One Last Thing To Wrap Up Before We Go

[butterfly_kiss]

WHO: The Stabby Boys, The Investigation Team
WHERE: Outside of Temba Hangar
WHAT: Attempt to capture and deal with Billy and Stu
WHEN: Night of May 1st
WARNINGS: Violence, attempts on lives

A Plan Set In Motion | Any of the Investigation team who desires to be present, maximum 2 non-tae people per thread.

They've been working on their plans for a few weeks now. Laying out breadcrumbs, coming up with the proper ambush location, working on the proper chemistry for the truth serum (and man had Tae not had fun drinking it and then answering questions honestly to the people around her), and of course, coming up with contingency plans. Only when they all thought something reasonable was arranged did Tae call for the final plan review in the room she had set up in the hospital for their private conversations.

Not that she expected everyone to show up. They'd gone over things so many times before. It would likely be only those most tense, or most willing to rehash the rehashed that would show up. That doesn't stop her from setting up a tray of snacks, as well as a few cups of blue lemonade, just in case.

In fact, as someone knocks at the door and slips in she picks up her cup and takes a sip. Planning would be best with complete honesty.

"Come in," she finally says before sitting down.

Hopefully everything would go well tonight. That was the best she could hope for.

Who Hunts The Hunter | Keith, Billy and/or Stu, Sephiroth

The plan had been laid out. The observation points prepared. The bait set. The ambush team armed with sedative syringes and even Tae's sleeping pills that she'd given to other people when the nights got bad. There were ropes and handcuffs and quiet bodies hidden in dark places near the site of the waiting bait. Somewhere just barely in sight was York, walking on his merry way as bait, one they had been careful to set up as a good target over several nights that week. One that had maybe called the boys out on a personal level.

Hell, there was even a teleporting wolf ghosting along rooftops, watching the android and ready to swoop in as the hero.

And in one dark spot... A certain paladin waited, no doubt ready to spring the trap. A paladin with no idea that theirs wasn't the only set of watching eyes in the night.

The Interrogation | Tae, Billy and/or Stu, open to anyone on investigation team (no more than two others)

Two chairs in the back corner of the hangar, far from the shuttles that waited to carry He Rows back up to the ships in orbit. Bright lights set up to look upon them, to light them from several angles to make sure the nearby set up communication device could record everything. Two young men, tied to said chairs, looking worse for the wear and only just coming around from sedation. Outside of the ring of light, a few others to either join in or call out questions.

And front and center, one very tired and resolved doctor with a glass of some blue drink with a straw put in it.

"Good morning," she greeted as she saw the first signs of motion. "You must be thirsty."

She knew they would be. Her sedative did leave one with a damn wicked case of dry mouth.

"Here, have this."

And she would lean in to offer the straw. Time to drink up boys. To drink up and be honest for a change.

Network Post from Tae Takemi

Please find attached a video of the confessions of Billy Loomis and Stu Macher for their role in the attacks under the guise of a shadowy, cloaked individual with a mask akin to a melted ghost face. Throughout the video you will find that my own voice and their own are unaltered, and you are welcome to verify this through any datapoint knowledge or questioning of Venidelosia, who I specifically invited to observe the interrogation.

These confessions were, in all honesty, given under a degree of duress. They were gained by administration of something I have heard referred to as 'blue lemonade'. It was confirmed through prior records and the knowledge of datapoints that the plant in question induces uncontrollable honesty. I tested it myself to that end, and invite anyone who wishes to sample it to be certain of its efficacy.

Questioning was performed after the capture of the two young men by myself and a team I worked with. In the process they attempted to attack another person, though I understand this circumstance could be viewed as self defense.

No, I will not state who was involved in the whole process. They are welcome to come forth on their own should they desire. All actions made in planning were spearheaded by myself. All initiative was my own. All recruitment was done by me. I will accept full culpability in any punishment that might be levied upon those of us who came together to stop this madness. While this may make me a vigilante, the truth of the matter is that the attempts these boys made upon our lives must end. Our trust in each other must be preserved, even if it can no longer be extended to me.

So please, watch the confessions. Then discuss punishment. My personal opinion is that we ask Venidelosia to restrain them upon the Agrii ship to ensure our safety. It is not as though we can force a change of heart upon them. But I will not vote. My actions mean I should not have one.

I have asked Venidelosia to go in and open this text to inter-person communication. She says this will make it more like a message board so that people can jump between conversation threads should they desire. Please make use of it.

Comments

Network Discussion

[butterfly_kiss]

[ooc: Please keep all network discussion as a reply to this comment and any threads that come from it. Also, if you are okay with thread hopping conversations, note so in the subject line or body of the message. We don't wanna inflict thread hopping to people who don't want it.]

threadhopping welcome in response to tommy specifically (and others if they say okay)

[doubled_speed]

Fucking hell. You really fucking went and did the unlawful imprisonment thing here, didn't you? We really need to get some damn laws in this place. And maybe set up the security people as an actual police force.

And that's said as someone who fucking hates the police for their corruption and incompetence.


Alright. Solutions. I don't think we should inflict them on the Agrii. What if they get out? Nope. There's islands in the bay. Agrii might be able to swim out there or use boats to get them out there to deliver supplies. Wouldn't take too much effort to clean up the former resort there for their exile. They can call if they need medical help or something from the Agrii. There's no predators from all the times I've been there. So it's probably a better place. Unless someone installed a brig on the ships or something and didn't tell us.

text;

[faceguy]

cant literally anyone just touch the security datapoint thingy? seems pointless to rely on that

Re: text;

[doubled_speed]

Ah fuck. You're right. I switch so fucking never that I forget it. Dammit.

[faceguy]

seems like a lot of work anyway when people just break laws

and like do we really need “don’t stab people” written down somewhere?

text - some time later

[tempredmental]

Theres a resort on an island

[How did he miss that one? Hell, how did Lance miss that one?

And, yes... this was what Keith was focusing on.]

[doubled_speed]

I mean, there is the ruins of an Agrii resort on an island, yes. I think I mentioned it when the whole beck thing happened?

[tempredmental]

I didnt get involved in that as much
But its good to know I guess

[In case Lance ever came back... which Keith was slowly beginning to accept that it might happen that way, but not entirely, yet.]

Who Hunts the Hunter? - Keith, Billy, Sephiroth, (Stu)

[tempredmental]

Having left Kosmo with York was hard. Keith always felt it hard to do these patrols without the wolf, especially since the fire. But it was important to give the kid an escape plan, and what better than a teleporting wolf to get him out of there fast if needed, right? Kosmo already knew what to do. All Keith had to do was tell him to stay near York and protect him. The wolf would prowl or lay low, ready to teleport in and either guard, attack, or teleport out with York.

And, the patrol itself was restricted. He was staying around the hangar, looking for people on the approach. He'd worn the Blade armor that he'd just gotten this past New Tick from the Agrii. Interesting time, to say the least, but it was stealthier than his Paladin armor. Less protective, but the dark color would help. It had less glowing stuff on it, too... though the mask might give him his own version of a ghost face if he decided to use it. For now, he had it off, but the hood was up over his head to hopefully keep his face hidden a bit.

On his belt, he had his sheathed dagger, just in case.

cw: fake blood

[directors_cut]

After such a long absence, Billy felt he owed it to Stu to give a good performance. This game of theirs had gone on much longer than either had expected, but it wasn't quite as satisfying as their work back home. That was art. This- this was a bit of fun. Without that climax it could never really be more, but it was about time they pushed the narrative a bit further.

It was chance that they spotted one part of their audience- goofing around with the camera Billy had been gifted, while stalking their prey. Zooming in on the hangar there was a dark and grainy figure, and the plan shifted.

Out of the dark, Billy ran for his life, clutching his side with his remaining arm, shirt stained with 'blood'. He looked back behind himself and stumbled, quickly scrambling to his feet, running toward the supposed safety the hangar might afford.

"Help!" he pleaded hoarsely, practically slamming into Keith with a well rehearsed look of frantic surprise, "He's going to kill me!"

[tempredmental]

The footsteps pounding across the dirt gave Keith just barely enough time to avoid being trampled.

"What?" Keith wasn't sure what to think. Wasn't this one of the guys they were trying to trap? The panic on Billy's face seemed real enough. Had the two of them turned on each other? Keith drew his dagger out of instinct.

"Who's trying to kill you?" he demanded, though his guard wasn't down about Billy just yet, either.

[target_audience]

"Me." The voice was dark and gravelly, an animalistic snarl in Keith's ear. It came as an arm clutched around his throat, jerking him back and squeezing ruthlessly, yanking him against the killer's shoulder and into the knife positioned to slide so sweetly into his back.

[directors_cut]

Eyes lingered on that knife, eyes sweeping over Keith like he wasn't sure he could trust him, struggling to catch his breath. His eyes widened in horror before he could answer or get out a warning, edging back fearfully.

"He's got a knife," he panted, words that could be meant for either figure, holding his side with a pained whine.

The Interrogation

[target_audience]

Was it possible for everything to hurt and be numb at the same time? Stu started to open his eyes, only to wince back, nose wrinkled against the harsh light, willing himself to sink back into the much more comfortable darkness. This chick's voice insisting that he didn't felt like a nailgun in his palate, where he tried to run his tongue and only made himself feel nauseous. This was the worst hangover of his life. "Five more minutes," he grumbled.

[directors_cut]

Throat dry, Billy tried to ignore how badly he wanted something to soothe it, groggily narrowing his eyes at the straw and turning his head.

"Guessing we don't do the part where we call our lawyers here, huh?" he managed, wincing at the light but forcing himself to squint through it.

[butterfly_kiss]

"The last I checked, Mister Loomis, the Agrii have not deigned to send someone of that field to us," she says, still holding out the cup. Sooner or later he will no doubt give in. She can be patient.

"And I am afraid, Mister Macher, there will be no more rest until the three of us have a conversation."

[target_audience]

It was Billy's voice that had Stu hauling his head up and braving the light, still mostly blinded as he turned toward the noise and processed the strange shape of his friend, curves in his posture that Stu rarely saw and felt alien even in their blurred facsimile. It was enough to force him to rally, slurring, "What'd you do to him? Leave him alone," while he finally found his place in this scene. Figuring out that he was tied down didn't stop him from nudging his chair closer to his friend, making the legs screech violently on the cold floor, echoing off of the walls mournfully.

A Plan in Motion

[buildingitsir]

York has been a little scarce, keeping to the buddy system with Reeve, Richie, and Mini, but he hasn't been idle. Gathering a few spare parts, or re-configuring where he could put some of his hardware offline in the case of a bladed weapon going into him or some other such thing.

He heads to the hospital with the guise of getting some supplies for a made up accident Richie had, checks to make sure he's not followed, before heading up to the appointed room Tae told him about. A knock and he heads in when he hears her. The door gently shuts behind him and he walks over.

"I'm guessing everything is ready at this point? I should probably get a rundown on what's supposed to happen."

[butterfly_kiss]

"As ready as it can be," she says with a sigh. She's actually in the middle of packing one of her bags. "I believe it is traditionally held that no plan survives the first encounter with the enemy. But I think we have a good one."

It should work. But should only gets you so far. So she sighs, stops with her work, and pulls out the piece of paper she'd been using to diagram this for everyone.

"Alright, sit down."

[buildingitsir]

Plans always end up with hiccups. People not ending up where they need to be, the opposition showing up somewhere else or earlier than expected - too many variables to always account for. "Yeah? Haven't hear that quote but makes sense. With all the variables, there's no making a plan perfect."

He goes over and takes a seat as she asks.

"So Keith, Leo, and Sephiroth. Oh, and Kosmo, who is Keith adjacent."

[butterfly_kiss]

"Indeed," she agrees with a nod. "I'll be there a bit further away too. Sedatives and all of that. We'll be transporting them into a dark corner of the hanger which the turtle brothers are helping me set up in a nice, traditional investigation way."

cw: blood and injury mentions

[tempredmental]

The flash announced Kosmo's return to the hangar, but instead of two unconscious bodies, he had a very beat up looking Keith. After a slight sway on his feet while he regained his bearings from the teleport, the wolf standing very close to help Keith stay upright, he hobbled over to a wall, leaned against it, and then slid down to sit on the floor, his head in his hands.

The side of his face was bleeding slightly where Ghostface had slammed his head against the dirt, leaving something akin to roadrash. The dark patterned suit he wore was scuffed and dirty from what had been quite the rough and tumble rollabout on the ground with two opponents, and his ankle looked swollen despite the boots that were part of the suit. He was on the verge of passing out again, and very much not okay as he worked at controlling his breathing and trying to stay awake.

[butterfly_kiss]

"Keith!" Tae gasped, rushing from where she was double checking her additional sedatives and the truth lemonade for when the capture team brought in the boys.

She truly hadn't expected anyone to get hurt. And to see Keith so damaged makes her heart scream in pain. This was her doing. She caused him to be vulnerable.

"Keith," she says as she stops at his side, going to her knees and pulling a pair of gloves from one pocket to pull them on. Even now blood safety was important. Then she got out some gauze to press against the wound. It was going to have to get cleaned.

"What happened? Is everyone alive? Oh god, I sent you out into that."

[tempredmental]

Keith flinched at the pressure against the wound. Thankfully, it wasn't bleeding a lot at the moment, but cleaning it would definitely get it started again... a necessary backslide to make sure he didn't develop an infection.

"No one died," he said, his voice tired. "Sephiroth has them. They're knocked out. The sedatives worked really fast." He closed his eyes, leaning his head back against the wall so she could do what she needed for the moment. He could feel the bruise forming on his back where Ghostface had shoved his knee against him and tried to pin him. He managed a weak shake of his head, wincing slightly again from the movement.

"It's not your fault. It probably looks a lot worse than it is," he mumbled. But his head bobbed a bit as he fought to stay conscious. It was his own fault for not wearing the mask with his armor anyway.

[butterfly_kiss]

"It looks like a borderline concussion," Tae counters with an annoyed tone. "Don't expect me to take this anything but seriously. Unless they are desperately injured, I can let them wait. The sedatives would knock out most people here for hours."

And they seem to just be normal humans with normal human metabolisms.