise.
If it's any consolation, at least the other RED now knows his weapon works just fine, though the feeling of disintegrating into ash doesn't feel too great.
YOU HAVE DIED. (if: $death1 is true)[AGAIN.]
\(set: $death2 to true)
\(set: $deaths to $deaths + 1)
[[Wait for your memories to be uploaded to your clone -> An orange corridor]]
It takes you a few more minutes than you'd like, but through careful mental mapping and a bit of luck, you manage to find a safe, red route to the armory, where you will be recieving your equipment.
Your Friend The Computer, in its esteemed benevolence, frequently provides RED citizens like yourself with cutting edge technology to fight the evil forces that threaten your free and beautiful way of life. These weapons are still in the experimental phase, however, and that does mean that they tend to explode some of the time. A lot of the time.
But Your Friend The Computer has seen fit to give you such a weapon, and such a weapon you will wield!
A petite RED requisitions officer is reaching on her tippytoes to get some boxes off a high shelf. (if: $honorable is true)[(Honorable) You walk over behind her and help get the box down so she doesn't drop its extremely expensive contents all over the floor. She shoots you a look of thanks.]
\(if: $ruthless is true)[(Ruthless) You enjoy a short break as she struggles, coming dangerously close to dropping everything, and make a mental note to tell her Supervisor that she's ill suited for her job. Maybe a promotion for you is coming earlier than you'd thought.]
"You're..." her eyes dart to your badge, and then back to your face. "$name, yeah. I was told you were coming. I'm Ruby, I'll be your requisitions officer for as long as you're RED. I hope we'll be working together for a while." You briefly recall the mortality rates of newly promoted RED citizens.
"So after Our Friend The Computer extensively analyzed your personality, skills, history and calculated your probability for treasonous thoughts, it's assigned you the weapon best suited for you! Please take extensive notes for Research on how well it functions. If it blows your hand off more than once, make sure you note the number of times on the form, don't just say it blew your hand off."
\(if: $honorable is true)[(Honorable) She gives you a small smile. "Not to worry, though, this specific type of gun has been proven to be quite reliable in the field tests so far."]
\(else-if: $ruthless is true)[(Ruthless) Her face doesn't betray anything, but you're increasingly certain that she's possibly planning your arrest, doom, or demotion. It might be best to take care of her as soon as possible.]
You look inside the box. (if: $honorable is true)[A shiny, cruel looking laser gun gleams lethally in the harsh florescent lights, promising a painful disintegration to anyone you'd choose to fire it upon. This is the weapon of a cold, ruthless killer.](else-if: $ruthless is true)[A dainty looking tranquilizer gun sits here, with a few nonlethal darts. On the one hand, this weapon is very probably not going to unexpectedly and hilariously backfire the second you tried to use it, but on the other...well, the weapon just screams 'squeamish'.]
"Good luck on the mission I'm not allowed to know anything about and therefore can't outfit you properly for! Come back alive!" she says cheerfully, and then gets back to work trying to shift boxes off of shelves way too high for her.
[[Go to the 30-1 Barracks. | On the streets]](set: $honorable to true)
Your Friend The Computer expects nothing short of the most fanatical devotion to the Cause and absolute honesty and transparency in everything citizens say, do and think. When you found a tenderly kissed portrait of Karl Marx next to a copy of the Communist Manifesto under his pillow, you knew what you had to do to protect your way of life and the lives of everyone around you.
(You've proved your honor.)
[[Stop reminiscing and pay attention to your Supervisor. | Assignment]]Your Friend The Computer designed the city to be as efficient and secure as possible, which is why what should be a five minute walk takes well over a half hour and necessitates the navigation of several busy roads and a couple hypertrains. As you sit in your second crammed car of RED and INFRARED (and even a couple ORANGE!) citizens, someone wearing INFRARED black brushes up to you and whispers a secret message in your ear before continuing to push on through the crowd and disappearing from view.
Secret messages, of course, are extremely treasonous, and are only used by Communists, mutants, or members of secret societies. So why are you getting one?
[[Because I'm a Communist. | Communism]]
[[Because I'm a mutant. | Mutant]]
[[Because I'm a member of a secret society. | Secret Society]](set: $secret to "Communist")
\
The Workers of the world have nothing to lose but their chains! Power to the people! These and other slogans you've secretly (and metaphorically) carved into your heart, where even Your Friend The Computer can't reach. The day is coming, you feel it!
It's probably best not to dwell too much on why you betrayed your bunkmate for being a communist when you are in fact the very same way.
(Your alleigance is with the Communists.)
The message ordered you to stop by a certain holophone booth on your way to the barracks your mission is at, where the real secret message waits for you. Will you go get it?
[[Yes, I'll go to the holophone booth. | Booth]]
[[No, I should focus on the mission for now. | Barracks]](set: $secret to "Mutant")
\
Nobody's sure why mutants happen. Your Friend The Computer's cloning technlology is immaculate, after all, with every citizen born perfect and free of those pesky genetic flaws that plagued humankind before the New Order. Sometimes things don't always go according to plan, though, you suppose...some Trusted Citizens are born shorter than average, others are able to throw fireballs or read minds. Your particular Mutant ability--the most dangerous of all--is Machine Empathy. Your Friend The Computer's drones always liked you better than they should, and if anyone ever found out why it would be grounds for a very speedy and permanent death.
(Your allegiance is with the Mutants.)
The message ordered you to stop by a certain holophone booth on your way to the barracks your mission is at, where the real secret message waits for you. Will you go get it?
[[Yes, I'll go to the holophone booth. | Booth]]
[[No, I should focus on the mission for now. | Barracks]](set: $secret to "Secret Society member")
\
The Illuminati were a group created by Your Friend The Computer to provide Trusted Citizens an outlet for their subversive and treasonous tendencies, such as asking too many questions or trying to learn things. To its immense surprise and disappointment, Trusted Citizens began asking too many questions and trying to learn things in their daily lives, rather than keeping such talks safely in carefully controlled Illuminati meeting environments. Secret Societies were immediately outlawed, but groups still exist today, furthering their subversive and unpatriotic goals...and you help work with them.
(Your allegiance is to a secret society.)
The message ordered you to stop by a certain holophone booth on your way to the barracks your mission is at, where the real secret message waits for you. Will you go get it?
[[Yes, I'll go to the holophone booth. | Booth]]
[[No, I should focus on the mission for now. | Barracks]](set: $secretmission to true)
\
You're very careful to make sure that the people following you suspiciously are following you suspiciously out of standard procedure and not because they suspect you of being a $secret. After a few short loops around the block, they seem to get bored and move on, leaving you free to enter the holophone booth and locate the secret message.
The Holophone's screen flickers for a short second, long enough for you to see that a shadowy figure has made a connection very briefly, just to confirm that you're the right Citizen to deliver the message to. They convey the orders from your comrades.
"RED citizen Jim-Prime must be removed from his current position to further our goals. You must kill him or otherwise have him quietly removed."
A picture of him flashes on the screen, which you are able to flawlessly commit to memory despite his extremely generic features. You know who you're looking for, and what to do when you find them. The why, you suppose, is just going to have to stay unknown for now.
You feel flush with determination.
[[Go to the barracks.| Barracks]]
INFRARED barracks are crowded, depressing, and prone to health hazzards. It's only now that you've been promoted to RED and shook off the INFRARED-mandated drug haze, in fact, that you realize just how badly you had it. You make a mental resolution to never give Your Friend The Computer any cause to demote you. (if: $ruthless is true)[(Ruthless)You also decide that you're not going to settle for just RED clearance...you're going to keep climbing the ladder, higher and higher, getting a better life and more money all the while, to Violet or even Ultraviolet if you can. And to think, you could do it all while being a $secret!] (else-if: $honorable is true)[(Honorable)You think about your old bunkmates, people you would have considered friends. You should use your position to help them, too, you think, even if they probably would turn you in for being a $secret.]
\(if: $secretmission is true)[You also know that one of your new team members here must be proven to be treasonous in some way shape or form. If you turn him over to the Troubleshooters, you'll be killing two birds with one stone! Of course, you could always just shoot him with your extremely lethal weapon.]
First order of business, of course, is to find your team. You consult your tablet, where their subdermal tracking chips are highlighted on the map in a friendly and familiar RED. You follow the map through the crowded, depressing and health hazzard-prone INFRARED corridors, finally coming upon the room they're in...the empty room they were supposed to be in. You see their two toolkits laid on the floor, unattended, and can hear them arguing from the next room. You're too far away to make out what they're saying, though.
[[Move over to the door and eavesdrop on their conversation. | Eavesdrop]]
[[Examine their toolkits while they're distracted. | Snooping]]
[[Announce your presence. | Nothing Wrong Here!]]"...you don't even know if it's going to work!" You hear (you assume) Sue50 say in angry but still sort of hushed tones.
"It's the only way we're getting out of this," you hear Jim-Prime (you assume) calmly say. "Look, like it or not we're in this together, and if I go down you're coming down with me. It'll be our word aginst $name's, that's all you need for charges like this one."
Uh-oh.
The conversation winds down, and it sounds like the two of them are coming back this way.
[[Step away from the door and act like you just got here. | Nothing Wrong Here!]]Sue50 and Jim-Prime's toolboxes are well maintained and in the correct RED color scheme they should be. Jim-Prime's toolbox has nothing of interest--a few screwdrivers, his assigned experimental (red) weapon, a couple of carbon-bars...You notice that Sue50's, however, has a small electronic lock on hers that is probably rigged to sound an alarm should anyone but her interfere with it.
\(if: $secret is "Mutant")[(Mutant)...You're pretty sure that you could use your Machine Empathy to convince it to open for you, though.]
(if: $secret is "Mutant")[[[Use your Machine Empathy ability to open Sue50's toolkit. | Sue's Box]]]
\(if: $secret is "Communist")[[[Take the opportunity to plant some Communist propaganda in his toolkit. | A frame-job!]]]
\(if: $secret is "Secret Society member")[[[Scrawl a code on the inside of the toolkit that's reasonably suspicious looking. | A frame-job!]]]
\(if: $secret is "Mutant")[[[Take the opportunity to plant some illegal Mutation Suppressant Pills in Jim-Prime's toolkit. | A frame-job!]]]
[[On second thought, leave everything alone. | Nothing Wrong Here!]]The voices abruptly stop the second you call out, and Sue50 and Jim-Prime step out, smiling thinly and definitely not having been interrupted in a conversation they shouldn't have been having.
"Oh, you're $name, right? We've been waiting for you for ages, what took you so long?" Jim-Prime asks, folding his arms casually across his chest. Sue50 looks at you sternly.
"Whatever. $name, we've wasted enough time, we need to get a move-on with rooting out those Communists, mutants, or members of secret societies!"
The irony of her saying this to a $secret is not lost on you. She brushes past you and begins fiddling with her toolkit, while Jim-Prime idly screws something onto the barrel of his experimental weapon.
...is that barrel attachment GREEN? He shouldn't be in possession of something like that. You watch him take aim at Sue-50.
[[Warn Sue-50! | Sue Warned!]]
[[Don't say anything and wait to see what happens. | Sue Shot!]]
[[Attack Jim-Prime with your own weapon! | Jim Shot!]]
(if: $secret is "Mutant")[[[Use your Machine Empathy to make Jim-Prime's weapon malfunction. | Jim Disarmed!]]]One of the perks of being a $secret is that you have ready access to the materials and knowledge required to frame someone else for being a $secret. You admire your handiwork and carefully close the box, being sure to wipe off any fingerprints or physical evidence you might have left in doing so. Meanwhile, you hear the argument trail off to an end and think that your teammates are now headed for the door to this room.
\(set: $jimevidence to true)
[[Step away from the door and act like you just got here. | Nothing Wrong Here!]]You push against the lock mentally, and it seems to recognize you as an old friend it had forgotten about until now. It easily--and most importantly, silently--clicks open for you, allowing you to survey the contents of Sue-50's toolkit.
As Team Leader, she has a bit more than you do; nicer equipment, a barrel attachment for her experimental weapon...and she's got another bottle of pills, in addition to her Computer-mandated hormone suppressants. What's this...? You recognize these! They're supremely illegal Mutation Booster Pills! Sue-50 isn't a real Troubleshooter at all--she's a Mutant spy!
Meanwhile, you hear the argument trail off to an end and think that your teammates are now headed for the door to this room.
\(set: $sueevidence to true)
[[Step away from the door and act like you just got here. | Nothing Wrong Here!]]Jim-Prime's weapon spits a bolt of green plasma. Sue-50, who'd had her back turned as she fiddled with her toolkit, didn't even have time to scream before she disintegrated.
He sighs in quiet satisfaction as her ashes fall to the floor in a fine mist, apparently temporarily forgetting that you're there.
[[Ask him what the hell he's doing. | Jim Ending 1]]
(if: $ruthless is true)[[[Shoot him while he's distracted. | Ruthless Ending 2]]]
[[While he's distracted, run for your life! | Jim Ending 1-1]]Jim-Prime gets a shot off, but Sue-50 is fast and gets out of the way, drawing her weapon as she rolls and dispatches him with a seemingly effortless shot. She twirls the still smoking gun in her hand before she holsters it and looks at you.
"Thanks for the warning," she says, "Y'know...I always had the feeling he was going to try to pull that, sooner or later. Some REDs are only in it for the career climb, but I'm glad to see that you're different."
[[Nod politely. |Sue Ending 1]]For a horrible second, you're afraid that your weapon might just explode and take your hand with it instead of taking Jim-Prime down. And while it doesn't do that, it also doesn't hit him; your aim is off by a bit, and he manages to duck as your shot sails harmlessly past his shoulder. He takes aim at you, the GREEN barrel lighting up and your short life flashing before your eyes, before a shot comes out of nowhere to vaporize him. His gun clatters to the ground.
Sue-50 calmly holsters her weapon and looks at you.
"We'll have to practice at the range a few times," she says as she stares at your stance appraisingly, "but there's a real Troubleshooter in you yet. That was some quick thinking. I could use more of that on my team."
[[Sue Ending 1]]You mentally push with your Mutant powers, and watch as Jim swiftly readies, aims, and pulls the trigger to fire...and nothing happens. His face twists in brief confusion, before he catches you looking at him and seems to understand what happened.
"You're a--" he starts to say, but Sue-50's shot catches him in the chest and vaporizes him before he could finish. His weapon, with its unauthorized GREEN attachment, clatters to the ground.
You don't have a lot of time to celebrate, however, because Sue-50 immediately turns her weapon on you.
"What was that? You have three seconds to explain."
[[Sue Ending 2]] Sue kicks the weapon aside, muttering something about Jim-Prime and traitors and what sounded like anti-Communist rhetoric. She goes through his toolbox, looking for something. (if: $jimevidence is true)[She holds the evidence you planted there aloft, triumphantly. "I knew there was something he was hiding! Only a traitor would try to make up evidence about his team leader being a traitor." she crows.] (else:)[She rummages through her toolkit, takes out a bottle, and plants it in his case. "I keep that on hand just in case we need some evidence after the fact," she confides.]
She straightens up and puts her hands on her hips. "So...what do we do now?"
[["Well, that's obvious. We tell our Supervisor we found the traitor we were assigned to find." | Honorable Ending 1]]You feel your heartbeat pulse in your ears. You'll need to talk your way out of this, or at least long enough to get the drop on her.
\(if: $sueevidence is true)["Look, Jim-Prime's dead, we don't need to lie to each other right now," you say cautiously, "I'm a mutant, and I know you are, too. I saw the pills in your toolkit."
"You must have Machine Empathy!" she replies, shocked. "I thought they'd all died out in the last rotation!"
She looks around hastily, afraid someone heard her outburst. Her attention is briefly off you.
\(if: $ruthless is true)[[[Shoot Sue while she's distracted. | Sue ending 2-2]]]
\
\(else-if: $honorable is true)[[[Convince her to become your ally. | Sue ending 2-3]]]
]
(else-if: $sueevidence is false)["I-I know what it looks like," you start to say, but her gaze is cold.
"You've got Machine Empathy," she says, "or something like it. It doesn't matter. Either way, you're an illegal mutant, and that means I gotta put you down."
The plasma blast hurts about as much as you thought it would.
YOU HAVE DIED. (if: $death1 is true or $death2 is true)[AGAIN.]
\(set: $death3 to true)
\(set: $deaths to $deaths + 1)
[[Wait for your memories to be uploaded to your clone -> Nothing Wrong Here!]] ]
It's almost pathetically easy to catch her in the neck with one of your tranquilizer darts, as much as you wished you had a neat laser-gun to vaporize her with instead. In fact...you eye Jim-Prime's fallen weapon as Sue50 hits the floor with a thud and a loud groan. It's not like he has any use for it now.
Listening to someone disintegrate is a satisfying feeling, but even more satisfying is the knowledge that your mutation secret is safe and there's a big juicy promotion in the future for you. Imagine that--not only did you find two traitors on your assignment, they were among your own team! Will wonders never cease.
[[Time to report to your Supervisor. | Ruthless Ending 1]]"Mutants don't have to be enemies," you say to Sue50, "there's no reason for us to kill each other!"
She bites her lip hesitantly. "How do I know you're like me? Just because you're a mutant doesn't mean that you're an enemy of Our Friend the Computer...but most are."
\(if: $jimevidence is true)["Look," you say, "all you need to do is look in Jim-Prime's toolkit! I'm on a mission to expose traitors, and there's definitely evidence in his toolkit that he is one!"
She obliges you, still careful to keep her weapon pointed at you, and rummages until she finds what you planted there. Her gaze turns to shock.
"And to think he was trying to blackmail me because he found out about my mutation!" she fumes, "serves him right his clone template will be wiped for this! Come on, we should report to our Supervisor. And remember..." she gives you a warning look. "If I go down, you go down with me."
[[Report to your Supervisor with Sue50. | Honorable Ending 1]]]Your cold blooded, ruthless efficiency earns you no end of favor with your Supervisor, who's thrilled with your capacity in a fight to take down not one but two well armed enemy Troubleshooters, both more senior than you! You've been rewarded with a new position as Team Leader...though, you know with a wry sense of irony, that this just means you've got even more looking over your shoulder to do when you're eating those nice Real Apples.
\(set: $ending to "Ruthless")
[[End; see stats]]
\(if: $secret is "Mutant")[You and Sue50 carefully get your stories straight before you make your official mission debriefing, to make sure neither of you accidentally outs the other.]
\(else:)[You march to your debriefing with Your Friend the Computer, evidence of Jim's dealings with the Enemy in hand.]
Your Friend The Computer is pleased with the both of you--so pleased, in fact, that a significant raise (and two real apples to eat a week!) are given to both of you. Your career is off to quite the promising start; you heard that even the Department of Investigation is looking into the two of you as potential recruits.
\(if: $secretmission is true)[Your $secret allies are also grateful for your efforts in advancing their inscrutable goals. All in all, a win for you!]
\(set: $ending to "Honorable")
Mission Complete!
(set: $alive to "Sue50")
[[End; see stats]]Congratulations, $name! It's time for your mandatory Performance Evaluation. Our Friend The Computer wants to see how you did.
Over the course of this story, the number of times you died was: $deaths
Your terrible secret is that, despite being a Troubleshooter and swearing to destroy any communists, mutants, or members of secret societies, you're really a $secret! (if: $ending is "Bad")[Unfortunately, it was discovered, and Your Friend the Computer has had you executed and your clone template deleted.](else:)[Somehow, you managed to get through the day without anyone realizing.]
\(if: $secretmission is true and $alive is "Sue50")[Your $secret masters gave you a mission, and you saw it through to completion. You've proved yourself a valuable and loyal agent to more than one master.]
\(else-if: $secretmission is true and $alive is "Jim-Prime")[Perhaps against your better judgement, you've gone against orders and failed to complete your secret mission.]
You got the $ending ending. (if: $ending is "Bad")[You were a patsy for the powers that be! An unfortunate but not uncommon end for RED citizens.](else-if: $ending is "Honorable" and $alive is "Sue50")[You made an ally of Sue50, and continued your trend of being honorable and working for the greater good of Your Friend the Computer.](else-if: $ending is "Honorable" and $alive is "Jim-Prime")[You made a (questionable) ally of Jim-Prime, and fight to live another day while working for your $secret allies.](else-if: $ending is "Ruthless")[History is written by the victors, and the victor in this case is the last one standing. You know, you would make liquid nitrogen look warm. One day you too could become an ULTRAVIOLET citizen if you keep this up!]
[[Play again? |INFRARED CLEARANCE: START]]"Destroying an enemy," he replies calmly, unscrewing the GREEN barrel attachment from his weapon and throwing it onto the pile of ashes that used to be Sue50, "as was ordered to by my $secret allies."
\(if: $secretmission is true)["But...I was also ordered to destroy you, by my $secret allies."
He shrugs. "Eh, that's how it is sometimes. Living under Our Friend The Computer's regime means that everyone goes through a few betrayal-related deaths, right?"
"You're a lot less bothered about this than I thought you'd be," you admit.
"Like I said, that's just how it is sometimes," he replies. "Now, of course, the question is...what do we do now?"]
\(else:)[You wonder, with a brief flash of embarrassment, whether he was assigned the same secret mission you neglected to take when ordered by your $secret allies.
"I, too, am a $secret," you blurt out, which causes him to smile and shake his head.
"You know, you're not very good at this whole 'secretly a $secret' thing. But I guess that's a good thing, because if I'm being honest I was about to shoot you to leave no witnesses. So, what do you think we should do now?"]
[["Well, that's obvious. We tell our Supervisor we found the traitor we were assigned to find, and maintain our cover." | Honorable Ending 2]]
(if: $secretmission is true)[[["Well, that's obvious. I shoot you and fulfill my $secret allies' mission, and then tell our Supervisor I found the traitors I was assigned to find, and maintain my cover." | Ruthless Ending 2]]]
You bolt out of the room and sprint away; you can hear one of his green plasma shots sail harmlessly over your head as you flee, embedding itself into the black wall with the hiss of melting concrete.
The second you think you're safely out of GREEN-laser-disintegration range, you make your way to the nearest holophone booth to try to contact your Supervisor and explain the situation.
It would seem, however, that you were too late. You can see the stone-faced Troubleshooters marching towards you, and before you can take more than a couple steps you're surrounded.
"Trusted Citizen $name?" They ask, though it's less of a question and more of a statement. "Trusted Citizen Jim-Prime has filed charges and proof that label you as a $secret, a treasonous and unpardonable crime against Our Friend The Computer. You are under arrest; surrender, or be disintegrated!"
[[Resist. | Death 4]]
[[Accept your fate. | Bad End]]To your credit, you get farther than you were expecting to. Troubleshooters are clearly used to resistance, however, and the one you gut-punched is no exception. With a groan that sounded almost exasperated, he draws his weapon in perfect synchronization with the other three as they blast at you.
If it's any consolation, at least one of the guns exploded, so at least you got to take down part of one of them with you?
YOU HAVE DIED.
\(set: $death4 to true)
\(set: $deaths to $deaths + 1)
[[Wait for your memories to be uploaded to your clone -> Sue Shot!]]It's a sick twist of irony that you've been subjected to the very same tactic you used to be promoted to RED in the first place. Your Friend The Computer's judgement is swift, final, and implacable. You are lowered into a plasmacid vat to be utterly obliterated, and your clone template has been wiped from the genetic record.
Jim-Prime, meanwhile, gets to enjoy an additional extra apple for his brave and valorous service in exposing you, a traitorous $secret who stole a GREEN weapon and fired upon Sue50 before trying to flee the scene.
\(set: $ending to "Bad")
[[End; see stats]]He nods amicably. "That sounds like a good idea to me. Welcome to the team...$name. It's good that you're capable of watching your back; most REDs aren't." The two of you return to headquarters to be debriefed on the mission.
Your Friend The Computer is pleased with the both of you--so pleased, in fact, that a significant raise (and two real apples to eat a week!) are given to both of you. Your career is off to quite the promising start; you heard that even the Department of Investigation is looking into the two of you as potential recruits.
\(if: $secretmission is true)[Your $secret allies are unhappy with you for failing to advance their inscrutable goals. You and Jim-Prime will need to watch your backs.]
\(set: $ending to "Honorable")
\(set: $alive to "Jim-Prime")
Mission Complete!
[[End; see stats]]"That's just how it is sometimes..." he groans around the needle in his throat as he falls to the floor. You quietly dispatch him, carefully examine the scene to make sure no evidence exposes you as a $secret, and then return to headquarters to make your report.
Your cold blooded, ruthless efficiency earns you no end of favor with your Supervisor, who's thrilled with your capacity in a fight to take down not one but two well armed enemy Troubleshooters, both more senior than you! You've been rewarded with a new position as Team Leader...though, you know with a wry sense of irony, that this just means you've got even more looking over your shoulder to do when you're eating those nice Real Apples.
\(if: $secretmission is true)[Your $secret allies are also grateful for your efforts in advancing their inscrutable goals. All in all, a win for you!]
\(set: $ending to "Ruthless")
[[End; see stats]]