tushanshu | 004 || video

As some of you may know, I was hired to find the person responsible for multiple killings in September, along with an attempted homicide. That person has now killed the Emperor. [ There's a flash of something like remorse, but it only lasts a second before her jaw tightens. There's no time to feel guilty for not catching the person sooner. She has to stop him now, before he kills again. ]

I have a list of suspects. I've narrowed it down significantly. If you were one of the people I talked to about it, please see me immediately.

[ The message is simple, one she can essentially cut-and-paste to each person. It's short, but far from sweet. She doubts they'll appreciate it. If the killer is killing again, then they have to move to catch him, and quickly. So screw pleasantries. ]

Get in touch with me as soon as possible.

[ Sharon looks tired. She doesn't want to have this conversation, but it's part of the job. The horrible thing is, Barry seems like a nice guy. A good guy. But that doesn't mean he can't be a killer. ]

Barry, I hate to ask this, but do you have an alibi for the time when the Emperor was killed, and is there anyone who can verify it?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

That's what everything's pointing to.

My concern at the moment is that last time, he killed three people in a week. We don't know if he did that because he had superpowers, or if he'll kill two more after he's done with the Emperor.

Then we should implement extra precautions - we know this guy has killed Foreigners, we know he's capable of breaking into the toughest security to kill high-level targets.

Encourage people to at least use the buddy system, or something.

And after the Emperor was killed...

To be honest, I'm not sure how much the buddy system would help. We may need more than that.

What sort of thing would you recommend?

Other than catching the guy? Short of keeping people in groups with assigned bodyguards? [ She laughs a little. ]

I don't think that would work. He's too smart. If he decides to kill, he'll find a way. I haven't found a link between the victims, either. He seems to kill when convenient, or when it's a challenge.

I think he'd know if we set up a bait scenario, too. I'm not sure if it would challenge him more or if he'd avoid it so he wouldn't be captured. It's a cowardly way of getting by. Though I suppose he would get by.

[ As a coward.

Is she baiting him in case the killer has hacked in and is reading the transmission? Naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah. ~~maybe~~ ]

So what you're saying is, he's a criminal mastermind?

More... insane and insanely smart.

That sounds like the definition of 'criminal mastermind' to me.

I was hoping we could come up with something that wouldn't sound so complimentary, though.

Crazy sonofabitch who should be rotting in prison for the rest of his days?

Maybe we can find an abbreviation for it.

On the bright side, we can kill him. If he comes back, we can kill him again.

I can't condone killing for revenge, even if it's not permanent.

...Can we be sure it wouldn't be permanent, anyway? Especially now.

No, no. You're right. Justice has to prevail and all that.

I'm not sure. I think we're going to be seeing quite a few changes in the near future.

Makes you wonder how much of the stuff that goes on here is the turtle, and how much is - or was - the Emperor.

In her position, I would have failsafes in place. But it's anyone's guess how long they'll last. I wouldn't want to be in Evandau's shoes for anything.

I'm sure she did - still, he's gonna have some big shoes to fill.

[ Sharon is quiet for a few moments. If she's not careful, she can feel the turtle's depression seep in, and she can't afford to feel that way. It may impact her work. ]

I talked to Bruce Wayne. He's willing to help us get our little business off the ground.

Oh, that's great news! We should start looking for a good place for it.

Wayne offered us the use of one of his warehouses. Seeing as how I don't want us to be dependent on anyone, he said we could use it temporarily, and, if we wanted, he'd charge us rent until we get on our feet.

That... sounds like a great deal to me.

It does make it easier.

With the money Tony pays me for investigating the murders, we might be able to go independent sooner than I expected, too.

Tony's a pretty generous guy, from what I've seen of him.

He seems to be so far.

[ This one worries her, though. The one from her universe has been in AA for years, but this Tony? He still drinks like a fish. ]

But we should probably start looking at places, checking out equipment. Tony likes to build things, if we need things we can't find here.

He sure does, at that.

[Shepard hasn't known either Tony long enough or well enough to understand their demons just yet - she has a sense that one definitely has a few, but not much beyond that at this point.]

Location, location, location. Ideally, it would be convenient to all sectors, more or less.

We can see if we can find something at the tips of either Water or Metal sectors. That would put us close to Keeliai, and closer to a central location.

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cmdreffingshepard - 2014-01-02 19:19 (UTC) - Expand

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Re: video; 40% private

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