fourth trial

[airlockedmods]

[When the announcement sounds and the evidence gathered it’s time for a trial. When the remaining champions are all gathered by the docking bay doors they slide slowly slide open.

The two lines of sentry robots are there again, creating a border path from the docking bay doors to the circle of metal podiums. The podiums themselves were made of strange metals in red and gold and orange and black, each one etched with the name of one of the Champions. There are flood lights - like spot lights - in front of each podium. The lights on Oda, Akande and Leon's podiums have been turned off and their floating grey scale portraits have joined the six from last week.

Blaze Dudely stands on a repair deck on top of his ship, which looms over the proceedings ominously. His expression is still hard to read but his arms are folded across his chest and if you squint close enough there's a somberness about him that hasn't been at other trials.]

Ya'll know how this goes by now. [He's in no mood for pageantry this time.] Take the time ya need but don’t bore me.

Comments

[andneversaydie]

...um. Did anybody clip any leaves off the potberry plant?

[look, people keep dying and she's Tired, and she has no idea how this fits into anything but she might as well.]

[tokencanadian]

Pot...berry?

[Uhh??]

[tokencanadian]

[So many people, dead. It's startling every time they step into this stupid trial room now. Down to just about a quarter of the original group, they still had to do what Blaze demanded.

Pyrrha summons up whatever strength she has, because she's going to need it.]

I found something in the incinerator room. It looks like pieces of a letter that someone tried to burn. Probably last night.

[nightcure]

Could you make out anything it says?

[ Noctis has... a book on his podium, and he brings it out with ungloved hands. ]

[empathiser]

[Time for the Will Graham run down. Get the information out there and then they can start picking it apart.]

We all know what happened up there, so let's just get this going.

I examined Akande's body. According to the case files, his cause of death was asphyxiation, and. Well, we know when he died.

[Hard to imagine anyone missing out on that particular fact.]

Despite his cause of death there were wounds on his body; he had a blunt force trauma wound on the back of his neck and something had burned away part of his arm, revealing metal underneath. Underneath his body, there was a baseball with flecks of blood on it. That's all I found directly on or by his body.

As for the room, there was some kind damp crumpled cloth with smeared black marks closest to his body, and when I picked it up a medical mask fell out. Not far from that, there was an overturned plastic bottle of bleach, and a gold coin. Nothing on the coin I recognised, though.

Overall, I found nine bottles on the floor of that cell. Three were overturned, and the remaining six were upright. Three of these were half-filled with something that smelled like bleach, and the other three were empty. But they had this weird mechanism - a plug had been inserted halfway down, making two compartments, and it could be removed while the container remained closed.

[He stops, and exhales.]

I think that's everything I saw in there.

[power_of_dominance]

Black marks? Were they oily or more like powder?

[rickdiculous]

F-face mask was missing from the infirmary when...when I checked it this morning, so I guess that's it.

Few other things were missing too. But...they were cotton swabs and tongue depressors, shit like that.

[tokencanadian]

That's... certainly a lot.

[Guess that's why he's the detective around here.]

The bottles are interesting. What kind of bottles were they? If there were that many set up in there, it could be why there was that... noxious smell in there.

1/2

[rickdiculous]

So I'm uh.

90% sure t-that I...I got fucked in the ass by a de-[urp]-dead guy last night.

[rickdiculous]

...Before he died, I mean. Not into th-that shit.

[nightcure]

[ It doesn't look good, does it? The evidence is there. His handwriting is a similar match. The coin is his, and only he could've had it. He doesn't know about chemistry, but who needs to, with that book he's got right on his podium? And Doomfist could have become a threat.

If Noctis is anything above all else, it's a king and a friend. He would've wanted to protect the people he cares about, wouldn't he? ]

I didn't do this. I swear. I would never--

[ He balls up his fist and grits his teeth. ]

You can ask me anything you want.

[ MACHINE TALK BATTLE: START...? ]

[tokencanadian]

Can you tell us what you were doing last night?

[rickdiculous]

First of all, fuck you.

[power_of_dominance]

... let me see your eyes.

[Please don't let them be irritated or bloodshot or whatever. Please. Not just normal sleepless crap, actual chemical irritation. PLEASE.]

[empathiser]

[Will doesn't trust situations like this. He's been there, he's been right there pleading with people he thought were friends who'd looked at evidence and hadn't believed him. And he'd been right.

So, there's no way in hell Will's going to gloss over this.]

Okay.

Why the cells?

[andneversaydie]

...

[you know... she's been watching this and wondering something. There's a lot of the evidence at the scene pointing to Noctis, but... nothing on his actual person.]

Y'know... this might be kind of a dumb idea, so if it's too out there just... shoot it down. But... I remember Dudely saying last time that his "it" is a shapeshifter or something. If it's good at mimicking other people, would it be good at mimicking writing?

[neverheardofhim]

[ This doesn't look good. This really look good. The evidence is clear, and yet... ]

I believe you, your highness. We'll figure this out.

I won't let you die.

time to herd some cats

[nightcure]

Alright, so...

[ He takes a deep breath. ]

Here's what we know. Mozu said she found some potberry leaves clipped off. They might've been used to drug Leon and Akande, to catch them off-guard--especially Akande, since he's huge and not easily taken by surprise.

Pyrrha found pieces of burnt paper, which Soma looked at and saw ammonia written on it. That's about it, right, Soma? It had what looks like my handwriting on it. There's another piece of paper, with handwriting similar to mine I found in the library in an Introductory Chemistry book. It talks about mixing bleach and ammonia.

Will said there was a lot of bleach in the cell where we found Leon and Akande. The killer might've had bloodshot eyes, and the mask would've protected their eyes and nose. Turns out Akande died from asphyxiation, probably from the chemical mixture. It also looked like Akande and Leon had been beaten up pretty badly. Akande's arm was burned, and Leon had a baseball with flecks of blood near him. Touko probably gave it to him.

There was a crumpled cloth with charcoal marks on it. Then there's the bottles. Nine of them. Three knocked over, six still standing. They were set up with plugs in a... pretty weird way, and they were filled halfway with what smelled like bleach.

Will also found my Oracle Ascension Coin, and we don't know if it's actually mine or a duplicate. But it's there, and I'm not sure how it got there. Speaking of missing stuff, Rick said things were missing from the infirmary. A face mask, which is the important one, probably.

And then there's the shapeshifting "It" Spikes keeps talking about. It's convincing enough that Spikes almost fell for it. That's about all we know.

[ He pauses. ]

Is that about it?

[rickdiculous]

So when can I vote for you, asshole.

[tokencanadian]

[She nods.] Yes, that's...

[hmm?]

"Spikes"?

[power_of_dominance]

Wait. How did Akande's arm get burned? There wasn't anything flammable in the cell.

[induality]

[She doesn't want to be here. She's not sure what's holding her together right now. The thought of the people she has to be strong for-- Noctis, Byakuya, Komaru, Soma... or some ingrained survival skill. But she's here.]

...unlike the other weeks there wasn't exactly an incentive provided to get people killing this week. Yet someone did. Doesn't that strike you all as a little odd?

[She tries to stand a little taller. She's... tired. But she needs a real answer. To do... something with the life she has.]

This happened before. We were baited into a trial with false evidence. They may have cornered this "it" and so they killed with the intention of hiding their identity.

[At least it's something to consider. But-- one more thing...]

Even so... two people died. How are we supposed to know "it" didn't die too.

[power_of_dominance]

Do you mean... either Akande or Leon was the shapeshifter, and that they killed each other?

[Soma thinks about what he found on Leon's body, the power of Akande's fists.]

Leon's torso was horribly bruised, back and front. I couldn't even tell where the individual edges of the marks were to see if I could identify a weapon. It's the kind of pummeling someone with Akande's strength could easily deliver.

[helladoptera]

Alright, so!

[ Oh hey look, Max isn't just observing things anymore! HERO TIME. ]

Here's the theory so far: Akande was in the cell, making gas bombs. We know he told Soma he planned to kill us all, and the number of bottles matches the number of cells here. He planned to frame Noctis for it if he didn't get everyone - hence the coin, and maybe even the writing? Anyway, his back was to the door, and Leon sees him and pitches the ball. It hits Akande in the back of the head, but he doesn't go down. There's... a struggle, of some kind, and in the process they're both locked in the cell with the poison gas. Leon dies first from his wounds and because he's smaller, while Akande makes it until he's disturbed by us in the morning.

That sounds like a decent, uh... timeline, at least to start.

[power_of_dominance]

It makes sense, yeah. Ties everything together... good job, Max.

[He's kind of ashamed at himself for losing his temper. His brains are too crammed full of past lives, he feels like crap.]

VOTING

[theoversight]

Is that it? Have ya'll come to a conclusion?

Then vote.

[nightcure]

> CHAMPION TARGET

PARTING...WORDS? - 1/2

[theoversight]

[When the majority of the votes are in, Blaze Dudely looks down at the tablet in his hand to calculate them. After reading the first few he stops. Looks down at the Champions. Looks back at the tablet. He reads it over again, brows furrowed like he’s trying to make a choice.

On the ground floor the robots all lift their heads to look at him in unison, as if they’re waiting for an order. A few of them partially lift their guns.]

2/2 - cw: emetophobia

[theoversight]

[After an agonizing pause that feels like it goes on for hours, he touches four fingers to the screen and swipes left.

The now-alerted robots all lower their heads and weapons back to more relaxed positions.]

...The Champion Target- Leon showed more guts hurling that ball than a lot of others I’ve known in my- [He clears his throat, his voice a little hoarser when he speaks again.] My life. Akande was willing to take ya’ll out in one swoop to get out of here. You should all be mighty grateful for what Leon did for ya.

Now get- [He doubles over suddenly, coughing and hacking like he’s about to vomit up his own lungs. His robotic hand flies to cover his mouth and more of that thick, black ooze they’ve seen before oozing between his fingers and down the back of his hand. When the coughing lessens Blaze pulls his hand away, staring down at his hand with a mixture of anger, pain and just a little fear.

His head jerks to look down at the Champions, his red eye blazing brightly.]

Get. Out. Before I change my mind.