Chaos and the Rage Cage

[Felders]

So, Im familiar with SOP and the server rules, while most of this might not be considered self-antagging, some of it might be considered so. Im going to make sure to fictionalize all identities to ensure their safety.

It began early in the round. A rage cage was constructed in the central bar using tables and security came at the end of match one between the human cage owner (let's call him Tyler) and a vox (call him Ed).

They get released and another is constructed, this time with reinforced glass walls. Tyler begins yelling out, asking for the patrons to go to the ATM and clear their accounts for "The most fun you could possibly gamble on". Ed walks into the cage and begins yelling "Who's gonna join? Free for all more the merrier!" while scattering wooden boards around arena to make for a makeshift weapon or crafting tool if you miraculously found the time. Maybe Im naive, but I immediately volunteer. One more human (Tex), seems about as dumb as I and joins in. Everyone uses the bar papers for signed gambling receipts and Tyler collects the dues at a concession table he set up. A security bot came in asking what was going on before running back to report it to sec.

Announcements pop up from HOS and AI warning against rage caging and issuing a new law forbidding all fighting outside of the holodeck.  All the while, as if in protest, the fight starts. Tex stays out of it while Ed dances around the arena, I never landed a single punch before being knocked unconscious and dragged into a corner. Tex ends up being a far more appropriate candidate for Ed, capably knocking him down before security came rushing in with their robotic "halt halt halt". The surrounding crowd expanded in an attempt to keep security back from Tyler. He was running around with the money/receipt bag trying to add up whats owed and whats lost before dropping it and dragging the concession table over the cage entry to block them off while everyone scrambled for the cash. Tyler and Tex made for one final performance, fighting while the crowd disarmed and pushed incoming security personel. A flashbang was thrown and the glass was broken down. We get sent away and celled.

 

There are so many people in jail we all get cellmates, some even get two. The cells were busy with chatter, people who didn't know about the rage cage did then. An idea got passed around about setting up a new underground rage cage in the maintenance tunnels, Tyler assured us he was going to the moment he was released. Sure enough, the abandoned bar north of library was reconverted into a fightclub gambling epicenter of some 23 members. Tyler gives us rules: 1 - Don't talk about fightclub 2 - Don't talk about fightclub 3 - No shirts, only basic pants 4 - Tap outs are final 5- Winner gets 500 credits 6 - Weapons must be agreed on by both parties 7 - Entered bets are final 8 - Suit sensors off!

Everyone joins in on both ends, fighting, gambling, socializing, drinking, drugs, everyone's getting bloodied up and having a blast. Friendships form and I grow fond of Tex's great fighting mentorship, austere personality and solid sense of humor. Ed does a rematch with Tex to get him back with a bat sparring round, and ends up floored, bleeding out. Some crazy, brick shithouse of a human fighter (let's call him Rex)stripped naked of everything except tightie whities and a toolbox, covered in blood, fresh wounds and high on meth, begins screaming, "NO MEDBAY I GOT THIS!!! WAIT!!" and speeding off in an inhuman blur. A minute later he comes back with a rucksack filled with stolen medical equipment. We all become small time medics with each other, meaning we also heightened the stakes with weaponry. Soon baseball bats became the minimum and Rex's meth was becoming more widespread.

Rex came in with a stolen locker and we reconverted it into our arsenal storage. Our collection ranged from crowbars, bats, mining axes/picks, and KAs, to sec laser/energy rifles, and even more nefarious things. Needless to say, Rex acquired most of these. From there things passed with a chaotic ease and peace. Two hours passed, all the while our PDA's had been dinging with alerts of an unstoppable spiderling issue that'd killed most crewmembers and medical staff, and all the same we carelessly remained in our pocket of peace.

 

Tex and I go a friendly round with mining axes and shields like cyberpunk centurions in a colosseum. Tex almost floors me right away but I was able to land a cutting blow to his chest, keeling him over. We go to the medical supplies locker to find we'd already run through a large majority of our equipment. I apply the last healing patch but Tex can't get his footing, he continues to cough up blood. Realizing it was internal bleeding, Rex yelled, "I GOT THIS!"

Rex comes back toting bags of surgical equipment and dragging an unconscious surgeon ("Bones"). We shake him awake and tell him the problem, of course he brings up the ship itself is experiencing far worse difficulties and all of the leadership were dead except for the Captain. Tyler didn't care so we didn't care, the surgeon was locked in an ocean of blood covered, meth filled combatants trapping him with his equipment and Tex's body. After several minutes spent cutting open, mending and cauterizing Tex he died, nonetheless. Tyler says to Bones, "Your way out is the arena. A fair, clean fight. I pick one opponent, you choose the weapon.... Meet Rex, your opponent. Everyone enter your bets!" More credits went into it than any match prior. Bones goes for .38 revolvers (probably hoping it'd be loud enough for security to find him) and begs to be dragged to medical when it's all over.

I wasn't surprised by Rex destroying his newfound opponent, but his methods did. Round start, Rex throws his revolver straight into Bones' eyes, disarms him, pushes him down, and proceeds to strangle him to death. Rex dropped all of their possessions onto the ground and disappears dragging off Tex's body. 

 

This one janitor (Opie) comes along and sees the blood everywhere, the passed out contenders strewn all over the room in various states of extreme injury and meth overdose, and the corpse at the center of the arena holding onto a .38. Whether due to the extreme lack of authoritative structure or to save security the trouble, Opie becomes a vigilante. He runs to the stage and grabs Bones' revolver, backing into a corner and threatening the crowd. "What the f*ck is this atrocity? I already called sec, leave!" He fired off a warning shot into the crowd, everyone scrambled into the hall except Tyler.

Tyler stood center stage and refused to leave, while holding a pickax. Opie tries disarming Tyler and gets knocked back with a swing to his skull. The vigilante domes Tyler with 5 direct headshots. The crowd gathered around the door ran away, with the exception of me, Ed and 3 others who were originals from the bar setup I never got to know.

Opie charges out and pulls the trigger only to hear a *click*. He pushes at us, and runs down the hall, chucking the emptied revolver into a disposal along the way. He ends up stuck in front of a welded door with some random civ (Andy) who happened to be trapped in the wrong corner. Us 5 begin bashing his head in and Andy decides to intervene in his defense. Moments later, he was unconscious beside the vigilante who's skull I caved in.

We head back to the bar just as gunfire started being heard down the opposite hallway. Rex bolts out of an adjacent doorway and goes for the arsenal cabinet while his hyperspeed meth monkeys speed directly in suit while lethal rounds flew into the walls around them. They all grabbed up combat/double barrel shotguns, WT-55s, laser guns, etc. I joined this club for it's comradery, defying the law as some form of secret protest, refusing to play by their terms, not for this, so I turned around and ran.

I run back to find Andy waking up, covered in blood. At the sight of me, he runs back in fear. I turn to the only room and find myself trapped in a dead end with two coffins inside. The first container held the body of Tex, I realized what Rex was up to when he ran off with his corpse. The second was empty, so I decide to hide within. After a few minutes of endless gunfire, Rex comes through holding Tyler. He opens my coffin and I run out hoping to avoid further confrontation with this crankhead.

I could see Andy at the end of the hallway picking up the weapon used to bludgeon him moments before right as security turned the corner, they see him covered in blood next to a fresh corpse holding a bloody bat and didn't think twice before blasting him away with their combat shotguns, all the while he's just innocently confused. I ran past the bar while a busy gunbattle went on within (between 20 some armed methheads and 7 armed members of security) and headed south out of the library.

 

It was my first time seeing the ship beyond that room in hours. It was complete anarchy, like a completely different gaming experience was occuring outside our little world. Electricity was out, corpses were everywhere, spiders and crew alike, blood and filth marked everything, and most of the ship had been destroyed by a Tesla. I wander around aimlessly for a while and find Rex and Ed alive in the holodeck,  fighting just like the laws originally dictated. The only difference is that they were bareknuckle boxing eachother to the death. Some sort of fuck you. The escape shuttle is called and the last 4 people aboard enter, all unfamiliar faces, none of them security. We depart.

Thinking back, I don't know who's at fault here.

Edited May 10, 2020 by Felders
Minor formatting and spelling corrections.

[WingedYordle]

All participants are at fault. Rage cages sometimes go way to far and causes huge problems with security, especially when it is red alert. Signed documents saying you agree to fight is not a get out of jail card. You have battery, attempted murder, manslaughter, friendly fire, weapons and a huge waste of time. It is honestly better keeping the rage cage on the down low so you’re not wasting security’s time but you are able to do what you want while still following server rules.