Daycycle 105 [ August 28 - September 03]

[computerized]

daycycle 105

[Aug 28 - Sept 3]

Early Morning [0800 - 0900] — All Troubleshooters Report for Duty
Felicity Smoak and Natasha Romanoff, have been selected for today’s mission. Details are below:

‘In order to help us improve our combat simulators, you will need to run through any combat situation you encounter at least three times. On the second pass through, engage the combat at a greater range than originally. On the third pass through, attempt it at a much closer range. You will provide tactical notes to our staff afterwards. If the simulators catch fire, or fail to respond to override commands... note that too. The eggheads were supposed to have fixed that.’

Please debrief the computer on the status of your mission by the end of the Daycycle here.

---

Morning & Afternoon [0900 - 1600] — Service Firm Positions
All Troubleshooters not assigned a mission should report to their Service Firm for their daily duties, unless specifically assigned a different shift.

---

Evening [1600 - 2200] — Citizen Improvement
All Alpha citizens are encouraged to better themselves through Alpha’s wide variety of educational, entertainment and cultural opportunities offered each evening. Attending these sanctioned events are not mandatory, but is highly encouraged by The Computer. Citizens choosing not to take advantage of these opportunities, have a growing number of other options available to them in how to spend their hard earned credits and free time.

Tonight’s event will be at 1700 in Hangar 15, Armed Forces Sector and will be hosted by the Alpha Complex Dogeball Association. Join us for a game of Alpha Dodgeball! All clearance levels above INFRARED welcome.

---

Alpha Curfew Restrictions
All Alpha citizens should be in their quarters within the Wagon Wheel by 2200, unless they’ve been given permission from a GREEN or higher clearance level citizen. Sleeping Aid gas is dispelled each night in the Wagon Wheel at 2200 to assist citizens in getting a productive sleeping period.

Confession Booths
There are hundreds of confession booths available around Alpha Complex if a citizen would like to communicate directly with the computer. Please use these confession booths to report mission statuses, report treason or terrorist acts, unregistered mutants, confess your trespasses against Alpha Complex, request propaganda or speak with Your Friend, The Computer, at any time.

Comments

Open - Oliver Queen at the Morning Briefing

[greenhood]

It had been Oliver's intention to be the wallflower of the day. He was going to stand on the edges of the crowd and watch the people during the morning briefing. Get a sense of how things worked around here. Who the movers and shakers of this odd community were. Who seemed to be communicating with each other and who seemed to be working the room. But then he heard Felicity's name and that all changed.

In the handful of hours he'd been here, he'd never considered that he'd run into someone he knew. He'd assumed that they were all safely back home. Worst case scenario, if this were some kind of bizarre future, he assumed that they had all lived out there lives as peacefully as they could. Hell, they'd called him a clone. Maybe he'd lived out his life as peacefully as he could with them. Although given his life, it was doubtful that peaceful was on the menu. But at least maybe he'd lived. And now here he was and Felicity was with him. Felicity was being sent on combat duty.

He tried to make his way through the crowd as unobtrusively as he could, but he ended up elbowing more than a few people on his way to try to find her, but he couldn't find her. She was here but gone and he wasn't sure if he'd felt anything more frustrating in his life. He clenched his fists and returned to one of the walls. Back to people-watching. Except now he had a purpose. He was looking for more people he knew. Who else could be here? His sister? John? Roy?

He was more than a little conflicted about the idea. On the one hand, he'd have a built-in team to help him figure out what this place really was and take it down, but on the other, he wouldn't wish this place on them. It was like some futuristic 1984 where Big Brother was the machine and it really was watching you. Well, Felicity was the best hacker he knew. If she had to be here, soon they would be watching Big Brother.

Open - Oliver Queen at the Morning Briefing

[fictor]

Personally, Ronan thinks morning briefing is stupid. However, it's the best way to figure out what fresh hell this place has in store for them for the day. He likes knowing if Adam is going to be off on a mission. He also likes checking out the new arrivals; he keeps hoping that Gansey will show up as selfish as that is. Hey, no one ever accused Ronan of being selfless.

He's standing on the outskirts of the crowd, listening and giving the weird message he'd gotten moments ago some thought. His eyes are narrowed and he's giving everyone and everything the stink eye as he tries to determine who might be sending the messages. He doesn't think it's the computer since he's pretty sure an organized fight club is treason. Hell, he's pretty sure breathing is treason here.

[greenhood]

There. It didn't take Oliver too long to narrow in on a familiar face. One with an unfamiliar expression. He'd seen all kinds of expressions on Roy's face including a lot of the darker ones: anger, frustration, grief, loss. But he'd never seen anything quite like the expression of wariness that he saw there now and it worried him.

Was it something to do with the mission Felicity had been sent on? Was Thea here? Or maybe things were bad enough that he was looking like that because of himself. Either way, it didn't bode well for Oliver's immediate future. He needed to go talk to Roy and figure out why he was looking like that. And maybe talking to someone he knew was going t get him more information than simply asking random strangers. At least it'd been information he'd trust.

He slid along the wall and put a hand on Roy's shoulder when he was within range.

"She's okay, isn't she?" Thea, Felicity. He meant both.

[fictor]

Ronan's head is also shaved and the barbs of a tattoo can be seen snaking above the neck of the red jumpsuit he's wearing. Wary is absolutely the expression on his face and he doesn't like being wary so that's tempered with anger (as expressions usually are with Ronan).

None of the above, but then Ronan isn't who Oliver thinks he is so that's not surprising.

Ronan flinches when someone places their hand on his shoulder. He looks at Oliver and snarls, all but growling at him. "The fuck you talking about?"

[greenhood]

Oliver tensed at the snarl in the man's voice. And it was 'man', not 'Roy'. There was something different about the voice. Hair, tattoos. Those could be added and removed as needed, but there was no point in changing your voice unless you had to hide and he was fairly sure that it would be hard to hide that here. Besides, it was such a subtle differentiation.

"Sorry," he said, actually meaning the apology. "You look like someone I know. Roy Harper."

Unfortunately, it also had the side effect of making him reconsider that whole 'cloning' and 'memory' speech from last night. He wasn't sure if it was impossible, per se, to have an exact double of you without being a twin, but it was highly improbable and even more improbable that you would run into one of someone you knew. He hadn't thought to look in a mirror yet. Would he see his own face or someone else's?

[fictor]

"Yeah? Some blonde chick said the same thing," Ronan responds. "Guessing you're from the same place she's from."

His voice has softened a little now that Oliver has acknowledged he isn't Roy. He pauses a moment. "There's a chick here named Lydia. Red head. She says I look like someone named Jackson."

Ronan has considered the same things. How the hell do two people look like him and yet not be him? It's scary.

[greenhood]

Blonde. Felicity? Or Sara, maybe. He wasn't sure he wanted to contemplate the idea that it was Laurel. That would hurt too much and he wasn't convinced that they weren't all locked away somewhere in his world. The idea that there was someone else in the world who looked like Roy Harper was a damning piece of evidence, but it was just a single piece of evidence that could mean anything. Even if there were apparently two people who looked like Roy out there.

He offered his hand. "Let's make this a proper introduction. Oliver Queen." Since he'd already screwed up a little, he'd turn this into an advantage. So far, he didn't have any contacts in this place apart from Steve and that needed to change. The more people he knew, the more people he could go to for information he needed. Maybe some people needed the moral support of befriending the population, but as long as Felicity was here, all he needed was her.

As for the rest of the people...he was there to save them, not make friends.

[fictor]

It was Felicity and Ronan actually did get her name, but he doesn't trust Oliver enough to share that, to let him know that he cared enough to remember her name. He knows that idea makes clones more plausible. He's had that thought as well, and he refuses to think of himself as a clone, to think that any world he might 'remember' is simply a glitch. He knows there are others that feel that way as well.


Ronan gives Oliver's hand a look before shaking it. "Ronan Lynch," he responds. He's still wary, but that goes without saying in this world. He thinks it's smart to be wary. However, he also sees Oliver's point of view. Contacts and allies are necessary in this place. He might not call any of these people friend (he calls so few people friend here) but Oliver, at least, had backed off the whole Roy thing. That's a point in his favor.

"You just wake up here? Glitching like fuck?"

[greenhood]

"Glitching, yes." His tone didn't give off a hint of whether or not he agreed with that sentiment. If and only if he was a clone, he was still a clone of Oliver Queen. And to him, though he wasn't a scientist, it didn't make sense that a clone of a person could carry the memories of that person. But it was possible he was wrong and he was sure there were people here who could successfully argue with him, so he wasn't going to say definitively that it couldn't happen. But either way, his memories weren't glitches.

"You're one of my roommates." He'd checked the list earlier and so he knew the names of them both, even if he'd never actually met them last night. Now that he knew that he knew people, he would have preferred rooming with one of them, but beggars couldn't be choosers.

"They..." Slightest hesitation. "Woke me up last night. I just slipped in and went straight to bed after my tour."

[runsonwater]

Barry was equally as alarmed to hear Felicity's name called out for the mission that morning. The meeting room was crowded however, and he couldn't seem to find her before the meeting went on. Worry settled in the pit of his stomach as he moved through the crowd looking for Cisco.

Instead, he saw another - wholly unexpected - face in the crowd. He moved towards Oliver as people pushed past him to exit the room. "Oliver?"

Again he felt the same mix of relief and guilt that someone he knew was there. Who would be next? Iris? Joe? Wally? He hoped not. Alpha wasn't the kind of place that he would've wished upon his worst enemy, let alone his family or his friends. He called out his name louder, over the roar of the crowd. "Oliver!"

[greenhood]

That voice. He knew that voice, although his memories placed it with somewhere far less dark than here. For as crazy as Central City could be, he never really associated it with darkness like he did Star City. Or this place, from what he'd seen thus far. But there was Barry Allen coming toward him and he wasn't sure whether he was relieved or disappointed to see him. The more familiar faces he saw, the more he worried who else was here.

"Barry," he said, jerking his head in a nod when Barry came within speaking distance. He wanted to take the man by the shoulders and shake him, demanding explanations, but he was aware that they were likely being watched and he wasn't going to cause a scene until he understood the rules.

"That was our Felicity I heard being called?"

He was fervently hoping that Barry said no, that it was another Felicity Smoak, even if that didn't make any sense. Maybe there were two people who looked like Roy, but two people name Felicity Smoak? Coincidence didn't stretch that far.

[runsonwater]

For a moment Barry wondered if it wasn't Oliver at all, but another person who looked like him. It certainly wouldn't be the first time he'd seen anything like that and he was sure it wouldn't be the last. But then Oliver said his name and any doubt was wiped clean from his mind.

Barry nodded as he came to a stop in front of him. He could tell from the expression on Oliver's face that he wasn't going to like any explanation, but Barry had to give him what he had. "They select us randomly for missions, sometimes."

Dangerous missions. He just hoped that Felicity would have the support of whoever she'd been selected with. "When did you get here?"

[greenhood]

"Last night," Oliver said as he pondered seven simple words that changed everything for him. Missions. They were sent on missions and not just the people who had combat experience. But if the computer really believed that they were all blank slates, then all they were waiting for was the proper atmosphere to learn a new skillset. A dangerous atmosphere. If these missions were going to be given randomly to people not even assigned to a compatible unit, he was going to have to train Felicity.

But first, he was going to have to see her. The most he could hope for the moment was that whoever was with her was keeping her safe until she had a chance to do her thing.

"I've experienced the orientation." He didn't believe it, at least not all of it, but he wasn't going to say that in a crowded room where the walls likely had ears and he hoped that Barry was smart enough to clue in on Oliver's caution and find them a safe place. Was there a safe place?

[runsonwater]

Of course he'd experienced the orientation. Barry wondered just how many times Oliver had seen the video with Teela O'Malley's high-pitched voice. He winced slightly in sympathy. "Right."

It was easy enough to pick up on Oliver's pointed tone and he gave a slight nod to the right. "This way, RED." Under normal circumstances it might have thought the fact that he was bossing around Oliver Queen was a little funny, but as it was, he was just focusing on finding a safe place for them to talk. He could only hope that he did a better job of explaining how things worked to Oliver than he had to Felicity and Cisco.

He led the way through the Commissary, trusting Oliver to follow him before stepping into the side hallway with the broken bouncy beverage machine and the two dots under the camera. He stopped and turned towards Oliver. "We can talk here, the cameras have been disabled."

[greenhood]

"Have they?" Oliver said, deliberately avoiding saying anything that misconstrued. If Barry were right, he could do anything he wanted, but he hadn't said anything about their voices being overheard. He tapped his mouth and ears. Just because there weren't things here that could see you, it didn't mean that there weren't things that could hear you and he wanted to be absolutely sure before he started asking the kind of questions he needed to.

[runsonwater]

"Yeah," Barry said, surprised that Oliver doubted him, at least until he went on to tap his mouth and ears. Barry's eyes widened in understanding and he gave him a nod. "It's safe. We have someone who has disabled monitoring in places around the complex."

He nodded towards the two dots on the wall. "He's marked the areas that are safe."

[greenhood]

Oliver was torn between asking any number of questions, but there was one question that was topmost in priority. "How safe is she in one of these missions?" He was preparing himself for any number of answers. He wanted it to be completely safe, but he was suspecting otherwise. Any place that had cameras everywhere was suspicious and one that had cameras that had been circumvented was dangerous.

"I don't suppose there's any way to get her out of them? Volunteer in her place?" He was sure that she hadn't signed up for it, which meant that these missions were mandatory and either assigned randomly or predetermined.

He had other questions, too. So many questions. Who was 'he', were they where the computer said they were, if they weren't, what was being done to get them out. He wasn't sure what to ask if they were where they were told they were. It was a novel situation and one he would only face when he had to face it. He preferred having some kind of hope.

[adamparrish]

Unfortunately for Oliver, Adam is the wallflower of every day. Also unfortunately for Oliver, Adam checks rooming lists every day and when he saw a third name in his and Ronan's room, well, his stomach turned over. Rooming with just Ronan is safe. Anyone else is still a question mark to him. Needless to say, Adam Parrish is not a people person, nor is he prone to easily trusting people.

This is why during the morning orientation, he's watching the new faces. He's trying to make out who Oliver is and what he's about. Adam is good at being invisible in a room full of people. It's an art form perfected over the years out of necessity of survival. Usually, people don't notice him unless he wants them to. He's just that kind of wallflower.

Once he's figured out who Oliver Queen is, he watches him from across the room. The man seems to be watching people as well. Adam gets that. He watches any interactions, any expressions. Any time Oliver's eyes glance his way Adam looks away or down to the floor. One time, when he looks back up, Oliver isn't where he'd left him. He sees him elbowing his way through the crowd and starts after him. When Oliver stops and abruptly turns back around, Adam very nearly runs into him.

"Sorry." He says automatically, because that's what you do when you literally run into someone. Adam is polite enough to apologize. And now he's awkwardly trying to figure out what to say next, if anything. "Crowds, right? They're... crowded." Yeah, not so smooth.

[greenhood]

Oliver frowned when he saw the man. He wasn't the only one who seemed to keep to the walls and this was the second person so far he'd found who'd been there. Nothing particular had brought him to Oliver's attention, but now he was right here, practically stumbling over Oliver's heels. Either it was a coincidence, something he didn't particularly believe in, or else he was being followed.

"Very," he replied, mouth not even so much as twitching at the man's - kid's, really - antics. He was nervous. Whether he was nervous because of the place, because Oliver was just plain intimidating, or because he'd been following Oliver remained to be seen. That just meant that he'd have to confront the kid.

"Can I help you?" There was a touch of a sharp edge at the end that would either paint him as impatient or having recognized...something. The fact that he hadn't quite probably said more about Oliver than it did the kid. Hearing Felicity's name had distracted him.

[adamparrish]

Oliver is very intimidating. And to be honest, Adam can be easily intimidated at times. He grew up in a world of being intimidated and looked down upon. He's only just recently realized that people who put out the kind of aura that Oliver does, still put their pants on one leg at a time, so to speak. They're just people. They have weaknesses just like anyone else.

That doesn't mean Adam is an expert at intimidating people. Sharp edges cut. And while he's used to Ronan's sharp edges, Ronan is the only one he lets cut him anymore. And that's only when Adam is having a day where he forgets that he can fight back.

This guy is definitely intimidating, definitely put out by Adam's presence in his obvious impatience and definitely all sharp edges. Truthfully, it intimidated Adam to the point of being a little bit frightened. This is the guy who's supposed to be rooming with him and Ronan? Adam wishes Ronan were here right now. Ronan could fight sharp edges with sharp edges. Adam is too polite and down trodden for that. He isn't good with confrontation for the most part.

"N-no." He says with a slight shake of his head. He doesn't need any help, especially from strangers. Adam takes several steps back and looks around for Ronan. "I know you're Oliver Queen." He only knows this because he'd been watching him. Adam doesn't fight with sharp edges, he fights with knowledge. He's kind of brilliant in that way even if he'd never admit it himself.

[greenhood]

There could have been any number of reasons that the kid recognized him, but the fact that he knew his name as well as his face was something that put Oliver on edge. If he'd been someone from back home, then Oliver would have expected to recognize the kid in return and he didn't. The stuttering and nerves could be a pose or they could be actual nerves.

"All right," he forced himself to say slowly. If it was nerves, he didn't want to intimidate the kid too severely. If it was something more, he wanted to be cautious anyway. It was his first day and he wasn't about to cause waves until he understood the water he was in. He also had to remember that any enemies he made would be enemies Felicity made. There was no way he was going to be able to keep their friendship under wraps in so small a space.

"Then I suppose my next question will be how you know me." It was what most people in his situation would ask and he didn't currently have the luxury of having alternative ways of answering it for himself. "Because I don't think we've been introduced."

The only new people he'd met were Steve and the various scientists who'd been there when he woke up.

[adamparrish]

On one hand, Adam is pleased to have made Oliver as uncomfortable or off kilter as Oliver has done to Adam. On the other hand, he worries that he might have played the only upper hand he has too soon, that he might have overplayed it and that Oliver might actually take offense when all Adam was really doing was staying informed and trying to figure out his new roommate.

Great.

"It's a... rooming list." Adam says, gesturing in the general direction of the hallways that would lead to the rest of the compound. "It lists new people. I heard someone call you Oliver." Adam shrugs. "I pay attention."

He isn't sure if that will creep Oliver out or impress him. Either way, Adam is positive he's already screwed this up. Oliver scares the shit out of him and he can't believe he and Ronan have to share a room with the guy now. Horrible luck. Adam has always had horrible luck.

[greenhood]

Understanding dawned in his eyes. He'd heard part of the conversation with Barry, at least the beginning. Or maybe he hadn't, but he had to have associated the name with the face somehow. It also implied that he was Oliver's roommate, which meant that he was one of two people.

"Then you must be either Adam or Ronan." He'd checked the list and had slipped inside his own room, but he'd also left as soon as the imposed curfew was over. He hadn't spared any time to That was going to have to be one of the first things he looked into. He needed a way around that.

But first, introducing himself to his roommate and figuring out whether the staring was simply considering the roommate who hadn't been there the day before or something else. He didn't look particularly scary, but appearances could be deceiving.

He held out his hand. "Oliver Queen. Sorry I didn't introduce myself last night. I was a bit...disoriented."

[adamparrish]

The idea that he might be Ronan Lynch almost gets a smirk out of Adam. The both of them are so very different. But Oliver has no way to know that, at least not yet. In the end he just politely shakes his head and introduces himself. "Adam Parrish. Getting here can be disorienting."

He looks down to the floor and starts to step away, as if that can be done now is done. Adam's figured out that Oliver is scary. Now Oliver knows who Adam is.

"I guess I'll see you in our social experiment later." The social experiment of complete strangers being forced to live together. This is possibly the worst first impression ever.

[greenhood]

"You don't have anything to worry about from me," Oliver said sincerely. He wasn't lying. There wasn't anything to worry about. For now. If Oliver found out that Adam was a part of the problem, then it would be a different matter, but for now he was just another one of the people he had to protect.

He knew he could be intense sometimes - all the time - but he wasn't planning on being a danger to anyone but the people who'd put him here. So far, it seemed that Adam was simply another cog in the wheel, just like Oliver himself was. For the moment.

"It's good to meet you, Adam, and I'll see you tonight."