Fifth Trial

[bathymetric]

[ There's a long while of examination before the Mayor speaks up. There's plenty of evidence to pick up yet again this week, after all. ]

Annnd that's going to do it. Wrap it up and head to the bathyspheres, kids, you've got some business to attend to.

[ The bathyspheres take you all down, down, into the now-familiar dome below the city. The similarly familiar red glow persists until the lights properly turn on - the projection of Fontaine's silhouette is gone, of course, replaced by that same flickering "please stand by" message. But your mayor's voice is still the one that speaks over the increasingly empty circle of podiums. ]

If you somehow need a reminder of why you're here, three of you are dead. Get away with it, killer or killers, and the execution room gets to really work overtime today. But I guess if you wanna live, you should find who murdered three people. Could be important for you guys.

[ Welcome to your fifth trial. ]

Comments

[asymptotes]

Okay. Anything else?

[ He raises an eyebrow. ]

If you can't figure out my involvement, how are you going to find the other killer?

[honeyedtea]

As I thought. You might be the only one here who wouldn't cause that sort of bumbling mess. You're too... decisive.

Do you know who they are?

[asymptotes]

No. I have... thoughts, but I wasn't planning to voice them so long as you were focused on the other two bodies.

[honeyedtea]

And do you feel like sharing those thoughts? It's not as though you've anything to lose at this point.

[asymptotes]

... If you get too stuck. But I want to know you can do this. You need to be able to do this.

[ He sighs. ]

I'm already dead. The only insult left would be if I died in vain.

[onemillion]

We will come up with something. We always have before, and we always will, for however long this continues.

Thank you for confirming that there was a second killer, but you don't need to drag this out any longer. You've made it clear by now - you killed Misfire. Will you at least tell us why?

[asymptotes]

... My hostage, if you can call him that. The world's better off without him. And I bet a few of yours are the same.

[ He chuckles. ]

One last attempt at heroism, but I've never been very good at being a hero.

[onemillion]

[It's Complicated in his case, but he understands the sentiment, certainly.]

I can understand that much, I think.

[Certainly nowhere near the same, but that much... Yes, he gets the desire to prove that much.]

Thank you for being forthcoming. Will you tell us what happened to Misfire?

[In your own words, since he wants to make sure we've got all the pieces assembled correctly. It's only right that they know as much of the story as possible.]

[asymptotes]

[ He sighs. ]

I tried to get the drop on him. Make it quick. But I missed. He tried to blockade himself in the aquarium, but I broke in. We fought a little, and he ran to the barn.

[ Drakkon rubs at his eyes. ]

He was... I'm used to fighting trained fighters, I suppose. I tried to get him into the wood chipper, I thought it would at least immobilize him so I could finish him off, but then his arm came off at the shoulder. He ran into the fields, I tracked him down. Pinned him and removed his head for good measure.

I don't know about anything in the other areas. So you ought to move on, most likely.

[onemillion]

[Oh, well, we sure bumbled into this solution and were wrong about a few things, but... well, at least we've gotten this far.]

Thank you. We'll continue looking then - and should you have anything else to contribute, do let us know.

[Though we can try to solve it ourselves first, sure.]