Hostile Action Trial

[mockmods]

[As you all finish investigating, an electric chime rings out across the PA system.]

I believe that should be sufficient time for you all to prepare. Assistant, please escort everyone to the trial room.

[Penny emerges from the Security office again, head down, and slowly collects everyone; she leads you all to the east side of the common room, to the short hallway between dorms B1 and A2, that’s dead ended through your entire time here. As your group approaches, the wall seamlessly slides up to reveal a hidden doorway. Passing through leads to another short hallway and a small, round room, just big enough to hold all of you. Penny passes her ID over a small pad near the doorway, and it blinks green before the room lurches slightly beneath you; an elevator going down.]

[A short trip down leads you to a larger chamber, with a series of twenty-two podiums set up in a ring; in the center is a column of computer stations with large monitors, behind a set of thick metal beams with occasional faint flashes of energy arcing between them and a constant, low hum.]

Welcome to your first trial, Participants. You will use this time to determine which among your number killed the Legendary Bassist, and send them to justice. Failure to choose the correct culprit will have dire consequences for you all.

[Trial: commence.]

Comments

[gangplankgalleon]

What sort of consequences? Surely nothing worse than being in the same room as YOU, SMELLY!

[casually pointing at penny. he thinks she smells.]

[aragona]

Consequences such as...?

[Please, make her care about finding the culprit.]

[mightdoriya]

[Not much time has passed between the discovery of Yaiba's body and...having to come here, to do this. Izuku, for better or worse, looks exhausted. Both from the experience of having to see what he did as well as spending hours scouring the building for clues as to how it happened, who did it, and why. He knows he doesn't have everything, but he's written down as much as he found. Despite how haggard he looks and feels, there's determination in his posture all the same. He couldn't save someone mere feet away, but he can do everything in his power to stop the person responsible. Before he gets to that, though...he stops at his podium and calls out to the ever present voice of the Researcher.] Dire consequences? What are you saying?

[windowsexplorer]

[Meredith just fucking stands there watching the energy arcs, fascinated.]

[mockmods]

Death, while the culprit goes free.

[mockmods]

[Bout that...]

[in4apounding]

I smell?

[Seriously, does she? She can't smell anything, this isn't fair guys.]

[aragona]

[She stiffens at this, regretting that she didn't pay more attention during the investigation.]

...What evidence did we find? [Glances around the room.]

[mightdoriya]

[If Izuku was a cursing boy he'd be cursing you right about now]

[mockmods]

[Let Deku say fuck, 2k18]

[mockmods]

[If she's looking closely, she might notice that one of the posts has a familiar-looking electronic pad attached to it. But also that the ceiling above is ringed with currently-flameless nozzles of the kind that saw dear Patches departed from this study, so. You know. Maybe don't.]

[scratchitti]

...somehow I'm not surprised.

[windowsexplorer]

[I mean, Meredith's the one who would know. Does Penny smell?]

[windowsexplorer]

[Yeah that somehow seems like something worth avoiding.]

[mightdoriya]

[WELL WITH THE CONSEQUENCE OF DEATH NOW ON THE LINE...Izuku's hands are just a little bit shaky as he opens and smooths out his notebook onto his podium.] I'm going to try and cover everything I found, but I also have it written down if anyone wants to read over it for themselves. I apologize if there's any mistakes. In the Foyer, I discovered two things: what looked like a big junk pile and a lot of mannequins clustered together. I checked out the junk first, but it wasn't just that. It looked like a Rube Goldberg type machine put together by someone with every spare part they could find. It was sprayed with blood and had a bicycle wheel attached to a blunt swinging arm that must have been intended to hit someone very hard...and succeeded. I don't think it could have been strong or fast moving enough to...remove his head, though. [He pauses for a moment, the crooked fingers of his right hand curling into a fist near his chest.] It was very complex to the point where I don't know how someone could have put it together all in one night, much less put it together without being noticed...not unless they were sneaking out every night to work on it. As for the mannequins...they were all beheaded. They were also covered in blood, but it looked like the blood had been smeared onto them. Hard to say if it was an accident or on purpose, but something bloody definitely rubbed against them. From the mannequins and the scene as a whole lead bloody footprints heading towards the dining room and kitchen. They were too smeared to tell if they were shoes, or bare, or who they might have belonged to...but they were footprints, definitely. [Izuku looks down, taking a breath. He hadn't realized until just now how much he uncovered.] On the way to the dining room, I found a used first-aid kit, the outside case smeared with blood too. It had been opened and used, and all of the gauze from it was bloodied and put back inside the kit. I didn't see that anything else had been disturbed or removed. And last thing...I went back to check the body itself. I didn't find anything new by way of wounds, and I can't say I really know what to look for when it comes to...a body that recently died. The only thing I could tell was that he hadn't been dead for very long, but not really much more specific than that. More than that, though...his ID was missing. Either someone else has it, or it's still in the building somewhere. ...I know it's a lot, sorry...but like I said I wrote everything down, if we need to double-check. I can write down anything anyone else found, too.

[mockmods]

[Like Sugar and Spice and SWORD]

[But nah, probably just sort of. Average person smell? A possibly suspicious lack of things like soap or perfumes, but she doesn't have to worry about BO. Maybe a slight hint of plastic.]

[doppelanger]

You skipped breakfast.

[ But she's also setting a jar of peanut butter up on her podium, so... ]

[clandestineideals]

...There were quite a few things I found in the kitchen.

[ ... ]

First were some random junk pieces - it looked like someone was using the counter to work on something. There was also a wine bottle, but filled about a quarter of blood [ Yeah, that sure is a pause. ] for whatever reason. I also discovered the sink was a pink hue, and I believe it can be from someone trying to wash blood off.

The last item I found were these.

[ Holds up a pack of cigarettes. ]

Someone apparently smoked just one of these, didn't care about the mess it made, and seemed to decide that it didn't matter that the rest were left behind.

[windowsexplorer]

You're not smelly at all!

[Thumbs up!]

[mockmods]

Apologies. Perhaps if you survive this, I will see that the next trial has food service provided.

[in4apounding]

Oh gosh, thank you!

[#PRIORITIES]

[scratchitti]

Not really.

[in4apounding]

Thank you, Mister Neku.

[mightdoriya]

[Wow um holy shit] Someone just...left a wine bottle filled with blood in the kitchen? [I mean he...knows at least one person here who needs blood to survive but he's not going to go there immediately, he's more shocked that something like that was just left out in the open for someone to happen onto.]

[doppelanger]

An empty stomach empties the mind. Is that what you expected? Or is it what you hoped?