The Traitor Among Us (1x07)
or
The Chaos With Chaos (1x07)
by The Chaos Factor
Original Air Date: 23 September 2000
(UNIT CAMP)
The Inimitable Pooh_Bah sat hunched on the ground. She looked at the survivors of the failed attack on Santiago City only two days ago. And some of the best members of the group were dead. Carla Jane, traitor to the Unit, was dead. Chance Harper's luck ran out and he was dead as well. And poor Fred
lacked his piercing gun. He was dead too.
If she weren't so worried about the remainder of the group's lives, she would have been angsty.
It was nearing dawn. The first ribbons of red and orange were rippling through the perfectly virtual sky of Harsh Realm.
Pinocchio was picking a piece of meat off of a dead rabbit they'd found. He was right; animals didn't rezz out in Harsh Realm. His eyes were set on the Unit still surviving, all having the same worried look on their faces.
The Chaos Factor was the only one who seemed to be putting some spices on the meat. "Better than rats." He mused.
(FLASHBACK TO "REGROUPING")
(UNIT CAMP)
"It's got to work like Harsh Realm, right? Considering it is Harsh Realm?" Pooh_Bah said. "We take out Santiago, we win the game, we go home." She got up from her seat on the tree stump and took a step, encumbered by Fred clinging to her as he tried to use her as a shield.
Florence pulled the clone away from the teenager and shoved her gun in his face. Fred yelped and cowered. "Florence," Pooh_Bah cautioned, without turning her head to look, and the silent woman let the clone go.
"If it works like Harsh Realm, then what happens to those who've been killed in the game?" Tony asked gravely, his eyes dark and haunted. "Do they die in the Real World?"
There was a moment of silence for their fallen comrades as everyone considered the question. No one's survival was guaranteed and more of them would likely fall along the way.
"We don't know that's true anyway," Megan said. "All we know is what Pinocchio told us, and he had his own agenda."
"You calling my dad a liar?" Pooh_Bah demanded.
"No," Megan said carefully, taking a step back and wondering if she was going to get killed in her own section, as Azar had died in the part she wrote. No one had died yet. The pressure was on.
"Everyone's fine," Chaos said, intervening. "They're fine, back at home in the Real World, posting up a storm on HRfic as usual." He was well aware of the doubtful looks this statement brought him. "I promise."
"How do you know?" Fred pouted, missing his owner amaresu.
"That's ridiculous," Geppetto said. "War doesn't work like that, and Harsh Realm is war. What're the consequences if when you die, you just get to go home?"
"You don't get to play the game anymore," Chaos said.
"What was that?" Markus demanded.
"How do you know all this, anyway?" Tony asked, turning on the other man.
Chaos's look turned slightly sheepish. "I, ah, you might say that, well..."
(FORT DIX, NEW JERSEY)
(A REALLY DARK ROOM)
The Man in Charge stared at the screen, a look of concern on his face just as Inga Fossa walked in beside him. She had the almost constant look of nonchalance bearing on everyone.
As soon as she saw what the Man In Charge was watching, the most wicked smile crossed her.
"What is it?", She asked.
"Him. The Chaos Factor. He knows something." The Man In Charge replied. His eyes narrowed. "Are you up to your old tricks again, Fossa?"
She shook her head. "I'm having fun watching this play out. My daughter appears to be doing quite well."
"Don't change the subject!" The Man In Charge snapped. "The Chaos Factor. He knows more than he should."
"About what?"
"About the game. He knows that those who die return to the real world."
"Obviously," Inga contended, "No one will believe him. No matter how true it is. It's a pretty bizarre concept. Something Pentagon programmers wouldn't do logically. Unless under orders."
"But if he knows that, he may understand what they're dealing with."
"What's that?"
"The purpose of Harsh Realm. He may understand why we sent them in."
Fossa's eyes wavered. She wasn't prepared to deal with this. "What do you expect me to do? I've got enough problems with my ex being a zombie, that Ladyhawke woman's file refusing to stay in the Recycle Bin or being uploaded into her body, and the fact that my daughter's Pinocchio clone has to wait with us in the Real World until everyone returns. He's pretty annyoing."
"I'll tell you what I expect you to do. There's a minority of traitors in the Unit. Use them. We have access."
(UNIT CAMP)
(THE NEXT MORNING)
The sun was barely peeking through the eyelid of the horizon when everyone in their tents were rudely awakened by the sound of a gunshot ringing off.
Pooh_Bah was the first to run out, brandishing a wicked-looking pistol. She ran into the watch clearing in time to see someone rezz out in an irridescent blaze of electronic fury. She stared wildly around for the murderer to appear and attack her as well. Cold sweat dripped across her cheek.
She whirled around in time to point the barrel of the gun at her father.
"Pinocchio!"
He had his palms facing her in a 'please-don't-shoot-me' kind of way. "Whoa, whoa, whoa!" He groaned. "Wasn't me! I ran out as soon as I heard the gunshot! What happened?"
Behind him, the rest of the Unit scrambled behind him. Their faces were worn with the weariness of living in the Realm. Somehow, worry managed to show through their fatigue.
"Pooh_Bah, what happened?" Megan asked.
"Someone's dead!" Pooh_Bah shouted. "Someone shot someone else! I saw someone digitize right now!"
"Who?" Geppetto asked.
Pooh_Bah sniffed. "If I knew that, I wouldn't be saying 'someone got shot', I'd be saying 'so-and-so got shot', wouldn't I?"
"Good point." The Chaos Factor shrugged. His hair was a terrible mess. He'd run out of hair gel a few days ago, and wasn't about to experiment to make more with their clean water. "I think we should take a roll call."
"Good, good, good." Jules said. She was beginning to show the signs of chronic paranoia. "Okay, uh, raise your hand after I call your name. Okay, now...I'm here. Pooh_Bah's here. Megan's here. FLorence?" The healer raised her hand. "Okay, Pinocchio's here. Anthony?" Anthony raised his hand. "Kisses, lover." She smiled at him.
"Shut up!" Ladyhawke the Immortal snapped. "You can get mushy as soon as we figure out who's dead and who's the killer."
Jules wavered. "Okay...Geppetto's here, Chaos is here, and I believe Ladyhawke is here too. Hunter?"
No answer.
Again, she asked. "Hunter?"
Once again, no answer.
"Got it." Jules said. "Hunter's dead. No doubt about it."
"Who did it?" Someone asked. Jules figured it was Chaos. He never did cease to shut up, even if he *was* cowering, asking not to be killed in her episode. Pansy, she thought silently.
"I don't know." Jules replied. "Either someone's watching us, or..." She paused for the explicit purpose of being melodramatic. "...there's a traitor among us."
Everyone hissed or gasped to be just as melodramatic, if not moreso.
(UNIT CAMP)
(LATER...)
Everyone was settling down to eat in the center of the camp. The sun was in full blossom above their heads, casting its rays down on the Unit in various algorithms of ones and zeroes. There was a pall of paranoia over then entire group. Everyone eyed everyone else suspiciously.
Geppetto, being quite the tension breaker, suddenly piped up. "So how do we take out Santiago if he's onto us? I'm sure he's got a whole garrison of Republican Guard waiting to rain down on us the moment we set foot in the City. Thanks to Carla Jane, of course."
No one answered. She reliquished conversation as soon as she realized everyone's probing eyes fixed on her. Her head hunched down.
Another long tense moment of silence followed.
Pooh_Bah was the next to break it. "Has anyone got salt? The gopher meat is kind of tasteless." She said it in the friendliest tone she could muster.
Everyone turned their gaze from Geppetto to Pooh_Bah. Pinocchio, her own father, even reached down to put his index finger over the trigger of his MP5K. His actions shocked her, and she stayed quiet.
"I think we're avoiding the real issue." Megan suddenly said rather harshly. "Someone here killed Hunter. Or at least we think someone here did it. Listen, I don't think we should be as mean to everyone else. We might give each other emotional scars that are probably gonna get in the way of accomplishing our mission."
"Yeah?" Pinocchio said suddenly. "And how do we deal with it?"
"Well..." Megan said thoughtfully, "We could-"
Suddenly The Infamous Anthony J started screaming.
"Gah! Hungh! FLLLLLLLLL! PHAAAAAAAAH! MUUUUUUUUUH! RAAAAAALPH! NUUUUUUUUUU!"
His body began to shake violently. He dropped his piece of gopher leg and fell off the log he was sitting on. Jules ran up next to him, and started frantically screaming all of her childish-lover names.
"Buttercup! Honeylips! Sweetie-Cake!" She yelled.
"Herrrrrrrrrgh! Pooooooolp! Maaaaaaaaaaah!" Anthony continued. He began clawing at his face.
"Quick! Someone get a medical kit here, pronto!" Ladyhawke barked.
Before anyone had a chance to get one, Anthony rezzed out.
"Caramelkiss!" Jules shouted. She quickly quieted down when everyone gave her a funny look for that last one. She sat down and shook in total shock, but didn't say anything else.
Pinocchio picked up the piece of gopher leg fallen next to him. He put it next to his upper lip and took a whiff. "It smells weird." He said. He handed it to his daughter. "Here, smell."
Pooh_Bah sniffed the disembodied leg. "It's...paprika. A Romanian spice."
Jules let out a whine of pure loss. "What is it, Jules?" Geppetto asked.
"Anthony was allergic to paprika. It causes him to, uh...die."
"Food poisoning." Megan observed. "Someone tainted his meal, and his meal only."
Chaos cut in abruptly. He looked down at Jules. "Don't worry. He's back in the Real World now." He did his best to muster up a comforting smile.
"You seem to be taking this awfully well!" Geppetto suddenly said. "Why's that? Accomplished your purpose? Found some sense in Carla Jane's plan?"
"Hey-" Pooh_Bah protested.
"Uh-huh. New you had something in you to kill. Chaos, eh?" Ladyhawke growled. "Would that be for chaotic bouts of homicidal tendencies?"
"Guys . . ." Chaos tried. "I didn't-"
"Oh, so he's back in the Real World, now, huh?" Pinocchio's eyes narrowed. "How do you know? You seem to know an awful lot about the game. In league with any of the higher-ups in the Realm? Santiago's golden boy? Traitorous Armenian trash!"
"He's not Armenian!" Pooh_Bah defended him. "He only looks like it. And he didn't kill Anthony!"
"Of course I didn't!" Chaos said, standing up in anger. Just as he stood up, the irateness of being found guilty without a trial beating through his veins, a small plastic can fell out of his satchel and rolled away.
It came to a pleasant stop near Pinocchio's boot.
"Santiago City Brand Paprika Spice."
"YOU KILLED MY ANTHONY!" Jules shouted.
The Chaos Factor had already disappeared into the foliage by the time anyone had opened fire on him.
(NEW JERSEY FRONTIER)
(HARSH REALM)
Chaos had been running for about four hours, non-stop. His chest hurt with exasperation and fear, and he clutched his side as if he'd been shot. When he tripped over the log and fell face-first onto the hard gravel highway, he barely realized it. He panted, and took this moment of weakness to rest his own weariness. He popped a mung bean into his mouth.
He was an outcast now. Branded a traitor without a trial. No one was there to listen to him try to defend himself, and if anyone *was* there, they'd probably shoot at him. Especially Jules. She wouldn't be able to find out that he wasn't the killer of her beloved Anthony. He rather liked the guy, actually. Hunter too. She was a doll.
And he hated paprika. Pico De Gallo was a lot better.
He never even considered defecting to Santiago's side. He'd rather die than do that. Then he would be a traitor. But he wasn't.
He watched the sweat roll down his cheek and sting his eye only to reopen them and see stars dancing before him. When his vision cleared, he saw headlights.
A Republican Guard Humvee. He was too tired to run, and just lay there as the Guardsmen came out examined him.
Chaos had already passed out from fatigue when the Guard heaved him into the backseat of the car in shackles.
(FORT DIX)
(REALLY DARK ROOM WITH A HUGE TV SCREEN)
When Inga Fossa stepped into the dark room with the huge TV screen, she sighed. Reluctantly, she switched on the screen and waited for the software to connect to the Harsh Realm main frame. After it did, she waited for it to contact the selected file.
Abruptly the screen flickered, and a man's face, palled in darkness, appeared.
"Good job." Inga said. "How did you know?"
"About what?" Came the reply.
"Paprika?" Inga lifted an eyebrow.
"Oh, that. It was really easy. A few planted microphone receivers in Tony's tent, and you've got access to everything. Good thing the boy was sneezing and Jules asked him if he had allergies."
"I see. And Hunter?"
"Ah, regrettable. But anything to win. I'm the survivor here."
"Good job. Your services will be rewarded. But don't start getting cocky. There's still a possibility some other member may rise to the level of high scorer." She paused. "Thank you, Alexei."
(CENTRAL SECURITY)
(SANTIAGO CITY)
(HARSH REALM)
When Chaos woke up, he was sitting in the Central Offices room. His hands were tied up in shackles, and he barely had the strength to tilt his neck and look up. A man was sitting on a chair, facing away from him behind a grand desk.
Chaos sputtered. "Where am I?"
"Central Security." The man replied.
Chaos was shaken. He knew that voice. "You..."
Abruptly the chair swerved, and the Man in Charge smiled malovolently at him. "So, you are The Chaos Factor, are you not?"
Chaos nodded.
"Good. Do you know why you're here?"
"No."
"You're a threat. You know about the game. How it works. You're practically a player's guide. And that gets in the way of the Unit's purpose."
"Their purpose is to kill Santiago."
The Man In Charge smiled again. "Then you don't know everything. What the true purpose of them playing Harsh Realm is. What the final survivor is going to accomplish. But you know more than you should, and that in itself is a threat." He flashed Chaos one more toothy grin before he shot him.
[TO BE CONTINUED...]